his Apple Cream is only one of the hundreds creams eaten as dessert by people of the higher classes of this time. In cookbooks of the 19th century you can find recipes of creams made from nuts, dairy, fruit, flowers and an assortment of alcoholic drinks.
They all had in common that they were made thicker and creamier with eggs. In these cookbooks you will also always find the well known eggnog or one of her nieces and nephews (Dutch advocaat, Italian vov, German Eiergrog, etc) between the recipes of creams.
These creams were served in beautifull glasses and garnished with edible flowers, breadcrumbs, whipped egg whites, fresh, dried or candied fruit and sauces.
This recipe comes from the cookbook “The finer cuisine, or the cook for gourmands; it being a collection of exquisite and appraised recipes for the regular and the finer cuisine, for starting or experienced cooks, kitchenmaids and housewives”*. Written by Henriëtte Stam and released in 1846 in Amsterdam.
Henriëtte Stam seems a woman not to mess with since she writes in the preface of her book that all other cookbooks are “Based on ignorance”. I can not find much on her, but I can immagine that she might had a life like her German name-twin Henriette Davidis, and might have been a teacher at a housewifery school and/or work as an governess.
In researching Henriëtte Stam and her cookbooks I came across this advertisement in the newspaper the Leeuwarder courant of the 6th of februar 1884:
It says:“ƒ0.90, FOR GOURMANDS. The best cookbook – The finer cuisine, comprehending all possible recipes for the regular and the finer cooking skills, all appraised by the famous cook Henriëtte Stam; 3th print. Price now… only ƒ0.90. The transmission of this excellent cookbook outside of the city is free upon receiving Postmandate of only ƒ0.90, where it says: the finer cuisine. Available at D.Bolle, bazaar of cheap books, Hang at the fishmarket in Rotterdam”.
Wat I find funny is the “Bazaar of cheap books”. Apparantly in 1884 dollar tree stores, poundland, and such also already existed. Immediately makes the past less romantic. Unfortunately I could only find a website that started in 1900 to convert to the current currency, but in 1900 ƒ0.90 would be €14,37 or $15,65 inflation included. D. Bolle did not seem some charlatan it was indeed cheap at the Bazaar of cheap books!
The recipe of the Apple Cream from 1846.
his is the only recipe where “koud toebereid”, which means “prepared cold” was added. But it did not make sense… all recipe directions seemed the same? How and why is this one “prepared cold”? There is no ice involved in it or something to make it colder than the rest. The only difference is that this one needs to be stirred for 2 hours in one direction?
And that was it, it turns out. After a long journey involving an Belgian icecream maker I found out what “cold prepared” means. We nowadays would call that “beaten stiff”. Like whipped egg whites. See; the whipped egg whites change shape by the whipping and not by any form of heating which usually makes eggs change shape. So it is not prepared by any heating, but “prepared cold”.
The apples.
pple cream is made of baked apples. The recipe in the original cookbook assumes you know how to do that. In those times they would have stewed the apples in butter or roasted them over fire. Nowadays there are different ways to do this. Peel the apples, remove the core,, cut them in slices and bake them in the following way:
- With butter in a pan untill mushy. Add a bit of water if they get too dry.
- 30 minutes in a 400°F/200°C pre-heated oven with 5 tablespoon of water. Cover the dish. Turn them halfway.
- 6 minutes in the microwave on highest power. Add 5 tablespoons of water and cover the dish in a way steam can still escape. Turn them halfway.
- Put a half cup of water below the basket of your airfryer and airfry them for 15 minutes.
They do not mention the type of apples you should use. Apples used during these times where most often a red-yellow type that sometimes was sweet, sometimes was not. But with the amount of sugar that goes in this recipe it really does not matter if you use sweet or sour apples.
You want the baked apples to be mushy enough to go through a sif. Apples you make apple sauce with are great for this. Pupular types are: Jonagold, McIntosh, Elstar, Cox orange, Kanzi, James Grieve, Bramley’s seedling, Belle de Boskoop, Fuji, Golden delicious.
Apple Cream from 1846
6
servings2
hours5
minutes20
minutesIngredients
5 5 big baked Apples
3 3 Eggs, Eggwhite only
1 1 Lemon
190 gram 6 5/7 oz Sugar
Directions
- Peel the cooled of apples and removed their cores if necessary. Remove the skin from the lemon with a fine grate (lemon zest).
- Push the apples through a sif.
- Add the eggwhites, the juice of the lemon, the lemon zest and the sugar.
- Beat this in one direction for 2 hours.
Notes
- Above the recipe is explained how you bake apples.
Modern takes on the recipe for Apple Cream from 1846
would use a kitchen aid or mixer for the beating, that saves a LOT of minutes. How on earth did they beat this for two hours by hand? They did not even have any tv or radio shows to keep them busy while doing it.. I guess this is what makes it food for the rich upper class. Noone without hired staff has time for that!
Warning; the eggwhites are not cooked and can contain salmonella. Raw eggs are not healthy for pregnant people, children till age 5, elderly, or any immunocompromised person.
The flowers and berry I topped it off with are not edible. Unfortunately there were no other flowers growing in my garden at the moment.
I am not sure if they would have made such a sugar-cinnamon crust on their glasses. They might; showing of your spices showed your wealth. If you want to make one too; take two saucers. One you put some water or syrup on and the other the sugar and cinnamon mixed. Put the glas first on the saucer with the water, and then on the one with the sugar and cinnamon. The sugar and cinnamon will stick to the water/syrup so make sure you press your glass in really carefully so it will be covered the same on all sides of the rim.
* The original Dutch title is “De fijne keuken, of de kok voor lekkerbekken; zijnde een verzameling van uitmuntende en beproefde recepten voor de gewone en fijne keuken, zoowel voor beginnende als voor volleerde koks, keukenmeiden en huismoeders”.