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Forgotten Desserts

The lasagna dessert thread has gotten me thinking. Back when I was a child, no Italian restaurant had tiramisu. Dessert choices were spumoni or biscuit tortoni. But you never see either of those anymore.

That led me to think of other desserts that were once standards but are now just about unknown, like Nesselrode pie, floating island, fruit fluffs, charlotte russe (not the NYC street food variety), baba au rhum, Lady Baltimore cake, and so on.

I've noticed a few of these have begun to reappear on the internet, but mostly in forms that would have been very surprising to folks back in the day. Nesselrode now is evidently a chocolate thing, for instance, whereas that was practically unheard of when I was a young 'un.

Anyone else have any thoughts on other abandoned desserts?

A friend has suggested having a forgotten desserts party, but I pointed out that everyone is likely to look to the internet for directions, so the results would probably be pretty surprising to anyone from the era when they were standards.

Comments (140)

  • jakkom
    6 years ago

    Here in the SF Bay Area, bread pudding made a big comeback within the last four years. Now it's everywhere, but mostly mediocre versions. We like the well-soaked custard-y type, which isn't common any longer.

    Rice pudding is a favored dessert in the Latin American restaurants, so it's everywhere here.

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked jakkom
  • annie1992
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I just made bread pudding last week, I didn't know it was ever gone. Actually, I made this batch out of stale biscuits, which work just like bread. Grandma used to make "hard sauce" to go over hers, but I usually don't, we just eat cold squares of it straight out of the refrigerator.

    Gingerbread was a common snack too, and I haven't made it in forever. When I first found that gingerbread was sometimes cookies (i.e. gingerbread men), I was astounded, my only contact with gingerbread was the cake, cut into squares and eaten with whipped cream for dessert or just out of our hands as a portable snack.

    And now I have to make some.

    Annie

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  • PRO
    Anglophilia
    6 years ago

    My first MIL had a wonderful recipe for Charlotte Russe and I made it many times. It will dirty every mixing bowl in the kitchen, and any recipe that involves cooked custard, beaten egg whites and whipped cream, stabilized with gelatin, is not only time consuming but very easy to ruin. It's actually quite similar to the recipe for Wolferman's Rum Cream Pie. Gelatin can be tricky - timing is everything when it must be incorporated with multiple other ingredients. It's easy to end up with stringy or blobby gelatin in the custard if ones timing is off.

    I make at least 3-4 homemade angel food cakes a year as its our family's traditional birthday cake. They are so easy to make and a boxed cake or store-bought bears no resemblance to the real thing. If I'm in a huge rush, I will use a boxed yellow cake mix. It will be greatly improved with the addition of real extract - almond, orange - even just vanilla. It totally tajes away the artificial taste.

    I love making desserts and they were a specialty of my mother as well. When I was growing up, homemade cookies were not dessert - they were just always there. Cake and pie were dessert and my mother had a light hand with both.

    As a young bride, Cherries Jubilee was always impressive and SO easy, as was Floating Island, but the one my dinner guests swooned over, was a recipe from the 1960's in Gourmet for Chocolate Mousse. Yes, it did gave raw eggs in it but oh so good - I still make it. Fabulous with fresh red raspberries!

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Anglophilia
  • marilyn_c
    6 years ago

    Baked Alaska is another one you don't see any more.

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked marilyn_c
  • Anne
    6 years ago

    maryilyn_c, can you explain Baked Alaska to me? I feel like it might be meringue but I have never had it in real life....and the mention reminded me how unsophisticated I am :)

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Anne
  • colleenoz
    6 years ago

    It's a layer of cake, topped with a big chunk of icecream. The whole thing is covered in a thick layer of meringue and frozen hard. Then it's baked until the meringue has golden tips on it. The icecream should be still frozen in the middle.

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked colleenoz
  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Interesting sidelight on baked alaska: I was just reading a story this morning in which the narrator is a young architect who's into kidney-shaped pools, fireplaces with copper hoods, and built-in sound systems. He gives baked alaska an eye roll (gets it when he has dinner with his mom and her friends), and this is a story first published in 1957.

