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Lemon Bavarois
Put the peel of two lemons in with one and one-half pints of boiling milk, and let soak for an hour. Steep one and one-half ounces of gelatine in water for fifteen minutes, drain and put it in a stewpan with ten ounces of powdered sugar, the beaten yolks of eight eggs, and the lemon milk. Place the pan on the fire until the egg begins to thicken, but do not allow it to boil, strain through a fine hair-sieve into a stewpan, and place this on the ice, and stir the custard till it coats the spoon, adding one and one-half pints of double-whipped cream Coat a mould with some lemon jelly that has not quite set, let it set in the mould, and pour in the lemon cream. Freeze for two hours.
A classic bavarois: lemon-infused custard, gelatine, whipped cream, set in a jelly-lined mould. Two things decide whether it works — keeping the custard below a simmer, and folding the cream in only when the base has cooled to the thickness of pouring cream.
- Do not let the custard boilCook it to 170-180F, stirring, until it coats the spoon. Past that the yolks curdle and the gelatine base turns grainy; the straining step catches the lemon peel along with any threads of set egg.
- The gelatine is too muchThe gelatine is heavy-handed -- One and one-half ounces is about 42 g, roughly six modern packets. Period gelatine varied a good deal in strength and was not standardised the way today's 225-bloom powder is. For this volume of liquid, 20-25 g gives a cream that unmoulds cleanly without bouncing.
- MeasuresOne and one-half pints is 3 cups (US pints) -- the book's pints may be Imperial, in which case closer to 3 1/2 cups. Ten ounces of powdered sugar is by weight, about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups; "powdered" here means fine caster sugar, not the cornstarch-laden confectioners' sugar sold now.
- "Double-whipped cream"Heavy or double cream whipped to soft peaks, not stiff. Fold it in when the base is cool and just beginning to thicken — too warm and the cream melts out, too cold and the mixture sets in streaks.
- Stewpan and hair-sieveA stewpan is a straight-sided saucepan; use any heavy pan. A hair-sieve is a fine mesh strainer. "Place this on the ice" means set the pan in a bowl of ice water and stir.
- "Freeze for two hours" means chillThis is not an ice cream. Period recipes often use "freeze" loosely for setting a mould packed in ice. Refrigerate 3-4 hours, or overnight; actual freezing ruins the gelatine's texture.
- The jelly liningPour barely-set lemon jelly into a chilled mould, tilt to coat, and let it firm before adding the cream. To unmould, dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert.
- YieldOne and one-half pints of milk and one and one-half pints of cream, whipped, make a large quantity: allow a mould of at least two to two and a half quarts, serving ten or more.
Bavarois, or Bavarian cream, is a custard set with gelatine and lightened with whipped cream — a preparation codified in French kitchens of the early nineteenth century and treated by Carême as one of the standard cold entremets. The name is traditionally explained by French chefs working for the Wittelsbach court in Bavaria, though the connection is asserted more often than documented. Its appearance in Oscar Tschirky's 1896 collection reflects the Waldorf's thoroughly French dessert repertoire, in which moulded creams and jellies were the showpieces of the cold pantry. The lemon peel steeped in hot milk for an hour is the older method of flavoring, extracting oil from the zest rather than relying on extract.