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Burnt Almond Charlotte
½ box gelatine or 2 tablespoons granulated gelatine 1/2 cup cold water 3/4 cup scalded milk ½ cup sugar ½ cup sugar, caramelized ¾ cup blanched and finely chopped almonds 1 teaspoon vanilla Whip from 3½ cups cream 6 lady fingers Make same as Caramel Charlotte Russe, adding nuts before folding in cream. ¼ box gelatine or
A gelatine cream flavored with caramel and toasted almonds, set in a mold lined with lady fingers. It leans on the neighboring Caramel Charlotte Russe for method, so read that entry first: soften the gelatine in the cold water, dissolve it in the scalded milk with the sugar, stir in the caramel and vanilla, chill until it begins to thicken, then fold in the nuts and the whipped cream.
- The hingeFold the cream in only when the gelatine mixture has cooled to the point of just beginning to set at the edges of the bowl. Fold too early and the cream melts into a thin liquid that separates into layers; too late and you get lumps of set jelly through the cream.
- A box of gelatineThe recipe equates half a box with 2 tablespoons of granulated gelatine, so the period box held about 4 tablespoons; half a box is therefore roughly two envelopes (about 1/2 oz, 4 1/2 teaspoons) of modern powdered gelatine. The recipe helpfully gives the tablespoon equivalent.
- Caramelized sugarSugar is melted dry in a heavy pan until it is a deep amber and then stirred into the hot milk mixture; it will hiss and seize, so add it gradually and stir until dissolved. Take it darker than looks comfortable, or the flavor reads as sweet rather than burnt.
- Two sugarsThe plain sugar sweetens the custard base and the caramelized sugar supplies the "burnt" flavor. The quantity given for the caramelized portion is out of proportion to the rest of the recipe and looks like a misprint; about 1/2 cup is a plausible working amount.
- The cream"Whip from" means measure the cream before whipping, not after. Use heavy cream, whipped only to soft peaks so it will still fold; the volume printed here looks inconsistent with the rest of the formula and may be a misprint for something nearer 1 1/2 cups.
- Blanched almondsPour boiling water over raw almonds, let stand a minute, and slip the skins off. The recipe asks only for blanched almonds; the "burnt" flavor comes from the caramel, though a modern cook may choose to toast the nuts lightly before chopping.
- MoldingLine the bottom and sides of a quart mold or charlotte tin with the lady fingers, split, before pouring in the cream. Chill at least four hours, then dip the mold briefly in warm water to unmold.
- YieldAbout a quart, serving six to eight.
The charlotte russe is generally traced to the early nineteenth-century French kitchen and to Antonin Carême, whose version lined a mold with ladyfingers and filled it with Bavarian cream. By the time Fannie Farmer was teaching in Boston the dish had been thoroughly domesticated: granulated gelatine sold by the box made the setting reliable for a household cook, and the school's books give a whole family of charlottes distinguished only by flavoring, each one instructing the reader to follow the master recipe with an addition. "Burnt almond" was a stock flavor of the period, meaning caramel plus toasted nuts, and it turns up equally in ice creams, cakes and candies of the 1890s and 1900s.