Snow Pudding
Let a box of gelatine stand one hour in a pint of cold water. Then add two pints of boiling water, four cupfuls of crushed sugar, the juice of four lemons and the rind of the same, pared thin. (The latter must, however, be taken out when the pudding begins to congeal.) Beat the whites of six eggs to a stiff froth, adding two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Then beat all together till it becomes a stiff froth. Make the six yolks into a custard flavored with vanilla or nutmeg and pour over the pudding after it has been turned out of the mould.--Mrs. B. J. B. Snow Pudding.
Dissolve one-half box gelatine in one pint hot water. Let it stand long enough to cool a little but not to congeal. Then add the whites of three eggs, juice of two lemons and sugar to taste. Beat all to a stiff froth and pour into moulds. Serve with a custard made of the yolks of the eggs and a pint of milk seasoned with vanilla.--Mrs. Dr. P. C.
Snow Pudding.
Soak a half box of gelatine in a half pint of cold water, all night. In the morning, add the grated rind of two lemons and the juice of one, three cupfuls of white sugar and a half pint of boiling water. Strain into a deep vessel and add the unbeaten whites of three eggs. Beat constantly for three-quarters of an hour, then set it in a cool place. With the yolks of the eggs, make a pint of custard flavored with vanilla or rosewater, to put around the pudding, when congealed.--Mrs. A. B.
Three contributors' versions of the same dessert, all of them lemon gelatine whipped with raw egg white and served in a pool of soft custard. The notes below cover the archaic measures and the reason the dish, in this form, is no longer made.
- Why not as writtenIn all three versions the egg whites are beaten into gelatine that has cooled below congealing point and are then chilled, never heated. Raw egg white carries a Salmonella risk that no amount of beating removes, and the finished pudding sits at refrigerator temperature for hours before serving. A current recipe built on pasteurized egg whites should be used instead.
- The custard is a second problemThe accompanying boiled custard is safe only if the yolk mixture is actually cooked through; the food-safety figure for egg mixtures is 160F, and stirred custards are generally taken to about 170-175F. None of the three writers gives a temperature or a visual cue, and "make a pint of custard" assumes a skill the reader already had. Undercooked yolk in a dessert that is then held cold is the same hazard as the whites.
- A box of gelatineNineteenth-century boxes are generally reckoned at about 1 oz, roughly four modern quarter-ounce envelopes; half a box is therefore about 2 envelopes. The three recipes set differently: one box to three pints of liquid in the first, half a box to about a pint in the other two, so the two later puddings are the firmer.
- Crushed sugarSugar was sold in hard loaves, and "crushed" described loaf sugar broken and pounded small, coarser than granulated. Ordinary granulated is the usual modern substitute. Four cupfuls in the first version is very sweet by current taste even allowing for four lemons.
- Pared rind, not zest"The rind pared thin" means wide strips of peel with no pith, steeped for flavour and then lifted out before the jelly sets, as the first recipe instructs. The third grates the rind instead, though it too is removed, since the mixture is strained before the unbeaten whites are added.
- Three-quarters of an hour of beatingMrs. A. B.'s instruction reflects a hand whisk and unbeaten whites dropped straight into the sweetened lemon mixture. A stand mixer reaches the same volume in far less time.
- RosewaterStill sold, and still strong. The distilled culinary kind is meant in drops, not spoonfuls; food-grade rose water from a Middle Eastern grocer is closest to what these cooks had.
Snow pudding of this kind depends on packaged gelatine. Before it was available, a whipped lemon jelly meant boiling down calves' feet or buying isinglass, so the dish belonged to kitchens with a great deal of labour to spare. The name describes the look rather than any place of origin: whipped gelatine sets pale and opaque, and the same preparation appears elsewhere as lemon sponge. Serving it ringed with a soft yolk custard used up what the whites had left behind.