No. 3530

Young America Sherbet

Sorbet Jeune Amerique

Imitate a boat in gum paste (No. 3624), standing it on a thin board; fasten an American flag at the stern and fill the empty boat with the following sherbet: Place in a vessel one quart of thirty-two degree syrup, one quart of syrup of pears and currants and one gill of lemon juice, the juice of four oranges, half an orange peel and a little vanilla. Infuse for one hour, then bring it to thirty-two degrees; pass through a fine sieve and freeze. Just when prepared to serve incorporate one gill of kirsch, one gill of rum and a quarter of a bottle of champagne.

← No. 3529 Venetian Sherbet Ices & Ice Creams No. 3531 Sabayon a la Canetti →

For the Modern Kitchen

A late nineteenth-century banquet sorbet built on the syrup-density system Ranhofer uses throughout the ice chapter. The measurements are workable once you know what a "degree" is, and the alcohol is the part that decides whether the finished sherbet holds together.

Thirty-two degrees means density, not temperatureRanhofer measures syrup with a saccharometer graduated in degrees Baume, and 32 degrees is a heavy syrup, in the region of two cups sugar dissolved in one and a half cups water. "Bring it to thirty-two degrees" appears to mean adjusting the finished mixture back to that density with syrup or water after the fruit juices have thinned it.
A gill is half a cupSo one gill of lemon juice, and later one gill each of kirsch and rum. A quarter of a bottle of champagne is about 6 fl oz.
Syrup of pears and currantsMake it by cooking ripe pears and red currants with sugar and water, then straining clear; the currants supply the acidity and colour the pear lacks. Unsweetened pear juice with red currant juice, sweetened to a heavy syrup, gives the same effect.
The alcohol is the hingeKirsch, rum and champagne together are well over a cup of spirits, and alcohol depresses the freezing point sharply. Freeze the base hard first, then fold the liquor in at the last moment as written; adding it earlier gives a slush that never sets. Even done correctly this serves soft, and should go to the table immediately.
Half an orange peel and vanillaUse a wide strip of zest with no pith, and a split vanilla bean rather than extract. The recipe does not say whether the hour-long infusion is warm or cold; either way both flavourings are there to be removed at the sieve.
FreezingThe original assumes a hand-cranked pail packed with ice and coarse salt. Any modern churn works; scrape-freezing in a shallow pan also works but the texture will be coarser and the alcohol makes it harder to fluff.
The boat is presentation onlyNo. 3624 is the gum paste referred to, a sugar paste used for display work rather than for eating. A chilled glass bowl or individual coupes lose nothing but the flag.
YieldRoughly two and a half quarts before churning, and more once the spirits go in. At palate-course size that is a good deal more than a dozen servings; it is not a dessert portion.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially that restaurant's working archive, patriotic set pieces included. A sorbet like this one belonged to the middle of a long formal dinner, served between heavy courses to reset the palate, which is why it is thin, acidic and spiked rather than creamy. The name and the flag point to the practice of christening dishes after occasions and clients, common in Gilded Age hotel dining. The syrup-density measurements are the professional habit of the period, when a confectioner trusted a saccharometer more than a measuring cup.