Wine Jelly

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR... Somewhere around a decade and a half ago, at a
small dinner party in Staunton, Virginia, Vickie Powers served a dessert
that knocked everybody out.
She served it in a tall champagne flute and, at first, we thought it was a
drink. It was a slightly cloudy pink, the color of a light rosi wine, with
a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top although people initially
thought that the cream was foam. A single perfect grape, suspended a
half-inch above the bottom in each flute, was the only clue to what it may
have been.
It was "rosi wine jelly" and consisted of the wine, a little sugar, a
squeeze of orange juice, a dash of lemon juice and some gelatine. Vickie's
husband, Tom, said it was her little secret recipe that never failed to get
raves. She said it had been in her family for years and she'd read
somewhere that it had been a favorite in Victorian England.
After she made me go through some serious whining and grovelling, she gave
me the recipe. I asked her what she called it. "Wine jelly," she said. "Not
dramatic enough," I said. Since it was from Queen Victoria's reign and was
Vickie Powers' secret recipe, we called it "Victoria's Secret." Some of you
are smirking.
It seems that my education was incomplete. After we'd been serving
Victoria's Secret for a couple years, one day there appeared in our mail a
catalog for a company called Victoria's Secret. It featured lots of
near-naked women modelling lots of virtually invisible underthings. Except
for the ones intended to be seen, and they screamed tiger stripes or
incomprehensible straps and buttons or else frothed with great billows of
transparent lace or mesh.
Hey, all I was trying to do was make our version of homemade Jello for
grown-ups. Next thing you know, we're up to our you know what in underwear;
so to speak. Whew.
We left it on the menu but sales pretty abruptly fell off. The servers were
suddenly self-conscious about inviting people to try the dessert. We
changed the name to "Victorian Wine Jelly" and it became popular all over
again. What's in a name, indeed. A rosi by any other name would taste as
sweet. Begging yer pardon, Mr. Shakespeare.
Here's the recipe for the wine jelly; then we'll look at variations. Note
that water and orange juice are divided.
Method: Soak gelatine in cool water for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the boiling
water and stir to dissolve completely. Add remaining ingredients, mix well
and pour into glasses. Chill until firm. Serve with a small dab of whipped
cream.
Variations: To garnish with a grape, pour about an inch of the gelatine
mixture into the bottom of the glass and chill until very syrupy. Gently
sink a chilled grape into the gel and fill the glass the rest of the way.
To have a clearer gel, substitute water for the orange juice and add 4
teaspoons orange extract to the boiling water. Same for the lemon juice but
use one-half teaspoon lemon extract. Use a sweet white zinfandel instead of
a rosi.
To make layers, pour some into a glass and chill solid. Add the next layer
and repeat. It takes time but it certainly isn't hard work. To get
interesting effects, tilt the glasses so the layers form diagonal patterns.
Or put fruit into every other layer. Or put plastic wrap tightly over the
end of the glass and lay it down flat and chill it solid. Add the other
color(s) and serve. People will wonder.
Posted to FOODWINE Digest  by Bob Pastorio <pastorio@RICA.NET> on Jan 1,
1998

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