Yesterday I shared a recipe from a ninety year-old recipe book, Modern Practical Cookery. It was the fish course in a suggested menu for a new Year’s Eve dinner party for six. The sole maître d’hôtel was preceded by the rather horrid sounding sprout soup, and followed by braised fillet of beef. The dessert was the intriguingly named turban cups. I wondered if there was any history to these desserts – I couldn’t find any but did instead find chocolate turban cups. I’d never heard of them but it seems they are a moulded chocolate shape which can be filled with something such as a mousse or a cream… they look rather fancy and fun!
The old recipe for turban cups is very different, as you can see, and the mystery of the name is revealed:
Turban cups
- ¼ lb crystalised apricots
- ¾ lb Turban dates, weighed then stoned
- 6 oz dessert figs, stalks removed¾ pint water
- 1 oz blanched almonds
- 1 oz walnuts
- 3 tbsp rum
- ¼ cream – or more
- 1 egg white
- sugar and vanilla
- chop the dried fruit and stew in the water until ‘mushy’
- roughly chop the almonds and walnuts
- mix fruit, nuts, rum and divide into six serving dishes
- whisk the cream and the egg whites separately then fold together
- add vanilla and sugar to taste
- pile onto fruit and decorate each with half a walnut
The anonymous author describes it as a delicious cold sweet. I think I would find the cream a little too much, so maybe I would top each with a meringue and serve cream separately.
My featured image of a hand-knitted fez is the nearest thing I have to a turban
Lois Elsden 