Apple Mousse from Ullapool, Scotland

Paul Hart photo of Ullapool

This mousse is another one of my forever favorites. It comes from what I remember as being a Brigadoon-like town in the Scottish Highlands on the shore of Loch Broom and surrounded by the mountain An Teallach to the south. The name of the town, Ullapool (or Ulapul) is Gaelic for Wolf Farm…or Norse for Wool Farm. It is known for its art and culture and has been the location for many a film since it has changed little in 100 or so years (thanks to the railroad not going through) and for having been designed in 1788 by the noted bridge builder and architect, Thomas Telford (nicknamed the Colossus of Roads). *

Ullapool Church built by Thomas Telford in 1829

Apple mousse has been a favorite in one form or another in the British Isles for a very long time. The Elizabethans had the wonderfully named Dyschfull of Snowe that had whipped cream and egg whites, sugar and rosewater and the apple in the center of the dish stuck with evergreen. Here is the original (I know I’ve been at this too long when I read Elizabethan English smoothly!) from The Proper Booke of Cokerye, a 16^th c cookbook.

To make a dyschefull of 
Snowe

Take a pottell of swete thycke creame
 and the whytes of eyghte egges, and beate 
them altogether wyth a spone, then putte 
them in youre creame and a saucerfull of
 Rosewater, and a dyshe full of Suger wyth all, 
then take a stycke and make it cleane, and 
than cutte it in the ende foure square, and 
ther with beate all the afore sayde thynges
 together, and ever as it ryseth take it
of and put it into a Collaunder, this done
 take one apple and set it in the myddes of it,
and a thicke bushe of Rosemary, and set it
in the myddes of the platter, then cast your
 Snowe uppon the Rosemarye and fyll your 
platter therwith. And yf you have wafers
 caste some in wyth all and thus serve them 
forthe.

The Germans have something similar made with egg white named aptly apfelschaum which is apple foam in English and which is what it is like… light sweet and delicious. This recipe is not light but it is fabulous and so delicious. My memories of Scotland are fond indeed although I haven’t been back in many a year. Every time I taste this mousse I'm back again!

Midcoast Fine Antiques of Maine

When I looked at the apple mousse, my first thought was “It is beige”. I always tell my art directors that 'beige = death' on film… it’s a personal prejudice, I know. So I used my Bristol Blue Rummer for an antidote to beige and then I had this crazy idea in my head to do a riff on a Victorian tortoiseshell comb.

The hitch is that the caramel melts so don’t stick them in till you are ready to serve if you decide to try them! They are pretty easy to do simply but if you are feeling inspired you can go nuts! You can make two batches of caramel… one dark and one light and combine them on the silpat to give a real tortoiseshell look. Otherwise, let’s face it… apple mousse isn’t a stunner visually (but wait until you taste it!!). Use a cup of sugar for each color.

Apple Mousse – Based on a recipe from Royal Hotel, Ullapool, Scotland

Serves 4-6

7 c apples ( I used a combination of sweet and tart from Salt Point, NY's Terhune Orchard via Union Square Farmer's Market) peeled and cored in 1” pieces ** you can add spice to the applesauce if you wish… a pinch of cinnamon and star anise is lovely (but make sure to remove the anise before pureeing). I find with the madeira that it is best without spice. Use 2 cups of apple puree.

2 T butter

3T water

l ½ tsp. gelatin (2 T water) *** for you vegetarians, just make the applesauce a little thicker and skip the gelatin… it is still great… I have done this when I made it and realized I had run out of gelatin!!!!

1/3 C honey-mild as you can find it. (I use Champlain Valley Apiaries)

1 C cream (Milk Thistle Farms is the best cream ever!)

1 -2 T scotch or 3 T madeira (Boston Bual or NY Malmsey)

Topping

½ C pecans or walnuts

2 T butter

2 T maple syrup

Melt 2 T butter, add apples and 3T water and cook covered for 15 minutes until apples are soft. Puree.

Sprinkle gelatin over 2 T water and soften 5 minutes. Add honey and Scotch (or Madeira) to the warm apples with the gelatin and cool. Beat cream till stiff and blend into the apple mix. Add to glasses and chill.

The topping is my addition to the recipe: Sauté nuts in butter till fragrant. Add maple syrup (and another splash of liquor if you would like) and sprinkle on top of the mousse and serve. It’s nice if the mousse is cold and the nuts are warm.

I’ve made this with Scotch forever… but I tried it with the Madeira and was crazy about it. I got to use a tiny bit of The Rare Wine Company's 1922 Bual in a serving and it was amazing.

*Many of the facts are from Wikipedia or the Ullapool Tourism Bureau

Bristol Blue Rummer, 1820's

Another great Foodie Friday with Gollum!!! See her green cupcakes!

Melon en Nougat via Tiffanys

If you want to know why they called it “The Gilded Age”, take a gander at this 41-piece place setting from Tiffany’s from the 1870’s. Forty-one pieces, each having a specific purpose from orange and sherbet spoons to turtle and bon-bon forks (the golden vermeil pieces were for acid foods that might discolor silver). Sterling protection against the abhorrent possibility that human fingers might touch food at table (bread was the only exception) and offend the sensibilities of the fine guests!