    I have to say I've never much cared for it. It always seemed to me that the appeal of baked alaska is the magic factor: how do you get a baked outside on a still-frozen inside? But once you know, it's just not a very interesting dessert, kind of the same way magic tricks are just boring once you know how they do them. BTW, a kitchen torch is the easiest way. FWIW, pastry chefs mostly used regular commercial blow torches back in the day.

  • lindac92
    6 years ago

    A "real" baked Alaska should have different flavors of ice cream, packed into a mold unmolded on a round cake and wrapped and frozen. Just before serving, Place the cake on a wooden board, something that does not conduct heat, cover with meringue, not just egg whites but egg white beaten with sugar and vanilla, making sure to cover every bit of the ice cream....the meringue insulates it from the oven's heat.
    Place in a 500 degree preheated oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until the meringue is browned on the tips. Cut in wedges and serve with a sauce boat of warm chocolate sauce. I used to do that a lot for family "special" meals when the kids were little....they loved it! I used a one layer 8 inch round cake, and packed ice cream layer by layer ( that was a pain!) into a stainless 8 inch bowl....and froze that and the wrapped cake, and put it all together at the last minute.

    Most Charlotte recipes don't call for beaten egg whites, and it's sure not a trick to dissolve softened gelatin in hot cooked custard.
    Do you who think it's so difficult make Hollandaise sauce, Bernaise and lemon curd? Ever make one of those awful desserts where you stir slightly thickened Jell-o into whipped cream...or cool-whip? ( eww!)....same difference.

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  • Olychick
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    A "real" Baked Alaska can have any number of ice cream variations, very often shown with just strawberry ice cream (one reason I never cared for it). Just because one has always made it a certain way doesn't make it any more "real" than other recipes, including those of world renowned chefs, or other home cooks.

    According to this NPR story, the original "real" Baked Alaska used banana ice cream and walnut cake - and how Delmonico's (attributed with one of the earliest versions or origin) still makes it:


    Baked Alaska Creation: NPR

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  • Rudebekia
    6 years ago

    This thread makes me insanely hungry. I "never" eat desserts after dinner anymore.

    I remembered another frequent childhood dessert: Neapolitan ice cream. It was ice cream that sliced into three types in one slice: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. Always Walgreens brand (why? I don't know. Probably cheap) and always topped by Hershey's chocolate syrup.


    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Rudebekia
  • fawnridge (Ricky)
    6 years ago

    What an amazing list of desserts! The one that's missing though is Trifle. I haven't made this in many years, but after reading this thread, I'm tempted to shoot my diet to pieces and build one.

    Trifle

    This recipe was given to me nearly 60 years
    ago by a British nanny named Margaret who lived with us for several
    years. She claimed the recipe was at least 200 years old! In any case,
    this is an adult dessert, perfect for parties. I have made Trifle for a
    party of 50 people!
    Keep in mind that to do this right you should make the custard from
    scratch using the recipe below. Store bought custard will work, but
    there's something about homemade custard that just can't be matched.
    This method takes 2 full days to prepare.

    Homemade Custard:

    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    • 4 cups whole milk
    • 8 eggs
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 2 tablespoons cream sherry (as a bare minimum!)

    Balance:

    • 2 8" bakers spongecake layers or 2 packages of lady fingers
    • 1 cup cream sherry (once again, the bare minimum)
    • 8 tablespoons raspberry preserves
    • 6 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds
    • 1 cup heavy cream - whipped
    • 1/2 cup cherries

    First day:

    Custard preparation: In a heavy saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch.
    Gradually add milk, stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring
    constantly until mixture is thickened and comes to a boil. Boil 1
    minute. Remove from heat. In a bowl, beat egg yolks. Gradually add a
    little hot mixture, beating well. Stir egg mixture into saucepan, cook
    over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to boil.
    Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and 2 tablespoons sherry. Strain
    custard immediately into a bowl. Refrigerate until well-chilled
    overnight.

    Second day:

    Split spongecake layers in half crosswise - sprinkle each layer with
    sherry. Spread all but top layers with preserves and almonds. Stack
    layers, jam side up, spreading each layer with custard. Top with plain
    layer then remaining custard. Decorate with whipped cream and cherries.
    Refrigerate until serving time. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.


