For Centre
One gill of Sweet Jelly.
Half a gill of Red Currant Jelly.
Half an ounce of Shredded Almonds.
Two ounces of Red and White Currants.
Half a teaspoonful of Kirsch.
Decorate a mould with the jelly, almonds and pistachios. Dissolve the gelatine in the peach syrup and strain it into the peach purée. Stir in the cream, sugar, lemon juice and kirsch as lightly as possible, and colour the mixture a very pale pink with the cochineal. Pour this into the mould and allow it to set. Melt the red-currant jelly in the sweet jelly, and add the almonds, currants and kirsch. Remove the centre from the cream with a plain round cutter, and fill this space with the jellies, currants, etc. When all is set, unmould the sweet and serve.
This is a moulded peach cream with a jewelled jelly centre, written for a professional kitchen where the base recipes were assumed knowledge. The ingredient list covers only the centre; read the method carefully before shopping.
- The list is incompleteThe quantities given cover the jelly centre alone. The cream itself calls for gelatine, peach syrup, peach purée, cream, sugar, lemon juice, kirsch and cochineal, plus pistachios for the lining, none of which are quantified. As a working starting point for a 1-quart mould: 500 ml peach purée and syrup together, 250 ml lightly whipped cream, sugar to taste, and enough gelatine to set the whole firmly (about 15 g powdered, or 6 sheets).
- A gillIn a British book of this period a gill is 5 fl oz, a quarter of an imperial pint, so roughly 150 ml. The centre therefore takes about 150 ml of clear sweet jelly and 75 ml of red currant jelly.
- Sweet jellyNot a preserve but a clear wine or lemon jelly, sweetened and set with gelatine, kept warm in the pastry section for lining and decorating moulds. Red currant jelly is the preserve, and is used here for colour and flavour rather than setting power.
- Gelatine strengthGelatine of this period was less standardised than modern leaf and powdered gelatine, and the strengths are not directly comparable. Set a small test spoonful in the refrigerator before committing the whole mixture, since a cream that is too firm will not take a clean cut and one too soft will collapse when unmoulded.
- The hinge: temperature when filling the centreCut the plug from the set cream, then let the currant jelly mixture cool until it is thick and on the point of setting before pouring it in. Poured warm, it melts the walls of the cavity and the pale pink cream turns muddy at the join.
- CochinealA red colouring made from dried scale insects, sold today as carmine or E120. It is still available but not vegetarian; any red food colouring gives the same effect. The intent is a barely-there pink, so add it a drop at a time.
- Decorating the mouldCoat the chilled mould with a thin film of sweet jelly, let it set, then arrange the shredded almonds and pistachios on it and fix them with a second thin film. Building the decoration in two stages is what keeps the pattern from sliding when the cream goes in.
- Setting and unmouldingAllow several hours in the refrigerator for the cream and at least another hour after filling the centre. To unmould, dip the mould briefly in hot water and invert onto a chilled serving dish; a wet plate lets you slide the sweet into position.
- YieldThe recipe does not give a mould size; a quart mould of this kind would serve eight to ten as part of a longer menu. It is best assembled the day before, or early in the day it is served.
"For Centre" is a sub-heading within a larger recipe: it lists the ingredients for the jelly centre that is set into the cavity cut out of the cream, and the base recipe for the cream itself is not on this page. Books of "high-class" cookery from the turn of the twentieth century are full of such moulded set pieces, which depended on reliable commercial gelatine and on a dependable supply of ice for setting. The technique of lining a chilled mould with clear jelly, fixing nuts and fruit into it, then filling with a pale fruit cream belongs to the French pâtisserie tradition that British professional cooks drew on. Red and white currants place it in high summer.