Orange Jelly
Soak one tablespoonful of granulated gelatin in a quarter of a cup of cold water, then add to it one cup of boiling water. Into the gelatin stir the juice of two oranges and three quarters of a cup of sugar. When sugar is dissolved strain and chill.
Serve in sherbet glasses. Decorate with chopped blanched almonds.
A plain gelatin dessert of the sort that filled the sweet course in early twentieth-century menus. It is straightforward, but the proportions and the gelatin itself need a moment's attention.
- The gelatinOne tablespoon of granulated gelatin is close to, but slightly more than, one modern envelope (about 2 1/4 teaspoons, or 7 g). A single envelope sets 2 cups of liquid; here the total liquid comes to roughly 1 3/4 cups, so one envelope gives a soft, spoonable set and a rounded tablespoon gives a firmer one.
- Bloom, then dissolveThe cold-water soak is not optional. Let the granules stand 5 minutes until swollen and translucent before the boiling water goes in, and stir until no grains remain on the back of the spoon. Undissolved gelatin settles into a rubbery layer at the bottom of the glass.
- Do not boil the juiceAdd the orange juice off the heat, as written. Prolonged boiling weakens gelatin's setting power, and it flattens the fresh citrus aroma that is the whole point of the dish.
- Juice quantityTwo oranges will give roughly 1/2 to 2/3 cup of juice. If your oranges are large, measure and hold to 2/3 cup so the gelatin ratio stays sound.
- SugarThree quarters of a cup is very sweet to current taste, particularly with sweet navel or Valencia juice. Half a cup suits most modern palates, and a little lemon juice or grated zest sharpens the flavour that sugar otherwise buries.
- StrainingStrain through a fine sieve rather than a colander. It catches pulp, membrane and any stray undissolved gelatin, and gives the clear amber set the recipe is after.
- ChillingFour hours in the refrigerator for glasses, six or overnight for a mould. The recipe gives no time, and an icebox would not have held as low or as steady a temperature as a modern refrigerator, so go by the clock.
- Blanched almondsCover shelled almonds with boiling water for a minute, drain, and slip off the skins. Toasting them briefly after blanching adds a contrast the original does not ask for but the dish welcomes.
- YieldFour sherbet glasses, or three if the glasses are generous.
Gelatin desserts moved from the labour of calf's-foot and isinglass jellies to something a household cook could manage with little effort once granulated gelatin was sold in packets, and books of this period lean on them heavily: they are cheap, they look expensive, and they can be made the morning before. Orange jelly in particular belonged to the light sweet course at the end of a structured menu, where a rich pudding would have been too much, and it doubled as invalid cookery, jellies being one of the few sweets routinely permitted to the sick. The sherbet glass and the scatter of blanched almonds are pure presentation, a reminder that these menu books were teaching table manner as much as cooking. Worth noting for anyone tempted to vary it: fresh pineapple, kiwi, papaya or fig contain enzymes that break down gelatin and will keep the jelly from setting at all.