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Venetian Cream
Simmer a pint of milk with four table-spoonfuls of sugar till the latter is dissolved. Pour it when boiling on the well-beaten yolks of six eggs, and stir constantly over a gentle fire till it begins to thicken, but it must not boil. Stir into it three-quarters of a pint of isinglass which has been dissolved in a gill of water and cooled, and add a quarter of a pint of thick cream. Mix with the cream half a pound of jam or candied fruit of any kind cut small, and stir the preparation until it begins to thicken. If this is not done, the sweetmeats will sink to the bottom Time, three-quarters of an hour to make the cream. Probable cost, 2s. 10d. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A boiled custard set with isinglass and studded with jam or candied fruit — an early relative of the moulded Bavarian cream. Everything hinges on the custard: it must thicken without boiling, and the mixture must be stirred until it begins to set before it goes into the mould, or the fruit sinks.
- Pints and gillsCassell's uses imperial measure: a pint is 20 fl oz (2.5 US cups), a gill is 5 fl oz (a little over half a US cup). Four tablespoons of sugar is roughly 50g.
- The isinglass quantity is unclearAs written, three-quarters of a pint of isinglass dissolved in one gill of water does not add up — a gill of water cannot yield fifteen ounces of solution. The intent is almost certainly a gelatine solution amounting to about three-quarters of a pint once made up. For roughly two pints of total liquid, allow about 4–5 teaspoons (roughly 12–15g) of powdered gelatine, bloomed in cold water and dissolved gently.
- Isinglass itselfIsinglass is a pure gelatine extracted from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish, sold in Victorian kitchens as shreds or leaves. It is now a brewery fining agent rather than a grocery item; leaf or powdered gelatine does the same work more predictably.
- Custard temperature"Begins to thicken, but it must not boil" means 170–180F (77–82C) on a thermometer, coating the back of a spoon. Six yolks in a pint of milk is a rich mix that will curdle quickly past that point; a bowl over barely simmering water is safer than direct heat.
- Cooling the gelatineThe instruction to cool the dissolved isinglass before adding it matters — poured in hot it will thin the custard and slow the set. Lukewarm and liquid is what you want, not cold and stiffening.
- Stirring until it thickensThis is the step the recipe flags itself. Stir over ice or in a cool bowl until the mixture holds the fruit in suspension — the consistency of unwhipped cream just starting to gel — then pour into a wetted mould.
- Setting timeThe stated three-quarters of an hour is the working time, not the chilling. Allow at least four hours in the refrigerator, or overnight, before turning out.
- YieldFive or six servings, as given. The half pound of jam or candied fruit makes it very sweet by modern taste; chopped candied peel, glacé cherries or a firm preserve all work, and rather less than the full weight is defensible.
Moulded creams set with isinglass were a staple of the nineteenth-century supper table, and "Venetian" in this period is often a fanciful name rather than evidence of Italian origin. The recipe works well as a demonstration piece: it teaches a stirred egg custard, the handling of a setting agent, and the trick of thickening a mixture before adding solids so they stay suspended. The costing of 2s 10d is characteristic of Cassell's, which priced dishes so a household could judge them against a weekly budget.