[Sca-cooks] Re: Trifle (?OOP) was victoria

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Elysant1 at aol.com wrote:
>
> Yes... Birds do make an instant trifle "mix" like this - minus fruit goo, add
> a packet of jelly or "jello", a packet of creamy topping powder, and a small
> packet of sprinkles to decorate the whole effort... :-)

Sprinkles cover a multitiude of ills... <g>

> > Of course, any resemblance between the above and real trifle is purely
> > accidental, so this is not intended as any kind of slur on the cuisine
> > in question.
>
> > While Americans do have the odd food to be embarrassed about, so does
> > everybody else, and in the grand scheme of things, Little Debby Snack
> > Cakes are fairly small potatoes...
>
> True :-)  Using the snack cakes do add a different twist to the dish though -
> and some of the more "modern" or "instant" ways of making trifile still turn
> out a quite pleasant if not all authentic dessert (if you like trifley types
> of things). :-)   I've also used Lady Fingers and "Swiss Roll" (when in
> Britain) in it.  I wonder what would be the most authentic kind of cake to
> use?

While I've always felt that the foundation of good food is good
ingredients, I suspect a decent custard will improve a substandard or
even a mediocre cake immensely. The earliest trifle recipes I've seen
seem to be a pretty straightforward stirred custard poured over sippets
of toast, or perhaps a yeast-leavened fruitcake like the Digby
currant/sherry/nutmeg cake. Fruit goo or other fruit product, and
whipped cream would seem to be a later addition.

> BTW Does anyone have a recipe for a Chocolate trifle?
> (Sorry for the OOP bandwidth)
>
> Elysant - who obviously does like trifley kinds of things..... ;-)

Um, how's about if we make one up by committee? Everybody paying
attention? I'm winging this here. Chocophiles, please tell me if my
proportions are off. I'll go into the custard. For fruit, cake and
whipped cream, yer on yer own. Fair?

1 quart half-and-half (dairy, not beer) or light cream
6 egg yolks
~ 3/4 cup sugar or to taste
tiny pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
~4 oz bittersweet chocolate (More? I don't do chocolate very often)

You'll need two saucepans. One is for heating the cream, the other for
using as a double boiler. Heat the water for your double boiler in one
pan. Chop or grate the chocolate and reserve.  In a large stainless
steel or other heat-conductive, non-reactive bowl, beat the egg yolks
with the sugar and the salt until smooth and bright yellow. All this
while, you'll have been heating (gently) the cream. Do not boil, do not
burn. Add the chocolate and stir quickly until dissolved in the cream.
Pour hot chocolate/cream amalgam and either ladel or pour in a thin
stream into the eggs, beating constantly. The idea is to first have the
eggs bring down the temperature of the cream, to keep it from cooking
the eggs suddenly and disastrously, then to have the cream bring up the
temperautre of the cream, and begin to cook them properly. When the
cream and eggs are fully incorporated, place your mixing bowl over the
pan of water, and stir constantly (a rubber spatula works well if you're
quick enough to keep the stuff from cooking and sticking in clots to the
sides of the bowl) until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden
spoon. The temperatire of your liquid should be just a bit over 140
degress Fahrenheit. Add vanilla and/or whaever other flavorings (rum,
whatever) you'd like to include, while the mixture is hot. Cool your
bowl or other container in a larger container of either cold water or,
even better, salted ice water. When cool, consider straining it through
a fine strainer to remove any little eggy clumps.

Chill and pour over your cake... you know the rest, I'm sure. I expect
the thing to do is dust the finished product, over the whipped cream,
with ground chocolate or cocoa. Whaddaya think? Blackberries?

Adamantius (thinking evil thoughts of this poured over a chocolate
chestnut torte)
[no, not a dessert fiend! honest!]
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98