Apple And Cream In A Mould

This recipe hails from a mid-to-late nineteenth-century manuscript kept by Colonel Charles Henry Ellice, a career officer in the British Army, much of whose service was spent in colonial India. The handwritten cookbook illustrates the culinary experiences of a high-ranking British officer adapting both home favourites and exotic influences while abroad. With a mixture of elegant British fare and practical techniques for improvised kitchens, this recipe for Apple and Cream in a Mould would have served as a refined yet achievable dessert. It reflects both the Victorian flair for elaborate table presentations and the period's developing use of setting agents like isinglass, preceding widespread gelatine.

To prepare this dish in the 19th century, a cook would have used a sturdy saucepan for dissolving isinglass, a wooden spoon for stirring, and a fine strainer or muslin cloth to strain the solution. Apples would be stewed in an iron or copper pan. A decorative tin or ceramic mould was essential for forming and presenting the set pudding. For cooling and setting, the dish would be left in a cool pantry or ice-box if available. To unmould, the cook might dip the base briefly in warm water to release the set cream.