Maraschino
Peel and cut the oranges into thin slices. Mix all the other ingredients together, stir until the sugar is dissolved, pour it over the fruit, and put it into the refrigerator for an hour.
Orange and lemon juice may be used instead of wine.
The method survives here without its ingredient list, which was printed separately in the original book. What follows assumes oranges, sugar, maraschino and wine in the proportions typical of turn-of-the-century fruit salads.
- The missing quantitiesAs reproduced, the recipe gives no amounts. Nothing in the text indicates the proportions; if you want a starting point, four oranges with 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons maraschino and about a gill (1/2 cup) of white wine or fruit juice will work, but that is a modern guess, not a reading of the original.
- What maraschino means hereNot the syrup from a jar of dyed cherries but maraschino liqueur, a clear, dry, slightly bitter cherry-pit spirit. Bottled maraschino cherry juice will make the dish cloyingly sweet; use the liqueur, or luxardo-style if available.
- Cutting the oranges"Peel and cut into thin slices" means peel down to the flesh, removing all white pith, then slice crosswise into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Do it over the bowl so nothing is lost, and flick out the seeds as you go.
- Dissolve the sugar firstThis is the hinge. Granulated sugar will not dissolve properly once it is sitting on cold wet fruit, and you get grit at the bottom. Stir the sugar into the wine and liqueur until the liquid is clear before it touches the oranges.
- The hour in the refrigeratorAn hour is right; it lets the syrup draw juice from the fruit without collapsing it. Beyond two or three hours the slices go limp and watery. Cover the bowl, since citrus takes up refrigerator smells readily.
- The wineThe recipe says only "wine" and does not specify a type; a dry or off-dry white suits the dish. The suggested substitute of orange and lemon juice makes the dish non-alcoholic apart from the liqueur, which can also be left out.
- Yield and servingThe recipe states no yield, since it states no quantities; on the assumed four oranges it would serve about four. Serve cold with a little of the syrup spooned over.
Maraschino liqueur is generally traced to the Dalmatian coast around Zadar, where it was distilled from marasca cherries, stones and all, giving the dry almond-edged flavour that made it a fixture of nineteenth-century confectionery and dessert cookery. "Fruit salads" of this kind sat awkwardly between courses in American household books: sometimes offered as a salad course proper, sometimes as dessert. The permission to substitute orange and lemon juice for wine may reflect nothing more than practicality or what was to hand.