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Jellied Prune Ring
Soak one-third of a pound of prunes over night in cold water. In the morning simmer slowly till soft. Stone them and cut in pieces. To the prune juice add enough boiling water to make two cups of liquid, pour it over two and one-half tablespoons of gelatine dissolved in half a cup of water, then add one cup of sugar and four tablespoons of lemon juice. Strain, add the cut prunes and pour into a ring mold. Turn out when thoroughly chilled. Fill the center with whipped cream sweetened and flavored with vanilla. Garnish the base of the dish with well plumped cooked prunes and whipped cream squeezed through a pastry tube. - See Page XX.
A straightforward gelatin mold whose success rests on two things: enough liquid to set firmly for unmolding, and a mold small enough that the ring holds its shape. A few of the quantities reflect 1900s prunes and 1900s sweet teeth.
- Total liquid and gelatinThe recipe makes 2 cups of prune liquid plus the half cup used to soften the gelatin, so 2 1/2 cups in all. Two and a half tablespoons of granulated gelatine is roughly three envelopes (about 20 g), which gives a firm, sliceable set that will stand up when turned out — not the soft wobble of a modern panna cotta.
- Softening the gelatin"Dissolved in half a cup of water" means sprinkled over cold water and left to swell for five minutes; the boiling prune liquid poured over it does the actual dissolving. Stir until no granules remain when you draw a spoon through it, or the mold will set unevenly.
- PrunesA third of a pound is about 5 1/2 oz, roughly 15 to 18 large prunes. Today's pitted prunes are sold semi-moist and do not need an overnight soak; 20 minutes at a bare simmer in water to cover is enough, and you still get the cooking liquid the recipe depends on.
- "Stone them"Pit them. If you buy pitted fruit this step disappears, but check for stray stones before chopping.
- SugarOne cup for 2 1/2 cups of liquid is very sweet by current taste, and prunes bring their own sugar. Two-thirds of a cup, with the full four tablespoons of lemon juice kept for balance, suits most palates.
- Mold size and settingTwo and a half cups of liquid plus the fruit wants a ring mold of about 1 quart. Chill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight — "thoroughly chilled" here means set all the way to the center.
- Turning outRinse the mold with cold water before filling rather than oiling it. To unmold, dip to the rim in warm (not hot) water for 5 to 10 seconds, loosen the edge with a fingertip, and invert onto a chilled plate.
- Suspending the fruitIf the cut prunes are added while the jelly is still thin they will sink. Chill the mixture until it is the thickness of unbeaten egg white, then fold in the fruit and pour.
- YieldServes 6 to 8. Whipped cream fills the center and is also piped around the base, which the recipe itself calls a garnish; plan on about a cup of cream, whipped, sweetened and flavored with vanilla.
Jellied fruit rings belong to the moment when gelatin stopped being a luxury. Before granulated gelatin was widely sold in packets in the late nineteenth century, a clear jelly meant hours of boiling calves' feet and clarifying the result with egg white; once measured, odorless gelatin could be bought by the box, the molded dessert became a standard of the American middle-class table and a fixture of cookbooks like this one. Prunes were the obvious fruit for it — dried plums kept indefinitely in the pantry, were cheap, and yielded a dark, faintly winey cooking liquid that colored and flavored the jelly without any additional expense, which is why they turn up so persistently in cold desserts of the period. The ring mold with a whipped-cream center reflects the same era's fondness for a dish that arrived at table already composed, a presentation piece that could be made the day before and turned out at the last minute.