Countess Leda Ice Cream

This is an assembly recipe rather than a formula: a moulded bombe built from three separate ice creams cross-referenced elsewhere in Ranhofer's book. Read it as a plan, and make your bases in advance so all you are doing on the day is lining, filling and freezing.

• The hinge: line the mould while it is already coldRanhofer packs the mould in salted ice before coating it, so the strawberry layer sets on contact instead of slumping down the sides. Chill the mould in the freezer for an hour, then spread a 1/2-inch shell of slightly softened strawberry ice cream with the back of a spoon, working fast and returning it to the cold if it starts to gloss.
• Salted ice means a freezing bath, not a garnishA nineteenth-century pastry kitchen buried the mould in crushed ice mixed with rock salt, which drops the bath well below 32F. A modern freezer at 0F does the same job; the stated hour and a half is about right for a 1.5-2 quart mould, though overnight does no harm.
• Mould size and yieldOne and a half to two quarts serves 10-14 as a moulded dessert. Any deep, smooth-sided form works if you lack the shape shown in Fig. 677; a metal charlotte mould or pudding basin unmoulds most reliably.
• Uncooked ice creamIn The Epicurean an "uncooked" ice cream is a sweetened cream-and-flavouring mixture frozen without a custard base. If the version you follow calls for raw yolks or raw whites, use pasteurized eggs, since this dessert is never heated at any stage.
• Peaches infused in maraschinoCut ripe peaches in quarters and let them sit in maraschino liqueur for an hour, then drain well. Excess syrup carries alcohol into the base, and alcohol keeps ice cream from setting firm; too much and the centre stays soupy inside its frozen shell.
• Lady boucheesSmall sponge-based cases cross-referenced from elsewhere in the book, frosted here with vanilla and strawberry frosting as the recipe directs; the page itself does not describe their form. Bought ladyfingers or plain sponge fingers, glazed with a stiff water icing, stand in well as the base border.
• The swanA separate small ice cream moulded in a swan form, made from almond ice cream, and set on top only at the moment of serving. Without a swan mould, skip it or freeze the almond ice cream in any small decorative form; it is ornament, not structure.
• UnmouldingDip the mould briefly in warm water, wipe it, then invert onto a chilled platter. The recipe says only to unmould onto a napkin; presumably it kept the dessert from sliding on a silver dish and absorbed meltwater. A folded cloth or a bed of crushed ice does the same.
• The kirsch sauceVanilla ice cream beaten with whipped cream and a little kirsch gives a cold, pourable cream rather than a syrup. Make it at the last minute and serve it in a chilled sauceboat, as it separates once it warms.