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Chantilly Vacherin
Prepare a paste by beating up one pound of ground almonds and one pound of powdered or icing-sugar with as many whites of eggs as are necessary to bind it and give to it a firm consistence. Cut off about three-fourths of the paste and roll it out into a flat strip long enough and deep enough to go around the outside of a charlotte mould so as to cover the side and overlap at the extremities of the strip. Fasten the ends together with strong icing-sugar, and then, after trimming the edges all round to the exact size of the mould, place it in a quick oven and bake it until nicely browned. In order to keep the ends together while it is baking, tie round the strip a piece of broad tape or string, removing it as soon as the joint is strong. Then form a flat round with the remainder of the paste and place that on the top of the strip after it has been removed from the mould. Stick the bottom on the strip with icing, and then place it in the oven again to set and brown nicely. When the case is strong and cold, turn it up and set it on a glass-dish with a lace-paper underneath and then proceed to decorate the outside of the case with tinted meringue applied through a cornet, halves of candied cherries and beads of colored meringue as fancy may dictate. When all ready, place the case in a drying-stove until the meringue is well set. Before serving, fill the case with heaped up well-whipped vanilla cream and sprinkle some variegated nonpareils over the cream. The base may be garnished with macaroons or other sweet biscuits and the vacherin may be tinted rose, cream or lavender.
A built almond-paste shell, decorated with piped meringue and filled at the last moment with Chantilly cream. Nothing here is difficult, but the case is architecture: it has to be dry and rigid before it meets the cream.
- The hinge: fill only at the tableThe baked almond case softens quickly once whipped cream touches it. Build, decorate and dry the shell a day ahead if you like, keep it in a dry place, and fill it within minutes of serving.
- "A quick oven"In period terms roughly 400-450F, hot for a paste that is half sugar. The strip colours in a few minutes; watch it and pull it the moment it is nicely browned, or work at 375F and give it longer.
- The charlotte mouldA straight-sided, slightly tapered tin about 6-7 inches across and 4 inches deep, roughly 2 quarts. The paste is wrapped around the outside, so butter and flour the exterior or the shell will not release.
- How many whitesA pound each of ground almonds and confectioners' sugar will take roughly four to six large whites before it holds together as a stiff, rollable paste. Add them one at a time; a wet paste will slump off the mould.
- Icing-sugar, then and nowToday's confectioners' sugar contains cornstarch, which is harmless here. "Strong icing-sugar" for cementing the joints is best read as royal icing: icing sugar beaten stiff with a little egg white.
- Cornet and drying-stoveA cornet is a paper piping cone, easily rolled from parchment. For the drying-stove, use an oven at its lowest setting, 175-200F with the door propped, until the piped meringue is set and matte.
- Vanilla creamCrème Chantilly — heavy cream whipped with sugar and vanilla, not custard. Cream roughly doubles as it whips, so a case built on a two-quart mould will want on the order of a quart of cream to fill it heaped. Whip it stiff enough to hold the mound.
- Nonpareils and tintingThe recipe asks only for pastel shades, rose, cream or lavender, on the meringue and the paste. Modern gel colours go much further than period colourings; use a fraction of what looks right on the spoon.
- YieldA case built on a 2-quart charlotte mould serves ten to twelve, cut in wedges at the table with the macaroons from the base.
A vacherin takes its name from the round, pale, ridged mountain cheese it is said to resemble in shape, and by the later nineteenth century the word meant a built shell of meringue or almond paste filled with cream or ice. Crème Chantilly — sweetened whipped cream — is traditionally traced to the kitchens of the Château de Chantilly and to Vatel, though that attribution is legend rather than documented record. Oscar Tschirky's book collects the repertoire of a large hotel kitchen, and this is a pastry-department piece rather than a home one: it assumes a pastry cook with a drying-stove, paper cornets and time to build a centrepiece that would be carried into the dining room whole.