Jelly of Siberian Crabs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Take off the stalks, weigh, and wash the crabs.
Add a pint of water to each pound and a half of crabs and boil them gently until they are broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp.
Pour the whole into a jelly-bag.
When the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into a clean preserving-pan, and boil it quickly for fifteen minutes.
If the quantity is large, add a few additional minutes of boiling to the juice before the sugar is added.
Make the jelly
Take it from the fire and stir in sugar until dissolved, using three-quarters of a pound of fine sugar roughly powdered to each pound of the juice.
Boil the jelly for fifteen to twenty minutes.
Skim it very clean.
Pour it into the moulds.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Crabs (in the method)
- Provide the flavour and the natural gelatinous body that sets the jelly once the juice is extracted.
- Fine sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once boiled, helps the juice set into a firm, clear jelly.
- Water
- Draws the juice out of the crabs when they are gently boiled.
The step that matters
Boil the crabs gently without pulping them. Vigorous boiling breaks the shells and flesh into a pulp, which clouds the juice and makes it harder to strain clear. Gentle heat releases the juice while keeping it transparent.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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