This week we visited several exciting points on the jello spectrum!
The other night, the last night of spring break, I was looking for something to do with myself, and so I decided to spend some quality time with Meta Given. I’ve decided that, from now on, whenever I’m looking for something to do with myself (admittedly, this does not happen often) I’m going to whip something up from the Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, using whatever is on hand. Last weekend, we’d had a tasty brunch of buttermilk pancakes and mimosas, which meant that what was on hand was leftover buttermilk and orange juice.
Meta Given to the rescue!
Orange Buttermilk Jelly
1/2 cup strained orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups fresh buttermilk
Pinch of salt
About 1/3 cup sugar (ed’s note: I used closer to 1/4 cup and it was fine!)
1 tbsp plain gelatin
3 tbsp cold water
2 seedless oranges, peeled and sectioned
Whipping cream
Combine orange and lemon juice with buttermilk and salt and sweeten to suit the taste, depending on sweetness of orange juice. Soften gelatin in cold water; then heat over hot water until dissolved. Stir into buttermilk mixture. Pour into a mold or bowl and chill until firm. Unmold and garnish with orange sections, and serve with whipped cream if desired.
So, “soften gelatin in cold water; then heat over hot water until dissolved,” is a somewhat cryptic instruction, unusually cryptic for Meta, who is often painfully clear about things, but this is a very necessary step: when you soften gelatin powder in a few tablespoons of water, it firms up almost immediately and has the consistency of paste. I then set the little bowl of jello paste that I’d made into a bowl of hot water, which melted it back down into a thick liquid that was easily blendable with the rest of the ingredients.
So. I am sure that you are skeptical about how this particular dish turned out. Buttermilk is kind of a weird thing, and it is kind of a gross thing on its own, but it does miraculous things in cooking and baking, but this particular application of buttermilk involved neither cooking nor baking it. But it was so delicious. Amazingly so and surprisingly so. The buttermilk made the jelly tart and zesty, and combined with the orange and lemon juice, it tasted like key lime pie. I actually speculate that this dish could easily double as a pie filling – it would be super nice with a graham cracker crust. So the verdict with this one is YOU SHOULD MAKE IT EVEN THOUGH IT SOUNDS GROSS AND CRAZY. Because it is kind of a transcendent dessert experience.
Presentation-wise, though, I kinda flubbed this one. There wasn’t really enough of the mixture for my bundt pan, so it wasn’t stable enough to actually stand up in a ring, so it kind of flopped out onto the plate. I also didn’t have orange sections or whipped cream to make it look nice, so instead I fixed this unappealing presentation with the swift application of an entire flower arrangement.
And here is a guest appearance from Franklin R. Kitten, food critic, who officially endorses this gelatin-based dessert:
So we ate it all, and then I decided that a house is not a home unless it has a weird, molded dessert and/or salad in it, so last night I made Meta’s Mocha Whip.
Mocha Whip
1 tbsp plain gelatin
2 tbsp cold water
1/2 cup very strong coffee
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Cream
(Meta offers some strangely involved instructions on how to make strong coffee, but I am not including them because you know how to make coffee.) Soften gelatin in the cold water for 5 minutes, then set in hot water to dissolve. Beat the egg yolks in the top of a double boiler (ed.’s note for those with ill-equipped kitchens: I have no double boiler, so I just used a little pot inside a big pot!), then beat in the sugar and salt. Add the 1/2 cup coffee and cook over hot water until the mixture coats a spoon (ed.’s note: there is an illustration in the book to show what “coating a spoon” should look like, but it is largely indecipherable and useless. I ended up cooking this until it had thickened somewhat and started to become opaque, at which point it was pretty much coating the spoon. I also ended up cooking the mixture for far longer than you’d think you would, but it seemed necessary). Add the vanilla and gelatin; blend well. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. (ed.’s note: I was [possibly needlessly] worried that the heat from the gelatin/egg yolk mixture would cook the egg whites, so I actually put it in the fridge for just a few minutes so it could cool a wee bit. Not sure if this was actually necessary, but it didn’t hurt anything. But be careful not to cool it for too long, or your gelatin will set!)
Pour into a 4-cup glass mold or into smaller individual glass ones. Chill until firm. When ready to serve, unmold and serve with cream.
Ok, so, look at this gorgeous thing. It looks like a cartoon dessert from, like, Super Marioland or something. I was admittedly somewhat gratuitous in my use of whipped cream.
And YUM YUM YUM. The egg white/gelatin mixture sets to a really interesting texture. It’s very light and a bit spongy, but also kind of cake-like. And it tasted almost EXACTLY like my grandmother’s homemade tiramisu. It was really remarkable. And really delicious. It might be my favorite gelatin adventure so far!
And here is Franklin R. Kitten with whipped cream all over his eyebrow whiskers because I left the mixer unattended on the counter for all of five seconds:
Jonathan Gold, watch out. Franklin R. Kitten is coming for your Pulitzer.
