flowers, fruit, vegetables, and other tasteful objects. For these
special moulds are provided, into which the ices, having been made
as before described, are pressed. After being left embedded in ice
for more than an hour, the moulds are dipped in lukewarm water to
facilitate turning out, and, having been carefully wiped to free them
from salt, the moulds are opened, the ices placed on a suitable dish,
and they are then rapidly painted with carefully prepared vegetable
colours, as the nature of the case may require. These ornamental ices
must have considerable care, but any person with ordinary skill, and
able to give time and attention to detail, may manage them.
In colouring ices before freezing with a pink tinge, it is desirable
to avoid cochineal, as it is prepared with a strong acid, which, in
coming in contact with the pewter, is apt to turn the cream of a
violet shade. Breton’s vegetable colourings, to be had at Italian
warehouses, are as pure and good as any which can be made at home,
and the vegetable carmine is free from the acid of cochineal. In
families where ices are in constant request it is desirable to have
simple syrup--that is, sugar boiled to the requisite strength--always
ready prepared. The most useful quality of syrup is that registering
30°-36° on the saccharometer. The preparation of this is easy,
nevertheless it requires care.
Simple Syrup.--Put 2 lb. finest lump sugar into a copper pan with 1
qt. cold water; stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved; let
it come to the boil, and take off any scum as it rises. Draw the
pan to the side of the fire, and let the syrup boil gently until it
registers 30°-36°. If the sugar is boiled too fast, it will cause
trouble to an inexperienced operator, as it will candy. Should
this happen, more water must be added to the sugar, and boiling go
on again until the syrup attains the requisite strength. If a small
quantity of syrup is made, it must be tested by the saccharometer
in a deep mug or jug, as in the boiling pan there will not be depth
of liquid for the instrument. If no saccharometer is at hand, an
approximate idea of the strength of the syrup can be obtained by
letting a drop fall into a glass of cold water; if it retains its
shape, the syrup will answer your purpose. If fine lump sugar is
used, the syrup, when done as directed, will be perfectly bright,
with a slight yellow tinge, and as thick as new honey; no other
process of clarification will be needed. This syrup is exceedingly
useful for many purposes, and will keep for any length of time.
_Brown Bread Ice._--(_a_) Make a custard of eggs and milk, flavoured
with vanilla. Cut up some brown bread into dice, dry it in the oven,
and put it hot into the cold custard; freeze; pour iced custard round
it in the dish in which it is to be served.
(_b_) To 6 yolks of eggs, well beaten, add gradually 1 pint boiling
milk, with ½ lb. sugar boiled in it. Pour this on to some very fine
crumbs of brown loaf; beat all together; add ¼ pint cream.
_Cake, Iced._--(_a_) Mix thoroughly ½ lb. flour, ½ lb. ground rice, ½
lb. currants, ¼ lb. sugar, 5 oz. mace and cloves, some mixed peel, a
few bitter almonds pounded, some sweet almonds split, 1 teaspoonful
carbonate of soda, melt ½ lb. fresh butter in ¾ pint warm milk,
add the yolks and whites of 4 eggs beaten separately; pour this by
degrees on to the dry ingredients, add a glass of brandy, beat it
well; put into a buttered mould, and bake.
(_b_) Beat up the whites of 2 eggs; then add ½ lb. castor sugar and
the juice of a lemon or a few drops of orange-flower water. Beat the
mixture until it hangs upon the fork in flakes, then spread over
the cake, dipping the knife in cold water occasionally. Stand it
before the fire, and keep turning the cake constantly, or the sugar
will catch and turn brown. As soon as it begins to harden it may be
removed. The icing must not be put on until the cake itself is cold,
otherwise it will not set. A few drops of cochineal will colour it if
desired.
_Cherry Water Ice._--Take out the stones of the cherries, pound them
in a mortar in order to get the flavour, and then pass them through
a sieve with the fruit. Add syrup, and freeze as strawberry water
ice. The flavour of the kernel should come out well in cherry ices,
a few drops of home-made extract of almonds (bitter almonds infused
in spirit) is therefore an improvement. If the cherries do not give
sufficient sharpness, add a little lemon juice.
