Midmeal Sorbets

In Victorian England, elaborate multicourse meals began with a hot soup course. Then, after three more courses, the second half of the meal often began with a cooling sorbet or punch much like the Middle Eastern sherbet drinks. See punch. The preeminent English cookbook author Agnes Marshall wrote that these sorbets should be of a “light, semi-frozen nature…. They are generally prepared by first making an ordinary lemon-water ice, and adding to this some spirit, liqueur, or syrup for flavouring, and fruit for garnish, and are named accordingly rum sorbet, cherry sorbet, and so on.” She said they should be served in glasses or fancy cups. Mrs. Marshall used the terms “sorbet” and “water ice,” but not “sherbet.” See marshall, agnes bertha.