No. 3592

Delicious with Hazel-Nuts

Delicieux aux Noisettes

Lay half a pound of hazel-nuts taken from their shells on a baking sheet, roast in the oven, peel to suppress the red skins, then pound with two gills of cream; set this in a basin with twelve raw egg-yolks and twelve ounces of sugar; whip all together and dilute with a pint of milk which has had a quarter of a vanilla stick infused in it. Cook the preparation without boiling till it covers the spatula well, leave stand until cold, then add a pint of fresh cream; freeze. When the cream has a proper consistency mix in two quarts of well-drained whipped cream (No. 50). Pack a two-quart mold on ice, fill it with the composition and freeze for two hours; unmold on a folded napkin, on top set a spun sugar ornament and surround with scooped-out oranges refilled with two differently tinted jellies, white and red, laid in streaks, cooled and then cut in six or eight separate parts; surround the base with small strawberries having fresh leaves attached.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A hazelnut custard ice from Ranhofer's chapter of banquet centerpieces — the ice cream itself is straightforward, but the quantities and the assembly are built for a Delmonico's dining room rather than a home freezer.

The hinge: cook the custard, do not boil itTwelve yolks in a pint of milk will curdle the instant it simmers. Hold it at 175-180F, stirring, until it coats the spatula, then chill thoroughly before churning — a warm base gives coarse ice crystals.
Gills and pintsA gill is half a cup, so two gills of cream is one cup. The pints and quarts are US measures; assume 16 fl oz to the pint throughout.
The volumes do not add upThe finished mixture — custard, a pint of cream, then two quarts of whipped cream — is far more than a two-quart mold will hold. Scale the whole formula to about half if you want one two-quart bombe.
"No. 50" whipped creamRanhofer's cross-reference is simply cream whipped and drained in a sieve or cloth so the loose liquid runs off. Whip to soft peaks, drain briefly, and fold it in cold; over-whipped cream will break when folded into the churned base.
VanillaA quarter of a vanilla stick means roughly a 1 to 2 inch length of bean, split and infused in the hot milk. A teaspoon of good extract stirred into the cooled custard is the practical substitute.
Roasting and skinning the nutsHalf a pound of shelled hazelnuts, 12-15 minutes at 350F, then rubbed in a coarse towel while still hot to shed the skins. Pound or pulse them with the cup of cream to a paste rather than a flour, or the fat will separate out.
"Pack a mold on ice" and "freeze"Both refer to a salt-and-ice bath: the original churned in a sorbetière, then set the filled mold in crushed ice and rock salt for two hours to firm. A modern ice cream machine plus three to four hours in the freezer in a metal mold does the same work; dip the mold in warm water for a few seconds to unmold.
The garnishSpun sugar collapses quickly in humid air, so make it last and set it on just before service. The orange shells filled with two-toned jelly and cut into wedges must be fully set and cold before cutting, or the streaks bleed.
YieldAs written, roughly a gallon of frozen cream. The two-quart mold takes only a portion of it.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef of Delmonico's in New York, and this entry belongs to its section of grosses pièces — molded ices built as table centerpieces, meant to be carried in whole and admired before being cut. Délicieux aux noisettes is a straightforward French dessert name: noisette is the hazelnut. The construction is typical of nineteenth-century high service: a custard base lightened with a large quantity of drained whipped cream so it freezes soft enough to unmold cleanly, then dressed with spun sugar, jelly-filled orange shells and strawberries with the leaves still on. Such garnishes needed a brigade and a room kept cold, which is why the dish reads as excessive on a domestic scale — it was never meant for one. Note also the editorial notice at the head of the page, added by this edition to explain that the book's original language has been preserved rather than altered.