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Stone Cream
1021. Add three-quarters of an ounce of isinglass to one quart of thin cream, previously dissolving the isinglass in a small quantity of water; then add the cream sweetened to taste, and let it boil from ten to fifteen minutes; meanwhile grate the rind of a small lemon into about half a pint of sherry or raisin wine, and put in the dish with preserved apricots or any light-coloured preserve. Stir the cream occasionally, and when almost cold pour it carefully over the preserve. In order that the two shall not mix, make the cream the day before. Another Stone Cream.-Line a dish with orange marmalade, or some other preserve, squeeze on it the juice of a lemon, and grate upon it the peel. Then dissolve three-quarters of an ounce of extract of calves' feet, or half an ounce of isinglass dissolved in water, and add to it a pint of cream well sweetened. Pour this over the marmalade. It should be made the day before. Another Stone Cream.-Lay some preserve of different sorts in the bottom of a deep glass dish, then pour some blancmange over it till the dish is rather more than half full. When perfectly cold, pour on the blancmange a good thick custard to fill the dish, and when that is also cold stick blanched almonds on the top.
Three versions of the same Victorian set cream, all of them assembled the day before and layered so the pale cream sits cleanly on a bed of jam. The one thing to get right is the setting agent: isinglass and modern gelatine are not interchangeable by weight.
- Isinglass to gelatineIsinglass is dried sturgeon swim bladder, and weight for weight it is somewhat less reliable as a setting agent than modern refined gelatine, its strength varying with grade. For the quart of cream in the first version, about 14 g (two 7 g sachets) of powdered gelatine gives a soft spoonable set; for the pint in the second, one sachet is enough. Soften it in cold water first, as the recipe's preliminary dissolving suggests.
- Do not boil it for fifteen minutesModern gelatine loses strength when boiled. Heat the sweetened cream to a bare simmer, take it off, then stir in the bloomed gelatine until dissolved.
- Extract of calves' feetThe second version's alternative is calf's-foot jelly stock, made by long-boiling trotters. It is not sold as such now; use gelatine, judging quantity as above.
- Thin cream"Thin cream" here means single or pouring cream rather than double or clotted; modern single (US light) cream is the nearest match, and whole milk with a splash of double cream is a fair substitute.
- Quantities in modern measureIn British measure one quart is about 1.14 litres, a pint about 570 ml, half a pint about 285 ml. Three-quarters of an ounce is about 21 g, half an ounce about 14 g.
- Keeping the layers separateThe layers stay distinct only if the lower one is fully cold and firm and the cream is poured on when almost at setting point. Pour it down the back of a spoon held against the side of the dish, or over a spoon laid on the preserve.
- The wine and lemon layerLemon juice and sherry sitting under warm cream will curdle it. Let the cream cool until it thickens noticeably before pouring, and do not stir the dish afterwards.
- Preserved apricotsUse apricot jam or halved apricots in syrup, drained. "Light-coloured" matters only for looks: a dark preserve will show through the cream as a muddy line.
- YieldThe quart version fills a large glass dish and serves eight to ten; the pint version serves four to six. All three want a full night in the refrigerator.