Apple Compote
Pare the apples, cut the core out, leaving them whole. Make a syrup, allowing three-fourths pound of sugar to a pound of fruit; when it comes to a boil put in the fruit and let cook until clear but remains whole. Remove the fruit to a glass bowl, and dissolve onethird of a box of gelatine in a half tea-cup of hot water, and stir briskly into the syrup, first taking off the fire. Then strain it over the apples, and set in a cool place to cool. When cold heap whipped cream over it. Some add sliced lemons to the syrup, and serve with a slice of the lemon on each apple. -Mrs. A. H. Rhea, Nashville, Tenn.
A poached-apple dessert set in its own jellied syrup. The whole thing hinges on choosing apples that hold their shape and pulling them out the moment they turn translucent.
- Apple choiceThe recipe assumes a firm cooking apple that will go clear without collapsing. Braeburn, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious or a firm russet work; McIntosh and most soft eating apples will slump into sauce.
- The syrup ratioThree-quarters pound sugar to a pound of fruit is by weight, so about 1 3/4 cups sugar to a pound of apples (three to four medium). Add just enough water to cover the fruit and dissolve the sugar before it comes to a boil.
- Poaching timeSimmer gently rather than boil, and start checking at 8 minutes. "Cook until clear but remains whole" is the entire test: the flesh turns translucent at the edges and a skewer slides in with slight resistance. Left longer, cored apples split and flatten.
- Half a tea-cupPeriod tea-cups were not standardised; they are usually reckoned at somewhere between 4 and 6 fl oz, so half a tea-cup is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 cup of hot water for softening and dissolving the gelatine.
- One-third of a box of gelatinePeriod boxes were around an ounce, though sizes varied by maker, so a third of a box is close to 1 tablespoon of modern powdered gelatine (a little more than one 1/4 oz envelope). Strengths were not standardised then, so treat this as approximate; one envelope will lightly set about 2 cups of syrup, which is what you want here.
- Off the heatThe instruction to take the syrup off the fire first is not incidental. Gelatine held at a boil loses setting power, so pull the pan, then stir the dissolved gelatine in briskly and strain it over the fruit.
- Setting"A cool place" means the refrigerator now; allow 4 hours, or overnight, for a syrup this sugary to set. Add the whipped cream only at serving, since it weeps if it sits on cold jelly.
- The lemon variationSliced lemon in the syrup is worth doing: it cuts the sweetness, and the acidity helps the apples hold their edges. Simmer the slices with the syrup, then reserve the best ones for the top.
- YieldOne apple per person, so four to six servings depending on size. Serve in the glass bowl as written, or set individual apples in glasses with syrup poured around each.
Compote in the French sense means fruit cooked whole or in pieces in sugar syrup and served in its own liquid, as distinct from a preserve meant for keeping; the word is generally said to have entered English cookery writing by way of translated French sources, and by the 1880s appeared routinely in American "Fruits" chapters. What marks this version as late-nineteenth-century American is the gelatine, widely available by then, which made a jellied syrup a matter of minutes rather than a day of boiling calves' feet, and the crown of whipped cream, which turns a plain stewed apple into a company dessert. The Dixie Cook Book was assembled from contributed receipts, and this one carries its contributor's name and city, the usual arrangement in subscription and community cookbooks of the era.