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Italian or Spanish and Bavarian Creams
The so-called Italian and Spanish creams are founded upon a gelatine mixture with the addition of eggs, while the Bavarian Cream in general substitutes whipped cream for eggs. Very simple forms of these are here given: I. Spanish or Italian Cream Dissolve one-half box gelatine by barely covering it Meanwith cold water, letting stand an hour or more. time make a custard with one pint milk, three-fourths cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, and, when at boiling point, the yolks of three eggs (beaten with part of the sugar), whipped in with the dissolved gelatine. Beat and stir a few minutes then remove, add flavouring and the whites of the eggs whipped very stiff. Let cool and set on ice to chill. 2.
Bavarian Cream Dissolve one-half box gelatine in one-half cup water. Heat to boiling point a cup of milk with a half cup of sugar and pinch of salt. Add the softened gelatine, then strain and add flavouring. Beat till it begins to cool and thicken when add lightly a pint of cream well whipped and place on ice to harden.
Two moulded gelatine desserts from the era when packaged gelatine had just made such things possible at home. The second is straightforward; the first has a problem that cannot be worked around within the recipe as printed.
- The raw whites in No. 1The three whites are beaten stiff and folded into a custard that has already been taken off the heat, then chilled and served. They never reach a temperature that would reliably kill Salmonella. If you want a Spanish cream, use a current recipe written around pasteurised or cooked egg.
- No. 2 has no egg at allThe Bavarian is gelatine, scalded milk, sugar and whipped cream. The cream goes in uncooked, but it is sold pasteurised; there is no raw egg, so the issue above does not arise.
- Half a box of gelatineA box of granulated gelatine of this period is usually reckoned at about an ounce, divided into four papers, the equivalent of four modern envelopes. On that reading half a box is roughly two envelopes, about 4½ teaspoons — enough to set a quart firmly enough to unmould.
- Soaking the gelatine"Barely covering with cold water" for an hour reflects the coarser gelatine of the period. Modern granulated gelatine blooms fully in cold liquid in five to ten minutes; the half cup of water called for in No. 2 is ample.
- "Heat to boiling point"The book says boiling point, but gelatine dissolves well below that and prolonged boiling weakens its set, so scalding the milk is enough: warm it, stir the bloomed gelatine in off the heat, and strain.
- The hinge in the Bavarian"Beat till it begins to cool and thicken" is the whole trick. Fold the whipped cream in while the base is still warm and it thins out and separates into a rubbery jelly layer under a foam layer; wait too long and it sets in lumps. Fold when the base has the body of raw egg white, then get it straight into the mould.
- Measuring the creamA pint of cream means a pint measured before whipping, which yields roughly a quart whipped. Heavy cream, 36 percent or better, holds up best; lighter cream is less stable once folded into a warm base.
- "Set on ice"The refrigerator. Allow four hours for a quart mould, or overnight. To unmould, dip the mould in warm water for a few seconds only.
- FlavouringLeft unspecified; vanilla, almond, lemon or a spirit were all used for creams of this kind. A teaspoon or two of extract, or a split vanilla bean infused in the milk, suits either. Add it after the gelatine is dissolved, as the recipe directs, so alcohol-based extracts are not driven off.
- YieldEach makes a quart or rather more, six to eight servings.
Bavarian cream is the English name for the French bavarois, a custard-and-cream mixture set with isinglass or gelatine that was codified in early nineteenth-century French professional cooking and is often said to have come from Carême's kitchens, though the connection to Bavaria itself has never been convincingly explained. "Spanish cream" and "Italian cream" are Anglo-American names of much vaguer parentage, and the naming of Spanish, Italian and Bavarian creams was inconsistent across period cookbooks. What made both of them everyday desserts rather than confectioners' work was granulated gelatine sold by the box in the 1890s, which replaced the tedious business of boiling down calves' feet.