“After a velvety oyster soup came shad and cucumbers, then a young broiled turkey with corn fritters, followed by a canvas-back with currant jelly and a celery mayonnaise. Mr. Letterblair, who lunched on a sandwich and tea, dined deliberately and deeply, and insisted on his guest's doing the same. Finally, when the closing rites had been accomplished, the cloth was removed, cigars were lit, and Mr. Letterblair, leaning back in his chair and pushing the port westward, said, spreading his back agreeably to the coal fire behind him: "The whole family are against a divorce. And I think rightly."”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
1 scant cup sponge-cake crumbs—very fine and dry. 1 cup boiling milk. 4 eggs. 2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar. 1 teaspoonful corn-starch, wet in a little cold milk. 2 tablespoonfuls currant or cranberry jelly. Soak the cake-crumbs in the boiling milk, and stir in the corn-starch. Heat all together to a boil, stirring all the time. Beat the yolks light, and add to this as it cools, with the sugar. Whip in the jelly, a little at a time, and put in the whites—beaten to a stiff froth—at the last. Fry immediately.
Sources: The passage is from Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Harland, Common Sense in the Household of 1871, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — plum cloth, oyster stamp.