Lemon Jelly
INGREDIENTS for 1½pint mould.-6 lemons, 3/4 lb. of lump sugar, 1 pint of water, 1 1/4 oz. of isinglass or gelatine, pint of sherry. AVERAGE COST, with isinglass, 2s. 6d.
Peel 3 of the lemons, pour 1/2 pint of boiling water on the rind and let it infuse for 1/2 hour; put the sugar, isinglass or gelatine and 1/2 pint of water into a lined saucepan and boil these ingredients for 20 minutes; LEMON JELLY. then put in the strained lemon-juice, the strained infusion of the rind and bring the whole to the point of boiling; skim well, add the wine and run the jelly through a bag; pour it into a mould that has been wetted or soaked in water; put it in ice, if convenient, where let it remain until required for table. Previously to adding the lemon-juice to the other ingredients, ascertain that it is very nicely strained, as, if this is not properly attended to, it is liable to make the jelly thick and muddy. As this jelly is very pale and almost colourless, it answers very well for moulding with a jelly of any bright hue: for instance, half a jelly bright red and the other half made of the above, would have a very good effect. Lemon jelly may also be made with calf's-feet stock, allowing the juice of 3 lemons to every pint of stock.
TIME.-Altogether 1 hour.
SEASONABLE at any time.
A Victorian moulded jelly of the clear, wine-scented sort that was served as a dinner sweet rather than a nursery pudding. Most of the work is in the straining; the setting is a matter of the right gelatine ratio and enough time in the cold.
- Strain relentlesslyThis is the hinge of the recipe, and Mrs Beeton says so herself. Lemon juice carries pulp and fine sediment that will cloud the finished jelly; pass it through muslin, and pass the whole hot jelly through a scalded jelly bag or a double layer of muslin without squeezing. Let it drip.
- The isinglass quantity is unclearThe figure given for isinglass or gelatine has not survived legibly and should not be guessed at. Victorian recipes for a mould of this size commonly called for around 1½ oz of isinglass; modern gelatine is stronger, so work from the packet instructions for the brand you have rather than matching the old weight.
- Sherry measure also incompleteThe sherry is given without its fraction. Comparable period recipes for a mould this size use somewhere between ¼ and ½ pint. Too much alcohol weakens the set.
- Do not boil modern gelatineThe twenty-minute boil belongs to isinglass and to sugar syrup. Powdered or leaf gelatine loses setting power if boiled hard; dissolve the sugar in the water first, take the pan off the heat, then stir the softened gelatine in until clear. Bring nothing to the boil after that point.
- Lump sugar and lined pansLump sugar is simply refined cane sugar in loaf form; granulated is the direct substitute. A "lined saucepan" means one that will not react with acid: stainless steel or enamel, never bare copper or unlined aluminium.
- Add the wine last and off the heatSherry stirred into boiling liquid loses most of its aroma. Take the pan off the heat, then add it, then strain.
- Setting"Put it in ice" means a refrigerator now. Allow 5 to 6 hours for a 1½ pint mould, or overnight. Rinse the mould in cold water rather than oiling it, as directed; to turn out, dip briefly in warm water and invert onto a wetted plate so the jelly can be slid into place.
- YieldA 1½ pint mould gives six modest servings. The two-tone version described at the end works best if the first layer is fully set before the second, cooled to blood heat, is poured on.
- Calf's-foot stockThe alternative ending assumes a household that boiled calves' feet for their own gelatine stock. It is rarely practical now; the gelatine version is the same dish.
Clear moulded jellies were a display food, and lemon jelly was the workhorse of the genre: pale, sharp and neutral enough to be layered with a coloured jelly or used to line a mould for fruit. Before commercial gelatine was cheap, the setting agent was either isinglass, made from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish, or gelatine boiled at home from calves' feet — which is why Victorian cookery books so often give both routes in one entry. Packaged gelatine eventually displaced both, though the timing of its spread through British kitchens is less clear than is sometimes suggested, and the insistence on scrupulous straining suggests how much store was set by a perfectly clear jelly.