_Chocolate Ice Cream._--Mix 2 teaspoonfuls Van Houten’s cocoa in a
gill of cold milk, stir it into 1 pint cream or custard, add vanilla
flavour, and sweeten. Scraped and sifted chocolate, so as to bring it
to a fine powder, can be used; but the cocoa named is on all accounts
best for this cream.
_Chocolate Icing._--Put into a saucepan ½ lb. powdered loaf sugar, 2
oz. grated chocolate, and about 1 gill water; stir on the fire until
the mixture assumes the consistence of a thick, smooth cream. Lay the
icing evenly on the cake or pastry, with a palette knife, and put it
into the oven for a minute or two to set the icing.
_Coconut Ice._--Put on in a brass or copper pan 4 lb. loaf sugar,
with 2 pints of cold water, stir till it comes to the boil, by which
time the sugar should be quite dissolved, let it boil to candy light,
and draw it to the side. Have a large coconut pared and grated, mix
together with the milk, add ¾ of it to the sugar, and stir till it
begins to candy. Have a sheet of paper greased and laid upon a stone
slab; on it place 4 iron rods so as to form a square, into which pour
the tablet. Repeat the above process with 2 lb. sugar and 1 pint cold
water, adding a little cochineal to colour it, and the remainder
of the grated coconut; when ready, pour it over the first sheet of
tablet, which will be set by the time you have done the second; when
quite cold, turn it over, draw off the paper, and cut it in stripes
3-4 in. long.
_Coffee Ice Cream._--Make a custard, without any flavour, of 1 pint
cream and 4 yolks of eggs. Put into this ¼ lb. freshly-roasted mocha
coffee berries; they should, if possible, be used hot. Cover up the
stewpan closely with its lid, putting a napkin over to keep in the
steam. Let the custard stand for an hour, strain and sweeten, and
when cold put it into the freezing pot. Cream thus prepared will
not take the colour of the coffee, and when carefully made is very
delicate and delicious. Coffee ice cream is also made with a strong
infusion of coffee, or Branson’s extract of coffee can be used. To
make the infusion, put 2 oz. ground coffee into a French cafetière,
and pour over it 1 gill fast-boiling water. When the infusion has
all run through boil it up, and pour it over 2 oz. more coffee. Put
the infusion thus obtained to 1 pint sweetened cream or custard and
freeze.
_Ginger Ice Cream._--Make a custard of 1 pint cream and 4 eggs put
to it. Cut up in small pieces 2 oz. preserved ginger, add sufficient
ground ginger to flavour well, and syrup or sugar to taste. Stir
occasionally until cold, and put it into the freezing pot. Care
should be taken to use fresh and good ground ginger, as otherwise it
is apt to impart a mouldy kind of flavour.
_Lemon Water Ice._--Wash the lemons in cold water in order to ensure
cleanliness. Take a few lumps of sugar, and rub them over the peel
until you have enough to flavour the ices; probably 2 fine lemons
will be sufficient. Put this lemon sugar into 1 qt. cold filtered
water, and let it stand 10 minutes, or while the lemons are squeezed.
About ½ pint juice is usually needed, with sufficient syrup to
register 24° by the saccharometer. Having strained the juice and
water flavoured with the lemon sugar, add the syrup, and strain into
the freezing pot. When the ices register 22° F., press well down in
the pot, and leave them in the freezing mixture for an hour. A little
Nelson’s gelatine is useful to give richness and body to water ices;
but care must be taken not to use more than the quantity named. Soak
and dissolve in boiling water ¼ oz. Nelson’s gelatine, add it to the
quart of water to be used for the ices, thoroughly mix it with the
other materials, and afterwards strain them.
