Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (184 page)

3)
Unmolding the ice cream, and serving

A chilled serving dish

A basin of cold or tepid water

At serving time, set frozen mold in basin of water for several seconds to loosen the ice cream. Run a knife around edge of dessert; turn serving dish upside down over bowl, and reverse the two to unmold the ice cream.

Spoon the tepid chocolate sauce over the ice cream, letting it drip down the sides so that some of the white shows through. Serve immediately.

Other sauces and flavorings

Instead of chocolate sauce, serve the fresh raspberry or strawberry purée in Volume I, pages 592–3, and surround the dish with fresh berries, as well, if you wish. Or spoon over the ice cream 2 cups of chilled, fresh, sliced peaches macerated in sugar, lemon juice, and light rum or kirsch; the apricot sauce (
confit d’abricots en sirop
) in this volume is another possibility. Still another would be to fold half a cup of walnut brittle into the cream after it has begun to set; after pouring chocolate sauce over the ice cream, decorate it either with a sprinkling of brittle or with the caramelized whole walnuts (
mousse glacée, pralinée aux noix
, Step 1). Bits of glacéed chestnuts or glacéed fruits macerated in rum or kirsch would also be attractive.

Bombe Glacée

Frozen
Chantilly
is a perfect filling for
bombe glacée,
just as it is, or with any of the preceding flavor suggestions. Mold in a bowl or
bombe
lined with chocolate, coffee, or strawberry or raspberry ice cream following the directions for the
bombe glacée à l’abricot
.

LA SURPRISE DU VÉSUVE

[French
Baked Alaska Flambée]

Vesuvius erupting is the French version of our baked Alaska ice cream dessert that is spread with meringue and browned quickly in a hot oven. Here the meringue is sprinkled with powdered sugar; the volcano is contained in half an egg shell thrust crater-like into the center of the Vesuvius, and filled with flaming liqueur that courses down the mountain slopes like molten lava. Use any ice cream formula you wish, either from the preceding recipes or store-bought; the cake, which forms the base, may be your own
génoise
, the sponge cake or almond and orange cake from Volume I, pages 669 or 676, or a store-bought sponge cake.

For a 14- by 8-inch dessert, serving 8 people

1)
Preliminaries—to be readied before dinner

1½ quarts sherbet or ice cream frozen in a melon-shaped mold about 12 inches long

A
génoise
or sponge cake, such as a round one 8 by 1½ inches

A flameproof serving platter or tray 16 to 18 inches long

⅔ cup Cognac, kirsch, or rum (whatever flavor will go with your sherbet or ice cream) in a small saucepan

10 egg whites (1⅓ cups) at room temperature, and in an egg-beating bowl in time for Step 2

An electric mixer

2 pinches salt

½ tsp cream of tartar

1½ cups sugar, “instant” superfine if possible

1 tsp vanilla extract

An uncracked eggshell half with saw-tooth edge (cut with scissors)

1 cup confectioner’s sugar in a fine-meshed sieve

Matches

(All the ingredients listed must be measured out, laid in easy reach, and ready for use when you are ready, at the last minute, to beat the meringue, unmold the ice cream, assemble the structure, and brown it rapidly in the oven. Although you can beat the meringue an hour before serving, and re-beat it at the last minute, the beating takes but a few minutes in an efficient mixer and your guests should not mind a short wait.)

Slice the cake into half-inch layers; cut the cake layers in such a way that you can form a large oval ½ inch thick and 1 inch larger all around than your ice cream mold. Arrange the oval on the platter, sprinkle with 2 to 3 Tb liqueur, cover airtight with plastic wrap, and set aside. Be sure oven is preheated to 450 degrees in time for Step 2.

2)
Assembling, browning, flambéeing, and serving—about 10 minutes—oven has been preheated to 450 degrees

beating the meringue:

Start beating the egg whites at moderate speed until they are foaming, beat in the salt and cream of tartar, then gradually increase speed to fast until egg whites form soft peaks. Gradually beat in the sugar, sprinkling in ¼ cup at a time, beating half a minute between additions. After all has gone in, add vanilla, and continue beating for several minutes at high speed until egg whites form stiff, shiny peaks.

assembling Vesuvius:

Set ice cream mold in a basin of tepid water, run a knife around edge, and unmold the sherbet or ice cream upon the cake in the platter. Immediately spread the meringue over it with a spatula, starting at bottom of cake and bringing it up to a peak at the top of the dessert—meringue should be about 1 inch thick over the sherbet or ice cream, in order to insulate it from the heat of the oven. With spatula make vertical striations from bottom to top, which will allow flaming liqueur to flow down the sides. Insert eggshell half in peak of mountain. Sieve confectioner’s sugar all over surface of meringue, making a layer about
¹
⁄
₁₆
inch thick.

browning:

Set in upper-middle level of preheated 450-degree oven for 3 to 4 minutes, to brown meringue lightly. Meanwhile, heat the liqueur.

flambéeing and serving:

As soon as meringue has browned remove from oven; ignite the hot liqueur with a lighted match, pour into the eggshell, letting excess drip down sides of meringue, and bring flaming to the table.

FRUITS, FLANS, AND CUSTARDS, A FRENCH SHORTCAKE, AND A FLAMING CHARLOTTE

GRATIN DE POMMES, NORMANDE—CLAFOUTI AUX POMMES

[Sliced Apples Baked with Rum, Raisins, Eggs, and Cream]

This is every bit as good as the finest apple tart, but not quite as filling because the apples are baked in a dish rather than in a tart shell.

For a 10-inch dish, serving 8 to 10 people