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Cheese Mold Victoria
1 tablespoon granulated gelatine 1/4 cup cold water 1/2 cup boiling water Small sprig parsley stuffed olives 1 teaspoon shortening 3/4 cup grated cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt shake of cayenne 3 tablespoons mayonnaise 3 tablespoons whipped cream Soak gelatine in cold water, dissolve in boiling water. Cool until it begins to stiffen. Spread the inside of ring mold with sufficient dissolved gelatine, using a clean pastry brush. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and stuffed olives cut in slices. Cool in ice box. Cream shortening and grated cheese, salt and pepper, and mayonnaise. Add remaining dissolved gelatine, mixing well, then fold in whipped cream and fill the chilled mold. Leave in refrigerator until firm. To serve dip mold in warm water and invert on bed of lettuce. Fill center with salad to serve.
A gelatine-set cheese ring from the era when the mechanical refrigerator was still a selling point. The recipe is sound, but the quantities are small and a few of the terms need translating.
- Gelatine measureOne tablespoon of granulated gelatine is close to one modern 1/4-oz envelope (about 2 1/4 teaspoons), which sets about two cups of liquid. Part of it goes to coating the mold and the rest sets a mixture of roughly two cups, so it should be firm enough to unmold.
- Decorating the moldThe hinge of the whole thing: brush a thin film of nearly-set gelatine inside the mold, press the parsley and olive slices into it, and chill hard before the cheese mixture goes in. If the gelatine is still watery the garnish slides to the bottom; if it has set solid the second layer will not bond.
- ShorteningIn a cheese mixture of this period this means butter or a bland vegetable shortening. Butter is the better choice for flavour, and one teaspoon is only there to loosen the cheese for creaming.
- The cheese'Grated cheese' here most likely means a firm American or store cheddar, though the recipe does not say. Three-quarters of a cup grated is about 3 oz. Anything very oily or very soft will weep in the mold.
- Salt, pepper, cayenneThe ingredient list calls for cayenne and the method says pepper; a shake of cayenne is what the dish wants. Season the cheese mixture assertively, since chilling flattens flavour.
- Mold size and timingThe mixture comes to roughly two cups, so a small ring mold of about that capacity, or several individual molds. The recipe gives no time: leave it in the refrigerator until firm.
- UnmoldingDip in warm, not hot, water, and only briefly. Longer and the brushed gelatine layer holding the parsley and olives melts away.
- Yield and fillingThe quantities suggest a salad course for about four. The center is meant to be filled with salad -- chicken, shrimp or a crisp vegetable salad would suit -- dressed at the last minute so it does not weep into the ring.
Molded gelatine salads belong to the moment when domestic refrigeration moved from the ice box to the electric cabinet -- this recipe mentions both -- and cookbooks began printing chapters of refrigerator dishes to show off what the new appliance could do. Granulated gelatine sold in measured envelopes made setting a mold far quicker than extracting gelatine from calves' feet, and the result was a class of dishes prized as much for standing upright on the plate with the garnish visible through a glassy coat as for flavour. What 'Victoria' signified here is unclear; it may mark a garnished presentation rather than a fixed formula. The ring shape with a filled center was common in this period, letting a cook stretch a cup of chicken or shrimp salad into a course that looked composed.