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Raspberry Cream (Peel a large glass of brandy)
the peel, a large glass of brandy, and powdered sugar to taste; stir all well together, then whisk it to a strong froth, place it in a sieve with a piece of thin muslin in it, and it should then stand till the whey has entirely left it; after this it may be put into a mould, turned out, and ornamented to fancy. The cheese is better if made two days before it is wanted. The muslin should be rinsed through cold water. The above proportions make but a small cheese, but may easily be increased at pleasure.
What survives here is the method for a Victorian "cream cheese" — not a cheese in the rennet sense, but sweetened, flavoured cream whipped and then drained in muslin until it is firm enough to unmould. The instructions are complete from the whisking onward.
- ProportionsThe quantities of cream, flavouring and sugar belonged to the opening of the entry and are not present in this text, so no reliable conversion can be given. The finished result is described only as "but a small cheese," with the note that the proportions "may easily be increased at pleasure."
- A large glass of brandyVictorian receipts commonly measure spirits by the wineglass, usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz; "a large glass" presumably means more than that, though no figure is given here. With modern 40% brandy, err on the low side — too much alcohol thins the cream and slows the set.
- Powdered sugarIn this period the term means granulated sugar ground fine, which is today's caster sugar. Modern confectioners' sugar contains cornflour and will give a faintly chalky body; caster dissolves cleanly into cream.
- Whisk to a strong frothThis is the hinge. Whip only to firm peaks that hold their shape; a few strokes beyond that and the fat breaks and the mixture goes grainy on its way to butter, at which point no amount of draining will retrieve it.
- The muslinRinsing it in cold water and wringing it out matters — dry cloth absorbs cream, drinks up the flavouring, and grips the set curd when you come to turn it out. Use several layers of undyed cheesecloth or a clean cotton napkin.
- DrainingSet the sieve over a bowl deep enough that the base never sits in the drained whey. The original does not say where or at what temperature it should stand; with today's cream, drain it in the refrigerator, which will simply take longer.
- Two days aheadThe resting is genuine advice, not padding: the flavour settles and the curd firms enough to hold a moulded shape. Keep it covered and refrigerated throughout, and treat it as a two- to three-day dessert.
- Turning outLine the mould with the same rinsed muslin, or a fresh piece, so the cheese lifts free. "Ornament to fancy" is left unspecified; fresh fruit, fruit crushed with sugar, or crystallised petals would all suit.
Moulded drained creams of this kind were a fixture of the Victorian sweet course, and the word "cheese" appears to have attached to them because the technique — whip, drain in cloth, mould, unmould — is that of a fresh curd cheese with the rennet left out and sugar and spirit put in. Their nearest surviving relative is the French coeur à la crème, drained in a pierced heart-shaped mould and served with fruit. The British Cookery Book, edited by John Henry Walsh and first published in 1859, was collected from receipts in use in private families, which is why entries like this one read as a practised cook's notes rather than a formal formula: the fussy details that actually decide success — rinse the muslin, let the whey leave it entirely, make it two days before — are recorded, because those are the things a household cook had learned the hard way.