Something to Trifle With

No trees, very few presents, no singing/ipoding of sentimental carols but if Christmas does have some appeal in the Saucyhouse it is the ideal Holiday dinner: Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, Cauliflower Gratin and for dessert, a trifle of course.

Trifle has a long history in English cookery – the source of most American holiday food customs – but as a dessert staple, trifle has never gained a foothold at the Christmas table, like pie has achieved at the Thanksgiving dinner. Trifle is so far removed from regular diet and holiday customs it isn’t a stretch to say that Americans might be more familiar with the Italian variation of trifle. Italians do a straight interpretation of trifle called Zuppa Inglese but people are probably more familiar with the combination of coffee soaked cake topped with zabaglione - a custard made with the fortified wine Marsala and topped with mascarpone. A little something dessert aficionados refer to as tiramisu.

Like the English themselves, trifle is a tad more restrained than its Italian counterpart. Made of pieces of cake, ladyfingers or biscuit (The English cake/cookie. Not the baking powder and hopefully butter version) that have been soaked in rum, sherry, port or wine. The drunken cake is covered with custard and either jelly or macerated fruit. The process is repeated for 2 or 3 layers and finally topped with whipped cream. Assembled in a glass bowls, unlike the dessert itself, the bowls can be quite fancy made from molded glass or occasionally cut crystal. Trifle bowls are understandably fancy showing off the different layers of dessert strata because once the trifle is spooned out into a bowl, the dessert makes for a less than a regal presentation.

Like pie, trifle is relatively humble and like many humble dishes the worst thing you can do it is try to fancy it up. The most fancified, lipstick-on-a-pig thing I have done to a trifle is to use frozen blueberries and lemon curd. The juice from the berries soaks into the cake and tang of lemon curd contrasts both the whip cream and cake. But there are chocolate trifles – chocolate cake and chocolate custard because more chocolate is always better. Pound cake trifles, almonds, panettone, trifles made with really expensive brandy or ones that use ‘fresh’ hothouse berries canceling out the purpose of the dessert – which traditionally would have been a special treat made from common, familiar and seasonal foods – all without the encouragement of Michael Pollan.

The culinary belief that making something more indulgent or more expensive makes food better is untrue but it takes a lot of confidence to put something out on a table without bells and whistles and the official stamp of culinary trendiness. Trifle, like Yorkshire Pudding is never going to be fashionable but when done with care all can be amazingly good.