No. 3567

Muffs a la Dejazet, Venus Cream

Manchons a la Dejazet, Creme Venus

Prepare the muffs according to the following description: Sift through a sieve one-quarter of a pound of sugar, place it in a vessel with four whole eggs, a quarter of a pound of flour and a little powdered vanilla; spread this on a buttered and floured baking sheet to the thickness of about one-sixteenth of an inch, and bake in a brisk oven; divide this cake into bands each six and a quarter inches long by two and a half wide, roll them on a piece of rounded wood two inches in diameter, cover them with a light layer of meringue (No. 140), and over this scatter in profusion some pistachios and almonds, chopped in eighth of an inch pieces, mixing them with dried currants.

Venus Cream.—Put into a vessel one vanilla bean, as much Ceylon cinnamon broken small, a little mace and the peel of an orange; boil a quart of very fresh cream, pour it over the spices, cover and leave infuse for three hours. Break ten egg-yolks in a basin, work well with half a pound of sugar and the boiled cream, coloring it to a soft pink. Cook this preparation, let stand till cold, then strain through a fine sieve; freeze and add to this ice one quart of whipped cream. Dress each muff on a separate sheet of paper; fill the bottom with a quarter of an inch thick layer of pistachio cream (No. 3454), over this the Venus cream, and on top another one of pistachio to close the orifice. Keep in the freezing box for half an hour. When serving fasten in the center of both ends a stick of angelica.

← No. 3566 Montelimar with Hazel-Nut Cream Ices & Ice Creams No. 3568 Mushrooms →

For the Modern Kitchen

Two components dressed as one dish: a thin sponge sheet rolled into tubes (manchons, muffs) and a spiced pink custard ice. The hinge is the sponge — it must be rolled the moment it leaves the oven or it cracks.

Roll while hotA sheet this thin firms up fast as it cools. Cut the bands and wrap them around the dowel while the sheet is still warm and flexible, then let them cool on the wood to hold the cylinder.
Brisk ovenRead this as 425-450F. At that thickness the sponge colours in about 4 to 6 minutes; watch it rather than the clock.
The batterQuarter pound sugar is about half a cup plus two tablespoons, quarter pound flour about seven-eighths of a cup, and four whole eggs bind them into a thin genoise-type batter. Beat the eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage before folding in flour or the sheet bakes tough and will not roll.
Cross-referencesNo. 140 is Ranhofer's meringue (beaten whites with sugar) and No. 3454 his pistachio ice cream; the muffs are only assembled here. Substitute a stiff Italian meringue and any good pistachio ice cream if you do not have the full book.
Cook the custard to a numberTen yolks to a quart of cream and half a pound of sugar is a rich anglaise. Take it to 175-180F, stirring, until it coats a spoon; much above that and it will curdle.
Infusion and colourThree hours of steeping with vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon, mace and orange peel gives the ice its character. "Soft pink" would most likely have been got with cochineal or carmine; a few drops of beet or raspberry juice, or modern food colour, will do the same job.
FreezingChurn the strained custard, then fold in a quart of separately whipped cream — this makes it a semifreddo-textured ice rather than a hard one. The "freezing box" is a salt-and-ice packing chest; a home freezer set as cold as it goes stands in for the half-hour setting period.
Yield and servingCandied angelica stems are still sold by baking suppliers; fresh angelica is not the same thing.

A Little History

Manchon is French for a muff, the tubular fur hand-warmer that was standard winter equipment for well-dressed women through the nineteenth century, and confectioners borrowed the shape for anything rolled around a dowel and trimmed at both ends. The dedication is to Virginie D e9jazet (1798-1875), the Paris actress famous for playing young men in travesti, whose name was attached to a number of garnishes and sweets in the way Melba's and Patti's would be. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 with over 3,500 numbered receipts built to cross-reference one another, and this entry is a fair sample of his method: an assembly that assumes you already have his meringue and his pistachio ice on hand. The spice list 2014 vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon, mace, orange peel 2014 belongs to an older tradition of infused cream ices, and the pink tint would most likely have come from cochineal, the usual red colouring of the period.