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Chartreuse of Oranges
Two plain moulds will be required, one of which should be about one and one-half inches larger in diameter than the other. Make some orange jelly and pour a layer of it in the larger mould, then put in a layer of oranges divided into quarters, and freed of all skin and pips; pour over these another layer of jelly, and stand the mould on ice. When the jelly is quite firm, put in the smaller mould, placing it exactly in the center, so that the space all round will be the same. Next fill up the space between the moulds with quarters of oranges, prepared as above, and liquid orange jelly, and set the mould on ice. Dissolve one-half ounce of isinglass in a small quantity of milk, then mix it with three gills of cream. Sweeten it with orange syrup, adding this latter ingredient in very small quantities and whipping the cream well at the same time. When the jelly has set, pour warm water in the smaller mould to loosen it, then lift it out carefully, fill the hollow space with the whipped cream, and stand the whole on ice for an hour longer. When ready to serve, dip the large mould containing the chartreuse in warm water, then turn its contents quickly onto a dish. This dish can be made to look very pretty and effective if a little care and judgment be exercised in its manufacture; the flavor is excellent
A layered moulded jelly with a whipped-cream core, built between two nested moulds. The construction is the whole dish; the flavours are simple.
- The hinge: chill between every layerEach layer of jelly must be fully set before the next is poured, and the poured jelly must be barely liquid and cool to the touch. Warm jelly will melt what is underneath and the layers will bleed into one grey-orange mass.
- Gills and ouncesA gill is half a cup, so three gills of cream is one and a half cups. The half ounce of isinglass is a weight, roughly 14 grams.
- IsinglassDried sturgeon swim bladder, once the standard fine-quality setting agent and still sold for clarifying beer. Powdered gelatin is the ordinary modern substitute, but the two do not set gram for gram, so follow the packet's ratio for the volume of cream rather than converting the weight directly.
- Orange jelly is assumed, not givenThe recipe takes the jelly for granted and does not say how it is made or how much is needed. Whatever quantity the two moulds require, set it slightly firmer than a jelly you would eat with a spoon, since it has to stand up when turned out.
- Preparing the oranges"Pips" are seeds. Segmenting the fruit free of all white pith and membrane is what keeps the finished slices clear and sweet; leftover membrane goes tough and bitter in cold jelly.
- Ice and modern refrigeration"Stand on ice" means the icebox or an ice bath. The refrigerator does the same work; allow rather longer than the recipe implies, an hour or more per layer, and give the assembled chartreuse several hours before unmoulding.
- The inner mouldWeight it down with pie weights or dried beans or it will float as the jelly is poured. The warm water trick to release it should be brief: a few seconds only, or the surrounding jelly will slump.
- Turning outDip the large mould in warm, not hot, water for five to ten seconds, loosen the edge with a fingertip, and invert onto a chilled, lightly wetted plate so the jelly can be nudged into position.
- YieldThe recipe gives no mould size or number of servings. Serve it straight from the cold.
The chartreuse began in French cookery as a savoury construction — a moulded case of vegetables, often cabbage, enclosing game or forcemeat, the name generally traced to the meatless cookery of the Carthusian monks. By the nineteenth century the word had drifted to mean any dish built in concentric layers inside a mould, and confectioners applied it to jellies. This sweet version belongs to the era of the elaborate cold sideboard, when hotel kitchens like the Waldorf's had ice in quantity, moulds in every size, and pastry cooks with the time to build a dessert in stages. Isinglass, which Oscar takes for granted here, was a prestige setting agent of that kitchen: dearer than calf's-foot jelly or commercial gelatine, and prized because it set clear and carried almost no flavour of its own.