No. 3535

Palmyra Souffle

Souffle Glace Palmyre

Cook in a slack oven a few good, whole, unpeeled russet apples placed in an earthen dish; when done, remove all the pulp and rub it through a sieve. Put four gills of this into a vessel with half a pound of fine sugar flavored with vanilla, and beat on ice to give it body, then mix in a pint of whipped cream flavored with maraschino. Dress this preparation in separate layers in a souffle dish (Fig. 182), alternating each one with a layer of almond biscuit soaked in maraschino and well-drained brandied figs; shape it like a dome, then freeze it for forty minutes in salted ice in a freezing box. After taking it out decorate the dome with sweetened and vanilla-flavored whipped cream, also candied fruits; return it to the freezing box and serve half an hour later.

← No. 3534 Favart Souffles Ices & Ice Creams No. 3536 Spongade a la Medicis →

For the Modern Kitchen

A frozen souffl-style bombe: baked apple pulp lightened with whipped cream, layered with liqueur soaked biscuit and figs, then hardened in an ice and salt freezer. Nothing here is difficult, but the freezing instructions belong to a kitchen with a packing box rather than a compressor.

The hinge: body before creamBeating the sweetened apple pulp over ice until it thickens is what keeps the finished dish from turning icy. Whip it cold in a metal bowl set in an ice bath until it holds a soft ribbon, then fold the whipped cream in gently — stirring at that point knocks out the air the dish depends on.
GillsA gill is half a cup, so four gills of apple pulp is 2 cups. The weight of apples needed will vary with the variety and how much moisture bakes off.
Slack ovenAround 300F. The apples should collapse slowly, an hour or more, so the flesh dries and concentrates rather than steaming.
RussetsRusset here means a dry, dense, aromatic apple of the russet type rather than a modern eating apple. Any firm, tart, low moisture variety works; avoid soft, watery apples, which give a thin pulp.
Fine sugarHalf a pound is about 1 1/8 cups of caster sugar. It is a lot, but sugar is what keeps a still frozen mixture soft enough to spoon.
Almond biscuitA dry almond biscuit: either small dry macaroons (ratafias, amaretti) or a firm almond sponge biscuit. Whichever is used should be dipped in maraschino, not saturated, or the layers will slump.
MaraschinoThe clear, dry cherry stone liqueur, not the bright syrup from a jar of cocktail cherries. A good kirsch is the nearest substitute.
Freezing box and salted iceThe original packs the mould in a freezing box surrounded by ice and salt, which pulls the temperature below freezing point fast. In a home freezer allow several hours for the initial set rather than forty minutes, and a further hour after decorating.
Building the domeLine the souffle dish and fit a paper collar above the rim so the mixture can be mounded higher than the dish, as the instruction to shape it like a dome implies. Chill the dish first.
YieldTwo cups of apple pulp with a pint of whipped cream and the layers of biscuit and figs will fill well over a quart; allow a dish of a good two quarts. Serve within a few minutes of leaving the freezer; the alcohol keeps it slack and it softens quickly.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of what came out of the Delmonico's kitchens in New York, and its ices section runs to hundreds of numbered variations, each named for a person, a place or an opera. Palmyre may be a dressing room name or the city — the frozen soufflés in this run are titled Favart, Palmyre, Médicis, borrowed from theatre and history in the manner of the period rather than from any tradition attached to the dish itself. What is genuinely old is the method: a soufflé glacé is not baked at all but a still frozen cream, set in a paper collared dish so that it rises above the rim in imitation of a hot soufflé, a conceit that depended on the ice and salt packing boxes in use before mechanical refrigeration. Baked apple pulp as the base is thriftier than the usual custard, and the brandied figs and maraschino biscuits point to a pantry stocked with preserved fruit year round — which is precisely what a house like Delmonico's had.