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Diplomatic Pudding
Wash and dry six ounces of currants, and blanch and cut into fillets two ounces of pistachio nuts. Procure a plain mould having a lining in it, ornament it with the currants and pistachios, fill the outer part with clear, nicely-flavored jelly and stand it in a cool place. Pour one pint of milk into an enameled stewpan with a stick of vanilla and loaf-sugar to taste, boil until well flavored, and dissolve one-half ounce of isinglass in the milk. Beat the yolks of four eggs into a basin, and stir the flavored milk gradually in with them. Strain the custard into the stewpan, and stir it at the side of the fire for a few minutes, but without boiling it, then let it cool. Move the lining of the mould and fill the hollow with alternate layers of sponge-cakes and macaroons, strewing between each layer a few chopped candied fruits. Pour in the custard and stand the mould in a cool place, or on the ice until the custard is firm. When ready, dip the mould into hot water, wipe it, and turn the pudding out onto a dish,
A cold moulded charlotte in the French manner, built in two stages: a clear jelly shell studded with fruit and nuts, then a custard-soaked cake filling. Nothing here is difficult, but the order of operations and the two setting agents need translating.
- The hinge: the custard must not boilStir it over low heat only until it thickens enough to coat a spoon, around 170-175F. Past about 180F the yolks curdle and no amount of straining will bring the texture back.
- The mould with a liningThis is a two-part mould -- an inner cylinder or smaller form that sits inside the outer one, holding a gap for the jelly. Any two nested containers will do: set the jelly in the gap, chill until firm, then lift out the inner form and fill the hollow it leaves.
- IsinglassIsinglass is gelatin rendered from fish swim bladders, and its setting power varied from batch to batch, so half an ounce is not a reliable figure to convert. For a pint of custard that must stand up when turned out, modern powdered gelatin at roughly 2 envelopes (about 4 1/2 teaspoons) is the working range; bloom it in a little cold milk before adding it to the hot.
- Loaf sugar and the vanilla stickLoaf sugar was cut from a cone of refined sugar -- ordinary granulated is the equivalent. For the vanilla, split one bean, simmer it in the milk, and leave it to infuse off the heat for ten minutes before straining.
- CurrantsDried Zante currants, not fresh red or black currants. They must be genuinely dry before they go against the jelly or they will bleed into it and cloud the shell.
- The enameled stewpanSpecified because bare copper, iron and later aluminum discolor egg custards and taste metallic. Any nonreactive saucepan answers.
- The jellyA clear, lightly flavored fruit or wine jelly, set firm enough to hold the pattern. Pour a thin layer into the bottom first and let it set before arranging the currants and pistachios, or the decoration floats.
- Cake and chillingDry ladyfingers or sponge fingers and hard almond macaroons -- soft coconut macaroons collapse. Give it at least four hours in the refrigerator, and overnight is better; the cake needs time to absorb the custard evenly.
- Turning out and yieldA few seconds in hot water is enough; longer and the jelly slumps. Serves six to eight, and it should be unmoulded just before it goes to the table.
Pudding à la diplomate belongs to the family of cold moulded desserts -- charlotte russe, bavarois, pudding Nesselrode -- that French professional kitchens perfected in the nineteenth century and that dominated the dessert course in grand hotels well into the twentieth. The name is traditionally explained as a compliment to the diplomatic corps, in the same vein as sauce diplomate and other dishes christened for the dining rooms they were served in; no single origin is documented. Its appeal to a kitchen like Oscar Tschirky's at the Waldorf was practical as much as decorative: it is assembled in advance, sets on ice, uses up sponge cake and macaroons from the pastry section, and arrives at the table looking like architecture. The use of isinglass rather than sheet or powdered gelatin points to an older habit of the professional kitchen, though isinglass continued to be called for alongside commercial gelatin rather than being simply replaced by it.