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Punch à la romaine

Punch à la romaine from Erken's "Stor kokebok" 1914: a half-frozen alcoholic sorbet — sugar syrup mixed with white wine/champagne and citrus, half-frozen and combined with cooked meringue (Italian meringue), spiked with rum and served half-frozen in glasses; 1 liter for 10 people.

Source: Henriette Schønberg Erken, Stor kokebok, 1914-utg. s. 515 (falt i det fri)

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About the dish

Punch à la romaine was a classic half-frozen wine punch served in the middle of a festive meal, often between roast and fish, to refresh the palate. Erken uses a saccharometer to measure the sugar strength of the syrup – a tool found in well-equipped kitchens around 1914.

How to make it

  1. 1

    Boil the syrup

    Boil water and sugar down to a syrup (about 20° on a saccharometer). Add enough white wine or champagne to bring the strength down to about 17° – in practice roughly 3–4 dl.

  2. 2

    Flavor

    Stir in the juice of 2 lemons and 2 oranges plus finely grated zest of ¼ lemon and ½ orange. Bring it to a boil for one minute and strain the mixture.

  3. 3

    Freeze

    Cool and freeze the mixture until fairly stiff, in an ice-cream maker or in the freezer with stirring.

  4. 4

    Cook the meringue

    Cook 100 g sugar with a little water to the "hard ball" stage. At the same time, beat 2 egg whites completely stiff. The sugar syrup and the whites must be ready at the same time; pour the sugar at once, slowly and without interruption, into the whites and beat quickly to a firm meringue.

  5. 5

    Mix and re-freeze

    Gently mix the cooked meringue into the half-frozen ice and freeze a few minutes more.

  6. 6

    Serving

    Add rum and a little wine just before serving. Serve half-frozen in glasses. Count 1 liter of finished sorbet or punch for 10 people.

Changes from the original

The sugar quantity ("½ kg") and the rum quantity ("1½ dl") are interpreted from unclear OCR, and the syrup's degree is set at 20° (the number is missing in the OCR). The saccharometer is replaced with a guideline amount of wine in the modern method. The ingredient list gives 3 egg whites while the text uses 2; both are kept so that 2–3 can be used. Measurements are given in modern units, and freezing is done in a freezer/ice-cream maker instead of an ice tub with salt.

Time machine – what changed?

Pick two editions and see what Henriette Schønberg Erken added, removed or changed between them.

From19141949Modernised
To19141949Modernised
1914 (proofread, p. 515) → Modernised~82% of the text changedremovedadded
1 l. vand ½ kg. l vann. 500 g sukker (til sirupen). 100 g sukker (til den kokte marengsen). 6 citroner stk sitroner (saft og litt revet skall). 2 stk appelsiner (saft og litt revet skall). 3 stk eggehviter hvit vin (2–3 stk., stivpisket). 5 dl hvitvin eller tør tørr champagne 1½ dl. rum. Vand (tilsettes til lagen får riktig styrke, samt litt rett før servering). 1,5 dl rom. Kok vann og sukker koker ind inn til en sirup paa (ca. 20° (saccharometer), tilsættes saa meget vin på sakkarometer). Tilsett så mye hvitvin eller champagne, champagne at den styrken synker ned til 17°. Irøres saft ca. 17° – i praksis omtrent 3–4 dl.. Rør inn saften av 2 citroner sitroner og 2 appelsiner samt skal finrevet skall av ¼ citron sitron og ½ appelsin, koker 1 minut. Siles. Fryses appelsin. La det koke opp i ett minutt og sil blandingen.. Avkjøl og frys blandingen til den er temmelig stiv, blandes i ismaskin eller i fryser med de 2 stivvispede eggehviter, tilsat omrøring.. Kok 100 gr. sukker, kokt g sukker med litt vann til «den store kule» (se side 449). Umiddelbart før anretningen tilsættes vinen. Det kokte sukker og eggehviterne skal være kule». Pisk samtidig færdig, 2 eggehviter helt stive. Sukkerlaken og hvitene må være ferdige samtidig; hell sukkeret heldes da straks langsomt, men langsomt og uten avbrytelse i hviterne; vispes derefter hurtig. Fryses nogen hvitene og pisk raskt til en fast marengs.. Bland den kokte marengsen forsiktig inn i den halvfrosne isen og frys noen minutter længer. til.. Tilsett rom og litt vin rett før anretningen. Serveres i halvfrossen tilstand i glas. Man beregner glass. Regn 1 l. færdig liter ferdig sorbet eller punch punsj til 10 personer.

Note on Modernised

Sukkermengden («½ kg») og rommengden («1½ dl») er tolket fra utydelig OCR, og sirupens gradtall er satt til 20° (tallet mangler i OCR). Sakkarometeret er erstattet med veiledende mengde vin i moderne fremgangsmåte. Ingredienslisten oppgir 3 eggehviter mens teksten bruker 2; begge er beholdt slik at man kan bruke 2–3. Målene er oppgitt i moderne enheter, og frysingen skjer i fryser/ismaskin i stedet for iskar med salt.

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Frequently asked questions

What is punch à la romaine?
A half-frozen, alcoholic sorbet dessert from Schønberg Erken's "Stor kokebok" (1914, p. 515). It is made of sugar syrup with lemon and orange juice, frozen fairly stiff and mixed with stiffly beaten egg whites cooked with sugar (meringue), before wine and rum are stirred in just before serving.
How strong should the syrup be?
Water and sugar are boiled down to a syrup of 20° measured with a saccharometer. Then white wine or dry champagne is added until it drops to 17°.
Why should the wine be added at the very end?
Alcohol prevents freezing, so the wine (and the rum) is stirred in immediately before serving. The mass is frozen only a few minutes more, so it stays half-frozen and does not melt out.
What must I watch out for with the egg whites?
The cooked sugar (100 g cooked to the "hard ball") and the stiffly beaten egg whites must be ready at the same time. The sugar is poured at once, slowly but without interruption, into the whites, and the mass is then beaten quickly.

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