    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked fawnridge (Ricky)
  • plllog
    6 years ago

    If you added sugar and cinnamon it became kugel pudding.

    Oh! Interesting. When I was a kid, and the cooks were Askenazies from Europe, there were three types of kugel: Noodle kugel, potato kugel and matzah kugel and these could be sweet (apples) or not-sweet "regular" (onion). They were all like lead. As an adult, I learned things like green kugel (veggies) from friends, which are much lighter and very good. I have a friend who just throws things together in a dish with eggs and it comes out wonderful kugel.

    I've only had a dessert kugel once, and I think it could be a form of your kugel pudding. It was made with noodles that were white flour but shaped like soba, sweet custard and raisins. It was delicious, but also very sweet, dense and rich. I think it was served at a dairy lunch. At least, I associate eating it with sunlight. :)

    Anne, don't worry about it. We all sometimes read something that hits us wrong. I'd far rather you mention it so I can say I didn't mean it that way and settle it, than have you be silent and keep feeling insulted. I didn't at all take it as you being a jerk.

    It sounds from your description like your dessert kugel is similar to what Writersblock described. I make a lot of bread puddings because I have bread and cake to use up, but since I'd have to cook the noodles and make an on purpose kugel pudding, I guess I've just never thought of going there. :)

    Jakkom, what kind of bread pudding are they making if it's not soaked in custard??

    Maduros (new word for me) or tajaditas (same thing), or tostones, green or ripe, sweet or not, spiced or not, heaven always! Tostones with pepper, amazing! Tajaditas with alspice, superb! I'm not a big sweet eater, nor a big fried fan, but I could make myself sick scarfing down tajaditas or tostones. I've read that there's a local version everywhere plantains come from. It seems that the world just knows how perfect they are. :)


    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked plllog
  • artemis_ma
    6 years ago

    Baked Alaska - unfortunately I never had it, but mother would notice the oven on when there was nothing cooking, and she would ask, "what you making, baked Alaska?" Curious as to how this expression got started (or was this specific to my mom)?

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  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    They were all like lead.

    I'm afraid that pretty well describes the kugel puddings that I've had, too. They were always about 98% noodle, but then that was a long time ago, before South Beach was invented, back when all my friends said, "Miami Beach! With the old people?" when I told them I was moving out there.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Artemis, I would guess because the oven has to be heated as hot as it will go to brown the meringue before the ice cream melts.

  • Anne
    6 years ago

    pillog, I will try and remember tomorrow to pull out the church cookbook with the Kugel recipe. It is to die for in my opinion. Like I said I am not Jewish and I am sure the other poster (sorry, I am forgetful) who said it is from Ashkenazi Jews I believe that is true. Trust us Lutherans to steal anyones hot dish :)

    I am going to get some plantains soon and do the legit dessert! Off topic, I bought a bunch of green bananas at Costco and they literally after a month didn't ripen.....I no longer buy fruit from them.

    I think Bread Pudding is the best. I grew up eating homecooked non processed food but once a week my Granddaddy took us out to dinner and we always had bread pudding.....

    Charlotte Russe...now I feel really silly, I am educated but apparently not sophisticated because I thought that was a store for "plus" sized women. (It is but either it was the founders name or was stolen from a fancy dessert). Anglophilia, you taught me something new today! I grew up being told you should learn something new every day!

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Anne
  • Anne
    6 years ago

    Also Neopolitan Ice Cream.....I hated that....I grew up with homemade ice cream so going to a bday party or friends house and they pulled out the neopolitan I hated it.

    Last weekend one of my kids(not a kid but lives with us) stopped on his way home from work at the local mart which is a total gas and go with three day old hot dogs and brought home neopolitan.....I kinda liked it.

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Anne
  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    (It is but either it was the founders name or was stolen from a fancy dessert)

    I think it's named after the NYC street food version:

    http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2012/02/lost-foods-of-new-york-city-charlotte-russe-067223

    ETA I hated neapolitan ice cream, too, although I loved the three-flavored one our little local bakery made for the 4th of July, which was raspberry, vanilla, and blueberry, but it was expensive so we hardly ever had it.

