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Conde Apricots
Divide and remove the kernels from some apricots and stew in a light syrup until done, together with the rind of a little lemon, pared thin. Next prepare a border of rice suited to the dish to be used and fill the center with the apricot; pour some whipped cream over it just before serving with a sprinkle of pistachio nuts chopped very fine.
A late-Victorian hotel dessert written in shorthand for cooks who already knew the components. The rice border is the part Oscar assumes you can make without being told.
- The rice is the recipe"A border of rice" points to rice "a la Conde": short-grain rice simmered slowly in sweetened milk with vanilla until very soft and thick, usually enriched with egg yolks and sometimes a little butter, then pressed into a ring mould and chilled until it holds a cut edge. The recipe gives no quantities; something on the order of 1 cup rice to 4 cups milk and 1/2 cup sugar will fill a ring mould of about 8 inches.
- Kernels means stones"Divide and remove the kernels" is simply halving the apricots and discarding the pits. Some period cooks cracked the stones and added the inner nut for an almond note; do not, as apricot kernels contain amygdalin.
- Light syrupAbout 1 part sugar to 3 parts water. The aim is halves that stay intact and glossy rather than shredded or shrivelled.
- "Until done" is shortRipe apricot halves poach in 5 to 8 minutes at a bare simmer, less if very soft. They collapse quickly, so lift them out with a slotted spoon the moment a knife tip meets no resistance and let the syrup reduce separately.
- Lemon rind pared thinPeel with a vegetable peeler, taking no white pith, and remove the strips before serving. Two or three strips are enough for a pound of fruit.
- Assembly and temperatureThe rice ring should be cold and unmoulded onto the serving dish, the apricots at room temperature or barely warm, arranged cut side down in the well. Whipped cream and pistachios go on at the last minute or the cream weeps into the rice.
- PistachiosUse raw unsalted pistachios, blanched and skinned if you want a bright green. Salted cocktail pistachios are wrong here.
- YieldAn 8-inch ring with about a pound of apricots serves six to eight.
Rice a la Conde is one of the standard sweet entremets of the French repertoire, and the name is generally traced to the kitchens of the princes of Conde rather than to any documented single cook or date; by the nineteenth century "Conde" on a menu meant this pairing of a moulded sweet rice with poached fruit, most often apricots, pears or peaches. Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf's maitre d'hotel, was compiling for a New York hotel trade that took its dessert grammar directly from Paris, and the entry gives no rice method at all.