No. 3157

Crown a la Choiseul

Couronne a la Choiseul

Cook in a plain shallow and narrow border mold some almond biscuit, the same as for No. 3229. Unmold it on a small baking sheet and let get cold. Then cover over with apricot marmalade (No. 3675) and decorate it all around with fancy cuts of candied fruits. Incrust in pounded ice another border mold more fanciful and slightly wider than the one used for the biscuit; decorate the bottom of it with candied fruits and cover this with a layer of orange jelly (No. 3180). When hard slip the biscuit into this mold upside down, and fill the empty space between the mold and the biscuit with more of the cold jelly. One hour after dip the mold in hot water and wipe and invert the dessert on a cold dish; fill the center with a pyramid of quartered oranges pared to the pulp, the pith and seeds extracted and then macerated in sugar. Dress this pyramid in layers, pouring some thick orange peel syrup between each one.

← No. 3156 Crown a la Camper Cold Entremets — Creams, Jellies & Charlottes No. 3158 Crown Printaniere →

For the Modern Kitchen

A composed jelly-and-sponge ring from Delmonico's dessert repertoire, built in two stages: a baked almond sponge ring glazed with apricot, then set inside a slightly larger jelly-lined ring. Nothing here is difficult, but the order of operations is the whole recipe.

The hinge: two molds, two sizesThe sponge is baked and glazed in a narrow shallow ring mold, then dropped upside down into a wider, more decorative ring already lined with set orange jelly. If the second mold is not genuinely wider all round, there is no gap to fill with jelly and the dessert has no clear coat. Allow a good 1/4 inch of clearance.
"Incrust in pounded ice"Ranhofer's chilling method is a mold buried in crushed ice, often with rock salt. A freezer for the initial jelly layer and the refrigerator thereafter does the same work. Do not freeze the finished dessert solid; gelatin turns grainy and weeps as it thaws.
Orange jelly and modern gelatinNo. 3180 is a sweetened orange jelly, set with gelatin (the referenced recipe is not given here). Use enough to unmold cleanly — roughly 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin per cup of liquid for a self-supporting jelly. Fresh pineapple, kiwi or papaya juice would prevent setting; orange will not.
Apricot marmaladeThis is a strained, boiled-down apricot glaze rather than chunky preserve. Warm apricot jam, sieve it, and reduce briefly so it sets tacky on the sponge and holds the candied fruit in place.
Almond biscuitNo. 3229 is an almond sponge (the recipe is not reproduced here). Bake a shallow ring in a moderate oven only until just set; it should stay pale, since it will be soaked in jelly and glaze.
Timing"One hour after" is optimistic for the assembled ring. Give the finished mold at least three to four hours in the refrigerator, and overnight is safer if you want sharp edges on the unmolded jelly.
UnmoldingA dip in hot water means two to three seconds, no more, followed by a wipe and an immediate inversion onto a chilled plate. Longer and the outer jelly clouds and slumps.
The orange centerQuartered oranges "pared to the pulp" are what a modern kitchen calls supremes — all peel, pith and membrane cut away. Macerate in sugar, drain well before building the pyramid, or the free juice will thin the syrup and puddle on the dish.
YieldThe recipe states no mold size or number of servings; a ring mold of roughly 1 1/2 quarts would serve about eight to ten. Cut with a thin knife dipped in hot water between slices.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its cold entremets section is the most Parisian part of the book: molded jellies, charlottes and bavarois built in numbered, cross-referenced components, so that a single dessert like this one draws on three other recipes by number. The name follows the classical French habit of attaching an aristocratic title to a garnish or presentation — Choiseul is a French ducal house best known through Étienne-François, duc de Choiseul, foreign minister to Louis XV — though as with most such names the connection to the dish is honorific rather than documented, and cooks of Ranhofer's generation used them chiefly as shorthand for a fixed set of components. What the recipe really demonstrates is the nineteenth-century restaurant kitchen's command of ice: a pastry cook with a packed ice chest could set clear jelly around a sponge in layers, decorate the bottom of a mold knowing it would become the top, and send out something that looked architectural on a warm dining room table.