SC - Milk Jellies using Islinglass (LONG)

[Meliora & Drake]

Greetings all,

Quite a while ago, Anne-Marie posted the following recipe.  Her redaction
uses Gelatine because she could not obtain Islinglass.  I (foolishly :-))
offered to make it using Islinglass.

>A White Leach (from Dawson, 1596)
>Take a quart of newe milke, and three ounces weight of Isinglasse, halfe 
>a pounde of beaten suger, and stirre them thogether, and let it boile 
>half a quarter of an hower till it be thicke, stirring htem all the 
>while: then straine it with three spoonfull of Rosewater, then put it 
>inot a platter and let it coole, and cut it in squares. Lay it fair in 
>dishes, and lay golde upon it.
>
>Our reconstruction:
>Serves 16
>5 tsp gelatin (about 2 1/4 packets)
>2 cups whole milk
>1/2 heaping cup sugar
>5 tsp rosewater
>1 sheet gold leaf
>1 beaten egg white
>
>Heat a large pan of water to just below a simmer. Mix the gelatin in 4T 
>of the milk with a whisk in a small bowl, suspended in the simmering 
>water (like a double boiler). Keep whisking till it's completely 
>dissolved. In a saucepan, heat the remaining milk, stir in the gelatin, 
>add the sugar and bring to a simmer. Keep simmering, stirring for 5 
>minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the rosewater. Rinse a 8x8 
>glass pyrex pan with cold water, and pour the jello stuff in. Cover with 
>saran wrap and allow to set. It will set faster in the fridge, and will 
>take several hours

Well I've made half a dozen attempts at this so far, and at last I think I
have come up with enough success to post to the list.

My main concern is: when Islinglass is added to milk, the milk curdles or
separates. I attempted this in many different ways, adding to cold milk and
then heating it, add to cold milk and not heating it, adding to warm milk,
disolving the Islinglass in water for a few hours before hand.  The milk
always separated.

Then in frustration I read the original recipe again and it states " let it
boile half a quarter of an hower till it be thicke, stirring them all the
while: then straine it"

And then I thought maybe it was supposed to separate, the my last effort was
as follows:

3/4 pint milk (paturised and homogenised)
3 teaspoons Islinglass, suspended in
3/4 pint water
1/4 pound sugar
1 teaspoon triple strength rosewater.

I disolved/suspended the Islingass in the water in a wide necked bowl for
the better part of a day.  I then added it to cold mil and sugar in a
saucepan and brought it to a simmer. Simmered it for 15 minutes.  I doubled
the cooking time because I only simmered it not boiled it.  Strained the
curds from the whey through cheescloth/muslin.  I added rosewater to the
whey and put both separate resultants into the fridge overnight.

The whey has semi-set into a cloudy (but mainly transparent) jelly.  They
curds have set into a more solid sweet milk-fat.

Well I just did the taste-test.  The jelly-like whey is absolutely
delicious.  It is sweet and the rosewater taste is quite evident and strange
as it is to say creamy but refreshing.  I'm sorry I can't be more accurate.

However, it tastes nothing like the gelatine version (which includes the
milk fats).


Changes for next time:  obviously I neeed more Islinglass (unfortunately I
ran out) and I would disolve the Islinglass in less water.  

I also would sprinkle the rosewater into the mixture just before I strained
it, and thus would follow the original recipe in sequence (However, I also
think this is a minor point and would not affect the outcome).

So the next attempt will be following the proportions of the original recipe
(one quart milk to 3 oz Inslinglass).  Unfortunately due to the cost of that
much Islinglass, it will have to wait until next payday :-(

If anyone has any ideas or wants to try this themselves, please, I'll take
all of the advice I can get.

Regards
Meliora de Curci
mka: Melissa Hicks
meliora at macquarie.matra.com.au

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