No. 3631

"bon Voyage" Boat Served at a Farewell Dinner

Bateau "Bon Voyage," Servi a l'Occasion d'un Depart

The shell of the boat is made of brown nougat (No. 3621), molded in a plaster mold, oiled and varnished with shellac, first well dried, then oiled; the masts are made of wire covered with pulled sugar (No. 3618) of a yellowish hue; the cordage of silk, and the sails of pulled sugar exceedingly white, remelted on a slow fire, and rolled out speedily with a roller, then cut with cardboard patterns into the shape of the various sails, afterward laid on sheets of tin bent to the needed form. The waves are imitated in pulled sugar of a greenish color, and the letters on the standard are painted with gold paint. The entire boat can be made of white or colored gum paste (No. 3624), and the water imitated with green royal icing (No. 101). This piece may be filled either with fresh or candied fruits, such as Malaga grapes stuffed with almond paste (No. 125); candied cherries or strawberries and angelica, or else instead of these have imitation flowers made of ice cream and angelica lozenges.

← No. 3630 Basket with Cherries Large Show Pieces No. 3632 Chariot Filled with Lady Apples →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

This is a pastillage-and-sugar centerpiece rather than a dish, and Ranhofer assumes you have his numbered base recipes to hand. What follows is what a confectioner working today needs to translate it.

The cross-referencesNo. 3621 is brown nougat (caramelized sugar bound with chopped blanched almonds, pressed hot into a mold), No. 3618 is pulled sugar, No. 3624 gum paste (pastillage: icing sugar, gelatine or gum tragacanth, water), No. 101 royal icing and No. 125 almond paste. Without those the entry reads as an assembly diagram, which is essentially what it is.
Gold paintNineteenth-century decorators' gold paint was bronze or brass powder in a spirit or oil vehicle and is not food-safe. Use edible gold leaf or a certified edible gold lustre if any part of the piece will be eaten.
Shellac and the moldThe shellac and oil are applied to the plaster mold, not to the nougat, so the casting releases cleanly. Plaster molds are still used in sugar work, but a food-grade silicone or a polished tinned-steel form is simpler and needs only a film of neutral oil.
Working temperature for nougatCast brown nougat sets fast. It must be pressed and trimmed while still hot and pliable; once it hardens, warm it again briefly in a low oven rather than trying to force it. Ranhofer gives no temperatures.
Pulled sugar and humidityThe hinge of the whole piece. Pulled sugar absorbs atmospheric moisture and goes sticky, then slumps; work in the driest room available, keep finished parts under a lamp or with silica gel, and do not attempt sails on a humid day. Ranhofer's "remelted on a slow fire, and rolled out speedily" means the satined sugar is softened just to fluidity, rolled thin at once, and cut before it stiffens.
The sailsCutting with cardboard patterns and draping over bent tin is still the method; the tin gives the sail its filled curve as the sugar sets. Modern equivalents are shaped aluminium foil over a former, or a curved silicone mat.
AssemblyWire masts, silk rigging and sugar sails will not hold themselves. Join with a little boiled sugar at 300F applied with a warm blade, or with royal icing for gum-paste construction, and let each joint set hard before adding the next.
The filling and what to serveThe shell is a container: stuffed Malaga grapes, candied cherries, angelica. Fill it only just before service, since fruit moisture will soften nougat and dissolve pulled sugar. Ice cream flowers need a frozen or heavily chilled dining room; for a table piece, candied fruit is the practical choice.
TimeExpect to build it over two or three days: cast and dry the hull first, then masts and waves, sails last, with final assembly on the day.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the practice of Delmonico's in New York, and its final sections on grosses pièces montées belong to a tradition of architectural sugar work generally traced to Antonin Carême, who built temples, ruins and ships in nougat and pastillage in early nineteenth-century Paris. A "bon voyage" boat had a specific occasion behind it: farewell dinners for passengers sailing on the transatlantic liners were a fixture of New York society life, and the recipe directs that the letters on the standard be painted gold. Nougat, gum paste and pulled sugar were chosen because they hold a shape for days and can be cast, rolled and colored like any other modeling material, and their edibility was largely notional.