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Escalloped Strawberries
Alternate layers of strawberries and whipped cream in glass serving-dish. Chill on ice and serve.
Two ingredients and no measurements, which puts all the weight on the fruit and on how long the assembled dish sits. Build it close to serving time.
- "Escalloped" here means layered"Escalloped" here refers only to the layering -- In period usage escalloped usually meant a layered dish that was baked, often with crumbs; its use for an uncooked assembly like this one is a loose extension. Nothing goes in the oven; this is a cold assembly, closer to an English fool or trifle than to escalloped potatoes.
- QuantitiesFor six people, figure about 1 quart of strawberries and 1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks so it still spreads. Start and finish with cream so the top layer looks finished.
- SweeteningThe original assumes you will judge it yourself. Sweeten the cream lightly, around 2 tablespoons sugar per cup, and taste the berries first; strong out-of-season fruit may want a spoonful of sugar and 15 minutes to sit before layering.
- Hull, then dryWash the berries before hulling, not after, and drain them well on a towel. Wet fruit weeps into whipped cream and collapses the layers into pink soup.
- "Chill on ice" means brief refrigerationThe original assumed an icebox or a bowl set in cracked ice. Half an hour in the refrigerator is the modern equivalent. Longer than an hour or two and the fruit juices break down the cream.
- Cream that will holdWhipped cream with nothing added will eventually weep, more quickly once it is in contact with juicy fruit. Whip to firm soft peaks, or fold in a spoonful of creme fraiche or mascarpone if you need the layers to stand longer.
- The glass dish is the pointThe whole appeal is the visible banding, so use a straight-sided glass bowl or individual tumblers and level each layer before adding the next.
Cookbooks of the period printed dozens of these one-sentence berry "receipts," and fresh strawberries were a fleeting local luxury of a few weeks in early summer. The word escalloped, from the same root as scallop shell, was applied loosely in American kitchens of the era, which is why it turns up on a dessert that is never cooked. Recipes like this also depended on ice as a household commodity, delivered by wagon and kept in a wooden icebox, so a cookbook could safely instruct a cook to "chill on ice" and assume she knew what that meant.