Tiffany Vine Pattern, Roslyn Berlin Fine Silver

In The New England Antiques Journal, Duncan A McKee wrote: “The number of articles that appeared on a properly set Victorian dinner table seems truly intimidating today. For the dinner hostess of the period, each piece of silver, china and stemware had its chosen place. In many cases, it was not unusual for as many as 24 pieces of silver to be at each place setting. As many as eight forks might be laid out, ranging from a fish fork and dinner fork to an ice cream fork. Knives could add up to eight more pieces for butter, cheese, game, roast, and fruit, all accompanied by individual knife rests. 
All the stemware that would be needed through the meal was placed on the table beforehand, arranged in two rows: a water glass, a glass for chambertin, a glass for latour, champagne, a green glass for sauterne, a sherry glass, and a red glass for Rhine wine. An unbuttered slice of bread rested on a napkin to the left of the plate with an individual salt close by. In the center of the table stood a sophisticated centerpiece.”

When reading up on Tiffany silver I found a surprising intersection of my interests in the giant character of J.W. Mackay. When I researched an article on food at the NY Players Club a few years ago (I’ve shared some of this with you on a few other posts and it was the genesis of this blog), the name came up in a great anecdote from club history.

J.W. Mackay

John William Mackay made his fortune with the Comstock Lode silver strike in 1873 near Virginia City, Nevada (partnered with William Randolph Hearst’s father, George) and became wealthier still after the mine dried up with his Commercial Cable Company. His Players’ Club friends (he had lived in NYC as a young man) decided against an opulent spread when they honored him at a dinner in 1893. Instead, they instructed the kitchen to produce a miner’s menu of a hearty soup, raw oysters and corned beef and cabbage -- much to the delight of Mr. Mackay. This simple meal brought back memories of his adventurous youth in the wild west of Virginia City as only food can do. Mark Twain arrived around midnight to join his old friend from his Roughing It days days and they swapped tall-tales till dawn while enjoying the humble but hugely evocative repast.

The truth is, Mr. Mackay did have opulent tastes and stands like a colossus in the world of silver for more than one reason.

Mr. Mackay, was called the “Silver King” or the “Bonanza King”. According to legend, when his wife, Marie Louise Hungerford Mackay, visited the mine, she decided to have a half a ton of silver shipped to Tiffany's with instructions to make an elaborate dinner service. “There, reportedly, two hundred craftsmen worked exclusively on the service for two years; a total of over one million man hours. When complete, Mr. Mackay purchased the dies so that the service could never be duplicated. The service was delivered to the Mackays in Paris” (where they had moved when NY society snubbed the shanty Irish parvenus), “accompanied by a silver clasped leather bound album of photographs and fitted in nine walnut and mahogany chests, each mounted with a silver plaque detailing its contents.”

Tiffany's silver exhibit at the 1878 Exposition Universelle (that saw Bell's telephone, Edison's phonograph, electric arc lights as well as beginnings of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower) in Paris included the spectacular Mackay dinner-and-dessert service for 24, one of the most elaborate silver table services ever produced, consisting of 1,223 pieces of which 305 were holloware items. Edward C. Moore of Tiffanys designed the pattern of flower-encrusted Persian and Indian motifs, with thistles, shamrocks, and American flowers. Nearly 100 years later, in 1990, the famous punch bowl from the set sold at Christies for $225,000. It had elephant trunks and tusks making up the feet and a Chinese dragon etched on the interior.

Many pieces are housed at the Keck Museum at the University of Nevada (Mackay endowed the Mackey School of Mines there). Much of the story of the Mackay silver and the photographs came from their website.

Mackay Melon Knives by Tiffany

Melon en Nougat, Inspired by Queen Victoria’s Chef Francatelli

4 egg whites

pinch cream of tartar

½ c + 4T sugar

3 T port (it is really best to use a little of the good vintage port, the flavor is much richer)

2 c heavy cream, whipped( I use Milk Thistle Farm cream, the best ever!)

small Charentais melon or cantaloupe

2 pinches of black pepper & allspice

Mint for garnish

2 T ground almonds + 2 T toasted almonds for garnish

Take 4 T sugar and heat to caramel, remove from heat and slowly add warmed port and pepper. If caramel seizes, gently reheat to liquify(this is great stuff, you may want to double the recipe!). Toss 1/2 of the melon cubed in the syrup and allow to mellow.

Take 1/2c sugar and 2 T water and cook 4 minutes or till 238º.

Beat the egg whites with 1 tsp sugar. Mix in hot syrup. Fold in drained melon, add cream and powdered almonds and refrigerate.

Cook rest of melon, sliced thinly and decoratively, with a pinch of pepper and allspice for a few moments over a low heat.

Combine port syrup and cooked fruit. Spoon the nougat on a plate and surround with fruit and syrup, garnish with mint and toasted almonds if you like. You can also freeze this lightly for an unusual ice cream!

Serves 6

The nougat is an old-fashioned treat, encasing velvety melon in this incarnation. Imagine using those melon knives to slice the melon with stately, silver grace, But remember, as Eliza Leslie advised in 1864, avoid “all discussions of sicknesses, sores, surgical operations, dreadful accidents, shocking cruelties or horrible controversies” while dining… then as now, excellent advice.

Mackay’s 36” high candelabra, one of a pair with 29 candles by Tiffany

Mackay’s Silver Tureen by Tiffany

Honestly, wouldn’t any meal be extraordinary with this fabulous silver service? As long as you didn’t have to polish it!