Raspberry and Basil Mousse

• From this 1910 New York Times article, via The Recipes of Record by Amanda Hesser.
• Basil-infused whipped cream from this Food52 blog post.
• Originally called a Bavarian cream in 1910, I’ve renamed it to a mousse: it’s more accurate by modern standards (this recipe has neither eggs nor custard), and also frees it from any expectation of a molded shape.

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh basil, loosely packed
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 cups raspberries (between 2 and 3 of the square plastic containers you’re likely to find at the market)
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1½ tablespoons powdered gelatin
• ¼ cup cold water
• ½ cup boiling water

Directions

1. Chop basil coarsely with a very sharp knife, without crushing or bruising them. Stir basil with cold cream, cover, and refrigerate for 12 hours. Strain the cream, pressing on the solids (or squeezing with your hands) to extract as much cream as possible. Discard the solids. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
2. Purée raspberries in a blender or food processer. Strain the liquid to yield around 1 cup of raspberry juice.
3. Sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the cold water in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Add the boiling water and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Add the raspberry juice and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Refridgerate the raspberry mixture until it begins to firm up, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, whip the the basil-infused cream to soft peaks.
5. Fold the whipped cream into the raspberry mixture. Pour into serving container(s) if desired. Chill until set, at least 2 hours for individual servings and 4 hours for larger dishes. Serve directly from the dish.

• Yield: 8–10 servings.
• Time: 12 hour infusion; 1 hour preparation; 1 hour cook; 2–4 hour set.

Cooking Notes

• Too-strong basil-infused cream can be diluted with more cream; too-weak can be strengthened by changing the basil and continuing infusion. Do not strengthen by only extending the infusion time, as that will overextract the basil and result in unpleasant flavors: instead, strain and remove the old basil, add the new basil, and continue infusing.
• Using more gelatin or sugar will firm the cream; more raspberry juice will soften it. Balance to achieve your desired consistency.
• Pre-moistening the gelatin in cold water in step 2 prevents it from clumping when the hot water is added in step 3; the hot water is necessary to dissolve the gelatin. If clumps form, stir constantly until the clumps eventually dissolve: this can take a long time.
• “Soft peaks” are achieved when the whipped cream is thick enough to form soft shapes/peaks just firm enough to hold briefly as you lift the whisk, then fall back into the cream. This is the best consistency for folding cream into other mixtures.