No. 35

To Coat Jelly Molds and Mold Jellies

Pour Chemiser les Moules a Gelee et Mouler les Gelees

If the mold need be only lightly coated, it is sufficient just to cool it on ice, then pour into it the cold liquid jelly and move it around so that it reaches all the sides; put the mold back on to the ice, and begin the operation again a quarter of an hour later, but should the coating of jelly be required thick, then glue over the top of the mold a heavy paper, and when the gum is dry, cut a ring in the surface of the paper with the tip of a small knife, leaving all around a margin a quarter of an inch, then pour some jelly into the mold, and turn it round on the ice inclining it in such a way that the coat acquires the necessary thickness on all its sides.

To Mold Jellies.—Put some ice into a small vessel, add its equal quantity of water, and set it in a cylindrical fancy mold; fill this up with some cold liquid jelly, lay on top and half an inch higher than the mold a tin sheet or plate, cover this with broken ice without any salt and after the jelly is thoroughly cold and firm, unmold it. In order to accomplish this, dip the mold quickly into hot water at one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit; wipe it briskly and overturn it on to a cold dish as soon as the jelly detaches, and then remove the mold.

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a technique entry rather than a dish: how to line a mold with a clear jelly shell (a chemise) and how to set and turn out a molded jelly. Everything hinges on temperature control, which Ranhofer achieved with ice and which you will achieve more easily with a refrigerator and freezer.

The hinge: jelly must be cold and liquid"Cold liquid jelly" means jelly cooled to the point where it is syrupy and just short of setting. Warm jelly will run off the chilled mold in streaks instead of clinging, and jelly already beginning to gel will coat unevenly and trap bubbles.
ChemiserThe French verb means to put a shirt on something. The point is a transparent outer layer of jelly inside the mold, against which decorative garnishes and a filling are later set. Nothing is baked or cooked at any stage.
Ice instead of refrigerationThe Epicurean predates domestic mechanical cooling, hence the ice bath, the pan of ice and water inside a cylindrical mold, and the sheet of ice-covered tin laid on top. A refrigerator does the same work; a few minutes in the freezer between coats replaces the quarter-hour wait on ice.
"Broken ice without any salt"Salted ice drops well below freezing and would freeze the jelly solid, which ruptures the gel and leaves it weeping and cloudy when it thaws. Plain ice cannot go below 32F, so the jelly sets firm without freezing.
The paper collarFor a thick shell, paper is glued over the mouth of the mold and a ring cut in it, leaving a quarter-inch rim of paper all round. This dam keeps the jelly from spilling as the mold is rolled and tilted on ice, so the coat builds evenly up the sides. Gummed paper tape works; the "gum" is simply the adhesive drying.
GelatinRanhofer's jellies were built on calf's foot stock, isinglass or sheet gelatine, clarified with egg white. Modern powdered or leaf gelatin is more consistent: a coating jelly wants to be a little stiffer than a spoon jelly, in the region of 2 to 2.5 percent gelatin by weight of liquid, so the shell holds when the mold is inverted.
Unmolding at 115-120FThat is a hot tap, not boiling water. A quick dip melts only the film touching the metal; leave it in longer and the shell slumps. Wipe the mold dry at once, or water runs down the plate and dulls the jelly.
Cold dishChill the serving dish before turning out. A room-temperature plate starts softening the base immediately and the jelly will slide as it is carried.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) collects his professional practice, including a long run of "elementary methods" that assume a brigade, a plentiful ice supply and a taste for architectural cold work. Lined jelly molds belonged to the high era of the entremets and the buffet centerpiece: a clear shell of aspic or wine jelly, garnished inside with truffle cutouts, tongue, or fruit, then filled with a mousse or macedoine, so that the pattern showed through the glassy exterior when it was turned out. The whole genre depended on the nineteenth-century ice trade, which put harvested lake ice into commercial kitchens cheaply enough that a cook could roll a mold on it for hours; it also depended on gelatin still being a laborious product, boiled from calves' feet or dissolved from isinglass and clarified by hand. Commercial granulated gelatin, which arrived in American households around the turn of the century, made the technique possible at home, even as the elaborate chemised centerpiece receded in professional kitchens.