  • Anne
    6 years ago

    Thanks writersblock. I am learning every day how much less sophisticated I am than I thought. :)

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Anne
  • Olychick
    6 years ago

    I hate Neopolitan, too. It's that fake strawberry flavor it always has seemed to have that put me off (same as for inside Baked Alaska). I love strawberries, love vanilla ice cream, love them together, probably would like good homemade strawberry ice cream, but think I have ptfd (post traumatic food disorder) from the strawberry flavor in Neopolitan we had as kids.

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Olychick
  • plllog
    6 years ago

    Okay, that's a new one on me! The cupcake version of charlotte russe. The origin of the name of the real thing is supposed to have the chef naming it after the tsar's daughter. The store is surely named after the dessert, but which version I don't know (I only skimmed the article--if it said, I missed it).

    Anne, missing out on knowing about one fancy dessert that's not seen much anymore does not make you unsophisticated. Unless you're a master pastry chef. If not, you're fine.

    Re the church cookbook, good food is good food. I bet none of your church friends would like my grandmother's sweet kugel. That a good recipe became a standard doesn't surprise me. So, awhile back I talked about making sfingi for Chanukah. That's fried ricotta dumplings. An Italian-American, emphasis on the Italian, said it was spelled sfinci, though pronounced in some regions more or less as I'd spelt it, and was specifically and only for St. Joseph's day. My response was that Jews do fried foods for Chanukah and if it's delicious we'd borrow it from wherever we were. We also do buñelos (Mexican fritters with cinnamon sugar) or churros (Mexican fried choux dough logs with cinnamon and sugar), bolinhos (more of the same), funnel cakes, sufganiot (Israeli jelly donuts (globe shaped and small, with more jam than American ones)), or sonhos, which I made this year. Sonhos are Portuguese/Brazilian stuffed fritters, so kind of like any of the above pastries crossed with a profiterole or jelly donut. So... listing all these together, I see that they're versions of the same kind of thing, but it could be Maduros or anything else fried. All a very long and sticky way of saying you're most welcome to represent a better version than usual of Jewish cooking in a Lutheran potluck and cookbook. :)

    Neapolitan: I never liked the strawberry part of that sliced Neapolitan ice cream when I was a kid, either, but I didn't like the vanilla much better. OTOH, there was a local chain store that had really good, inexpensive, hand scooped ice cream, and the Neapolitan cones from there were really good. I think part of it was superior quality, but also, the three flavors were better together than in separate bites.

    Speaking of which, when I was touring Italy back when I was in college, I had a pretty tight meals budget, but I worked it out that if I ate my whole hotel provided continental breakfast, including the cappuccino, and the butter and jam on my roll, I could get gelato from a street vendor for lunch, and have enough money for a good dinner. The best way to get the gelato was to have the vendor just pile on some of every flavor. It was SO good! Which brought me to look up why they call it Neapolitan. The obvious answer would be the Italian flag, which spumoni often is with cherry, vanilla and pistachio, but sources say that the multiflavored brick version of ice cream comes from Naples. Which may be from spumoni looking like the flag... So, I'm wondering if mixing all the gelati together on the streets of Naples is the modern version of the same...

    There's a really amazing strawberry ice cream recipe in the Ultimate Ice Cream Book, but it's fluff--way delicious fluff--and must be eaten right away or it turns into ice.

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked plllog
  • Rudebekia
    6 years ago

    I also recall that we all hated the "strawberry" part of the Neapolitan and just ate the chocolate and vanilla. Terrible fake taste to it! Funny how common our experiences are...

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked Rudebekia
  • bbstx
    6 years ago

    I can't recall which part of Neapolitan ice cream I hated, but I couldn't stand it as a child.

    My still very slender mother has always had a sweet tooth. I can't recall if we had dessert every night, but we had it often. Generally, what we had relied on what was in season: strawberry shortcake (biscuit-type), peach cobbler, and blackberry cobbler come readily to mind. I also remember often having banana pudding (the real kind with cooked custard and meringue), lemon ice-box pie, lemon meringue pie, and chocolate pie. Mom did not make fruit pies; she made cobblers which was a sort of deep dish pie with only a top crust. At Christmas, she would make coconut cake with freshly (and finely) grated coconut. To this day, she will turn up her nose at a coconut cake with commercially prepared coconut.

