Apple-Crème from 1846

This Apple-Crème is only one of the hundreds crèmes eaten as dessert by people of the higher classes of this time. In cookbooks of the 19th century you can find recipes of crèmes made from nuts, dairy, fruit, flowers and an assortiment 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 crèmes. 

These crèmes were served in beautifull glasses and  garnished with 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-mate Henriette Davidis, and might have been a teacher at a housewifery school 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 is 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 excisted. Immedeately makes the past less romantic. Unfortunately I could only find a website that started in 1900, but in 1900 ƒ0.90 would be €14,37 or $15,65. D. Bolle did not seem some charlatan it was indeed cheap at the Bazaar of cheap books!

The recipe of the Apple-Crème from 1846.

This is the only recipe where “koud toebereid”, which means “prepared cold” was added. But it did not make sense… all recipes seemed the same? Fruits cooked first. There is also 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”.

Apple-Crème from 1846

Recipe by Chef Labecaque

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

2

hours 

5

minutes

Cooking timeminutes

Ingredients

• 5 big baked Apples

• 3 Eggs, Eggwhite only

• 1 Lemon

• 180-200 grams of Sugar

Directions

• Peel the cooled of apples and removed their cores. 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.

Modern takes on the recipe for Apple-Crème from 1846

It is not mentioned in the recipe how you bake apples. I would recommend one of the following: peel your apples, removes the cores, and cut them in chunks. Either A. put them in the microwave for 2 minutes. B. In the oven for 20 minutes on 180c. C. Bake them in a pan in some butter.

They do not mention the type of apples. 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 which type you use.

I would use a kitchen aid or mixer for the beating, that saves a LOT of minutes.

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 also not edible. Unfortunately there were no other flowers growing in my garden.

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. Put the glas first on the saucer with the water, and then on the one with the sugar and cinnamon.

* 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”.