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Orange Bouillon
The juice from enough fresh ripe oranges to make one quart of solid juice.
Heat to boiling point, then add one tablespoon of dissolved cornstarch, and cook to a velvety cream. Add small dash of salt. Cool, then add one teaspoon of orange flower water and one teaspoon of orange curacoa. Serve in crystal soup bowls in finely cracked ice with a garniture of a few orange flowers and imported French wafers.-Annette Willing Carhartt.
A chilled, lightly thickened orange drink served in bowls rather than glasses. It is simple, but the starch and the acid work against each other, so the thickening step is the one to watch.
- How many orangesA quart of strained juice takes roughly 10 to 14 average juice oranges, depending on size and ripeness. "Solid juice" most likely means pure juice with the pulp and membrane strained out, rather than juice topped up with water.
- The cornstarch is the hingeSlake the tablespoon of cornstarch in a little cold water or juice first, stir it into the boiling juice, and cook only a minute or two past the point where it thickens. Citrus acid breaks down cornstarch with prolonged heat, so a long simmer will thin the mixture back out.
- "Velvety cream"The target is the body of thin pouring cream, not a pudding. One tablespoon per quart gives a barely perceptible silkiness; it should still be drinkable from a spoon.
- Orange flower waterA distillate of bitter-orange blossom, sold in Middle Eastern and baking aisles. Strengths vary widely and it turns soapy fast, so start with half the teaspoon and taste. Add it only after cooling, as the aroma is volatile.
- Orange curaçaoAny dry orange liqueur stands in — curaçao, triple sec, or Grand Marnier. A single teaspoon in a quart is a seasoning, not a spirit; it can be left out for a non-alcoholic version without harming the texture.
- Serving vesselsThe bowls are nested in a larger dish of cracked ice, a common turn-of-the-century way to keep a first course cold at table. Chill the bouillon thoroughly first; the ice is for presentation and holding, not for cooling it down.
- GarnishUse orange blossoms only from an untreated tree; florist's flowers are frequently sprayed. "Imported French wafers" means thin crisp sweet biscuits — gaufrettes, langues de chat, or any tuile-style wafer.
- YieldA quart serves four to six as a first course or luncheon beverage, in cups of about 5 to 6 ounces.
Calling a fruit drink a "bouillon" made sense to readers of the period, when the clear cup of hot beef bouillon was the standard opening to a formal luncheon or dinner. Fruit bouillons s by some accounts orange, grape, tomato, perhaps rhubarb s seem to have appeared as a fashionable warm-weather substitute, served in the same cups and bowls, cold, and thickened just enough to give the mouthfeel of a broth rather than a glass of juice. Orange flower water and cura s ao belong to the same impulse: both were pantry perfumes of the period, used in tiny amounts to lift a dish above plain fruit.