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Gâteau aux Prunes
Ingredients.
One pound of Prunes.
Three ounces of Castor Sugar.
Three-quarters of an ounce of Gelatine.
The juice and rind of one Lemon.
One glass of Brandy or Marsala.
One pint of Water.
A few drops of Cochineal.
Boil the prunes in the water and sugar until quite soft; then take out the stones, crack the kernels and add them with the brandy, lemonjuice and peel, and a little cochineal; dissolve the gelatine in a little water, and add to the prunes when they are ready to mould; boil all for twenty minutes. Pour into a border mould; when set, turn it out and serve with whipped cream in the centre.
The structure of this dish is ordinary enough for its period, but one instruction puts it outside what can be recommended today, and a second would stop it setting at all.
- The cracked kernelsThe stones of prunes, like those of plums, apricots and peaches, contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the kernel is crushed and wetted. A pound of prunes yields on the order of forty or more kernels, and the recipe adds all of them to a single mould. This is a toxic plant part deliberately introduced as a flavouring, and there is no household way to measure the dose.
- Why the period thought it safeCracked stone-fruit kernels were used in nineteenth-century confectionery as a cheap stand-in for bitter almond, often steeped in a larger quantity of custard or syrup and then strained out. Here they are added to the mould and eaten.
- The gelatine would fail anywayGelatine is dissolved, added, and then the whole thing is boiled for twenty minutes. Prolonged boiling hydrolyses gelatine and reduces its setting power, so the mould as written may well not turn out.
- CochinealA red colouring made from dried scale insects, still sold as carmine or E120. Modern prunes give a dark brown purée that no small quantity of red will meaningfully brighten; the colour here is period cosmetics rather than flavour.
- If you want the dishA current recipe for a moulded prune cream should be used. Prunes, sugar, lemon and a fortified wine set with gelatine is a sound idea; the kernels are the part that has to go, and a modern formula will also handle the setting correctly.
Gâteau in a cold-sweet chapter of this kind does not necessarily mean cake in the modern sense; it was often used for something built up and turned out of a mould, and the border mould called for here is a ring that leaves a well in the middle for whipped cream or a compote. Prunes were a staple of the British storecupboard, cheap, keeping indefinitely, and carrying enough acid and body to make a respectable moulded sweet out of very little. The kernel trick belongs to the same thrift: plum and apricot stones were the poor cook's bitter almond, giving the marzipan note that expensive ratafia or almond essence supplied in grander kitchens, and cookery books repeated the instruction long after chemists had identified what was in the kernels. Cochineal, brandy or Marsala, and a border of cream are the finishing touches that lift a pound of dried fruit into something a high-class cookery book could put on a dinner menu.