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Raspberry Cream (Boil an ounce of isinglass)
1006. Boil an ounce of isinglass in three pints of milk a quarter of an hour; strain it; when cool, add half a pint of raspberry syrup, stir it well, and sweeten it; add a glass of brandy, and, when nearly cold, put it into a mould.
A moulded set cream of the pre-packet-gelatine era. The whole thing turns on getting the acid raspberry syrup into the milk without curdling it, and on judging a setting agent no longer sold in most shops.
- The hinge: temperature when the syrup goes inRaspberry syrup is acidic and will split hot milk on contact. Let the strained milk cool to lukewarm or below, then trickle the syrup in while stirring steadily rather than pouring it in at once.
- Isinglass and its replacementIsinglass is dried sturgeon swim bladder, sold in leaves or shreds and long superseded by gelatine. Its setting power varies, so no conversion is exact; for about 1.7 litres of liquid, 25-30 g of powdered or leaf gelatine is a reasonable starting point. Chill a spoonful on a saucer for ten minutes to check the set before you fill the mould.
- Do not boil modern gelatineThe quarter-hour boil is needed to dissolve isinglass shreds. Gelatine dissolves in hot, not boiling, milk and loses strength if boiled; bloom it in a little cold milk, then stir into milk heated to just below a simmer.
- MeasuresThree imperial pints is about 1.7 litres, half a pint of syrup about 300 ml. A "glass" of brandy here means a wine glass, roughly 60 ml.
- Acid and alcohol both weaken the setAcid weakens the set -- 300 ml of fruit syrup will give a softer set than plain milk jelly (the small measure of brandy is too dilute here to make much difference). Err on the generous side with the gelatine if you want clean edges when turned out.
- SweeteningThe original leaves the amount open. Taste the cooled mixture before moulding, remembering that chilling mutes sweetness noticeably.
- Setting and turning outRinse the mould with cold water first, then chill at least six hours or overnight. To unmould, dip the outside in warm water for a few seconds and invert onto a wetted plate.
- YieldAbout 2 litres of mixture, so a mould of at least 2 litres; eight to ten servings.
Moulded creams like this one sit between the older English flummeries and the packet-jelly desserts that followed. Isinglass, prepared from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish, was a common household setting agent for much of the nineteenth century, sold by grocers and chemists in shreds or ribbons; commercially refined gelatine displaced it as sheet and powdered forms became cheaper and more reliable. Raspberry syrup was a domestic staple, put up in summer and drawn on all year for creams, ices and drinks, and raspberry versions of moulded dishes appear in many Victorian collections alongside lemon and almond ones. Brandy appears in a good many such creams, chiefly for flavour.