Your Just Desserts

Until recent years, the man-of-the-world paid scant attention to desserts. He was content to round off his meal with a wedge of ripe camembert cheese while his gentle companion munched her meringue glace with marrons. Naturally, there were exceptions now and then when a man might have been temporarily overcome with the aroma of a deep dish apple pie or a warm brandied mince pie. But, as a rule, the male of the species was quite willing to grant that sweets were designed for the sweet.

This is true no longer, as can be seen during the current holidays when the land is lit with flaming plum puddings, cherries jubilee and creme cognac: to see how widely these food and drink desserts are now accepted by both sexes, one need only step into a gourmet store and observe guys as well as dolls loading their arms with sweet provender from the tiers of brandied fruitcake, baba au rhum, prepared crepes suzette, pears in creme de men the, brandied apricots, peaches and dates and dozens of other easy and exquisite holiday morsels.

When serving such festive dishes, it's important to be aware of the bounds of good taste. There are still too many holiday chefs who insist on serving gondoliers made of spun sugar, goddesses carved out of raspberry ice, and layer cakes bedizened with fireworks showing Mt. Vesuvius in eruption. The lengths to which this old-fashioned kind of dessert can go were once vividly described by Horace Walpole, recalling a function celebrating the birth of the Duke of Burgundy. Walpole told how the Intendant of Gascony "treated the noblesse of the province with a dinner and a dessert, the latter of which concluded with a representation by wax figures moved by clockwork of the whole labor of the dauphiness and the happy birth of an heir to the monarch."

The simpler a dessert's appearance, the greater the skill and savvy which should be accorded its concoction. A man may have a passion for peaches. He may idolize brandy. But when he merely drops a few peaches into a bowl and then sloshes some brandy over them, he discovers that he doesn't have brandied peaches at all. He may have chosen the wrong kind of peaches or the wrong brandy or both. The liquor may have been so potent that it killed the peach flavor. The fruit may have been too ripe or too firm, too flavorless or too sweet. Today's holiday host buys his own choice of brandied peaches in a jar, slices them, heats them in a chafing dish, adds a little more brandy for gentle flaming, spoons the warm peaches over smooth vanilla ice cream and – voilà!

In buying liqueurs for regal desserts, one can select any good domestic brand when straight fruit flavors like cherry, apricot or blackberry are required. Naturally, elegant elixirs like benedictine or chartreuse are only available in their original imported form. For such desserts as mince pie or fruitcake, it isn't necessary to buy imported brandy. If, on the other hand, you're serving a flaming fruit dessert to a connoisseur of cognac, it would be better to use the imported product. For some reason, American whiskies have been unaccountably neglected for warming up desserts. Both bourbon and rye are actually delightful for flaming warm confections like plum pudding, date pudding and fig pudding.

The whole subject of preparing liquored desserts, especially if you're making your own modifications of a recipe, should be approached with a certain caution. One should be aware of the fact that the mere presence of liquor doesn't automatically create an exemplary dish. Peaches in port wine may sound fascinating, but the chances are that, if you've never tasted this dessert before, you won't be transported with ecstasy at the first bite. Maybe on the second or third trials, your taste buds will begin to feel a mellow afterglow – maybe not. Then there are desserts which may look very good, but which can be misleading. For example, if you should pour creme de violette liqueur over canned Bartlett pears, you'd have a luscious contrast of deep purple and creamy white colors. But the resultant mixture of flavors would hardly be happy. Some other desserts that have little eye appeal in themselves, like the classical plum pudding, can be extremely luscious in the mouth.

Flaming desserts will automatically be more pleasurable if served in fine buffet ware. You can flame desserts in an old frying pan if you wish, of course, but the applause meter will register much higher if you perform the same fire ritual in a gleaming chafing dish or a properly proportioned pan of copper (see The Gourmet Hit, Playboy, September 1957).

One of the perplexing problems for the apprentice at the buffet table is the flaming dessert that refuses to ignite. To avoid this minor disaster, observe the following rules:

Be sure that the food that is to be flamed is heated and kept hot before the liquor is added. The liquor itself should be hot, too, if possible. If you pour cold liquor onto a hot chafing dish or hot saucepan, you should wait for at

least a minute before applying the flame. After the inside of the pan is aflame, keep it directly over the heat. If the food contains a considerable quantity of its own liquid, like canned fruits in syrup, this liquid should be largely drained off before the alcohol is added. The alcoholic strength of the liquor that's used is a factor in building your crater of fire. For instance, anisette, a liqueur sometimes bottled at 54 proof, will hardly contain the fire power that you'll find in kirsch or mirabelle (both 100 proof brandies) or in green chartreuse (110 proof).

Normally, in homes, a lighted match is used to set the pan ablaze. Professionals at buffet tables, heating food over an open flame, will quickly move the pan back and forth in a rocking motion, and the small spray of alcohol vapors will set the inside of the pan afire. With a little practice you can learn to perform this bit of culinary showmanship. If you've never served distilled desserts before, it's a good idea to rehearse them privately before performing them publicly. Some flaming desserts require considerable advance preparation before they are served.

