ON FRIANDISES.
"Le rôle du gourmand finit avec l'entremets, et celui du friand
commence au dessert."--_Grimod de la Reynière._
AMERICAN ladies, as a rule, excel in cake making and preserving, and I
feel that on that head I have very little to teach; indeed, were they as
accomplished in all branches of cooking as in making dainty sweet dishes
this book would be uncalled for.
Yet, notwithstanding their undoubted taste and ability in making
"_friandises_," it seems to me a few recipes borrowed from what the
French call _la grande cuisine_, and possible of execution at home, will
be welcome to those who wish to vary the eternal ice cream and charlotte
russe, with other sweets more elegant and likely to be equally popular.
ICED SOUFFLÉ À LA BYRON.--One pint of sugar syrup of 32 degrees (get
this at a druggist's if you do not understand sugar boiling), three
gills of strained raspberry juice, one lemon, one gill of maraschino,
fifteen yolks of eggs, two ounces of chocolate drops, half a pint of
very thick cream whipped.
Method of making this and the next recipe is as follows: Mix the syrup
and yolks of eggs, strain into a warm bowl, add the raspberry and lemon
juice and maraschino, whisk till it creams well, then take the bowl out
of the hot water and whisk ten minutes longer; add the chocolate drops
and whipped cream; lightly fill a case or mold, and set in a freezer for
two hours, then cover the surface with lady-fingers (or sponge cake)
dried in the oven a pale brown, and rolled. Serve at once.
Another frozen _soufflé_ is as follows:
One pint of syrup, 32 degrees, half a pint of noyeau, half a pint of
cherry juice, two ounces of bruised macaroons, half a pint of thick
cream whipped, made in the same way as the last. I may here say that the
fruit juices can be procured now at all good druggists, so that these
_soufflés_ are very attainable in winter, and as noyeau and maraschino
do not form part of the stores in a family of small means, I will give
in this chapter recipes for the making of very fair imitations of the
genuine _liqueurs_.
BISCUIT GLACÉ À LA CHARLES DICKENS.--One pint of syrup (32°), fifteen
yolks of eggs, three gills of peach pulp, colored pink with cochineal,
one gill of noyeau, half a pint of thick cream, and a little chocolate
water-ice, made with half a pint of syrup and four ounces of the best
chocolate smoothly mixed and frozen ready.
Mix syrup, yolks, peach pulps, noyeau, and a few drops of vanilla, whip
high; mix with the whipped cream, and set in ice for one hour and a half
in brick-shaped molds, then turn out (if very firm), and cut in slices
an inch thick, and coat them all over, or on top and sides, with the
chocolate ice, smoothing with a knife dipped in cold water; serve in
paper cases.
BISCUIT GLACÉ À LA THACKERAY.--One pint of syrup (32°), one pint of
strawberry pulp, fifteen yolks of eggs, one ounce of vanilla sugar
(flavor a little sugar with vanilla), half a pint of thick cream.
Mix syrup, yolks, strawberry, and vanilla sugar, whipping as before,
then add the whipped cream lightly; fill paper cases, either round or
square; surround each with a band of stiff paper, to reach half an inch
above the edge of the case, the bands to be pinned together to secure
them; place them in a freezer. When about to send to table, remove the
bands of paper, and cover with macaroons bruised fine and browned in the
oven. The bands of paper are meant to give the biscuit the appearance of
having risen while supposed to bake.
These delicious ices were invented by Francatelli, the Queen of
England's chief cook, to do homage to the different great men whose
names they bear, on the occasion of preparing dinners given in their
honor. They read as if somewhat intricate, but any lady who has ever had
ice cream made at home, and had the patience to make charlotte russe,
need not shrink appalled before these novelties, or fear for a
successful result.
Baba is a cake many call for at a confectioner's, yet few, if any one,
attempts to make it at home. That the recipes generally offered do not
lead to success may be one reason, and I offer the following, quite
sure, if accurately followed, such a baba will result as never was eaten
outside of Paris.
