So, it says on the billboards for Alice, a play currently showing at Sheffield Crucible. The Times, I think it was, claims Alice is as mad as a bag of trifle. This got me thinking about trifle.
It would be mad to put trifle in a bag. Trifle needs to be in a large transparent glass dish, so you can see the layers. There's nothing like pushing a large spoon through the pristine cream surface, down through the layers and into the jelly, so that it makes a sucking noise as the spoon returns to the surface, laden with ... well what?
Two trifles stick in my mind - neither terribly successful. A colleague told me she had never eaten trifle and so I offered to make one for the office Christmas party. I remember we were interviewing for new staff and I nipped out between candidates to add more layers.
You start with sponge (there used to be trifle sponges although I haven't seen them in years) and I usually use some shop bought cake. Swiss roll is good and it can be a bit stale. You add fruit, almost anything, usually tinned, but see below. Then jelly ... I should explain to American readers, there are some linguistic issues here. Apparently, Americans have no word for marmalade and call it jam instead. Consequently, jam is called jelly and so jelly is known as jello. My experience of jello is of dismal crystals in a paper sachet. Proper jelly comes as translucent cubes, dissolved in hot water. If this is to be church trifle, you add sherry. Chapel trifles do not have sherry or the Methodists won't let it on the premises!
Anyway, next there is the custard layer. This can be blancmange, which is really coloured custard and seems to have disappeared from our kitchens. Finally, whipped cream and decorations, eg glace cherries, or angelica (remember that?) or 100s and 1000s or roasted almonds or those edible ball bearings. I like jelly spiders.
The jelly spiders were a problem. The trifle was presented at the party in all its glory. What are those my colleague asked? Ah, they are made of gum which comes from cows and so is jelly. She is Hindu and this is why she had never eaten trifle. (It did get eaten but it's interesting how religion can determine trifle recipes.)
My next attempt was where I recountered the story of the spiders and was challenged to prepare a trifle for a meal at church. It was a big meal and there would (fortunately as it turned out) be a huge number of trifles prepared. My first big mistake was to add pineapple, then jelly and then when it didn't set, read the packet. Certain fruits, prevent jelly from setting! It was thick liquid but not jelly. Worse the custard didn't set either (can't remember why).
How to get liquid trifle from home to church by car? I placed the trifle bowl inside a large mixing bowl and placed it on the front seat of the car. Sheffield has a lot of hills and as the car went up and downhill the trifle maintained the same orientation to gravity. The dish and bowl did not. This meant the trifle sloshed over the sides of the dish into the bowl.
Wise counsel held back my trifle until the next day when we could drink it in the privacy of coffee after the service.
I have described the proper trifle (identifiable as such despite my ministrations). It's not a pudding - it is a dessert or sweet (puddings are steamed with suet and served with hot custard). There are claims that proper trifle has no jelly in it - apparently this is true of the earliest versions - but jelly definitely improves it. You start with sharp jelly and fruit and finish with the smooth cream and custard - there's no other way to eat it!
There's also Eton Mess, which is OK (meringue, strawberries and cream - it is of the same ilk but not trifle. Eat it by all means but don't let it trifle with your affections, never forget the real deal.
Apologies for those expecting theology and found a mere trifle of a post.
(I haven't tried the recipes below. They're as close as possible to my idea of a proper trifle. Don't use individual dishes or you won't get the proper sucking noise.)
Tina Anderson commented on Facebook: `i must point out that the crystal version of `jello disolves must faster in boiling water than the rubber cube version....
I replied: Yes but it tastes disgusting and doesn't make a sucking noise.
Posted by: Chris Sissons | Monday, 12 July 2010 at 12:26 AM