_Pineapple Ice Cream._--Press the juice from a fine ripe pineapple,
add that of a lemon, with syrup or pounded sugar to give the required
sweetness. Mix with an equal quantity of rich cream, and strain into
the freezing pot. Or, make a custard as follows: boil 1 pint milk,
pour it whilst boiling on the yolks of 6 eggs; stir rapidly over the
fire until it thickens, taking care not to curdle it. With a little
experience a perfect custard may be thickened in this way in less
than 7 minutes, a much longer time being required if the milk is not
boiled. When cold, add pineapple pulp made as follows: Boil 1 lb.
pineapple sliced and peeled, in 1 gill water for 10 minutes, pound
the fruit and rub it through a sieve, add syrup or sugar to taste.
When cold mix with the custard, and strain into the freezing pot.
Lemon juice can be added if necessary.
_Strawberry Ice Cream._--Pick and press through a coarse sieve fine
ripe strawberries to make as much juice as you require, then strain
through a coarse sieve, and mix with it fine powdered sugar in the
proportion of ¼ lb. to each ½ pint of juice. Stir into each ½ pint
of the sweetened juice 1½ pint rich cream, and a few drops of pink
colouring. Mix all well together and strain into the freezing pot. As
the flavour of strawberries varies in different seasons, and they are
more acid at one time than another, some judgment in the use of sugar
is necessary, and sufficient of it should always be used to bring out
the flavour of the fruit. Sometimes it will happen, after freezing
has begun, that a little more sweetness is desirable. This is best
given by adding a little plain syrup, taking care to mix it well in;
for the perfection of ices depends in a great measure on all the
materials being well incorporated. For this reason the direction is
given to strain into the freezing pot after all is stirred together.
The product from 2 qt. cream, made as above, should be 3-3½ qt. firm
ice cream of the highest quality. It is probable, however, that by
some machines and the ordinary ice pail so good a result would not
be obtained. The horizontal freezer will yield the given quality.
When the fresh fruit juice cannot be procured, preserved juice or
preserved strawberries must be substituted. Of these the first is the
best; but when there is not a fairly suitable apparatus, or other
conditions are unfavourable for its domestic manufacture, it will be
best to purchase it. In this case it should be borne in mind that a
preparation of the fresh juice is necessarily somewhat expensive, and
that a cheap article is generally flavoured with some unwholesome
chemical imitation of the true flavour.
_Vanilla Ice Cream._--This favourite ice is easily made. It is
needlessly expensive to use the vanilla pod itself. To flavour 1 pint
custard a whole pod would have to be boiled in the milk. But, as the
bright essence is often wanting in delicacy, and is not unfrequently
merely an imitation of vanilla made from deleterious material, it is
desirable to have a home-made extract. To make it, cut the pods into
very small pieces, put them into a small bottle with 1 tablespoonful
brandy to each pod; let them stand for a week or longer, shaking
occasionally. Drain the extract into another bottle, and keep well
corked. The flavour of the vanilla pod itself will not have been
exhausted by taking the extract, and, if boiled in milk, will flavour
puddings, creams, custards, &c. Vanilla sugar is made by putting
the pods into a closed jar of fine sifted sugar, and allowing them
to remain in it for a week or longer. Afterwards the extract can be
made. There is a great difference in the quality of vanilla, and when
it is deficient in flavour, it has without doubt been deprived of
aroma by some such process as that of making vanilla sugar. Vanilla
ices require a good custard, made of cream with 4 eggs to the pint,
and to be well sweetened. Vanilla extract must be used with reference
to its strength, and the flavour of it should be kept delicate.
Should it be preferred to use the pod itself for flavouring, it is
usual to strain the milk or cream in which it has been boiled in
a strainer, coarse enough to allow the seeds to pass through, and
thus a distinctive character is given to the ices. Water ices are
occasionally flavoured with vanilla, but are not to be recommended.
For invalids and delicate persons vanilla is useful, as it is a safe
and light stimulant.
=Cheese= (Fromage).--The cookery of cheese is a much-neglected
subject in this country, though deserving of study.
