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Strawberry Coupes
Pick off stems, wash and thoroughly drain a pint fine, fresh red strawberries, place in a bowl with two ounces fine sugar, a tablespoon each kirsch, maraschino and rum, and half teaspoon vanilla essence, then turn strawberries in seasoning and let infuse until required. Prepare a pint (only) vanilla ice cream, evenly divide strawberries and liquor in six coupes or champagne glasses, then divide vanilla ice cream in coupes, neatly smooth surface to dome-like shape and serve.
A macerated-fruit sundae that depends entirely on the fruit being good and the ice cream being firm. Nothing here is difficult; the timing of the maceration and the temperature of the ice cream are the whole game.
- The hinge: keep the ice cream hardAssemble at the last minute with ice cream taken straight from the freezer, or the liquor-soaked berries will melt it into pink soup. Chill the glasses first if the kitchen is warm.
- CoupesA coupe here is the wide, shallow stemmed glass, and the word doubles as the name of the dessert served in it. Any 6-8 oz stemmed glass works; the original's suggestion of champagne glasses is the fallback.
- "Fine sugar"Superfine or caster sugar, which dissolves in the berry juice without grittiness. Two ounces is about a quarter cup. Granulated will do if you give it a longer maceration and stir once or twice.
- Vanilla essenceRead this as vanilla extract, half a teaspoon. Strengths of commercial essences varied, so if you are using a concentrated modern paste, taste and hold back slightly.
- How long to infuseThe recipe gives no time: 'until required' simply means it waits for service. Half an hour to an hour is a reasonable window; much longer and the berries slump and lose their texture.
- The three spiritsKirsch (cherry eau-de-vie), maraschino (sweet, from marasca cherries) and rum, a tablespoon each, total about 1.5 fl oz across six servings. Maraschino liqueur is not the syrup from a jar of cocktail cherries. Any one of the three alone works, but the combination is what makes it taste of the period restaurant kitchen rather than of a fruit salad.
- QuantitiesA pint of strawberries is roughly 12 oz, or two generous cups hulled. A pint of ice cream is two cups; the parenthetical "(only)" appears to be the author insisting that this quantity not be exceeded.
- YieldSix small portions as written. It is a dessert to end a long meal, not a bowl of ice cream.
The coupe is a French restaurant form: fruit, a spirit or two, and ice cream layered in a stemmed glass, of which the pêche Melba and the various "coupe Jacques" are the best-known survivors. Its logic is à la minute service — the fruit is macerated in advance during prep, and only the ice cream is added when the order comes in, which fits the division of labour this recipe describes with "let infuse until required." Strawberries with kirsch and maraschino was a familiar pairing in that tradition.