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Gelatine De Pommes
1097. In a pint of water, boil one pound and a half of white sugar until it is reduced to a very thick syrup; then add two pounds of Newtown pippins, pared, cored, and cut into slices; squeeze in the juice of three lemons, and simmer gently until it is almost a paste; then pour it into a mould, and, when cold, it will turn out a solid jelly. Serve it surrounded with scalded cream in a deep dish.
Despite the name, nothing in this contains gelatine: the set comes entirely from apple pectin cooked down with sugar and lemon acid, which is the same chemistry as a stiff fruit cheese or membrillo. Everything depends on cooking it far enough.
- The hinge: cook it further than feels rightThe mixture must reduce until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a track that closes only slowly, and the mass pulls away from the sides. Stopped at the consistency of thick apple sauce it will slump out of the mould rather than turn out solid.
- MeasuresA British pint is 20 fl oz, about 2 1/2 cups. One and a half pounds of sugar is roughly 3 1/3 cups; two pounds of apples is four or five medium fruit, most likely weighed whole, before paring.
- Newtown pippinsAn American green apple, historically shipped to Britain in quantity, firm and high in acid and pectin. Granny Smith is the closest common substitute; Bramley also works but breaks down faster, so slice it thicker.
- Sugar first, apples secondBoiling the syrup to a very thick stage before the fruit goes in means the slices candy rather than dissolve at once. Keep the heat low after the apples are added and stir often -- the sugar concentration is high enough to catch and scorch quickly.
- Scalded creamIn nineteenth-century English usage this is cream heated slowly until a thick crust forms and then cooled, essentially clotted cream. Clotted cream thinned with a little pouring cream gives the intended effect; plain heated cream does not.
- The mouldRinse the mould with cold water and leave it wet, or brush it very lightly with a neutral oil. Chill several hours, and dip the mould briefly in hot water before turning out.
- YieldAbout 1 1/2 pints of set paste, serving six to eight in small portions. It is intensely sweet and is meant to be eaten in thin slices with the cream.