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Bavarvoise Aux Fraises
1 quart of double cream. 12 ounces of sugar. 1 quart of strawberries. 2 1/2 ounces of gelatine.
Dissolve the gelatine in a little of the cream with as much milk added to thin it. Rub the strawberries through a seive, and add half the sugar to them. Whip the cream with the rest of the sugar in it to froth, mix in the dissolved gelatine, then the strawberry syrup and set in molds.
A cold moulded Bavarian cream, set with an amount of gelatine that reflects both the weaker sheet gelatine of the period and the need for a dessert that could stand unrefrigerated on a buffet. The critical adjustments are the gelatine quantity and the temperature at which it meets the whipped cream.
- Cut the gelatine hard2 1/2 ounces of gelatine for roughly two quarts of mixture will give a rubbery, sliceable block by modern standards. Two envelopes (about 1/2 oz) of powdered gelatine, or 5-6 sheets, is enough for a spoonable cream; use closer to 1 oz if you want a shape that unmoulds cleanly and holds up at room temperature.
- Double creamBritish double cream runs about 48% butterfat. American heavy cream, at 36% or more, works, though the set will be slightly looser. Do not substitute light cream; it will not hold air.
- Dissolving the gelatineThe instruction to dissolve it in cream thinned with milk means warming that liquid, not stirring it cold. Bloom powdered gelatine in a few tablespoons of the cold milk for five minutes, then warm gently until fully clear. Any undissolved grains will show up as gritty threads in the finished cream.
- Temperature is the hingeThe dissolved gelatine must be barely warm, not hot, when it goes into the whipped cream, and it must be added in a thin stream while stirring. Hot gelatine deflates the cream; cold gelatine seizes into visible strings the instant it hits it.
- The strawberry pureeRubbing through a sieve removes seeds and gives a smoother set. A blender plus a sieve is faster. Sweeten the puree with half the sugar as directed and let it dissolve fully before combining, or the sugar will settle.
- Sugar12 ounces (about 1 3/4 cups) is generous for the volume and reflects period taste. Two-thirds of it produces a dessert that still tastes of fruit; adjust the puree's share to the sweetness of the berries.
- Moulds and settingRinse the moulds with cold water and do not oil them. Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight for a large mould. To turn out, dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto a chilled plate.
- YieldTwo quarts of finished mixture serves 12 to 16 in individual moulds, or fills one large 2-quart mould.
Bavaroise began as something drunk rather than moulded: an eighteenth-century French beverage of tea, milk, sugar syrup and sometimes egg, said to have been made for Bavarian visitors to Paris. By the nineteenth century the name had migrated to the cold custard-and-gelatine entremets that Carême and his successors codified as fromage bavarois, and the spelling wandered freely in English-language books -- "bavarvoise" here is most likely a compositor's version of it. This particular formula omits the cooked egg custard of a classical bavarois, relying on whipped cream, fruit puree and a heavy dose of gelatine instead.