2652—Jelly with a Gelatine Base

Dissolve one oz. of strong gelatine in a quart of water. Add one-half lb. of sugar, one-sixth oz. of coriander, and the zest and juice of half a lemon and of a whole orange; boil, and then let the preparation stand for ten minutes away from the fire.

Whisk one and a half egg-whites in a very clean saucepan, together with a port wine-glassful of white wine, and pour the cleared syrup, little by little, over the egg-whites, whisking briskly the while. Set the saucepan on the fire, and continue whisking until the boil is reached; then move the utensil to a corner of the stove, and keep the jelly only just simmering for one-quarter of an hour.

At the end of that time the clarification is completed; strain the jelly through a woollen bag, placed over a very clean bowl, and, if the jelly is turbid after the first time of straining, strain it again and again until it becomes quite clear. Let it almost cool before adding any flavour.

The Flavouring.—Whether the jelly be prepared from calves’ feet or from gelatine, the above preparation is naught else than a cohered syrup, to which the addition of some flavour lends the character of a jelly. The complementary ingredients for jellies are liqueurs, good wines, and the juice of fruit; and the quantity of water prescribed should be so reduced as to allow for the ultimate addition of the liquid flavouring.

Thus, every jelly of which the flavour is a liqueur ought to be prepared with only nine-tenths of a quart of water; and the remaining one-tenth of the measure is subsequently added in the form of Kirsch, Maraschino, Rum, or Anisette, etc.

A jelly flavoured with a good wine, such as Champagne, Madeira, Sherry, Marsala, etc., should contain only seven-tenths of a quart of water and three-tenths of a quart of the selected wine.

In the case of fruit jellies, the procedure differs in accordance with the kind of fruit used.

For red-fruit jellies, prepared from strawberries, raspberries, red-currants, cherries, and cranberries, these fruits, which should be very ripe, are rubbed through a sieve, and combined with one-tenth to three-tenths of a quart of water per lb., according as to whether the fruit be more or less juicy.

This done, filter the resulting juice, and add it to the jelly in the proportion of one part of the former to two parts of the latter. The jelly should therefore be twice as strong as for the previous preparation, in order that it may remain sufficiently consistent in spite of the added juice.

When the fruit is too juicy, rub it through a sieve; let the juice ferment for a few hours, and only filter the clear juice which results from the fermentation.

Aqueous-fruit jellies, prepared from grapes, oranges, lemons, and tangerines, are made in the same way. The filtering of these fruit juices is easily done, and, except for the grapes, they need not be set to ferment.

When these fruits are not quite ripe, their juices may be added to the jelly even before the clarification—a procedure which helps to modify their acidity. The apportionment of the fruit juices to the jelly is practically the same as that of the red-fruit juices.

Stone-fruit, such as apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, etc., are often used as jelly garnishes, but seldom serve as the flavouring base of a jelly. Whenever they are treated in this way, they are first plunged in boiling water, that they may be peeled; they are then poached and left to cool in the syrup which goes towards preparing the jelly.

This jelly, after it has been clarified and three-parts cooled, should have a little Kirsch or Maraschino added to it, that its fruit flavour may be intensified.