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Almond Cream (Boils stir in the batter)
boils, stir in the batter and simmer it five minutes, stirring it gently without ceasing, then pour it out; when it is quite cold, mix with it by degrees the juice of two lemons and two large table-spoonfuls of brandy, then pour it into a glass dish in which you have previously placed a quarter of a pound of macaroons and ratafias soaked in brandy; when set, it can be ornamented with almonds, citron, or preserved ginger.
What survives here is the finishing of the cream: the cooking of the thickened almond mixture, the flavouring, and the assembly over brandy-soaked biscuits in a glass dish. The steps that matter most for success are all in this portion.
- The hinge: let it go cold firstLemon juice stirred into a warm milk- or cream-based mixture can curdle it and make it separate on standing. The instruction to cool it completely, then add the juice "by degrees", is what keeps the cream smooth.
- Simmer, do not boilThe recipe has the batter stirred into boiling liquid and then simmered five minutes with constant stirring, which points to a thickening that can take heat rather than a bare egg custard. Stir without ceasing as instructed and pull it off the heat if it starts to catch.
- "Batter" hereIn this period the word means the loose uncooked mixture stirred into the hot liquid, not a fritter batter. The surviving text does not say what went into it.
- RatafiasSmall, hard biscuits flavoured with bitter almond, a bought rather than home-made item in this period and hard to find in Britain now. Italian amaretti, the crisp kind rather than the soft, are the closest thing on a modern shelf.
- A quarter of a poundFour ounces, about 115 g, of macaroons and ratafias together, enough to cover the bottom of the glass dish. The recipe does not say what size the dish should be.
- Two tablespoonfuls of brandyThe recipe calls for two large table-spoonfuls, which on modern spoons is roughly 30 ml, plus whatever the biscuits absorb. The biscuits should be moistened rather than swimming, or the base turns to paste.
- CitronCandied citron peel, cut in thin strips or diamonds. Candied lemon peel is an acceptable stand-in; the modern mixed peel sold for cakes is cut too fine to make an ornament.
- Setting and storageNo gelatine is used, so the set comes from the cooked batter itself and will be soft -- spoonable rather than sliceable. Keep it chilled and covered.
Almond creams belong to a very long English line: ground almonds thickened or steeped into almond milk were a standard rich, meatless luxury of medieval and early modern fast days, and they survived into the nineteenth century as a dessert rather than a devotional one. By the time The British Cookery Book appeared (1859), the dish had absorbed the habits of the trifle -- a glass dish so the layers show, biscuits soaked in spirit at the bottom, candied fruit and blanched almonds stuck on top -- and the ratafia biscuit was a commonly bought rather than home-baked component. Glass dishes for such desserts had been in use well before this date, though pressed glassware was cheaper and more widely owned by mid-century.