For ten persons allow one quart of peach water ice (No. 3602); beat it up well and incorporate in a third as much Italian meringue (No. 140), then mix in slowly a gill and a half of kirsch, and two gills of Cliquot champagne; with this preparation fill some natural water glasses, having the bottom of the glass red and the upper part white, made and frozen the same as American sherbet.
A frozen punch from Ranhofer's Delmonico's repertoire, meant to be served semi-soft in glasses rather than scooped. It depends on two cross-references, and on the fact that the alcohol goes in last.
The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summary of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its long run of "punches" belongs to the mid-meal ice course that formal service demanded: a small glass of half-frozen, heavily spirited sorbet served between the heavy courses, of which Roman punch is the best-remembered example. The name points to the Dolgorukov family, one of the oldest Russian princely houses, whose members turned up regularly in European society pages of the period; Ranhofer, like his contemporaries, routinely named ices and garnishes after titled guests and public figures, so the dedication is generally taken as flattery rather than evidence of any Russian origin. The specific call for Clicquot is a period tell in itself, and a reminder that these plates were priced as much on the labels named in them as on the work involved.