Bavarian Cream

A gelatin cream of the plainest sort — no custard base, just fruit juice, sugar, gelatin and whipped cream. The whole thing turns on the temperature of the fruit mixture when the cream goes in.

• Half a box of gelatinA period box of granulated gelatin held about 1 oz, divided into four envelopes, so half a box is 2 envelopes, roughly 2 scant tablespoons or 14 g. That is enough to set the 2 cups of liquid here (1 1/2 cups juice plus the 1/2 cup soaking water) firmly, with the whipped cream lightening rather than loosening it.
• The hinge: fold at the right moment"When mixture begins to set" means the consistency of raw egg white — thick enough to mound faintly on a spoon. Fold too early and the cream separates into a foam layer over clear jelly; too late and you get rubbery streaks that will not blend.
• Dissolving the gelatinSoften in the cold water, then set the cup in a pan of hot (not boiling) water and stir until perfectly clear. Boiled gelatin sets weakly, and pouring hot gelatin into cold juice too fast can leave threads.
• Strawberry juice and pulpRoughly a pound to a pound and a half of ripe berries, crushed with a little of the sugar and pressed through a sieve, should give the cup called for. Frozen unsweetened strawberries work; thaw and sieve, and taste before committing to the full 1/2 cup sugar, since modern berries and juices are often sweeter.
• Whipped creamWhip to soft peaks and leave unsweetened, since the fruit base carries all the sugar; note that '1 pint whipped cream' may mean a pint of cream before whipping or a pint measured after, and the recipe does not say which. Stiffly beaten cream folds in as lumps.
• Chilling and unmoldingTurn into a rinsed 1 1/2-quart mold or individual glasses and chill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. To unmold, dip the mold briefly in warm water and invert onto a chilled plate.
• YieldServes 6 to 8. It is best eaten the day it is made; after a second day the fruit weeps and the cream flattens.