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Manhattan Pudding
1 1/2 cups orange juice 1/4 cup lemon juice Sugar 1 pint heavy cream 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/2 tablespoon vanilla 2/3 cup chopped walnut meats Mix fruit juices and sweeten to taste. Turn mixture in brick mould. Whip cream, and add sugar, vanilla, and nut meats; pour over the first mixture to overflow mould; cover with buttered paper, fit on cover, pack in salt and ice, and let stand three hours.
This is a still-frozen layered ice, not a pudding in the baked sense: acidic juices below, sweetened whipped cream and walnuts above. It was made in a brick mould buried in salt and ice, and the technique transfers to a freezer with a few adjustments.
- Sweeten the juice heavilyThis is the hinge. Freezing flattens perceived sweetness, and sugar is what keeps the juice layer from setting into a solid block of orange ice. Sweeten the mixed juices until they taste distinctly too sweet at room temperature — roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar for the 1 3/4 cups of juice here — and stir until fully dissolved.
- Brick mouldA rectangular tinned mould with a close-fitting lid, roughly 1 to 1 1/2 quarts. A metal loaf pan lined with plastic wrap or parchment, then covered tightly with foil, will stand in for it, though the lining may leave creases on the turned-out loaf.
- Salt and iceThe old freezing pack is roughly three parts crushed ice to one part coarse rock salt, which drops the brine well below 32F. In a modern freezer set to 0F, allow four to six hours rather than the three specified; the set may well be firmer than the original.
- Powdered sugarIn period usage this meant finely ground sugar rather than today's cornstarch-blended confectioners' sugar. Modern confectioners' sugar works well here, dissolving instantly in the cream; finely ground granulated is closer to what the original writer had in hand.
- Whip to soft peaksThe cream must still be pourable enough to flood over the juice layer and fill the mould to overflowing, which is what forces out air pockets. Whip only until it holds a soft shape; stiff cream will trap voids and freeze grainy.
- Buttered paperThe buttered paper served as a seal against the brine seeping in under the lid. In a freezer its only purpose is to keep the surface from drying, so press wrap directly onto the cream before covering.
- WalnutsToast and cool them first if you like; untoasted walnut meats can taste faintly bitter against citrus. Chop fine, since large pieces are hard to cut through once frozen.
- Serving and yieldRoughly six to eight portions. Let the mould stand at room temperature five to ten minutes, then dip briefly in warm water and turn out; slice across the brick so each portion shows both layers.