No. 3146

Charlotte with Strawberries or Raspberries

Charlotte aux Fraises ou aux Framboises

Cut a few large lady fingers or charlotte biscuits (No. 3377) into long triangles so as to be able to place them in the shape of a rosette in the bottom of a charlotte mold, pressing them down <?> their glazed side; cut out the center with a pastry cutter one and a quarter inches in diameter; replace this cut-out piece with a round of biscuit cut with the same cutter; then cut off the ends and sides of a few of the same biscuits so as to stand them upright against the sides of the mold, pressing them close to each other. Incrust the mold in ice. Strain first through a sieve and then through a tammy about two pounds of strawberries or raspberries; sweeten this pulp with some thick syrup flavored with orange peel and mixed with about two gelatine leaves or clear melted calf's foot jelly (No. 104); stir the preparation on ice and as soon as it thickens incorporate into it slowly the volume of a pint and a half of very firm, well-drained and slightly sweetened whipped cream. Fill up the mold with this and let harden for one hour on ice. At the last moment dip the mold into tepid water and invert the charlotte on a napkin.

← No. 3145 Charlotte Russe Cold Entremets — Creams, Jellies & Charlottes No. 3147 Chestnuts with Cream →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's fruit charlotte is a fruit bavarian set in a lady-finger case — straightforward once the archaic vocabulary and the very lean gelatine quantity are dealt with.

The hinge: set the base before the cream goes inThe fruit pulp must be stirred over ice only until it just begins to thicken to the consistency of unbeaten egg white. Fold the whipped cream in too early and it liquefies and separates into layers; too late and the mixture seizes into lumps you cannot fold smooth.
Gelatine — the original is shortTwo leaves of gelatine (about 4 g by modern sheet weights) looks far too little to set roughly 2 lb of purée plus a large volume of cream; period leaf gelatine varied in size and strength from maker to maker, so the figure cannot be translated directly, and note that Ranhofer offers melted calf's foot jelly as an alternative, which would be a much greater volume. In practice reckon on 6 to 8 modern silver-grade sheets (or an equivalent weight of powdered gelatine, about 12-16 g), bloomed and dissolved in the warm syrup before the mixture is cooled.
Calf's foot jellyNo. 104 is a clarified stock jelly made by long-boiling calf's feet, the standard household gelling agent of the period. Commercial gelatine is the direct substitute and carries none of the faint meat flavour.
A tammyA tammy is a tightly woven worsted or linen straining cloth. A fine sieve followed by a doubled square of muslin does the same job; the point is to remove every raspberry or strawberry seed so the finished cream is smooth.
Thick syrupThe recipe says only 'thick syrup': a heavy sugar syrup, in practice roughly equal parts sugar and water by weight, boiled briefly until it thickens. Steep a strip of orange peel in it while hot and remove before using.
A pint and a half of whipped creamThat is the volume after whipping, not the cream you start with. About 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) of heavy cream will whip up to roughly that. Whip only to soft, firm peaks and drain off any weeping liquid before folding.
Incrust the mold in iceOriginally the lined mold was bedded down in a tub of crushed ice (salt was added only when something had to be frozen hard). The refrigerator does this: chill the lined mold while you make the filling, and use a small bowl of ice water under the mixing bowl for the setting stage.
Setting timeOne hour on ice is a professional kitchen's timing. In a domestic refrigerator allow 4 to 6 hours, or overnight, before unmolding.
Unmolding and yieldA few seconds in tepid water only — long enough to release, not to melt the edges — then invert onto a folded napkin or a chilled plate, which absorbs condensation and stops the charlotte sliding. A standard 1 1/2 to 2 quart charlotte mold serves 8 to 10.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book's charlotte section is essentially French pastry practice transplanted whole. The name is often traced to Queen Charlotte, consort of George III, and attached first to the hot baked apple charlotte lined with buttered bread; the cold version lined with lady fingers and filled with a set cream is generally credited to Antonin Carême in the early nineteenth century, who is said to have called it charlotte russe in compliment to his Russian employer, Tsar Alexander I. Ranhofer's fruit variants are that same construction with a fruit bavarian in place of the vanilla, and they belong to the era when a kitchen's cold work depended on natural ice hauled from northern lakes — the instruction to "incrust the mold in ice" describes packing it into a tub of ice and salt, the refrigeration that still dominated restaurant work in the 1890s.