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Pineapple in the Shell
Cut a slice off the top of the fruit, straight across, leaving on it the crown. With a sharp knife cut down into the pine all around until near the lower end, being careful not to cut through the rind or shell itself, so that with a slight twist the entire heart or pulp may be removed. Shred or dice this and let stand a half hour or more (according to stage of the fruit), adding, if liked, bits of citrus or other fruits which will absorb the pineapple flavour. Then place in the empty shell and put the top on it. (If it requires fastening at all it may be done with Japanese toothpicks so that the latter will not be seen.) It may be placed on a bed of ice or merely a bed of vines or other graceful garnish, and used as a centrepiece.
A serving conceit more than a formula: the pineapple is hollowed out, its flesh cut up and returned, and the whole thing used as a table centrepiece. The only real skill is getting the core out in one piece.
- The hinge: cutting the shell freeWork with a long thin blade — a boning or serrated bread knife — inserted straight down along the inside of the rind, and rotate the fruit rather than the knife. Stop about an inch above the base so the shell keeps a solid floor, or the juice will run out on the table.
- "Pine"An old shortening of pineapple, found in English cookery and garden writing and evidently still intelligible to this book's readers. It does not mean anything else here.
- "According to stage of the fruit"Ripeness is what governs the standing time. A ripe, fragrant pineapple will give up its juice quickly, at or near the half hour the recipe allows; a firmer, paler one wants longer, and a spoonful of sugar will draw the juice out faster.
- Fibrous centreThe recipe removes the pulp as one cylinder, which includes the woody core. Cut that out and discard it before shredding or dicing — it stays tough no matter how long it macerates.
- Japanese toothpicksDecorative bamboo picks, sold at the time for canapés and fruit. Ordinary cocktail picks do the same job; push them in at an angle through the crown slice so the heads sit under the leaves.
- Fruits that suit itOrange and grapefruit segments, sliced strawberries, seedless grapes and melon all hold up. Banana and apple discolour, and the bromelain in raw pineapple will stop gelatin setting and can spoil the texture and flavour of dairy left in contact with it, so keep any custard or jelly separate.
- Keep it coldThe bed of ice is not decoration alone. Cut fruit sitting out on a warm table for the length of a dinner is best held under 40F; chill the filled shell until the moment it goes on the table.
- YieldA 3-4 lb pineapple gives roughly 3 to 5 cups of cut flesh depending on how closely it is trimmed — about six servings on its own, more once other fruit is added.
Serving a fruit in its own hollowed shell was a set piece of late Victorian and Edwardian table decoration, when the pineapple still carried its old association with hospitality and expense. Grown in Britain under glass in heated pineries through the 18th and 19th centuries, it was long a luxury valued for display as much as for eating — it is often said to have been lent or hired out for the purpose, though that is anecdote rather than documented practice; only as imported fruit grew cheaper did fresh pineapple become common enough for a household book to treat one as a disposable serving dish. The instruction to add "bits of citrus or other fruits which will absorb the pineapple flavour" places this squarely in the era's fashion for the fruit salad or mac ord doine, and the direction to hide the toothpicks tells you the dish was judged first as a centrepiece and only afterwards as something to eat.