Thoughts:
This is a fun, medieval, glorified version of whipped cream that is intended to look like fresh snow. The addition of beaten egg whites stiffens the mix beyond the texture of ordinary whipped cream. The flavor is only slightly sweet, although you could add more sugar to taste. The hint of rosewater is what makes this light and fluffy dish especially unique. Although originally a dessert dish in its own right, to our modern sensibilities, it’s more like a topping. Personally, I think this would make a great addition to any wintery feast, and would look especially fitting next to a nice chocolate yule log. It can accompany any dish with which you would serve whipped cream.
For more of a dessert dish, check out this other recipe for Apple Snow, c. 1880.
A Dishful of Snow
Prep: 15 minutes Makes 4 plus servings
To make a dissh full of Snow. Take a potell of swete thicke creame and the whites of eight egges & beate them al togider with a spone / then put them in youre creame and a saucer full of Rosewater and a disshe full of Suger with all / than take a sticke & make it cleane / and than cutte it in the ende foure square / and there with heate all the aforesayde thinges togither / & ever as it ryseth take it of and put it into a Collander / this done / take one apple and set it in the myddes of it and a thicke busshe of Rosemary and set it in the middes of the plater / then cast your Snow upon the Rosemary & fyll your platter therewith. And if you have wafers cast some in with all and thus serue them forth. -A Propre new booke of Cokery, 1545
Ingredients:
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp. rosewater, or more to taste
- 2 Tbs. sugar, or more to taste
- rosemary and apple, for garnish
Combine the cream, egg whites, rosewater, and sugar in a bowl. Beat with a mixer until the mixture thickens substantially and begins to resemble a fluffy snow. Scoop into a colander and allow to drain in the fridge for at least five minutes. Decorate a platter with rosemary stalks, then spoon the “snow” on top. Dust with a little extra sugar for sparkle, then place an apple in the middle. Serve immediately.
I assume the 2 Tbs are of sugar, and you don’t just want me to throw two spoons into the snow. Might harm the aesthetic.
Ha! Correct. :)
I am assuming that is 2 Tbs of sugar, or more to taste? I think we’ll be trying this. I love that the original recipe explains how to make a whisk. :D
Whoops! There’s the answer already! Thanks!
I now know what will be on my Christmas feast menu this year! I can’t wait to try this!
Love this! No wonder cooks in the past had arms like gods, if they had to beat all these egg whites for dishes like milk snow, and without an electric mixer . . .
Aside from Pigges Petitoes, this is my favorite name for a dish… it is delightful. I have yet to beat cream with a feathered stick but will try it one day… I bet it really works! I have never been sure if the apple was to have been cooked or not… one of those things that would have been a given to them but not to us? We’ll never know….
Should one put a bowl or something under the colander? I don’t want liquid dripping all over the fridge :D
Also, on the pics it looks like it’s almost butter, should one beat it for that long, or does it just look like that because of the egg whites? :)
YES! Definitely put a bowl under the colander. Good call… ;)
I made this twice, and it was pretty different both times. In round one, it didn’t set as much, so I think in round two, I may have beaten it overmuch. The texture is still light and fluffy, so the photo is a little deceptive in terms of looking like butter, but I think it was on its way there.
Yum!! Will definitely be making!
Is this site still up? I love your posts a but it has been a while, I’m starving here lol!
Haha, yes, I should get some new recipes up soon. I bought a new house and didn’t have a working oven for a few months. But winter is coming, and we all need good food to see us through. :)
Glad to hear it and congrats on the house!
What could I used as a substitute for heavy cream?
Very goog recipe! I can’t wait to try this!
http://arandabuesa.blogspot.com.es/
I tried a batch last night, and despite using a hand-mixer on high for a good 10 minutes, it never really thickened up. I had something that was basically the consistency of Cool Whip.
Any ideas?
Hmmm… Mine wasn’t super thick, but definitely more dense than Cool Whip. Perhaps if you tried whipping them separately, then combining? You could also try a smidge less rosewater, and a bit more sugar. Other than that, I’m as stumped as you are!
I did another test batch, this time using heavy cream, instead of whipping cream. Worked like a charm. I actually used this to round out my Yule Feast for the Barony last weekend.
Blew them all away.
Several of my dishes for that feast were modifications from your book and this website. It was EPIC.
Yes, Snow is certainly a dish. Grwwwll! ;)
I think this would be a great topping for the Cherry Tarts, and use up the 2 extra egg whites :)
I like to add a smidge more sugar. The real trick is to whip it until you think it’s thick enough, then whip it some more, ’cause it ain’t there yet, you’re just tired.
You’re not supposed to put the apple on top!
A Propre New Booke clearly wants you to put your apple in the bottom of the dish, stick a bushy rosemary branch upright in it, fill the dish so it covers up the apple, and flick snow over the rosemary so it looks like a tree in a snowy landscape.
The apple might or might not have been baked, but if baked it must not be baked too soft, because its primary job is to anchor the rosemary ‘tree’. If raw, it probably wasn’t even meant to be eaten.
The same recipe crops up time and again, in almost identical wording including the ‘pottle’ and the 8 egg whites, in cookery books throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Its last appearance that I know of is in ‘England’s newest way in all sorts of cookery, pastry, and all pickles that are fit to be used’ by Henry Howard, published in 1710. Howard’s version has an innovation, however; instead of an apple he wants you to ‘take a Loaf of White-bread, cut the Crusts, stick a Branch of Rosemary in it, then with a Spoon cast off the Snow on the Top, and all over the Loaf’. This creates a fine snow-covered hill for your tree to stand on. The bread would soak up any of the cream that was still liquid, and was certainly meant to be eaten. If you use a good-quality white sourdough loaf, the combination is delicious. Especially if you have raspberries and/or strawberries to put with your snow. (If white bread, cream and summer fruits sounds weird to you, check out ‘summer pudding’, an old English treat.)
Good point! I added the whole apple mostly for the color pop in the larger still life photo I was putting together.
And I LOVE summer pudding. :)