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Velvet Cream
Mrs. R. Harris.
Nearly a box of gelatine, soaked over night in a cup of wine ; melt it over the fire, with the sugar ; when it wine; melt it over the fire, with the sugar; when it is warm; put in a quart of cream or new milk and strain it into moulds. If the wine is too hot, it will curdle the milk.
A wine-set cream in the Victorian mould-dessert tradition, closer to a soft jelly than to a custard. The recipe assumes gelatine that was weaker and coarser than anything sold today, so the quantity is the first thing to reconsider.
- The hinge: keep the wine warm, not hotThe original says it plainly at the end, and it is the whole trick. Gelatine dissolves fully by about 120F, and milk or cream added to acidic wine much hotter than that will break into curds. Take the pan off the heat before the milk goes in and stir it in steadily.
- "Nearly a box of gelatine"A late-nineteenth-century box is usually reckoned at about an ounce, though sizes varied by maker, and gelatine came as sheets or as coarse granules. Modern powdered gelatine is stronger and more consistent; one to two envelopes (each 1/4 oz, about 2 1/4 teaspoons) will set a quart of dairy plus a cup of wine to a spoonable cream, depending how firm you want it. A full ounce would give you something much firmer, closer to rubber.
- Overnight soakingNecessary for old sheet gelatine, unnecessary now. Modern powder blooms in cold liquid in five to ten minutes. A cup of wine is ample for that, and the soaking liquid becomes part of the dessert, so nothing is lost.
- Sugar is not quantifiedThe recipe simply says "with the sugar." For a quart of cream and a cup of wine, 1/2 to 3/4 cup suits most palates; sweeten to taste while the mixture is still warm and liquid, when you can correct it.
- "New milk"Fresh whole milk, unskimmed and unhomogenised, straight from the dairy. Whole milk is the nearest equivalent. Cream gives the velvet the name promises; milk alone sets firmer and tastes thinner.
- Which wineThe recipe does not specify. Sherry and madeira turn up often in creams of this kind, and a sweet white would serve. Nothing here is cooked long enough to drive off the alcohol, so the wine's character is the dominant flavour. Choose one you would drink.
- Setting and turning outStrain into rinsed moulds and chill at least four hours, preferably overnight. To unmould, dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto a wetted plate.
- YieldA quart of dairy plus a cup of wine fills a 1 1/2-quart mould and serves six to eight.
The Home Cook Book belongs to the first wave of North American community cookbooks -- collections assembled from the contributed recipes of named local women, each credited, as Mrs. R. Harris is here, and sold to benefit a hospital or church. Velvet cream sits in a large family of moulded wine-and-gelatine desserts (Spanish cream, wine jelly, blancmange) that were staples of Victorian dessert tables because they were showy, made ahead, and served cold. They spread in the second half of the nineteenth century as packaged gelatine replaced the day-long job of boiling calves' feet for stock; the packaged product sold in boxes, which this recipe takes for granted, put a set cream within reach of an ordinary household.