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Ginger and Pineapple Mousse
1 cup heavy cream, whipped 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 tablespoon gelatine 1/4 cup cold water 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 cup preserved chopped ginger 2 tablespoons ginger syrup 3 cups crushed drained pineapple Mix sugar and pineapple pulp; add gelatine after soaking in cold water 5 minutes, let stand until sugar and gelatine are dissolved. Chill. Fold in whipped cream to which salt and vanilla have been added. Add ginger and ginger syrup last. Pour into molds and freeze from 5 to 6 hours.
A still-frozen mousse from the era when a mechanical refrigerator's freezing compartment was the newest thing in the kitchen. Two details decide whether it works: the gelatine has to actually dissolve, and the pineapple has to be canned.
- Dissolve the gelatine properlySoaking half a tablespoon of granular gelatine in 1/4 cup cold water for five minutes only swells it; standing in cold sugared fruit will not melt it. Set the soaked gelatine over hot water or microwave it a few seconds until clear, then stir it into the pineapple and sugar.
- Canned pineapple onlyFresh pineapple contains bromelain, which digests gelatine and leaves the mousse loose and weeping. Canned crushed pineapple has been heat-processed and the enzyme destroyed, which is what the original assumes. Three cups drained is roughly two 20 oz cans.
- Drain hard"Crushed drained pineapple" means pressed in a sieve until it stops dripping. Excess juice freezes into ice crystals and turns a mousse grainy.
- Preserved gingerThis is stem ginger in heavy syrup, sold in jars and still easy to find; crystallised ginger is not the same thing and brings no syrup. If you substitute crystallised, rinse off the sugar coating and use 2 tablespoons of the pineapple juice in place of the ginger syrup.
- Whip to soft peaksThe cream folds into a cold fruit base, so stop while it still slumps. Whipped stiff, it breaks into buttery flecks as you fold and the mousse loses volume.
- Freezing time and temperatureEarly refrigerator freezing compartments ran warmer than a modern freezer, so a freezer at 0F will likely set this harder than the original expected. Five to six hours is still about right for setting, but move the mold to the refrigerator 20-30 minutes before serving so it slices.
- MoldsAny metal mold, loaf pan or set of individual cups will do. Press a sheet of waxed paper or plastic directly onto the surface to keep ice from forming on top. Unmold by dipping the outside in warm water for a few seconds.
- YieldAbout 1 1/2 quarts, serving eight to ten as the sweet at the end of a full dinner.