Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (87 page)

Make a small incision in the apricots to remove the stone, carefully so as not to spoil their appearance, and put them in the water to cook. When the water begins to boil, add the sugar. Shake the saucepan now and then as the apricots are cooking. When they have become soft and quite wrinkled, remove them one by one from the saucepan with a spoon and place them in a compote dish; drain them, and reduce the juice that has remained in the saucepan to the consistency of a syrup. Then pour it over the apricots. Serve cold.

600 grams (about 1-1/3 pounds) of pears

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of fine powdered sugar

2 glasses of water

half a lemon

If the pears are very small, keep them whole with their stems; if they are large, cut them into wedges. In either case, as you peel them toss them in the water, to which you have added the juice of half a lemon. This keeps the fruit white. Strain the water through a colander, then cook the pears in it, adding the sugar when the water begins to boil.
For the rest proceed as with the apricots in the preceding recipe. Serve cold.

This second way of preparing pear compote is not very different in its result from the preceding recipe, but the pears are handled with a bit more care.

600 grams (about 1/3 pounds) of small pears, barely ripe

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of sugar

2 glasses of water

half a lemon

Squeeze the lemon into the water and set aside.

Put the pears on the fire, with water to cover them, and let them boil for four to five minutes; then toss them into cool water, peel them, trim half their stems, and put them into the lemon water as you go along. This done, take the same water, strain it through a colander, and put it on the fire. When it begins to boil, add the sugar and let simmer for some time. Then, toss the pears back in to cook, making sure they do not begin to dissolve. Then strain the pears and arrange them in a compote dish. Reduce the water in which they have boiled to the consistency of a syrup and pour it over the pears, straining the liquid once more through the colander.

If the pears are very large, cut them into wedges after the first boiling. They are also quite good cooked with red wine, sugar, and a piece of cinnamon stick, as is commonly done in many households. Serve cold.

Peel the quinces, cut them into fairly small wedges making sure to remove the part in the middle that formed the core. Supposing you have 500 grams (about 1 pound) of quinces, put them on the fire in
a saucepan with a glass and a half of water. Boil covered for a quarter of an hour and then add 180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of fine sugar. As soon as they are cooked, strain and arrange them in the dish you are sending to the table. Reduce the remaining juice to a syrup, then pour it over the quinces. Serve cold.

If you don’t think that rice compote is an appropriate name for this dessert, you might prefer to call it compote in rice.

7 deciliters (about 2-4/5 cups) of milk

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of rice

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sugar

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of butter

a pinch salt

a dash of lemon zest

Cook the rice in 6 deciliters (about 2-2/5 cups) of the milk and, when it is half cooked, pour all the other ingredients into it. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon because it sticks easily. When the milk has been absorbed, remove the rice from the flame and add the remaining deciliter of milk. Take a smooth mold with a hole in the middle. The size of the mold must be such that the mixture will form a layer at least two fingers deep. Coat the bottom and sides of the mold with sugar that has been melted over the fire to a light chestnut color. Pour the rice mixture into the mold, which you will put back on the fire in
bain-marie
so that the rice continues to firm up and the sugar is melted on the bottom. Allow it to cool before taking out of the mold.

The time has come now to fill the hole in the rice pudding with a fruit compote of your choice. Let us suppose it to be of apples or prunes.

If you are using apples, choose the red ones, which are firm and fragrant-^-200 grams (about 7 ounces) should suffice. Peel them, and cut them into wedges, discarding the core. To keep the pulp
white, toss them as you go along in cool water to which you have added some lemon juice. Put the apples in a saucepan with enough water to barely cover them. When they reach a boil, add 70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of sugar and a spoonful of kirsch. Once done, strain them. Reduce the remaining liquid to a syrup to which you will add, when it has cooled, another spoonful of kirsch. Pour the syrup over the apples. Fill the hole in the rice pudding and with this preparation before sending it to the table.

If you choose prunes, use 100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of fruit, and 60 grams (about 2 ounces) of sugar will be enough. Soak the prunes in water for five or six hours before putting them on the fire to boil. As to the rest, prepare them as you did the apples, and don’t forget the kirsch.

Double the amounts if you are serving ten to twelve people. Serve cold.