_Baked_ (Fondu).--(_a_) Take ¼ lb. grated cheese, add it to 1 gill
milk in which is dissolved as much powdered bicarbonate of potash as
will stand upon a threepenny-piece; mustard, pepper, &c. Heat this
carefully until the cheese is completely dissolved. Then beat up 3
eggs, yolk and whites together, and add them to this solution of
cheese, stirring the whole. Now take a shallow metal or earthenware
dish or tray that will bear heating; put a little butter on this and
heat the butter till it frizzles. Then pour the mixture into this,
and bake or fry it until it is nearly solidified. A cheaper dish
may be made by increasing the proportion of cheese--say 6-8 oz. to
3 eggs, or only 1 egg to ¼ lb. cheese for a hard-working man with
powerful digestion. The chief difficulty in preparing this dish
conveniently is that of obtaining suitable vessels for the final
frying or baking, as each portion should be poured into and fried or
baked in a separate dish, so that each person may, as in Switzerland,
have his own fondu complete, and eat it from the dish as it comes
from the fire. (Prof. W. M. Williams.)
(_b_) Melt ½ oz. fresh butter in a saucepan, stir into it 1
tablespoonful flour; when the two are well amalgamated put in a small
quantity of milk and about 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese. Stir the
mixture on a slow fire till it assumes the appearance of thick cream,
but be careful not to let it boil, then add 1 clove of garlic, a
small quantity of flour of mustard, a dash of powdered nutmeg, and
some white pepper; mix thoroughly, and, if required, add a little
salt; keep on stirring the mixture at a very moderate heat for about
10 minutes, then remove the pod of garlic, take the saucepan off the
fire, and stir the contents occasionally until quite cold, when you
stir into them the yolks of 3 eggs, beaten up with a little milk
and strained, and finally the whites of 5 eggs whisked into a stiff
froth. Pour the mixture into a deep, round tin, put it into the oven,
which must not be too hot; in about 20-30 minutes the fondu will have
risen and taken colour. Pin a napkin round the tin, and serve quickly.
_Biscuits_ (Galettes).--(_a_) Take 4 oz. grated cheese, 3 oz. finely
grated breadcrumbs, 2 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful flour of mustard, 1
saltspoonful cayenne, 1 of white pepper, and 2 beaten-up eggs; melt
the butter and mix all the ingredients together, and let them stand
an hour. Knead and work out the paste as thin as possible, and cut
into triangles or roll it up into thin sticks about 3 in. long. Bake
in a quick oven for 16-18 minutes; serve hot.
(_b_) Have a little puff or short paste ready, and sprinkle over it a
little cayenne, and as much grated Parmesan cheese as the dough will
take; double up the paste, roll it out rather thin, and cut it with a
round paste cutter, glaze with an egg, arrange on a floured tin, and
bake in a sharp oven till of a light yellow colour.
_Boiled._--(_a_) Put 1 tablespoonful milk in a saucepan, with a bit
of butter the size of a nutmeg, and ¼ lb. good cheese, grated fine.
Put the whole on a slow fire until it boils, then add 1 egg well
beaten. Stir all well together, turn it into your dish, and brown it.
Serve very hot.
(_b_) Put 4 oz. good cheese, sliced as thin as possible, 2
tablespoonfuls cream, a piece of butter the size of 2 walnuts, into
a saucepan and boil, stirring it gently all the time till it becomes
thick and smooth, then add a raw egg and a little cayenne pepper. Put
the saucepan again on the fire, stirring as before till the whole is
quite hot. Serve on small squares of dry toast. The above is enough
for four people.
_Boulettes._--Take equal weights of eggs, breadcrumbs, butter, and
grated cheese; these must be well beaten together, leaving out
half the whites of the eggs; season them with salt and a little
cayenne pepper, and make them up into little balls; these must be
dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried a light brown in lard or
well-clarified dripping. The fat must not quite boil before the balls
are put in, or they will become too dark a colour before they are
sufficiently cooked; they should be served up high in a dish on a
napkin.
