HFF 3.24: Take a Break

The Challenge: Take a break! Make a food that is meant to be broken and/or is bread.

The Recipe: Toffee from Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery 

Toffee-- Melt three ounces of fresh butter in a small brass saucepan over a clear, bright fire. As soon as it is dissolved stir into it one pound of good brown sugar and keep stirring until it is done enough. In order to ascertain when this point is reached let a cup of cold water be placed close at hand and keep dropping a little of the toffee into it. When the toffee thus dropped hardens immediately and breaks between the teeth without sticking to them it is done and must be poured out at once or it will burn. The flavour of this toffee maybe pleasantly varied by stirring into it a tea spoonful of slightly moistened powdered ginger or the grated rind of a small lemon. Pour the toffee upon a buttered dish and put it in a cool place to set. Time to boil fifteen to twenty five minutes.

[Interestingly, Cassell's Household Guide (1869) uses treacle for half the sweetener. I also came across similar recipes throughout the century, like this from 1882 (which also has an almond variation) and it, in turn, is almost identical to one from 1832 (which admits the option of adding lemon juice to the finished product). I also found similar recipes from 1855  and from 1857 (lemon peel and juice added), and from 1869 (which allows for lemon peel or powdered ginger).]

The Date/Year and Region: London, 1883.

How Did You Make It: Melted 3 oz of unsalted butter on the stove, stirred in 1 lb of brown sugar, and kept stirring until the mixture lost its graininess (and a drop of the liquid solidified in cold water). I then poured it into buttered tins, adding 1/2 tsp of ginger to one of the pans, and scored the toffee. After it cooled, I broke toffee with a toffee hammer.

Time to Complete: About 18 minutes to melt the butter and sugar together over medium-low to medium heat; the toffee set promptly, and was fully cool within the hour.

Total Cost: About $1.50.

How Successful Was It?: Perfectly satisfactory. It tasted like toffee, though I occasionally caught a whiff of burned sugar, so I think I'll make future batches over medium-low heat only.

The ginger batch was alright: both toffee and ginger flavors came through, and it was perfectly palatable, I'm just not sure the toffee needs the ginger. I do think I'll try the lemon variant at some point, but the toffee stands well on its own.  Using the toffee hammer was a ton of fun, so I'll definitely be making this again. I think future batches need deeper score lines, though.

How Accurate Is It?: I used an electric stove instead of a clear fire, but didn't knowingly make other changes.

Cooling toffee and hammer.

Finished toffee is less rectangular than planned, still tasted fine.

HFF: 3.21 Remember Remember

The Challenge: Remember, Remember--Try a recipe that has minimal instructions or tells you to "make in the usual fashion".

The Recipe: Ginger Cup-cake from Elizabeth E. Lea's Domestic Cookery

Ginger Cup-cake. Three cups of flour, one of sugar, one of molasses, one of butter, a table-spoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of salæratus, and three eggs; bake in pans. A pound of stoned and chopped raisins is an improvement.

The Date/Year and Region: 1859, Baltimore (1st ed. 1851)

How Did You Make It: I did check the beginning of the cake section for general advice, and it reminded me about baking the cake slowly with paper around it, and to hold the egg whites upside down to establish that they were solid enough. Mostly, I tried to remember the other cakes I've made from mid-century receipts.

I started by separating and beating the three eggs (yokes and whites). In a separate bowl, I blended the 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of butter, then added the cup of molasses [supplemented with corn syrup because I ran out], and the egg yokes. When this was well-mixed, I added the rest of the dry ingredients, stirring all the while: 1 Tbsp ground ginger, 1.25 tsp baking soda (substituting for 1 tsp salæratus), and 3 cups of flour. Then I added the egg whites, beaten to still peaks, and finally I stirred in the pound of raisins. The batter was rather thick; it went immediately into the oven.

I baked the cake at 325F for 2 hours; I used a tin cake hoop, with double layers of parchment paper above, below, and around the interior.

Time to Complete: About 3.5 hours including baking.

Total Cost: Ingredients all on hand.

How Successful Was It?: I was skeptical of the raisins, but there were just fine. Most settled in the lower half of the cake, leaving the upper portion clear of fruit.

The cake itself had a nice molasses and ginger flavor, neither insipid nor overwhelming; the texture was light and moist. It's similar to, but less dense than most of the gingerbread recipes I've tried.  The only problem is that the bottom fairly burned. I think I should try using 3 or 4 layers of parchment paper beneath the cake in the future (and maybe increase the top and sides to 3 layers each). 

