No. 3134

Raspberry Bavarois

Bavarois aux Framboises

Put into a bowl one pint of raspberry pulp strained through a tammy, dilute it with three or four gills of cold, thick syrup flavored with lemon and an equal quantity of clarified isinglass. Add to this preparation the strained juice of two oranges. Put a small part on ice to judge of its solidity (it must be rather thick than otherwise), and when perfect pour it into a small untinned copper pan, and thicken it on ice while stirring. As soon as it has acquired the consistency of a thick, smooth sauce, take it off and add to it a pint and a half of firm and well-drained whipped cream. Use this preparation to fill either a jelly mold (Fig. 149) or a plain cylindrical mold incrusted in chopped ice; cover with a piece of paper and lay on a deep cover, filling it with more chopped ice, then leave to harden for one hour. Unmold on a cold dish after dipping the mold in hot water. Various bavaroises of different fruit pulps can be prepared the same way, such as pineapple, mandarins, currants, almonds and fresh nuts. The mold may be coated on the inside with a light layer of oil of sweet almonds, thus avoiding the necessity of dipping it in hot water.

← No. 3133 Bavarois with Meringues Cold Entremets — Creams, Jellies & Charlottes No. 3135 Vanilla Bavarois →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's raspberry bavarois is a fruit purée set with fish gelatin and lightened with whipped cream — technically straightforward, but written for a kitchen with ice chests, tammy cloths and copper pans. Two details need attention before anything else: the metal of the pan and the amount of gelatin.

Do not use untinned copperBare copper in prolonged contact with acidic raspberry and orange juice leaches copper into the food. Thicken the mixture in a stainless steel bowl set over ice water instead; the instruction is a relic of a period when unlined copper was standard for sugar and fruit work.
Isinglass means gelatinIsinglass is collagen from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish, sold in sheets and "clarified" by soaking and dissolving. Powdered or leaf gelatin does the same job, but the two cannot be substituted measure for measure: Ranhofer's "clarified isinglass" is a solution of unstated strength, so quantities cannot be transferred directly.
The gelatin quantity is genuinely ambiguous"An equal quantity of clarified isinglass" most likely refers to an equal volume of the syrup — three or four gills, i.e. 1½ to 2 cups — though it could as easily be read against the pint of pulp, and the strength of the solution is not stated either way. Rely on Ranhofer's own test: chill a spoonful and judge whether it sets. As a starting point, a mixture of this size unmolded from a jelly mold usually needs on the order of 2 to 3 teaspoons of powdered gelatin per pint of liquid.
Gills and pintsA gill is half a cup, so three or four gills is 1½ to 2 cups. A pint of strained raspberry pulp takes roughly 1½ to 2 lb of fresh berries once the seeds are pressed out.
Thick syrupNineteenth-century "cold, thick syrup" is a heavy, sugar-dense syrup, boiled and then cooled; Ranhofer gives no proportions at this entry, so the density is a matter of judgement. It supplies most of the sweetness here, so a thin syrup will leave the bavarois bland.
TammyA tammy was a fine worsted straining cloth. A fine-mesh sieve worked with a ladle, or a sieve lined with muslin, removes raspberry seeds just as well.
Chilling and settingStir over ice only until the mixture is the consistency of a thick sauce — if it sets before the cream goes in it will streak and break. The molded cream needs about two hours in a refrigerator rather than one hour buried in chopped ice, and it will hold overnight.
Oil of sweet almondsSweet almond oil, sold as a cosmetic and culinary oil, is a different product from bitter almond flavoring. A neutral oil applied in the thinnest possible film works as well for releasing the mold.
YieldAbout two quarts of finished mixture, serving eight to ten as a cold dessert.

A Little History

The bavarois, or Bavarian cream, is a cold cream stiffened with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream — distinct from the egg-thickened crème anglaise bases used in the vanilla versions that follow it in this book. The name is generally traced to Bavaria and often said to commemorate French chefs working for the Wittelsbach court in the eighteenth century, though the connection is traditional rather than documented, and by Carême's time the dish was thoroughly Parisian. This entry comes from The Epicurean (1894), Charles Ranhofer's enormous record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, where cold entremets like this were the visual set pieces of a long dinner: turned out of a fluted jelly mold onto a chilled dish and carried out whole. The recipe leans on ice for setting, and on isinglass rather than commercial powdered gelatin.