    Someone above mentioned bread pudding. I've seen recipes for it where you cube the bread and toast it or otherwise dry it. But that is not how I make it or what I've seen in the South. My recipe is from a friend's mother who allegedly got it from the Bon Ton Cafe in New Orleans. You start by crumbling a one pound loaf of french bread and soaking it in milk. Once it has soaked for about 10 minutes, you use your hands to "crush" the bread and milk together into a thick mixture, then add eggs, sugar, vanilla, and optional raisins. It is baked in a 9x13 pan until set. The finished product is like a custard with texture. :-)

    Colleenoz, many years ago my parents spent a night on a ranch (station?) in Australia. They were served "the national dessert of Australia," a Pavlova. The ranch wife gave Mother her recipe. From then on when ever Mother needed to bring a dessert, she would bring Pavlova, except whatever the mess it, it isn't Pavlova. As I have gotten more and more adept at cooking, and more knowledgeable, I've realized what a Pavlova ought to be even though I'm sure there are variations. But whatever it is that Mother makes is a far cry from every recipe I've ever seen for Pavlova. First, there is no meringue shell. It reminds me more of ambrosia gone astray than Pavlova. It is some sort of mixture of citrus fruit and coconut folded into either custard or whipped cream or something. One day I need to get a look at that recipe. 0_0

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  • colleenoz
    6 years ago

    That sounds really...odd, bbstx :-) Standard pav is a meringue base (crisp outside, chewy middle), whipped cream, sliced strawberries and passionfruit pulp, sometimes kiwifruit for colour. I'd have to say I've never encountered coconut or citrus fruit on a pav.

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  • sheilajoyce_gw
    6 years ago

    I love peach cobbler and still make it. When my mother made pies, she rolled out the left over dough and made Stickies--liberally buttered half the rolled out dough, sprinkled with lots of brown sugar, folded over the dough, sealed it and cut a couple of vents in the upper crust. When she baked the Stickies, they were our after school treat. To me, Stickies were even better than pie.

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  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    We just sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on the leftover dough and baked it that way. Funny, I loved those although I didn't much care about the crust on the pie itself back then.

  • sheilajoyce_gw
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    You are jogging my memory--Stickies included cinnamon too. I remember we loved chocolate pudding cake in the '60s too. It was made from scratch in an 8 inch square pan. The batter separated while baking to a pudding layer and a cake layer.

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  • ci_lantro
    6 years ago

    I loved that pie crust sprinkled w/ cinnamon & sugar. I would have rather had that than pie.

    Black walnut ice cream was one of my favorites. Haven't seen it in years & years.

    Mom made a lemon pudding that was Jello lemon pudding & pie filling. The egg whites were separated from the yolks and whipped into a meringue and the meringue was folding into the cooking pudding, then chilled. Was so light and yummy. Perfect summer dessert. With sous vide cookers becoming so popular, making it easy to pasteurize eggs at home, maybe some of those raw egg white recipes will see new life.

    I think banana splits are a victim of the disappeared drug store fountains. But banana splits are still around if you're lucky enough to live where there are Braum's ice cream stores. Braum's has several different banana split versions on the menu.

    I used to make a Jello cake...just a box cake baked in a 9 x 13 pan. After the cake was baked, using a fork, a bunch of holes was poked in the cake and Jello was poured over the cake. Chilled in the refrigerator and 'iced' when cold with Cool Whip or whipped cream. I liked this one for the summer time.


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  • plllog
    6 years ago

    What you describe as Jell-o cake, is currently in. It's just that you use homemade fruity sugar water instead of the Jell-o. It intensifies the flavor of the cake.

    My father used to love black walnut ice cream. :)

    writersblock (9b/10a) thanked plllog
  • annie1992
    6 years ago

    Ci-lantro, that cake still gets made around here too, it's called "poke cake" instead of Jello cake, and sometimes it gets jelly, sometimes a homemade syrup, sometimes pudding. I've seen that technique used in several Tres Leches cakes too.

