Charles Knox made a standard gelatin powder commercially available in the 1890s and since then has come an unbroken string of rather common and often vulgar congealed desserts. At one time, though, gelatin dishes—wine jellies, charlotte russes—were considered very elegant. A recipe from 1756 found in the notebook of the legendary Charleston female planter Eliza Lucas Pinckney gives an idea of the travail behind the elegance, and the honor bestowed upon a guest whose hostess
