The CWI Cookbook

2 oz. almonds
1 tbs. orange-flower or rose water
1 pint cream
1 oz. unflavored gelatine
1 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar

Blanche the almonds and, when cold, pound them to a paste in a Wedgewood mortar, adding orange-flower or rose-water to prevent oiling. Hear the milk to boiling, put in the gelatine, the sugar and almonds, and stir five minutes, or until they are thoroughly dissolved. Strain through thin muslin, pressing the cloth well. When cool, beat in the cream, a little at a time, with an egg-whip, or churn in a syllabub-churn until thick and stiff. Wet your mould, put in the mixture, and let it stand seven or eight hours in a cold place.

Common Sense in the Household by Marion Harland, New York, 1871

Comment: To blanche almonds, put them in something like a small strainer or cloth bag and dunk them in boiling water for a couple of minutes. When cooled, rub them between your hands to remove the brown coating. If your almonds are already peeled you can go straight to the mortar-pounding, or cheat and use a blender. Rose water and orange-flower water were once very commonly used in fancy cooking but nowadays are most often found in markets catering to a Middle Eastern clientele.

While a mortar and pestle is still easily acquired (the Wedgewood version may be a tad on the expensive side but is not really required) the matter of the syllabub-churn is considerably more challenging. It is basically an almost micro-miniature sized butter churn and even many antique dealers have never seen one. An old-fashioned hand-cranked eggbeater would probably do the trick, but avoid the electric variety unless you can set it to turn very slowly.