    We can still get banana splits here too, especially at the small local ice cream shops. We also have a chain called Culver's, a Midwestern thing, and they have banana splits. The ones I remember from my childhood had strawberry, pineapple and chocolate toppings. Now the toppings are chocolate, caramel and strawberry. Too bad, I liked that pineapple topping.

    My Mother loves black walnut fudge, but I seldom want to crack enough of the blasted things to make it, I understand why it's not widely popular, it's just too much work to shell the nuts!

    Annie

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  • impatien
    6 years ago

    Hearing about the neopolitan ice cream made me think of what we called it as kids--van choc straw

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  • nancyofnc
    6 years ago

    When I was 4 my baby sitter made magic candy - Peanut Brittle. I was so impressed that I begged my mom to teach me how to bake desserts. She gave me a cookbook and not much time with her. But by the time I was 12 I was making Cream Puffs and Eclairs with chocolate custard filling to sell to the neighborhood moms. I did just about every kind of dessert imaginable and went on to have my own gluten free bakery awhile after I retired from corporate life at 55. I am really tired of baking and retired from that after 10 years. I only make one dessert a week, then give most of it away to my neighbors. They beg mostly for pies so I make them from my Blueberries, Persian Lime Pies with lots of meringue, and Mile High Apple a la Martha. Those don't taste anything like the frozen junk from the grocery store.

    As for what we don't see at restaurants/ bakeries anymore are Lane Cake, Gingerbread Cake, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Coconut Cream Pie, and we never see, Ice-Box Cookies.

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  • Louiseab
    6 years ago

    Still one of my favourites, pineapple delight. If I ever d make it now I use real whipped cream not fake.

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  • jakkom
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    >>But whatever it is that Mother makes is a far cry from every recipe I've ever seen for Pavlova. First, there is no meringue shell. It reminds me more of ambrosia gone astray than Pavlova. It is some sort of mixture of citrus fruit and coconut folded into either custard or whipped cream or something.>>

    What your mom is making sounds like a regional variant of the traditional English "fool" dessert - basically a custard (traditional) or whipped cream (modern) with fruit puree mixed in. According to Wiki, it's first mentioned as a dessert in 1598, with the earliest recipe published in the mid-1600's.

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  • plllog
    6 years ago

    Thanks, Jakkom! I've often read about fools in old novels, and other than it being gooey, I had no idea what it was!

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  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Oh, but a good fool isn't gooey, or at least they weren't when I lived in England. They were like a fruit mousse as far as texture--moldable if you chose.

  • bbstx
    6 years ago

    Because the fruit is chopped, not puréed, I'm assuming what Mother makes doesn't fall into the "fool" category. The more I've been thinking about it, the more I wonder if somehow the recipe assumed the reader would know to bake the Pavlova shell and didn't specifically say to do so. Again, I've got to get the recipe for whatever it is that Mother is making.

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  • plllog
    6 years ago

    Writersblock, that's just about the definition of "gooey". I didn't mean like gooey brownies, but just that it's in the custard/cream/jelly/pudding/mousse category of goop, rather than cake/cookie baked and firm category.

    Bbstx, I had a moment to think this through today. I'm used to Pavlovas that are tall and toasty with a well holding fruit and cream, but more like the amount that one might put on a cake, no more than maybe a third the volume of the meringue. I found a lot of pictures online of Pavlovas that were small meringue shells piled high with cream and fruit, like the meringue was about a quarter of the total volume. Perhaps your mother encountered that kind, and thought the point was the fruit and cream, rather than the meringue?

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  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Pavlovas that were small meringue shells piled high with cream and fruit, like the meringue was about a quarter of the total volume.

    I think I've actually seen pavlova recipes like that, especially in the pre-internet era. I know I was confused for a long time as to exactly what it was supposed to be.

  • bbstx
    6 years ago

    Mother lives about 1.5 hours away. I'm hopeful I'll get to her house this week and maybe take a peek at the recipe.

