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Bisque Pudding
This pudding is made in the same manner as the foregoing. In place of using ladyfingers substitute nicely roasted macaroons.
A one-line variation that only works if you have the preceding recipe in front of you, but the substitution it describes is the whole point of a fountain "bisque."
- It is a cross-reference, not a standalone recipe"The foregoing" is the pudding immediately above it in the book, which from this text used ladyfingers. Read that recipe first; this page only tells you to swap the cake.
- What "bisque" means hereIn soda-fountain usage bisque has nothing to do with soup. It denotes a frozen dessert containing crushed macaroons or nut meats, giving a faintly sandy, toasted texture against the cream.
- "Nicely roasted" macaroonsThis means dried and lightly toasted, not baked from scratch. Spread the macaroons on a sheet in a low oven until crisp and pale gold, then cool completely before crushing.
- Which macaroonThe macaroon meant here is most likely the almond kind — a crisp meringue-and-ground-almond biscuit, closest today to Italian amaretti or amaretti secchi. Coconut macaroons, also sold in the period, are a wetter product and will not behave the same way.
- Crush coarselyBreak to roughly the size of coarse breadcrumbs rather than powder. Ground too fine, the macaroon dissolves into the cream and you lose the contrast that gives the dish its name.
- Add lateFold the crumbs in at the last moment before moulding and freezing. Macaroon that sits in cream or syrup for any length of time goes soft and the pudding turns pasty.
- ServingFountain puddings of this sort were cut or scooped into a stemmed glass or on a small plate, sometimes with a spoonful of whipped cream or fruit syrup over.
Soda-fountain manuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries carried long lists of frozen puddings alongside the sundaes and phosphates. Bisque ice creams and puddings — the term is generally traced to French frozen creams flavoured with crushed macaroon or praline — were a cheap way to make an impression. The telegraphic style of this entry is typical of the genre: the books were written for trade dispensers who already knew the base preparation and needed only the point of difference, which is why so many recipes consist of a single sentence beginning "made in the same manner as the foregoing."