1 liter (about 1 quart) of milk

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of rice flour

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of sugar

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of butter

6 eggs

a pinch of salt

a dash of vanilla

Take a saucepan and combine in it a little at a time the eggs, sugar, flour, and milk, stirring all the while to prevent lumps; but leave out some of the milk to be added later if necessary. Put the saucepan on the fire to cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon as you do when you make a custard. Before taking it off the fire, add the butter, vanilla, and salt. Allow it to cool, then pour it into a metal pie plate or an ovenproof earthenware pie pan, filling it up to the brim.

Cover it with shortcrust pastry dough (recipe 589 B or C), which you will decorate, gild with egg yolk and bake in the oven. Serve hot after sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar.

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of sugar

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of isinglass

4 deciliters (about 1-2/3 cups) of water

4 tablespoons of alkermes

2 tablespoons of rum

1 large sweet orange

1 lemon

Soak the isinglass for one or two hours, changing the water once.

Boil the sugar in half of the water for ten minutes and strain it through a cheesecloth.

Squeeze the juice of the orange and lemon, strain it through the same cheesecloth and then add to the syrup.

Remove the isinglass, which has now softened, and bring it to a boil in the remaining two deciliters of water. Then pour this into the syrup, adding to it the alkermes and the rum. Mix everything well and, when it begins to cool, pour it into the mold which you will keep on ice in summer and in cold water in winter.

The molds for this type of dessert are made of copper. They are intricately decorated with fancy ridges, and some have a hole in the middle, while others do not. In sum, they are designed to produce fancy shapes that will make an impressive presentation at the table. To remove this dessert from the mold properly, lightly grease the mold with oil before pouring in the mixture and then dip it in hot water for a moment or wipe it with a very hot cloth.

Isinglass is harmless, but it does have the disadvantage of sitting rather heavily on the stomach.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of very red, ripe strawberries

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of sugar

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of isinglass

3deciliters (about 2-1/5 cups) of water

3 tablespoons of rum

the juice of a lemon

Squeeze the strawberries in a cheesecloth to extract all of their juice. Boil the sugar for ten minutes in 2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of the water and then add this syrup to the strawberry juice; mix in the lemon juice and strain everything through a tightly-woven cloth. Soak the isinglass as in the preceding recipe, and then bring it to a boil in the remaining 1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of water. Pour it, scalding hot, into the mixture; then add the rum, mix well, and pour the mixture into a mold to be chilled.

This gelatin will be well received by the ladies.

400 grams (about 14 ounces) of morello or bitter cherries

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of sugar

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of isinglass

3 deciliters (about 1-1/5 cups) of water

3 tablespoons of rum

a cinnamon stick

Remove the stems and crush the cherries by hand, adding just a few ground cherrystones. Let them rest for a few hours and then strain the juice through a cheesecloth, squeezing well. Allow the juice to rest yet again and then strain it more than once through either paper or cotton, so that it becomes clear. Boil the sugar for ten minutes in 2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of the water with the cinnamon. Then strain this also through the cheesecloth and mix with the cherry juice. Add the isinglass, which you will have dissolved in the remaining 1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of water. Lastly add the rum, and then proceed as in the preceding gelatin recipes.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of red currants

130 grams (about 4-1/2 ounces) of sugar

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of isinglass

2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of water

4 tablespoons of Marsala wine

a dash of vanilla

Make this recipe just like the preceding recipe for morello cherry gelatin.

Ordinarily, foods are flavored with vanilla by means of vanilla sugar; but in this and similar cases it is better to use the natural bean or pod of that plant, by boiling a small piece of it in water together with sugar. As a rule of thumb, when buying vanilla beans make sure they are plump and not dried out. Store them tightly sealed mixed in with blond sugar to which they will transfer their flavor, so that in turn this sugar can be used for flavoring.

A native of the tropical forests of America, vanilla is a climbing plant like ivy and belongs to the orchid family. Its pollen is viscous and, since it cannot be carried by the wind, is carried by insects. This phenomenon was discovered only in the first decades of the last century, and now man performs this function himself and pollinates the plants grown in greenhouses. These plants produced no fruit until 1837, when the first fruits were produced in Belgium.

If you have raspberry syrup (see recipe 723) you can make a nice dessert gelatin. Dissolve 20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of isinglass over a flame in 3 deciliters (about 11/5 cups) of water and mix into it: