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Jaune Mange (Put into one pint of water)
1063. Put into one pint of water, the night before it is to be made, three-quarters of an ounce of gelatine and a little lemon-peel. The next day put into a pint-cup the juice of two lemons and one wineglass of brandy; fill up the cup with good raisin-wine or sherry; pour with the mixture into a saucepan, and add to them the yolks of T seven eggs well-beaten, and sufficient lump-sugar to sweeten it; set it on a slow fire, stirring it till it boils; strain it, and stir it occasionally until nearly cold, when it should be put into the moulds. Another Jaune Mange. -Dissolve one ounce of isinglass in half a pint of boiling water; beat the yolks of six eggs, and mix them with half a pint of raisin or sherry wine, the juice of a lemon, and sugar to the taste (the peel of the lemon should be rubbed with some of the lumps of sugar to extract the essence). Stir all well together, and boil ten minutes. Strain, and when nearly cold put it into a mould first dipped in cold water.
Another Jaune Mange. - Stew half an ounce of isinglass in half a pint of water; add the rind of a lemon pared thin, after having rubbed two or three lumps of sugar on it to extract the essence for the jaune mange. When the isinglass is dissolved, squeeze the juice of the lemon into it, and add five table-spoonfuls of white wine. Stir into it by degrees the yolks of three eggs well beaten, and then set it over the fire and stir it one way till it boils. Strain it, and continue stirring till almost cold. Put it in a mould or glasses; when the eggs are mixed with it, sugar must be added to the taste. (This makes a very small quantity.)
Jaune mange is a wine-and-lemon jelly enriched with egg yolks — halfway between a jelly and a set custard. Three versions are given here; all stand or fall on the same point, which is heat control.
- The hinge: do not actually boil itThe hinge: watch the heat -- Take it to 175-180F, when it thickens and coats the spoon, rather than a true rolling boil; the second version's "boil ten minutes" risks curdling the yolks. Straining afterwards, as all three direct, catches whatever does set into threads.
- Imperial measuresA British pint is 20 fl oz, so "one pint of water" is 2 1/2 cups, and half a pint is 1 1/4 cups. A wineglass is about 2 fl oz; five tablespoons of wine is about 2 1/2 fl oz. The "pint-cup" in the first version is simply a 20 fl oz measuring jug used to make up the liquid to a pint.
- Isinglass and gelatineIsinglass is dried fish swim bladder, the old setting agent, and it is not interchangeable ounce for ounce with modern gelatine, which is generally stronger than the setting agents of the period. For a jelly firm enough to turn out of a mould, reckon about 1/2 oz (roughly 4 tsp) powdered gelatine per 20 fl oz of finished liquid; less if you want it served in glasses.
- Raisin wineRaisin wine was a home-made sweet wine, cheap and common in Victorian larders and now effectively extinct. The recipe's own alternative, sherry, is the practical choice — a cream or medium sherry rather than a dry fino, since the sweetness was part of the point.
- Lump sugar and lemon peelRubbing sugar lumps against the lemon rind pulls the oil out of the zest, which is where the perfume is. A modern equivalent is to rub granulated sugar with finely grated zest and let it stand while you work; pared strips steeped in the water, as in the first version, give a milder result.
- Turning out the mouldDipping the mould in cold water, as the second version says, helps release the set jelly. Chill at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight; dip the outside briefly in warm water and invert onto a wetted plate.
- YieldThe first version's quantities come to something closer to two pints of finished mixture. The third, as the original admits, makes very little — under a pint.
- The alcohol staysBrandy and wine are added before heating, and if the mixture is not boiled hard a good deal of the alcohol will remain. Worth knowing before serving it to children.
The name is Anglo-French kitchen shorthand — jaune mange, formed on the model of blancmange, usually glossed "white food" (from Old French mangier, to eat). Where blancmange took its colour and body from almonds or cream, jaune mange took its from egg yolks. It belongs to the English tradition of wine jellies set with isinglass, popular through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when elaborate moulds were a mark of a competent cook. Three variants are printed together here.