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Burnt Almond Charlotte Russe
Line a plain mould with finger biscuits as for other charlottes. Chop up fine a number of the best almonds and brown them by boiling in an equal amount of sugar; cool them on a baking-sheet, and pound them thoroughly in a mortar, adding some cold milk; while stirring in a pan on the fire, press through a tammy cloth. Steep a small quantity of isinglass in a little tepid water. Put the almonds into a stewpan, with eight beaten eggs to each quarter of a pound of nuts used, and a little finely-powdered sugar, and stir over the fire until it thickens; pour into a kitchen basin, and stir in the solution of isinglass, strain and pack the basin in broken ice, and stir the mixture slowly until it begins to freeze. As soon as it begins to coagulate, pour it carefully into a biscuit-lined mould, and cover with a thin sheet of tin, with ice piled on it, leave it thus for an hour or so longer or till wanted, turn into a glass dish, and serve with crystallized fruits.
A classic Carême-style charlotte russe flavoured with praline, written for a brigade kitchen with an ice cellar. The method is sound but the quantities are sketched rather than stated, so treat it as a formula to scale rather than a set of measurements.
- The hinge: do not scramble the custardThe almond, egg and sugar mixture is a stirred custard and must be taken to about 175-180F over gentle heat, stirring constantly, then pulled off at once. A double boiler makes this far easier than the direct "over the fire" of the original.
- Isinglass is gelatinIsinglass is clarified sturgeon swim bladder, sold in leaf or shred form and long since displaced by leaf or powdered gelatin. For a charlotte of this size, roughly 2 to 2½ teaspoons of powdered gelatin (one envelope) bloomed in a few tablespoons of cold water and warmed to dissolve will set about a pint of custard to a sliceable but tender consistency.
- "Brown them by boiling in an equal amount of sugar"This is praline: equal weights of chopped almonds and sugar cooked together until the sugar caramelises and coats the nuts, then poured onto an oiled sheet to set hard. The "burnt" of the title refers to the caramel, not to scorched nuts — take the sugar to a deep amber and no further.
- Pounding and the tammyA tammy is a fine worsted straining cloth. A food processor will grind the cooled praline with milk to a paste in seconds; pass the warmed mixture through a fine chinois or a double layer of muslin to catch the almond grit.
- The eggs are almost certainly yolksThe eggs may have been intended as yolks -- Eight whole beaten eggs to four ounces of nuts would give a dense, omelette-like set once gelatin is added as well, and many period charlotte custards use yolks, so eight yolks to a quarter pound of nuts is one possible reading — but the original says only "eight beaten eggs" and gives no milk or cream quantity at all, so the dairy is left to the cook.
- Finger biscuitsLadyfingers, savoiardi or boudoirs. Trim one end square and stand them upright and tight against the sides of the mould, lining the base with trimmed pieces; a light brush of syrup on the inner face helps them adhere.
- Ice pails become the refrigeratorThe basin packed in broken ice is a working ice bath: stir until the custard thickens to the point of setting, then pour it in before it firms. The hour under a tin sheet piled with ice becomes several hours in the refrigerator, covered — the original says "or till wanted".
- Yield and serviceThe mould size is not given, so the number served depends entirely on the mould. Unmould by dipping the tin briefly in warm water and inverting onto the serving dish; the recipe says only to serve with crystallized fruits — candied cherries, angelica, apricot.
Charlotte russe is generally traced to Antonin Carême, who is said to have adapted the older English baked apple charlotte into a cold, ladyfinger-walled bavarois and named it for the Russian court he served early in the nineteenth century. By the time Oscar Tschirky assembled his book in 1896, the charlotte had become standard hotel confectionery in New York — a dessert that could be moulded in quantity in the morning, held on ice, and turned out to order all evening, which is exactly the logistical shape of this recipe. The burnt-almond version belongs to the wider late-Victorian enthusiasm for praline, an Old World confectioner's technique that gave a kitchen deep caramel flavour from two cheap ingredients and a copper pan. That the instructions assume a mortar, a tammy cloth and a supply of broken ice tells you as much about the Waldorf's basement as it does about the dish.