How Accurate Is It?: I am probably going to culinary hell for substituting corn syrup for the few ounces of molasses I was short. As noted, I also used baking soda instead of saleratus, so I may be missing the bitter aftertaste I sometimes hear attributed to it. I did use my repro cake hoop, though. 

HFF 3.22: Fear Factor

The Challenge: Fear Factor. Try something a little scary--an intimidating recipe, a new technique or a 'spooky' food.

A friend of mine makes gorgeous jelly-filled orange slices from Francatelli's recipe. I decided to try them for this challenge, since presentation is one of my major weaknesses.

The Recipe: Oranges Filled with Transparent Jelly (#1429) and Maraschino Jelly (#1424) from The Modern Cook (1846) by Charles Elme Francatelli

MARASCHINO JELLY. To one pint of clarified syrup, add two ounces of clarified isinglass, the filtered juice of two lemons, and a gill and a half of genuine maraschino; pour this into a jelly mould ready set in rough ice. 

ORANGES FILLED WITH TRANSPARENT JELLY. Select half a dozen oranges without specks on the rind; make a hole at the stalk end with a circular tin cutter about half an inch in diameter, and then use a small teaspoon to remove all the pulp and loose pith from the interior; when this is effected soak the oranges in cold water for about an hour, then introduce the spoon through the aperture and scrape the insides smooth and after rinsing them again in cold water set them to drain on a cloth. Next stop up any holes that may have been made in them while scooping out the pulp and set the oranges in some pounded rough ice contained in a deep saucepan; fill three of them with bright pink orange jelly and the remainder with plain jelly. When the jelly has become firm wipe the oranges with a clean cloth cut each into four quarters dish them up tastefully on an ornamental pastry stand or upon a napkin and send to table.

The Date/Year and Region: 1846, London

How Did You Make It: 

First I prepared the oranges by punching a hole over the stem. I used a large round decorating tip (Wilton 2A, just a 1/2" diameter circle) for want of a tin punch the same size. It worked well to remove the stem edge. Unfortunately, I do not possess a spoon less than 1/2" wide with which to scrape the inside of the oranges, and instead ended up improvising with a 1/2 teaspoon measure and a butter knife. My finger ended up being more effect than either of those (no one else is eating this batch, so it's less of a problem, but will need to be solved if I ever make these for others).

Step 1: Stab an orange.

Step 2: Eviscerate the orange.

Then I then clarified a sugar syrup (#1410) of 1 pound granulated sugar and a generous pint of water, with half of an egg white added. Brought to a boil, skimmed off the scum, and set aside to cool. I ended up with 2 1/4 cup syrup.

Step 3: Mix jelly.

Once the oranges had soaked an hour, I gave them a final scrape, then set them on ice (attempting to put together the torn edges--this worked well enough that I didn't try mending them with flour paste, which was my next idea for how to 'stop any holes'.  I hen prepared the jelly by juicing two lemons, and adding the strained juice to 3/4 cup maraschino liquor, 1 pint of the prepared syrup, and 4 packets of gelatin (substituting 1 packet gelatin for 1/2 oz isinglass). Mixed this up, and got a transparent, almost colorless liquid. I poured it into the oranges, and set the bowl in the refrigerator to encourage faster setting.  The jelly was mostly set in just over 2 hours.

Final: Orange slices that are actually alcoholic gelatin.

Time to Complete: Didn't time the initial orange preparation; clarifying the syrup took about 25 minutes (done during the hour the oranges were soaking), preparing the jelly and finishing the oranges took about half an hour. The jelly set in 2-ish hours, but I think more time would have been useful.

Total Cost: $2 for two oranges, other ingredients on hand.

How Successful Was It?: I need some practice, but the jelly set well enough to cut the orange slices, so I'm not complaining. I need to figure out a better way of cleaning out the oranges and to practice a bit more before making this recipe for others.

The jelly tastes like maraschino, with the lemon not really coming through. Tasty enough, though I'd be tempted to try kirsch or one of the other options next time.

How Accurate Is It?: I substituted prepared gelatin for the isinglass; while the book does gives instructions for gelatin jellies, those start with boiling hooves. That was the main modern shortcut, with the use of a refrigerator as a second. 

Original: Bathing Suit, c.1920

Bathing suit, American c.1920.
From LACMA.

I have questions... They mostly are variants on 'what is up with that fringe'?