No. 3572

Seville Oranges, and Orange Macedoine Baskets

Oranges a la Seville et Paniers d'Oranges Macedoine

Prepare some Seville oranges or mandarins the same as for orange Russian punch (No. 3613); after they have been emptied and are well wiped inwardly, freeze, then fill with vanilla ice cream (No. 3458) into which has been added some candied orange and citron peel cut in very thin shreds and macerated in a little maraschino, Curacoa and kirsch. Serve, surrounding each one with green smilax. The baskets are prepared the same as the Andalusian (No. 3522), filling them with a cooked almond or hazel-nut cream (No. 3464), into which mix a macedoine of fruits; here and there on top scatter some halved pistachios and cherries.

← No. 3571 Posilipo Oranges Ices & Ice Creams No. 3573 Parisian Ice Cream →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade that already has the cross-referenced preparations standing by, so the entry reads as assembly notes rather than a recipe. Treated as a plan for filled fruit ices, it works perfectly well in a domestic kitchen.

The hinge: freeze the shells emptyHollow the oranges, wipe them dry inside, and freeze the shells hard before any ice cream goes in. A room-temperature shell melts a skin of cream on contact and the filling slumps; a frozen one lets you pack and dome it cleanly.
Seville oranges are bitterThese are the marmalade orange, sour and thick-skinned, in season only for a few weeks in winter. Here only the shell is used, so the bitterness matters less than the sturdy peel, which holds its shape better than a thin-skinned navel. Mandarins, Ranhofer's alternative, are easier to find and easier to empty.
Cut the lids and reserve themThe Russian punch preparation he cross-refers to (No. 3613) is not reproduced here; in practice it means slicing a cap off the fruit, scooping out the flesh through the opening, and keeping the cap. Save the juice for something else.
Macerating the peelShred the candied orange and citron very fine and let it sit in the three liqueurs; Ranhofer gives no time. Alcohol lowers the freezing point, so keep the quantity small -- he says only 'a little' -- or the mixture will never set firm.
Curacoa and kirschCuracoa is curacao, a bitter-orange liqueur; kirsch is unsweetened cherry brandy; maraschino here is the clear cherry-stone liqueur, not the syrup from a jar of bright red cherries.
MacedoineA macedoine is simply a mixture of fruits cut to uniform small dice, usually macerated in syrup and liqueur and drained before use. Drain it well or the water will ice into crystals through the nut cream.
Smilax is decoration, not foodThe green smilax of Gilded Age dining rooms was a florist's trailing vine used to dress plates and tables. Any food-safe greenery, or a few leaves of the orange itself, does the same job now.
Yield and serviceOne filled orange per person. Ranhofer says only to surround each with green smilax; fill them and return them to the freezer to harden before serving, as they soften fast in the hand.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of that restaurant's repertoire, more than 3,600 numbered items cross-referenced against one another like a technical manual. Ices served in their own hollowed fruit were a long-standing conceit of European court and restaurant cookery, going back at least to a French practice often called fruits givrés and reaching its most elaborate form in the multi-course banquet menus of the late nineteenth century, when a sweet course was judged as much by its architecture as its flavour. The Seville orange itself reached Europe through Arab cultivation in Andalusia long before the sweet orange did, which is why the bitter fruit carries a Spanish city's name. The four liqueurs, the candied citron, the pistachios and the hothouse smilax all say the same thing about the house: nothing on the plate was cheap or local.