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Sir Walter Scott's Wassail Bowl
1043. Crumble sponge-cakes with ratafias and macaroons into a glass dish, and cover them with rich raisin-wine, and a glass of brandy. The juice of a lemon should first be squeezed over the crumbled cake. Have a rich thick custard ready made, and pour it upon the whole warm, but not hot. If approved, add a little raspberry jam. TRIFLE. 1044. Soak sponge-biscuits, macaroons, and ratafias, &c., in a dish with one pint of raisin-wine and about a glass of brandy, in the morning; then lay upon it a layer of preserve, and upon that the whip given below, reserving a little to put on just before sending it to table. 1045. Whip for Trifle. - Put two wine-glasses of white wine, with a stick of cinnamon, lemon peel, and a blade of mace, into a saucepan over the fire till it simmers, then strain it, and put it to stand until nearly cold, then add another glass of wine, with one of brandy, and an equal quantity of cream and milk; sugar to your taste. Beat it well with a whisk, and as the froth rises take it off and lay it on a sieve, the hollow part down. If for the evening, make this whip the first thing in the morning. 1046. Solid Syllabub for Trifle, or to put into Glasses. A quart of cream, one glass of brandy, two glasses of raisin wine, the juice of two lemons, and the essence of the peel taken by rubbing lumps of sugar upon them. Sweeten to the taste, and whip it all together. A pint is enough for a trifle. 1047. An Excellent Trifle.-Lay macaroons and ratafia drops over the bottom of a dish, and pour in as much raisin-wine as they will suck up; which, when they have done, pour on them cold rich cus. tard, made with plenty of eggs and some rice flour; it must stand two or three inches thick. On that put a layer of raspberry-jam, and cover the whole with a high whip, made the day before of rich cream, the whites of two well-beaten eggs, sugar, lemon-peel, and raisin-wine, well beaten with a wire whisk.. If made the day before it is used, it has quite a different taste, and is far better. 1048. Gooseberry or Apple Trifle. - Scald such a quantity of either of these fruits as, when pulped through a sieve, will make a thick layer at the bottom of the dish; if of apples, mix the rind of half a lemon grated fine, and add to both as much sugar as will be pleasant; if of gooseberries, a little nutmeg and brandy. Mix half a pint of milk, half a pint of cream, and the yolk of one egg; give it a scald over the fire, and stir it all the time; do not let it boil; add a little sugar only, and let it grow cold. Lay it over the apple with a spoon, and then put on it a whip made the day before, as for other Trifle. 1049. Chantilly Cake, or Cake Trifle. - Bake a rice cake in a mould. When cold, cut it round about two inches from the edge with a sharp knife, taking care not to perforate the bottom. Put in a thick custard, and some teaspoonfuls of raspberry jam, and then put on a high whip.
BLANCMANGE.
A run of Victorian trifle formulas, from the plain glass-dish version to the moulded Chantilly cake. The hinge in all of them is the whip: it must be made hours ahead, drained on a sieve, and never stirred back into its own liquid.
- Raisin wineA sweet home-made country wine, no longer sold. A cream sherry, Madeira or sweet Marsala gives the closest result; a pint is a generous 2 cups, so scale down unless you want a soaking trifle.
- Ratafias and sponge-biscuitsRatafia drops were small hard almond biscuits, close to today's amaretti or Italian almond macaroons. Sponge-biscuits are savoiardi or ladyfingers; modern trifle sponge fingers work but absorb liquid faster, so add the wine in stages.
- The whip, and why it is made in the morningThe whip, and why it is made ahead -- No. 1045 is a syllabub whip: the froth is skimmed off as it rises and drained hollow-side down on a sieve so the liquid runs out, which is why it is begun first thing in the morning. No. 1047's whip is simply beaten with a wire whisk the day before. A stand mixer tends to give a stiff cream rather than a light drained froth.
- Raw whites in No. 1047The high whip contains two uncooked egg whites and then stands a day. Use pasteurised whites, and keep the assembled trifle refrigerated throughout rather than in a cool larder as the original assumes.
- CustardThe rice flour in No. 1047 acts as insurance against curdling; the book gives no quantity, and about a scant tablespoon per pint of milk is enough. In No. 1048 the single yolk to a pint of liquid gives a very thin pouring custard, so keep it below a simmer and stir constantly.
- A blade of maceOne piece of the dried outer covering of nutmeg, roughly a quarter to half a teaspoon of ground mace. It is strained out, so a whole blade is preferred for the clean infusion.
- Chantilly cakeThe book gives no oven instruction beyond 'bake a rice cake in a mould'; around 350F in a deep round tin or charlotte mould works. Cutting two inches in from the edge means hollowing out a cylinder of crumb to leave walls and a floor; a grapefruit knife is easier than the sharp knife specified.
- Quantities and yieldQuantities -- A quart of cream in the solid syllabub is roughly four to five cups depending on whether the measure is US or imperial, and the book notes a pint is enough for one trifle, so half the recipe unless filling glasses as well.
Trifle in this form dates from the eighteenth century, when the older whipped syllabub, cream frothed with wine and citrus and drained on a sieve, was set over wine-soaked biscuit and custard rather than served alone. The layered result held its place through the nineteenth century, which is why a mid-Victorian collection can print half a dozen variants in a row and treat blancmange as the natural next heading. Ratafia biscuits and raisin wine both point to a household economy of home-made cordials and almond confectionery that has largely disappeared; the instruction to make the whip the first thing in the morning, or better still the day before, reflects a kitchen with staff and a cool larder rather than refrigeration. The Chantilly cake takes its name from the French association of sweetened whipped cream with Chantilly, a link generally traced to the eighteenth-century kitchens of the chateau rather than to any documented invention.