Punch à la Romaine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Small nonreactive saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Shallow metal pan, about 8 by 8 inches (20 by 20 cm), or a small ice-cream machine
• •Chilled mixing bowl and flexible spatula
• •6 small stemmed sherbet glasses or coupes

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the measured syrup

   Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Warm gently, stirring only until every crystal dissolves and the syrup turns clear, about 3 to 5 minutes. Do not let it boil away, because evaporation would make it heavier and sweeter than the source's 22° syrup. Cool completely. You will have about 1⅓ cups (320 ml), the home-scale equivalent of the old density mark.

   The 22° is a syrup-density reading, not a temperature. Weighing the sugar and water gives the home cook the same concentration without buying a saccharometer.
2. 2

   Set the wine base

   Measure ½ cup (120 ml) of the cooled syrup into a nonreactive bowl and reserve the rest. Stir in the chilled Champagne or dry white wine. This measured dilution replaces the original instruction to keep adding wine until the syrup registered 17°. The bubbles will disappear, which is no loss here; Champagne brings wine, acidity, and perfume to the frozen base.

3. 3

   Infuse the citrus

   Stir the orange juice, lemon juice, orange zest, and lemon zest into the wine syrup. Cover and refrigerate for exactly 1 hour. Zest means only the glossy colored skin; white pith gives bitterness, so pare it away before the strip enters the bowl. Do not extend the infusion in pursuit of more flavor. After an hour, you have the citrus oils you want.

4. 4

   Strain and rebalance

   Pass the infusion through a fine sieve without crushing the zest against the mesh. Stir in all the reserved syrup. With the measured juices, this restores the base to the source's finishing concentration of about 18° without another density reading. Chill until thoroughly cold, at least 30 minutes. You should have about 1⅔ cups (405 ml) of citrus base.

5. 5

   Freeze to a body

   Pour the base into a shallow metal pan and freeze for 2½ to 3½ hours, scraping the frozen edges into the center every 30 minutes, until the mixture is somewhat stiff and stands in soft ridges. An ice-cream machine may churn it to the same point. Do not freeze it into a solid block. If that happens, ça se rattrape: move it to the refrigerator for 10 minutes, scrape it into pieces, and beat until thick and even again.

   A shallow metal pan conducts cold quickly and gives one cook the same control the old freezing pail supplied. The base is ready when a spoonful mounds but can still be folded.
6. 6

   Fold in the meringue

   Measure the frozen base by volume, then fold in one quarter of that volume of fully cooled Meringue à l’Italienne (No. 2383), about 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons (100 ml) for this batch. Add it in three portions with a flexible spatula, turning the base from the bottom until it becomes uniformly pale and airy. Keep your hand light. Vigorous beating drives out the foam that distinguishes this punch from an ordinary citrus ice.

7. 7

   Set the punch

   Return the punch to the shallow pan, cover it, and freeze for 45 to 60 minutes, until it holds a soft scoop without becoming hard. Put the serving glasses in the cold at the same time. The punch should be firm before the rum arrives, because alcohol lowers the freezing point and loosens everything it touches.

8. 8

   Add rum little by little

   Just before serving, transfer the punch to a chilled bowl. Add the rum 1 teaspoon at a time, folding each addition in completely before the next. Pour it all at once and the punch may collapse into a slush. If it begins to flow, stop. Ça se rattrape: return the bowl to the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes, then finish adding the rum drop by drop. Spoon the Punch à la Romaine into the chilled glasses after the style of sherbets and serve immediately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Brut Champagne is the celebratory choice, but the source also permits a sound dry white wine. Flat leftover Champagne works perfectly because the freezing removes its bubbles in any case; what remains is the wine's acidity and aroma.
• •Buy one orange and one lemon, then measure only the juice called for. Pouring in the surplus changes the syrup concentration and gives you a punch that freezes too hard before the rum, then too loose after it.
• •Prepare Meringue à l’Italienne (No. 2383) as its own finished component and measure one quarter of the frozen base by volume. The referenced preparation makes more than this small batch needs, but its method stays whole, exactly as the canon intends.
• •Keep the rum cold and add it only at service. The gradual addition is not brigade scaffolding; it is the technique that lets the punch remain airy and spoonable.

Advance Preparation

• •The 22° syrup may be made up to 2 days ahead, covered and refrigerated. Bring it only to cool room temperature before measuring so it pours cleanly.
• •The strained citrus base may be frozen a day ahead. Let it soften briefly in the refrigerator and beat it back to a thick, even texture before folding in the meringue.
• •The punch may be completed through the meringue fold several hours before serving. Keep it covered in the freezer, but add the rum only when the chilled glasses are waiting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 83g)