Syllabub - Whisking for exercise

 "Whisking with all your might and main... is good exercise for young ladies" and, the author quipped, might be added to gym classes.  The recipe below called for osier twig whisks, but there were other ways to whip up a froth, such as chocolate mills, syllabub mills, milking cows, or tin-tube churns. And then, for cat lovers, store the tray of syllabubs in "the coolest nook you have, that is free from dust, draughts, and intrusive cats."


The first recipe includes the advice that whisking be "made an agreeable branch of calisthenics in female educational establishments."  It spoons the froth or whipped cream directly into glasses, thus differs from the second, earlier recipe which drained the flavored whipped cream on a sieve.

"Syllabubs are best made the day before they are wanted, or, at any rate, early in the morning, if they are to be sent to table the same evening. They require time to settle and let their froth get firm.

Whenever you intend to make them, steep overnight the thin rind of two lemons in a pint of white wine, covered down close.  Next day, remove the lemon-peel from the wine, and put it in a large bowl with a pint and a half of rich cream, three table-spoonfuls of brandy, and the juice of the two lemons; sweeten to taste.

Beat these to a froth with your whisk of osier-twigs [willow], Have your syllabub-glasses at hand on a tray, and as fast as the froth rises, skim it off with a table or gravy spoon, and ladle it into your syllabub-glasses, heaping it as high as you can get it to hang together. Continue whisking with all your might and main till there is nothing more left in the bowl to whisk. Then set your tray, laden with syllabubs, in the coolest nook you have, that is free from dust, draughts, and intrusive cats. Syllabub-whisking is good exercise for young ladies, and might be made an agreeable branch of calisthenics in female educational establishments."

Delamere, Edmund S.  Wholesome Fare: A Sanitary Cookbook... 2d London: 1878

To make Lemon Syllabubs a second way. 1769, 1808

Put a pint of cream to a pint of white wine, then rub a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar upon the out rind of two lemons, till you have got out all the essence, then put the sugar to the cream, and squeeze in the juice of both lemons, let it stand for two hours, then mill them with a chocolate mill, to raise the froth, and take it off with a spoon as it rises, or it will make it heavy, lay it upon a hair sieve to drain, then fill your glasses with the remainder, and lay on the froth as high as you can, let them stand all night, and they will be clear at the bottom: send them to the table upon a salver, with jellies.
Raffald, Elizabeth. The Experienced English Housekeeper.  London:  1769, 1808 various editions

For more posts on syllabub HERE
 
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