The following spirituous mealcaps, both hot and cold, are each designed for four servings.

[recipe_title]Pineapple Flambee, Coconut Gream[/recipe_title]

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup amber rum

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Dash nutmeg

Dash salt

1/2 four-oz. can shredded coconut

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

No. 2 can pineapple spears, drained

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

Dash cinnamon

In the top part of a double boiler, combine the milk, 1/4 cup rum, egg yolks, granulated sugar, nutmeg and salt. Mix very well. Cook over simmering water in bottom part of double boiler, stirring constantly with a wire whisk until a thick sauce is formed. Remove from the fire at once. Add coconut. Chill in the refrigerator until serving time. Just before serving, beat the heavy cream until thick. Fold the cream into the coconut mixture. In a chafing dish or saucepan, heat the drained pineapple spears, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. When pineapple is hot, add the remaining 1/4 cup rum. When the rum is hot, ignite it. When flames subside, spoon the pineapple spears onto serving dishes. Spoon hot sauce from pan over pineapple. Top with coconut mixture.

[recipe_title]Zabaglione[/recipe_title]

(You will often see this dish spelled on menus as zabaione. The wine should be the sweet imported Marsala which is authentic for the dessert. Marsala, however, is not available at all liquor stores. A dark sweet sherry or madeira may be substituted if necessary.

6 egg yolks

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup marsala wine

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg

Arrange a double boiler so the water in the bottom part does not touch the top section. Combine all of the ingredients in the top section. Cook over simmering water, beating constantly with egg beater until mixture is thick and light. It will swell to about three or four times its original volume. Avoid overcooking, or the mixture may curdle. From time to time, while beating, it may be necessary to scrape the corners of the pan with a spoon to prevent a thick layer from forming. Serve while warm in parfait glasses, glass punch cups or any glass dessert dish. Zabaglione may also be served over cooked or canned fruit like pears or peaches or over light plain spongecake or lady fingers.

[recipe_title]Strawberries Smetana[/recipe_title]

1 quart fresh strawberries

2 jiggers maraschino liqueur

1 jigger Grand Marnier liqueur Granulated sugar

1 cup sour cream Light brown sugar

(If fresh strawberries are unavailable at this time of the year in your neck of the woods, frozen whole strawberries may be substituted.) Remove stems from strawberries. Wash strawberries, and drain well. Combine the strawberries with both liqueurs. Add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar or more to taste. Let the strawberries and liqueurs marinate for three or four hours in the refrigerator. Spoon strawberries onto serving dishes. Top with sour cream. Sprinkle heavily with brown sugar.

[recipe_title]Coupe with Bananas Flambee[/recipe_title]

2 medium-sized bananas, firm ripe

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 oz. amber rum

1/2 oz. creme de cacao

1 pint coffee ice cream

Peel bananas. Cut in half lengthwise. Then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Put the bananas, honey, pineapple juice and butter in a saucepan or chafing dish. Heat over a low flame, turning frequently, until bananas are soft but not mushy and liquid in pan has been reduced to a thick syrup. Add the rum and creme de cacao. Ignite the liquors. When flames subside, spoon the bananas and sauce over the ice cream in serving dishes.

[recipe_title]Crepes Suzette with B & B Liqueur[/recipe_title]

(Although the conventional crepes suzette are heated in a rather elaborate orange sauce, the recipe below is a simpler variation of the great French dessert. The procedure is in three steps. The crepes are made in advance. Then they are spread with jam and rolled. Just before serving, they are flamed with B & B liqueur. You can, if you wish, eliminate the job of preparing the crepes by buying them in a jar, can or in frozen form. The fresh crepes, of course, have a livelier flavor and better texture than the prepared article.)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon brandy

11/4 cup milk

Salad oil

Strawberry or raspberry jam for filling

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup B & B liqueur

Sift flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl combine the whole eggs, egg yolks, brandy, milk and 2 tablespoons salad oil. Beat well with a rotary egg beater or wire whisk. Combine liquid and dry ingredients, and beat well. Strain the batter through a wire strainer. Let the batter rest for one hour before making crepes. Lightly grease a 7-inch frying pan with salad oil, using a pastry brush or crumpled paper towel for greasing. Heat pan over a medium flame. Pour just enough batter (about 3 tablespoons) to cover pan bottom, tilting the pan so that the batter reaches the edge. When bottom is brown, turn over crepe with a spatula. Cook other side only until it is not moist looking. It needn't be browned. Cook crepes quickly, since long cooking toughens them. Continue making crepes until the batter is used up. On the lighter side of each crepe, spread 1 to 2 tablespoons jam. Roll up crepes. Place in chafing dish or crepes suzette pan. When ready to serve, add butter and granulated sugar to chafing dish or pan. Saute slowly until crepes are hot and coated with butter, turning them as necessary. Add the liqueur. Set aflame. When flames subside, lift crepes to serving plates. Pour the sauce in which they've cooked on top.

The wearing of firemen's hats is considered extremely gauche this season. Avoid them.