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  • l pinkmountain
    6 years ago

    I inherited so many fru fru dessert tchotckes from my mom and I greatly regret that I just don't serve dessert that often. SO and I aren't able to entertain that much, even though we would love to, and we don't eat that much dessert. I can't afford the calories, I am trying to keep my weight down to a reasonable level. I never even used to eat desserts much when I was younger and more fit, I just couldn't afford the calories, that's how I stayed slim. Nowdays even that is not enough. I miss layered cakes and pies, but by the time we finish with a cake or pie with just ourselves eating it, it is stale. What's the sense in making a big cake if you are going to cut it up and freeze it, might as well make cupcakes.

    I miss parfaits!! I have a parfait set and really hate to get rid of it but it hasn't been used in probably 40 years. Mom used to make pudding and jello parfaits when we were kids. I have several cake stands and plates too, just languishing.

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  • plllog
    6 years ago

    You can always reinvent your old dishes. Parfait glasses can be used for layered chopped salads. Cake stands can be used for anything you want to raise off the table, even humble baked potatoes. :)

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  • l pinkmountain
    6 years ago

    With just SO and I, most foods go from cooking pan to plate, with salads being the exception. Last night we had tacos and I got all excited putting out all the condiments in these bowls I hardly ever use. If I made cocktails, I could put them in my parfait glasses, but I don't do that either. Not to mention the rootbeer float glasses that dad can't part with.

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  • bbstx
    6 years ago

    I cannot hear the word "parfait" without thinking of THIS from Shrek.

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  • plllog
    6 years ago

    LOL!! "Ogres are like onions." :) I know parfaits are supposed to be "perfect", but I've never been a big fan of whipped cream unless it's just so (most whipped cream just tastes like grease to me), so I haven't had many parfaits that I like nearly as well as Donkey!

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  • lindac92
    6 years ago

    I think it's a good idea to have and USE some of the "fancier" dishes. I don't have parfait glasses, but my mother in law long wanted some and one day bought them with her "egg money". she used them often for simple family dinners with desserts...sometimes they contained red jello layered with bananas and sometime, Jell-o vanilla pudding with canned peaches, and sometimes strawberrys, ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream on top. But even old bananas and red jello was special out of a parfait glass.
    II have several....more than 3....well actually more than 5 LOL! footed cake stands. any time I make a cake or tart or a flan, I put it on a footed dish. And I often use one as a centerpiece full of grapes and apples and stuff. I have a very small footed cake plate that is perfect for a cheese ball and a couple of small footed jelly dishes that I use to serve jelly or apple sauce, or chutney.
    When my husband was alive, we set a table every night. On good days in the summer, we sat on the deck but in the winter or hot days we used the diningroom, with candles and placemats and silver and china and footed glasses. We often lingered over coffee or another glass of wine long after the kids had gone off to their activities....as the candles sputtered and went out.
    I have friends who never set a table for a family nightly meal.....it's grab a plate, fill it in the kitchen, grab a fork and find a spot to eat.
    I feel very grateful that both of my kids set a table and have a family meal almost every evening. Of course it's not possible with 3 or 4 teen aged kids....but4 or 5 nights a week is a good thing!

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  • bbstx
    6 years ago

    Finally got the recipe from Mom. Turns out it wasn't a Pavlova at all. It is a "milk pudding." Nevertheless, it was presented to Mother and Daddy as "the traditional dessert of Australia," which may account for my confusing it with Pavlova. Attached is the recipe.

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  • colleenoz
    6 years ago

    Ah, that explains a lot :-) I haven't seen that dessert for probably 45 years :-) A more popular verion was called "Jelly Whip" and used Jello (which is called "jelly" here) instead of gelatine. It may have been boosted with extra gelatine (I never made it). I'll see if I can dig out a recipe.

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  • bbstx
    6 years ago

    A neighbor who isn't much interested in cooking always serves a "pie" that is Cool Whip mixed with orange Jello powder with mandarin orange slices folded in. She puts it in a graham cracker crust and chills it. Sounds similar to your "Jelly Whip," colleenoz.

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  • sarah_socal
    6 years ago

    I can't find an easy link, but Food & Wine Magazine's current issue features what I believe is a Pavlova on the cover. . .


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