Punch Romaine
A zesty palate cleanser or boozy upscale sorbet-like dessert
City/Region: Titanic | United Kingdom | France
Time Period: 1903 | 1912
First class dinners aboard the RMS Titanic often had 10 or more courses, and so palate cleansers were a must for the wealthy. This recipe, from Escoffier, was served in the first class dining room on that last night aboard the Titanic, and either the same thing or something very similar would have been served in the first class à la carte restaurant as well.
Most of us don’t have a need for palate cleansers with our meals, but this could easily be served as a boozy dessert. A lot of the Champagne flavor comes through with the refreshing citrus. There’s quite a bit of alcohol in it with the champagne and the rum, so use as much or little of the rum as you like. I’d opt for a little less rum because can overpower the other flavors. Serve it in a chilled bowl as it melts very quickly.
“Mix dry Champagne into 5 dl of syrup. Add the juice of 2 oranges and 3 lemons, and a thin strip each of orange and lemon zest, cover and allow to infuse for 1 hour. Pass through a strainer. Freeze the punch in the machine until it is fairly stiff then mix in a quarter of its quantity of Italian meringue…When about to serve, finish the punch with Rum added a little at a time.”
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) simple syrup*
- 1 3/4 cup (425 ml) dry Champagne
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) orange juice
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
- 1 strip orange zest
- 1 strip lemon zest
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
- Rum*
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- Heat the simple syrup until warm, then add the Champagne and stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in the orange juice and lemon juice and add the strips of zest. Cover the pot and let it infuse for 1 hour.
- After it has infused, strain out any pulp and the zest. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. It should come out like a very thick slushie; it won’t get as hard a sorbet.
- While the punch freezes, make the Italian meringue by combining the sugar and water in a saucepan. Set it over high heat and don’t stir it or swirl it. Bring it to 240°F (115°C), about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg white in a very clean bowl until you get soft peaks. When the syrup is ready, beat the egg white constantly while you pour the syrup in a slow stream. Continue to beat the meringue until you have nice shiny stiff peaks.
- When the sorbet is ready, fold some of the meringue into it. The amount of meringue should be about 1/4 of the amount of sorbet. After it’s been mixed, freeze for 3 hours.
- After the sorbet has fully frozen, scoop some into a chilled glass. Top it with a bit more meringue, if desired, then pour some cold rum around the base. Serve it forth between courses as a palate cleanser.
Notes
You can find the rum I like to stock my bar with in my curated collection at Curiada
You can make simple syrup by heating equal parts water and sugar until the sugar dissolves
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