_Canapés._--Cut some stale bread in thin slices, which must be
stamped out into shapes with a cutter. Fry these lightly in butter or
boiling lard; cover the top of each with Parmesan or Cheshire cheese,
add a little pepper and salt and mustard, and put them before the
fire till the cheese is dissolved. Serve hot on a napkin.
_Custard._--(_a_) Butter a rather small flat dish (one that will
stand the oven--an old strong one would be best), whisk 2 eggs a
minute or two, and mix with them ¼ pint cream, or cream and milk
mixed; now grate 2-3 oz. dry pieces of any kind of cheese, to these
add a little salt and a few grains of cayenne pepper, mix all well
together, pour into the buttered dish, and bake in a rather sharp
oven 10-15 minutes; when done, set the dish over another, a size
larger, and send to table immediately. The custard should be firm,
and brown and light in the time stated.
(_b_) A breakfastcupful of sliced cheese, the same quantity of milk,
and 2 eggs; butter a pie-dish, put in the cheese, pour the milk over,
and then stir in the beaten-up eggs; bake for ½ hour; if a smaller
quantity is required, put a teacupful of cheese and milk and 1 egg.
(_c_) Cut the cheese into shreds, or grate it, or chop it up fine
like suet. To every lb. cheese thus treated add ¼ oz. potash
bicarbonate. Put the mixture of cheese and bicarbonate into a
saucepan with either 3 times its bulk of cold water or 4 times its
bulk of cold milk, and mix well. Put the saucepan on the fire and
bring the mixture slowly to the boiling point, taking care to stir
it all the time. Having got it to boil, keep it hot until the cheese
is melted, which does not take long. Turn it out into a dish, and
the result gives a beautiful nutritious mixture which thickens like
a custard in cooling. This custard may be eaten with impunity even
by those persons who would be ill after eating a piece of cheese
the size of a nut, and is peculiarly adapted as food for all persons
who work hard with either brain or muscle. Fancy dishes may be
made in the following manner, e.g., take the mixture of cheese and
bicarbonate and water (or milk) given above, and add to it 2 eggs,
white and yolk beaten up together, for every ¼ lb. of cheese in the
mixture. Put into a dish or a series of little dishes (previously
buttered), and bake till brown. This must be eaten with bread or
biscuit. Another way is to make the mixture a little thinner by
adding a little more milk or water, and to put it in a pie-dish with
slices of bread laid one over the other. The custard should be poured
in cold, and left for an hour to soak before it is baked. This dish
is a great improvement on the ordinary bread and butter pudding.
_Cream._--Take 2 tablespoonfuls raw cream, rather less than 2
tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, a very little cayenne pepper,
and salt to taste. Mix these ingredients carefully together and quite
smoothly, then spread it on some good puff paste, lay another piece
of puff paste over it, then press round carefully with the fingers,
cut out with fancy cutters into any shapes you may select, egg and
breadcrumb the shapes, and fry in boiling lard or butter.
_Fritters_ (Beignets).--Put about 1 pint water into a saucepan with
a piece of butter the size of an egg, the least bit of cayenne, and
plenty of black pepper. When the water boils throw gradually into it
sufficient flour to form a thick paste; then take it off the fire and
work into it about ¼ lb. ground Parmesan cheese, and then the yolks
of 3 or 4 eggs and the whites of 2 beaten up to a froth. Let the
paste rest for 2 hours, and proceed to fry by dropping pieces of it
the size of a walnut into plenty of hot lard. Serve sprinkled with
very fine salt.
_Meringues._--2 oz. Parmesan cheese, 1 oz. Gloucester or any other
kind of good cheese that is dry (the piece that has become too
mean-looking to go to table in its present state will do admirably
for this purpose, also for many other dishes), the whites of 2 eggs,
pepper and salt, lard to fry. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater,
and beat the eggs on a plate, with the blade of a broad knife, to a
firm froth, add to this the cheese and a little salt and pepper, make
into balls the size of a walnut, throw them into plenty of boiling
lard, and fry 2-3 minutes, when they will be a delicate brown and
double their former size; drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Put a
clean napkin into a dish, arrange the meringues on it, and send to
table as quickly as possible. There should be a little fresh parsley
between the meringues; it improves the appearance.
