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Oranges for Dessert
Peel the oranges and trim off the white part, being very careful not to break the fruit. Put some powdered sugar in a dish, about one-half pound for two dozen oranges, and pour over it sufficient cochineal to give it a bright pink color; place it in front of a fire until well dried. Roll the oranges in the sugar, giving them a good coating all over, then arrange them carefully in a raised glass or dessert dish and serve. Oranges colored in this way are a great improvement over the ordinary way of serving them.
A dish of pure presentation: whole peeled oranges rolled in pink sugar and piled in a footed dish. Two details decide whether it works — keeping the fruit intact while you peel, and getting the sugar bone-dry before it touches the fruit.
- Peel without breaking the fruitCut the skin away with a small sharp knife rather than pulling it off with your fingers, taking the peel and white pith in one pass around the fruit so the membrane beneath stays unbroken. Any tear leaks juice, and juice turns the coating to syrup on the plate.
- Cochineal in practiceCochineal is the red dye from the dried Dactylopius coccus insect, sold today as carmine or as "natural red 4" in liquid food colouring. A few drops tint half a pound of sugar; add it drop by drop, since the colour deepens noticeably as the sugar dries. It is not vegetarian, and it is one of the few colourings that provokes genuine allergic reactions in a small number of people — worth mentioning if you are serving guests.
- QuantitiesHalf a pound of powdered (confectioners') sugar is roughly 1¾ cups. The recipe as written is scaled to two dozen oranges, one per person; halve or quarter the sugar in proportion.
- "In front of a fire"An open hearth gave dry radiant heat with air movement. Spread the tinted sugar in a thin layer on a baking sheet and dry it in an oven at its lowest setting, 150–200F, for 20 to 30 minutes, or leave it uncovered at room temperature for several hours. Break up any lumps and push it through a sieve before rolling.
- Why the sugar sticksThe film of moisture on a freshly peeled orange is all the adhesive there is. Roll the fruit immediately after peeling; blot it or let it stand and the coating goes patchy.
- Serving vesselA "raised glass" is a footed compote or cake stand — the point is height, so the pink fruit is seen. Assemble no more than half an hour before serving, as the sugar will slowly dissolve into a glaze and then a pool.
- At the tableThese arrive whole and unsliced, so set out fruit knives and small plates, or quarter the oranges through the top just before serving so they open into segments without losing the coating.
Oscar Tschirky's book belongs to the era when dessert fruit was expected to be dressed, and coloured sugars were part of a professional kitchen's ordinary stock. Cochineal reached Europe from Spanish Mexico in the sixteenth century and remained the standard bright red for confectionery and liqueurs until coal-tar dyes undercut it in the later nineteenth century; that it is still specified here, in a New York hotel kitchen around 1896, is worth noting. Whole oranges were also still something of a display item on an American table — and Oscar closes with a mildly defensive line about the ordinary way of serving them.