Home › Pastry Desserts › Banana Cantaloupe
Banana Cantaloupe
1/2 box gelatine or 2 tablespoons granulated gelatine 1/2 cup cold water Whites 2 eggs 1/4 cup powdered sugar 3/4 cup scalded cream 2/3 cup sugar 4 bananas, mashed pulp 1 tablespoon lemon juice Whip from 3 1/2 cups cream 12 lady fingers Soak gelatine in cold water, beat whites of eggs slightly, add powdered sugar, and gradually hot cream, cook over hot water until it thickens; add soaked gelatine and remaining sugar, strain into a pan set in ice-water, add bananas and lemon juice, stir until it begins to thicken, then fold in whip from cream. Line a melon mould with lady fingers trimmed to just fit sections of mould, turn in the mixture, spread evenly, and chill.
A gelatine-set banana cream, moulded in a lady-finger shell. Nothing here is difficult, but two of the measurements belong to an older kitchen and need translating before you begin.
- The gelatineHalf a box of the old boxed gelatine (sold in sheets or shreds) and 2 tablespoons of granulated are both about 1/2 oz, which is roughly two envelopes of modern unflavoured powder. Soften it in the 1/2 cup cold water for five minutes before it goes into the hot custard.
- "Whip from 3 1/2 cups cream"Books of this school directed that cream be whipped in a large bowl and the stiff froth skimmed off the top as it formed, leaving thin cream behind, so 3 1/2 cups of cream yielded a good deal less usable whip. With modern heavy cream, roughly 1 1/2 cups whipped to soft peaks, all of it used, is a reasonable substitute.
- The custard baseCook it over hot, not boiling, water and stop as soon as it coats the spoon, somewhere around 170F. Egg whites set fast; the recipe's direction to strain the mixture into the pan will catch small curds, but a badly overcooked base is past saving. The ice-water bath afterwards is what cools it enough to fold in the whipped cream.
- The hinge: fold at the right momentWait until the strained mixture just begins to thicken at the edges before folding in the cream. Too warm and the whip collapses into liquid; too cold and the gelatine sets in streaks.
- BananasUse fully ripe fruit and mash it fine, or sieve it. The tablespoon of lemon juice is there to keep the pulp from browning as much as for flavour, so add it with the bananas rather than earlier.
- The mouldA melon mould is a fluted oval tin; sizes varied, and this quantity wants something in the one-and-a-half to two quart range. A loaf pan or bombe mould of similar capacity works; line it with plastic wrap so the lady-finger shell releases cleanly, and trim the fingers to stand upright against the sides.
- Chilling and yieldThe original gives no time. Allow at least four hours, and overnight if you want a clean slice. Depending on the size of the mould it should serve something like eight to ten, unmoulded onto a cold plate and cut in wedges.