Peach Cream

A moulded fruit cream of the sort that stood on every late-Victorian buffet: cooked peach pulp, whipped cream and gelatine, set firm enough to unmould. Nothing here is difficult, but the temperatures at which you combine things decide whether it succeeds.

• The hinge: cool the pulp firstThe sieved peach puree must be at room temperature or cooler before the whipped cream goes in, or the cream will slacken and the mixture will separate into a foam layer over a jelly layer. Stir the dissolved gelatine into the puree, let it thicken slightly at the edges, then fold in the cream.
• Loaf sugarLoaf sugar was refined sugar sold in a hard cone and broken up with nippers; crushed loaf sugar is simply granulated sugar. Eight ounces is about 1 1/8 cups, and with ripe fruit you can cut it to 5 or 6 ounces without affecting the set.
• GelatineOne ounce of modern powdered gelatine is four 1/4-oz envelopes, and today's product is more consistent in strength than period sheet gelatine. Three envelopes will unmould cleanly from a decorative mould; four gives a noticeably rubbery bite. Bloom it in a few tablespoons of cold water, then melt over hot water before adding.
• A slow fireLow heat, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes, until the peaches collapse and the syrup runs thick. "Until it is dissolved" means the fruit has broken down, not that it should be reduced to jam.
• Hair sieveA fine sieve of woven horsehair. Any fine-mesh strainer works, pressed through with the back of a ladle; a food mill fitted with the fine plate is faster. Skip the blender, which aerates the puree and dulls the color.
• One pint of whipped creamAmbiguous in the original. Read it as one pint of heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks, which is the proportion that balances roughly a pint of peach pulp. Whipped to a full pint of finished foam it would be half as much cream and the set would be firmer and less rich.
• CochinealCarmine, the red extract of the cochineal insect, still sold as a food coloring and still an allergen worth mentioning to guests. A few drops only — the intent is to correct the drab tan of cooked peach, not to make the cream pink.
• Setting and turning outRefrigerate at least 5 to 6 hours, overnight for a large mould. To unmould, dip the mould in warm water for a few seconds and invert onto a chilled plate. Needs a large mould -- on the order of six to eight cups -- and serves eight.