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Snow Drifts
Mrs. S. McMaster.
Half a box of gelatine, one pint of boiling water, juice of two lemons, two cups of sugar, whites of five eggs; dissolve the gelatine in the water; add the lemon and sugar mixed together; put in mould to cool; when cool, but not cold, take the whites of the eggs beaten stiff, sweetened and flavoured, and float them on boiling milk for about one minute. Now take the gelatine from your mould (instantly place the mould in cold water), and with a fork, beat up the gelatine that has become firm into bits, but not into liquid. Now take your mould and add spoon about of the broken up jelly and the whites of eggs, filling up the mould with the jelly that became soft in spite of you; place to cool. Serve on a dish surrounded by a custard made from the yolks of the eggs and one more; one pint of milk.
A Victorian gelatine dessert built in two parts: a firm lemon jelly chopped into flakes, and poached meringue, layered together and served in a pool of stirred custard. The hinge is the jelly — it must be set firm enough to break into distinct bits rather than smear.
- Half a box of gelatinePeriod boxes varied in size; a box is commonly reckoned at about 2 oz, which would put half a box at roughly 1 oz — about four modern 1/4-oz envelopes, or 28 g. On that reading it is a stiff set for one pint of liquid, which suits a jelly that has to shatter into flakes under a fork.
- Bloom it firstModern granulated gelatine wants five minutes in a few tablespoons of cold water before the boiling water goes on, or you will get undissolved grains. Sheet gelatine can be substituted by weight, softened in cold water and squeezed.
- Sugar and lemonTwo cups of sugar to a pint of liquid is sweet by current taste; the lemon juice from two fruits (about 1/4 cup) is what keeps it from cloying. Reducing the sugar to a cup and a half will not affect the set.
- "Cool, but not cold"The instruction means syrupy and just beginning to thicken. The rueful line about "the jelly that became soft in spite of you" reads as the author admitting that the chopped flakes soften at the edges as you work; keep the bowl over ice and move quickly.
- Poaching the whitesThe recipe says boiling milk; barely simmering is gentler, and the one minute should not be extended. Poached meringue tightens and weeps if it boils or cooks long; lift the spoonfuls out with a slotted spoon onto a cloth to drain.
- The custardSix yolks to one pint of milk (the five from the meringue plus one more) makes a thick pouring sauce. Stir over low heat to 170-175F, until it coats the back of a spoon, and take it off before it approaches a simmer or it will scramble.
- UnmouldingDip the mould in hot water for a few seconds, not cold, to release the finished dessert; the cold water in the original appears to be for the emptied mould between stages.
- YieldAbout six to eight servings. Assemble no more than a few hours ahead and keep refrigerated — the meringue slowly gives up water into the jelly.
The Home Cook Book (Toronto, 1877) was one of North America's first community cookbooks, compiled from contributions by named local women, which is why this page carries Mrs. S. McMaster's name rather than an editor's. The dish itself is a hybrid of two Victorian favourites: oeufs à la neige or floating island, in which sweetened meringue is poached in milk and served on custard, and the fashion for moulded gelatine desserts that followed the availability of packaged and sheet gelatine in the middle of the century. Chopping a set jelly into glittering flakes was a standard trick of the period, appearing in recipes under names like snow, frost and drift; combining it with poached whites and a yolk custard let a cook use a half-dozen eggs entirely, with nothing thrown away. The candid aside about jelly that softens "in spite of you" is characteristic of these subscription books, where the voice is a working cook's rather than a professional's.