Bombe Tutti-Frutti

Bombe tutti-frutti (a moulded frozen dessert of strawberry ice and lemon pâte à bombe) teaches one thing above all: temperature is structure. The strawberry shell must be firm, the hot-syrup yolk foam must be cool before it meets the cream, and the candied-fruit dice must be chilled hard or they soften the filling and sink toward the point.

The original assumed strawberry ice already waiting, a brigade-sized bombe mould kept over broken ice, and several hands to coat, fill, and freeze it. Here the quantities fill one 1.5 litre mould, a domestic freezer replaces the bed of ice, and an offset spatula does the work of the extra hands. The repeated turning used to clothe the mould is useful scaffolding; the even strawberry shell and lemon Bombe-preparation are the dish itself, and both stay.

When it is cut, the strawberry ice should hold a clean rose-red border around pale lemon cream, with small pieces of candied fruit suspended through every slice. Chill those dice before you touch the saucepan. That is the step that decides the bombe.