_Potato._--Take 6 medium-sized potatoes, as nearly as possible equal
in shape; wash them quite clean, dry them, and on that side of them
which will more readily stand uppermost make an incision ¼ in. deep
with a patty cutter as large as the size of each potato will allow;
then put the potatoes in the oven to bake. When quite done, remove
the covers (marked out with the patty cutter), and with a teaspoon
empty each potato as thoroughly as is possible without breaking the
skin; pass through a sieve what is taken out of the potatoes. Take 4
tablespoonfuls of the potato snow thus obtained, 1½ tablespoonfuls
grated Parmesan cheese, and mix the two thoroughly with ½ gill milk
and the yolks of 2 eggs, pepper and salt to taste, and the least bit
of cayenne or grated nutmeg, or both. Beat up the whites of 3 eggs to
a stiff froth, mix the whole well together, fill quickly the potato
skins with the mixture flush with the top, and bake them long enough
for the mixture to rise and take a golden-brown colour; about 20
minutes.
_Potted._--(_a_) Cut ½ lb. good, sound, mellow Stilton cheese in
slices, with 2 oz. fresh butter. The cheese must not be either green
or very ripe. Add a small quantity of mace and some made mustard.
Pound all together in a mortar until a thick, smooth paste, and the
ingredients well amalgamated. Then press it down in a jar or glass,
and run some oiled butter over the top.
(_b_) Beat 3 lb. Cheshire cheese in a mortar with ½ lb. butter, a
large glass of sherry, a little mace, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix
all thoroughly together, put into pots, and pour a little clarified
butter over the top.
_Pudding._--(_a_) Take 4 tablespoonfuls finely grated breadcrumbs,
the same quantity of grated cheese, and 2 eggs, mustard, pepper,
and salt to taste. Butter a pie-dish, then put in the breadcrumbs,
cheese, mustard, &c.; beat up the 2 yolks with a small cup of milk,
and put into the pie-dish; beat the whites into a froth, and put them
in with a good-sized lump of butter. Place the dish in a quick oven
for 20 minutes, and serve very hot. Enough for 4 or 5 persons.
(_b_) Melt ½ oz. fresh butter in a saucepan, stir into it 1
tablespoonful flour; when the two are well amalgamated, put in a
small quantity of milk and about 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese. Stir
the mixture on a slow fire till it assumes the appearance of thick
cream, but be careful not to let it boil; then add some white pepper;
mix thoroughly, and, if required, add a little salt; keep on stirring
the mixture at a very moderate heat for about 10 minutes; take the
saucepan off the fire, and stir the contents occasionally until quite
cold, then stir into them the yolks of 3 eggs beaten up with a little
milk and strained, and finally the whites of 5 eggs whisked into a
stiff froth. Put the mixture into a pudding dish, and put it into the
oven at once. Serve quickly as soon as the pudding has risen, and the
top is well browned.
(_c_) Mix 2 eggs with 5 oz. cheese and ½ pint boiling milk; put into
a pie-dish, and bake ¼ hour: to be turned out and sent to table on a
napkin.
(_d_) Soak in fresh milk a breakfastcupful of stale breadcrumbs; add
to it 2 well-beaten eggs, 1 oz. butter, and 6 oz. grated cheese; mix
well, strew breadcrumbs over the top, and bake a light brown. (Bessie
Tremaine.)
(_e_) ¼ lb. cheese chopped very fine, 1 egg well beaten, teacupful of
new milk or cream, a small piece of butter dissolved in it, cayenne
pepper and salt; bake for 20 minutes.
(_f_) Take 6 oz. grated cheese, 2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, a small
teacupful of milk, and beat up all together in a basin; then put them
in a small baking dish and bake a light brown.