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WHITE-WINE JELLY (Calf's Foot Stock)
Take one quart of cold calf's foot stock entirely free from fat and sediment, and measured whilst hot. Put it into a saucepan with the thin rind of a small fresh lemon, the strained juice of two lemons, six ounces of roughly-pounded sugar, and the well-whisked whites and crushed shells of two fresh eggs. Mix all well together; then put the saucepan on a gentle fire, and whisk its contents thoroughly till the liquor rises high in the pan. Stop whisking at once, put the lid on the saucepan, and let the jelly stand by the side of the fire for twenty minutes, to let the impurities harden and form a crust. Wring a jelly-bag out of boiling water, pour the contents of the saucepan into it, and without squeezing the bag let the liquor run through it. If it is not clear, pour it through a second and even a third time; but this should not be done unless it is necessary, as it wastes the jelly. When it is quite clear stir into it from a quarter to three-quarters of a pint of white wine, according to taste. Pour the jelly into moulds which have been soaked in cold water, and let it stand in a cool place till stiff. If the jelly is to be served in glasses, pour it into a shallow dish, and when cold, take it up with a dessert-spoon and put it into the glasses. If the calf's foot stock is not very firm, or if the weather is warm, soak from a quarter to half an ounce of gelatine or isinglass in two table-spoonfuls of cold water for an hour. Stir into this a cupful of boiling water, and add the liquor to the calf's foot stock. Time to boil the jelly, twenty minutes. Probable cost, exclusive of the wine and without isinglass, 1s. 8d. Sufficient for a quart of jelly.
A clarified wine jelly of the classic sort, built on gelatine extracted from calf's feet and cleared with egg white. The technique is sound; only the raw materials and the setting conditions need translating.
- The hinge: stop whisking the moment it risesWhisking sets up the egg-white raft that traps sediment. Once the liquid climbs the pan, further agitation can break the coagulated raft and return sediment to suspension; the recipe allows a second or third pass through the bag if the jelly is not clear, but warns that this wastes jelly. Cover, pull to low heat, and leave it alone for the full twenty minutes.
- Calf's foot stock, and what to use insteadCalf's feet were the standard domestic source of gelatine; butchers rarely stock them now. A quart of firm calf's foot jelly is roughly equivalent to a quart of liquid set with something in the order of ½ to 1 oz (about 15–30 g) of powdered gelatine, though strength varied enormously and the book itself allows for adding isinglass when the stock is weak.
- IsinglassIsinglass is collagen from fish swim bladders, once sold in leaves for jellies and still used to fine beer. Plain leaf or powdered gelatine does the same job and is what you will actually find.
- Measures6 oz of sugar is about ⅞ cup granulated (170 g). A quarter to three-quarters of an imperial pint of wine is roughly ⅔ to 1¾ US cups (140–425 ml) — the wide range is deliberate, since more wine means softer jelly. A quart here is the imperial quart, 40 fl oz, about 1.14 litres.
- Wine goes in coldThe wine is stirred in only after clarification, off the heat, as the recipe directs. Heating it would drive off the aroma that is the whole point of the dish.
- Lemon rindTake the rind in wide thin strips with no white pith, and use an unwaxed lemon — modern supermarket citrus is usually coated. Only the zest carries the oil..
- The jelly bagWringing it out in boiling water prevents the warm jelly from chilling and setting in the cloth. A double layer of scalded muslin or a fine cloth in a sieve does the same. Never squeeze: pressure forces the trapped sediment through.
- Setting"A cool place" meant a larder or ice; a refrigerator sets a quart mould firm in about four to six hours, overnight for certainty. Dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto a wetted plate to turn out.
- YieldOne quart, serving roughly six to eight in glasses or one moulded jelly for the table.
Clarified calf's foot jelly was a fixture of nineteenth-century British cookery, valued both as a dessert and as invalid food — the same stock, unsweetened, was carried to sickrooms as a restorative, and wine jelly in particular was thought strengthening. Making it was a two-day undertaking: the feet were split, blanched and simmered for hours, the stock chilled so the fat could be lifted off, and only then was it flavoured and cleared. The recipe, often attributed to Cassell's, notes the cost at 1s 8d exclusive of wine, which put it within reach of a middle-class household but only for occasions. Commercial powdered gelatine, sold in convenient packets from the mid-nineteenth century onward, made the whole calf's-foot stage optional, and the elaborate clarification described here — egg white raft, jelly bag, no squeezing — largely vanished with it, surviving mainly in consommé work.