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Other Sweet Dishes: Gelatine
CONCERNING COMMERCIAL GELATINE Gelatine is usually put up in two-ounce packages, though some few brands are in packages that contain but one ounce. Two ounces of gelatine will jelly two quarts of liquid, scant measure; half a package, or one ounce, jellies one quart of liquid; and one-fourth a package, or half an ounce, will jelly one pint of liquid.
HOW TO USE GELATINE Gelatine, as it comes in the package, cannot be dissolved in a hot liquid; it must first be soaked in cold water, until it is completely hydrated, or until it will take up no more water. Gelatine will take up four times its weight of cold water. Thus two ounces or a full package of gelatine must be set to soak in eight ounces or a full cup of cold water or other liquid. In most of the recipes given for two people one-fourth or one-eighth a package of gelatine is called for, and one-fourth or one-eighth a cup, respectively, of water is needed. If cold milk or broth be used, the quantity must be increased a little. When the gelatine mixture is to be added to whipped mixtures, as in Bavarian creams, parfaits, etc., it must be cooled to about the same consistency as the mixture to which it is added; otherwise the gelatine mixture would settle to the bottom in a firm mass. Do not cook gelatine; if it is to be added to a "boiled custard" mixture, cook the custard, then add the softened gelatine and remove from the fire. Molds, in which gelatine mixtures with whipped cream or white of egg are to be "set," should be lined with narrow strips of tough, waxed paper. By this means the unmolding of the dish in perfect shape is assured.
CARAMEL JELLY 1 tablespoonful of granulated 1/3 cup of boiling water gelatine 2 cups of thin cream 1/4 cup of cold water 1/4 cup of sugar 1/3 cup of sugar cooked to car- 1/4 teaspoonful of salt amel Soak the gelatine in the cold water. Cook the caramel and boiling water to a thick syrup; add the softened gelatine, the sugar, salt and cream and stir until the sugar is dissolved, then strain into molds. MOLDED RICE 1/4 cup of rice Grated rind of 1 orange 1 cup of milk 1 cup of thin cream 1/2 teaspoonful of salt 1/2 tablespoonful of gelatine 1/3 cup of sugar 4 tablespoonfuls of cold water Put a pint or more of cold water over the rice, let boil five minutes, then drain, rinse in cold water and drain again; add the milk and grated rind and let cook in a double boiler until the grains are tender; add the sugar, salt and cream, and let become hot, then add the gelatine, softened in the cold water, and stir over ice water until the mixture begins to thicken. Turn into a mold. Serve with boiled custard, sugar and cream, currant jelly or strawberry preserves.
RICE DAINTY 1/2 cup of cooked rice, every 1/2 cup of sugar grain distinct 1/2 cup of cream, beaten stiff 1/2 cup of pieces of pineapple Mix the rice, sugar and pineapple, fold in the cream. Serve in glasses. STRAWBERRY-MARSHMALLOW DESSERT 1 cup of strawberries, cut in 1/2 or 3/4 cup of double cream halves 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar 1/2 cup of marshmallows, cut 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla ex- in three or four pieces, tract each Beat the cream until firm throughout; beat in the sugar and vanilla, then fold in the marshmallows and nearly all the strawberries. Turn into glass cups. Use the remaining berries to garnish the top of the cream. INDIVIDUAL CHARLOTTE RUSSE 1/2 cup of double cream 1/4 cup of sugar 1 cup of thin cream 1 teaspoonful of vanilla ex- 1/2 level tablespoonful of gran- tract ulated gelatine 6 or 8 ladyfingers 4 tablespoonfuls of cold water Line sherbet cups with ladyfingers trimmed to come half an inch above the top of the glass. Soften the gelatine in the cold water and dissolve by setting the dish in hot water; add the sugar, the thin cream and the vanilla, and stir until the sugar is dissolved; set into a dish of ice-water and stir until the mixture begins to thicken, then fold in the double cream, beaten firm. Put a spoonful at the base of each ladyfinger, in the cups, to hold it firmly in place, then fill the cups to the height of the ladyfingers. CHARLOTTE RUSSE WITHOUT GELATINE 3/4 cup of double cream tract or 1/4 cup of sugar (scant meas- 2 tablespoonfuls of sherry ure) Ladyfingers 1 teaspoonful of vanilla ex- Candied cherries Beat the cream until firm, then beat in the sugar and flavoring. Line the cups with ladyfingers and fill with the cream mixture. Decorate with the cherries. RASPBERRY CHARLOTTE RUSSE Ladyfingers 3/4 cup of raspberry juice and 1 teaspoonful of granulated pulp gelatine 1/3 cup of sugar 3 tablespoonfuls of cold water 3/4 cup of double cream Soften the gelatine in the cold water and dissolve by setting the dish in boiling water; add to the raspberry pulp and juice (fresh or canned berries pressed through a sieve) with the sugar. Set the dish into ice-water and stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken; then fold in the cream, beaten firm. Turn into cups lines with ladyfingers.
