Meaning of "added pitfall of ensuring"?

Question

I’m reading *The Greedy Queen* by Annie Gray. The author introduced the way people made gelatine in Victorian times:> Jellies at this time were set with gelatine extracted from calves’> feet. Rendering the gelatine took days, and was even more involved> than making a stock, involving similar amounts of clarification and> straining, plus a bit of flavouring with wine and sugar, and with the> added **pitfall** of ensuring that the final thick liquid would set> firmly – but with a perky wobble – when chilled. **This basic wine> jelly** was used as the basis for some incredible dishes, often made> in specialised moulds which enabled cooks to fill internal cavities> with set creams.I'm lost from "pitfall" onwards. As defined by the dictionaries, "pitfall" basically means a trap. But what does the whole thing have to do with a trap? Is this sentence saying that something is added to set the gelatine? If not, what's it saying? And does "this basic wine jelly" in the following sentence actually refers to the aforementioned gelatine? Can anybody clarify the idea for me?

Answer 1

Greetings!

You used a great strategy of going to the dictionary to try to clarify the definition of "pitfall." Pitfall has another definition that may be a better fit in this particular context. If we use the Google dictionary, we find this word defined as follows:

"a hidden or unsuspected danger or difficulty."

In this passage, making gelatine is being compared to making stock [broth], but the author notes that gelatine "was even more involved." The pitfall, or danger, is that, after days of work in the kitchen, the gelatine will fail to "set," meaning that it would not become firm. The jellied mixture made from boiling calves feet, sugar, and wine is what the author is calling "this basic wine jelly."

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