No. 3588

Vermeil Globules a la Damseaux

Globules Vermeilles a la Damseaux

To dress these imitated strawberries made of ice cream, it requires shells (Fig. 714), made of either nougat (No. 3621), pulled sugar (No. 3618) or clear sugar. The ends of the shells must be decorated with small flowers made of cooked sugar or gum paste. Mold half of these ices in strawberry ice cream (No. 3451) and the other half in strawberry water ice (No. 3607); after all are molded pack in ice and freeze for half an hour, then unmold them; fasten an artificial stalk, surmounted with small leaves, into each one. Place them in the shells and serve at once.

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For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

This is an assembly and presentation recipe rather than a formula: two strawberry ices are molded into fruit shapes and served in sugar-work shells. Everything hinges on keeping the molded ices hard enough to unmold cleanly and on having the sugar shells built before you start.

Read it as a component recipeRanhofer sends you to four other numbers: strawberry ice cream, strawberry water ice, nougat and pulled sugar. Nothing here works unless those are made first, and the sugar shells should be finished and dry before any ice leaves the freezer.
"Water ice" is sorbetA nineteenth-century water ice is fruit, sugar syrup and water with no dairy. Made alongside the cream version it gives the platter two colors and two textures, which is the whole point of molding half and half.
The strawberry moldsThe recipe does not say what mold to use; ice molds of this period were commonly hinged pewter, two halves clamped together, and antique or reproduction examples are still sold. Silicone strawberry molds work; hinged metal gives sharper seams and unmolds better.
"Pack in ice and freeze for half an hour"That means burying the filled molds in a cask of crushed ice and coarse salt, which can reach roughly -6F and hardens a small mold fast. A domestic freezer at 0F needs two to three hours for the same firmness, and overnight does no harm.
UnmoldingDip the closed mold in cool water for a few seconds, open it, and turn the fruit out onto a chilled tray. Work with two or three at a time and return them to the freezer while you do the rest; a softened surface will not take a stalk.
The stalks and leaves are not foodRanhofer does not say what the "artificial stalk" was made of. If you use anything inedible, it has to be obvious and removable, and it should not be pushed deep into the ice where a diner could bite it.
Nougat versus pulled sugar shellsNougat (No. 3621) is an almond-caramel sheet shaped while warm and is sturdier for holding cold, wet ices. Pulled and clear sugar look finer but soften quickly against melting ice and in any humidity, so shape them the same day and keep them in a dry, airtight box.
Yield and serviceNo count is given. Follow the original's "serve at once" literally: assemble the shells at the last moment or the sugar will weep.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, where a dessert's job was partly to be looked at. Molded ices disguised as fruit were standard high-restaurant work through the second half of the nineteenth century, made possible by the ice trade that put natural ice and salt within reach of large commercial kitchens. Fruit-shaped pewter ice molds were sold commercially in a range of shapes. The name is a la Damseaux, apparently one of the personal dedications Ranhofer attached to dishes, and vermeilles means vermilion, the color of the finished fruit. The trick of serving the false strawberries in a sugar shell with sugar flowers belongs to the same tradition as the piece montee, where confectionery framed the food.