Tea Cream

History

Tea Cream is a recipe printed in The Virginia House-Wife, the cookbook compiled by Mary Randolph (1762–1828) and first published in 1824, which is considered the first regional American cookbook. As the book gives it, the dish is made by softening one ounce of "the best tea" in a tablespoon of water, then steeping the leaves in a quart of boiling cream for half an hour and straining; four teaspoons of a strong infusion of rennet are stirred in, and the covered cream is set on hot ashes until, on cooling a little of it, "it will jelly," at which point it is poured into glasses and garnished with thin bits of preserved fruit. The setting agent — rennet — is the same curd-forming preparation the book describes in its own separate recipe, "To prepare rennet," made from a calf's stomach; it is what turns the sweetened, tea-flavoured cream into a soft jelly served cold in glasses. Beyond the recipe as it appears in this book, the historical record consulted here does not document who originated the dish, how it spread, or what social meaning it carried.

Ingredients

• 1 ounce best tea
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 quart cream
• 4 teaspoon rennet infusion
• preserved fruit

Instructions

1. Put one ounce of the best tea in a pitcher and pour on it a tablespoon of water. Let it stand for an hour to soften the leaves.
2. Pour a quart of boiling cream onto the tea, cover it close, and let it steep for half an hour. Strain the mixture.
3. Add four teaspoonsful of a strong infusion of rennet in water to the strained cream and stir well. Set the pitcher on some hot ashes and cover it.
4. Test the mixture by cooling a little of it; when you find it will jelly, pour it into glasses. Garnish with thin bits of preserved fruit.