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Whipped Jelly
This is used for filling glasses, or as a garnish for sweets, in the same way as whipped cream. The jelly should be just beginning to set, and is then to be put in a good-sized bowl and whipped, preferably with a wicker whisk, until it is frothy. The remnants may be warmed to the right consistency and treated in the same way. Jelly may also be chopped very finely on a damp sheet of paper; the more it is chopped the lighter it becomes, and it then answers the same purpose.
This is a finishing technique rather than a formula: it assumes you already have a set jelly of the kind used throughout the book, and shows two ways of turning it into a light garnish. The whole thing turns on catching the jelly at the right moment.
- "Jelly" here means gelatine jellyNot jam or preserve. In this context it will be a sweet setting jelly of the sort used for moulds, most likely wine- or fruit-flavoured, though the recipe does not say. A firm-setting jelly whips better than a soft one.
- The hinge: catch it at the syrupy stageWhip when the jelly has thickened to the consistency of raw egg white and mounds slightly on the whisk. Too warm and it will not hold air at all; too cold and it breaks into lumps rather than froth. Chilling the bowl over ice while you whisk gives you the widest window.
- Wicker whiskA bundle of thin peeled twigs bound at one end, one of several whisk types in use at the time; avoidance of metal for pale sweet preparations is often given as the reason, though the recipe itself gives none. A balloon whisk or an electric hand mixer on medium does the job; stainless steel causes no discolouration.
- Re-warming the remnantsSound advice, and it works: gelatine can be melted and reset repeatedly. Warm gently to just liquid, never to a simmer, since prolonged heat weakens the set. Do not leave the jelly sitting at room temperature through several cycles if it contains cream or egg.
- Chopped jelly on damp paperThe damp surface keeps the finely chopped jelly from sticking to it. Modern equivalent is a sheet of dampened baking parchment and a large knife wiped between cuts. Chopped jelly sparkles where whipped jelly is opaque, so choose by the effect you want.
- Working timeWhipped jelly loses volume as it sets; once firm it must be re-warmed before it can be whipped again, as the recipe itself says. Pipe or spoon it into glasses promptly, then chill until set.
Victorian dessert cookery was preoccupied with jelly in every form, and Cassell's treats it as a basic material rather than a dish: clarified with egg white, set with isinglass, calf's-foot stock or commercial packet gelatine, and flavoured with wine, lemon or fruit. Whipping was one of the standard ways of extending a single batch into several different effects on the same table, since clear jelly, chopped jelly and whipped jelly look nothing alike but come from one pan. The instruction to whip with a wicker whisk is often said to reflect a belief in period kitchens that iron or tinned metal would taint or discolour pale sweet preparations, a caution supposed to have governed how preserves and blancmange were handled too. That whipped jelly is described here as used in the same way as whipped cream is worth noticing too.