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Frozen Oranges
(French.) Scoop out the pulp from 4 large oranges, opening a small hole only. Cover the skins with water while the juice is strained; add 1 glass of any kind of cordial, sugar to taste, a cup of mixed chopped raisins, candied peel, and peach preserves. Fill the skins with this and freeze. Serve in the skins, on a plate, garnished with leaves or flowers.
A stuffed-orange ice of the old French kind, written for a cook with an ice-and-salt freezing pail and no clock. Two things decide whether it works: how much sugar and alcohol go in, and how you get the pulp out without wrecking the shell.
- "1 glass of cordial"Genuinely ambiguous; a period wine glass was commonly reckoned at about 2 fl oz, though the term was used loosely. Err low: alcohol depresses the freezing point, and too generous a pour across four oranges risks a mixture that stays slushy.
- Sugar is structure, not just sweetness"Sugar to taste" understates its job. A fruit ice needs a fair proportion of sugar — on the order of 1/2 cup or more per 2 cups of liquid — to freeze smooth rather than into a solid block; taste the unfrozen mixture slightly sweeter than you want the finished ice, since cold mutes sweetness.
- Opening the shellsCut a lid about the size of a quarter from the stem end and work the pulp out with a grapefruit knife and a small spoon. Leave the white pith in place — it is the shell's only stiffness. Trim a thin slice off the base so each orange sits upright.
- Why the skins go under waterHollowed citrus peel dries and stiffens quickly in the air; keeping the shells in cold water is the likely purpose here, holding them pliable and full-sized so the filling does not stand proud of the rim.
- FreezingThe original assumes ice-and-salt freezing, whether in a crank pail or with the filled shells packed in a tub of ice and salt. In a modern freezer the filled shells will set hard and coarse-grained; better to churn the sweetened juice in an ice cream maker until it is the texture of soft sorbet, fold in the chopped fruit, then spoon it into the shells and firm them up in the freezer for an hour or two.
- The chopped fruitRaisins, candied peel and peach preserves all sink in a thin liquid. Add them only once the base has thickened, and chop them fine — large pieces freeze to gravel and are unpleasant against the ice.
- Yield and servingFour oranges, one each, as a light end to a meal. Take them from the freezer 5 to 10 minutes before serving so the ice softens enough for a spoon; the leaves or flowers of the original garnish are decoration only and should be non-toxic if they touch the food.
Fruit frozen and served back in its own hollowed skin is a standard of nineteenth-century French confectionery — the *fruits givrés* of the pastry repertoire, among which the orange and the lemon are often said to have been the most common, their peel being firm enough to hold a shape. The trick belongs to the era of the salt-and-ice freezing pail, when an ice could be made in any quantity at home and went from the freezer to the table in a container that doubled as its own presentation. The recipe is marked simply "(French.)", and the mixed raisins, candied peel and preserves stirred through it are a frugal echo of the glacé fruits a professional confectioner would have used.