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Strawberry Mousse
1 qt strawberries 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon gelatine 2 tablespoons cold water 4 tablespoons hot water 2 cups cream, whipped Wash berries, remove hulls, add sugar and let stand one hour, then rub through sieve. Soak gelatine in cold water, then dissolve in hot water. Add to strained strawberries, fold in cream and place in pans of electric refrigerator for 4 or 5 hours. Serves eight.
A still-frozen mousse from the era when an electric refrigerator was new enough to be a selling point. It works, but the two details that decide the outcome are gelatine temperature and where in the refrigerator it sets.
- The hinge: gelatine warmthDissolve the softened gelatine in hot water and add it to the strawberry puree while both are cool but not cold. If the puree is chilled, the gelatine sets in threads on contact and you get rubbery specks through the mousse.
- "Pans of electric refrigerator"This means the metal ice trays in the freezing compartment, not the main cabinet. In a modern freezer, 4 to 5 hours in a shallow metal pan should be about right; a deeper container will take longer.
- Gelatine quantityOne tablespoon is about one and a third envelopes by modern packaging (an envelope is about 2 1/4 teaspoons). Measure rather than counting envelopes, since more gelatine gives a chewy frozen texture.
- A quart of strawberriesRoughly 1 1/2 lb, yielding about 2 cups of sieved puree. Sieving after the hour of macerating removes the seeds and is worth doing even though a blender is faster.
- CreamTwo cups of heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks only. Stiffly whipped cream folds in as lumps and will not smooth out once frozen.
- SugarA full cup is on the sweet side for modern berries, but sugar is also antifreeze here: cutting it much below 3/4 cup gives a harder, icier mousse.
- No churningThis is a still-frozen mixture; the whipped cream is the only aeration. Do not stir it partway through, which would deflate it.
- ServingServes eight. Let it stand 10 minutes at room temperature before scooping.