A short primer on packaged gelatine followed by six small desserts scaled for two. The gelatine notes are sound in principle but the quantities assume a weaker product than what is sold today.
- Gelatine strength has changedThe book's rule — a two-ounce package to two quarts of liquid — works out to about 1/4 oz per cup, roughly double what modern powdered gelatine needs. One standard envelope (1/4 oz, 7 g, about 2 1/4 teaspoons) sets 2 cups of liquid to a soft mold. The individual recipes here are measured in spoonfuls and already call for less than that headnote rule, so take them as written rather than cutting them further.
- Reading the fractions"One-fourth a package" is half an ounce, about two envelopes by weight; "one-eighth a package" is a quarter ounce, one envelope. The recipes themselves give tablespoon measures, which are easier to follow: a level tablespoon of granulated gelatine is roughly one and a third envelopes.
- Double cream and thin creamIn this American book "double cream" means cream heavy enough to whip — heavy or whipping cream, 36% or more. "Thin cream" is light or table cream, around 18–20%; half-and-half is the closest supermarket substitute and will set and taste slightly leaner.
- The hinge: never boil itThe instruction to soften in cold water, dissolve over hot water, and then remove from the heat is the whole technique. Gelatine held at a boil loses setting power, and in the Molded Rice it is deliberately added after the mixture is hot rather than cooked in it.
- Stirring over ice waterChilling the gelatine base until it "begins to thicken" — the consistency of unbeaten egg white — before folding in whipped cream is what keeps the two from separating. Fold too early and a clear jelly layer sinks to the bottom; too late and the base sets in lumps.
- Caramel jellyCook the 1/3 cup sugar dry to a deep amber caramel, then add the boiling water off the heat and at arm's length; it will spit violently. Return briefly to dissolve any hardened caramel before adding the gelatine and cream.
- MarshmallowsMarshmallows of this period were sold as slab-cut squares considerably larger than today's, which is why the recipe says to cut each into three or four pieces. Miniature marshmallows are the practical modern stand-in, used whole.
- Molds and unmoldingThe waxed-paper lining strips still work, but a mold rinsed in cold water, or a thin film of neutral oil, is simpler. Dip the mold briefly in warm water and invert onto a chilled plate.
- YieldThe book scales these for two, served in sherbet or small glass cups. The Caramel Jelly, with two cups of cream, is the largest and will likely fill more molds than the others.
Cooking for Two came out of the Boston Cooking School circle in the early twentieth century, when granulated gelatine sold in paper packets had been on the American market for a couple of decades but was still treated as a convenience worth explaining. Before it, a jelly meant simmering calves' feet or isinglass for hours and clarifying the result with egg white and shell — a full day's work that, it is often said, made molded desserts easiest for households with servants. Packaged gelatine collapsed that labor into a cup of cold water, which is why cookbooks of this generation devote pages to explaining how to hydrate it correctly. The charlotte russe here is a domestic descendant of the grand nineteenth-century mold, generally traced to the French chef Antonin Carême, in which a ring of sponge fingers is filled with cream; the household version simply builds it in individual glasses, and the gelatine-free variant shows how thin the line was between a set cream and sweetened whipped cream in a cup.