BABA.--One pound of flour; take one quarter of it, and make a sponge
with half an ounce of compressed yeast and a little warm water, set it
to rise, make a hole in the rest of the flour, add to it ten ounces of
butter, three eggs, and a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a little salt,
unless your butter salts it enough, which is generally the case. Beat
all together well, then add five more eggs, one at a time, that is to
say, add one egg and beat well, then another and beat again, and so on
until the five are used. When the paste leaves the bowl it is beaten
enough, but not before; then add the sponge to it, and a large half
ounce of citron chopped, the same of currants, and an ounce and a half
of sultana raisins, seedless. Let it rise to twice its size, then bake
it in an oven of dark yellow paper heat; the small round babas are an
innovation of the pastry-cook to enable him to sell them uncut. But the
baba proper should be baked in a large, deep, upright tin, such as a
large charlotte russe mold, when they keep for several days fresh, and
if they get stale, make delicious fritters, soaked in sherry and dipped
in frying batter.
In some cases, however, it may be preferred to make them as usually seen
at French pastry cooks; for this purpose you require a dozen small-sized
_round_ charlotte russe molds, which fill half full only, as they rise
very much; bake these in a hotter oven, light brown paper heat; try with
a twig as you would any other cake, if it comes out dry it is done; then
prepare a syrup as follows: Boil half pound of sugar in a pint of water,
add to this the third of a pint of rum, and some apricot pulp--peach
will of course do--and boil all together a few minutes; pour this half
an inch deep in a dish, and stand the cake or cakes in it; it should
drink up all the syrup, you may also sprinkle some over it. If any syrup
remains, use it to warm over your cake when stale, instead of the
sherry.
Baba was introduced into France by Stanislas Leczinski, king of Poland,
and the father-in-law of Louis XIV.; and his Polish royal descendants
still use with it, says Carême, a syrup made of Malaga wine and one
sixth part of _eau de tanaisie_.
But, although our forefathers seemed to have relished tansy very much,
to judge from old recipe books, I doubt if such flavoring would be
appreciated in our time.
SAVARINS--commonly called wine cake by New York pastry cooks--are made
as follows:
One pound of flour, of which take one quarter to make a sponge, using
half an ounce of German compressed yeast, and a little warm milk; when
it has risen to twice its bulk, add one gill of hot milk, two eggs, and
the rest of the flour; mix well; then add one more egg and beat,
another, still beating; then add three quarters of a pound of fresh
butter, a quarter of an ounce of salt, half an ounce of sugar, and half
a gill of hot milk, beat well; then add eggs, one at a time, beating
continually, until you have used five more. Cut in small dice three
ounces of candied orange peel; butter a tin, which should be deep and
straight-sided--a tin pudding boiler is not a bad thing--and sprinkle
with chopped almonds. Fill the mold half full, and when risen to twice
its bulk, bake in a moderate oven, dark yellow paper heat. When served,
this cake should stand in a dish of syrup, flavored with rum, as for
baba, or with sherry wine.
BOUCHÉES DES DAMES, a very ornamental and delicious little French cake,
is sufficiently novel to deserve a place here, I think. Make any nice
drop cake batter (either sponge, or sponge with a little butter in it I
prefer); drop one on buttered paper and bake; if it runs, beat in a
_little_ more flour and sugar, but not much, or your cakes will be
brittle; they should be the size, when done, of a fifty-cent piece, and
I find half a teaspoonful of batter dropped generally makes them about
right. Have a tin cutter or tin box lid, if you have no cutter so small,
about the size, and with it trim each cake when baked; then take half
the number and spread some with a very thin layer of red currant jelly,
others with peach or raspberry; then on each so spread put a cake that
is unspread, thus making a tiny sandwich or jelly cake. If you have
different sorts of jelly, put each separate, as you must adapt the
flavor of your icing to the jelly. For red currant, ice with chocolate
icing. Recipes for icing are so general that I refer you to your cookery
book. Those with peach may have white icing, flavored with almond, or
with rum, beating in a little more sugar if the flavoring dilutes your
icing too much. Almond flavoring goes well with raspberry. Cakes with
raspberry jelly or jam should be iced pink, coloring the icing with
prepared cochineal or cranberry juice. Thus you have your cakes brown,
pink, and white, which look very pretty mixed.
The process of icing is difficult to do after they are put together, but
they are much handsomer this way, and keep longer. You require, to
accomplish it, a good quantity of each kind of icing, and a number of
little wooden skewers; stick one into each cake and dip it in the icing,
let it run off, then stand the other end of the skewer in a box of sand
or granulated sugar. The easiest way is to ice each half cake before
putting in the jelly; when the icing is hard spread with jelly, and put
together.
CURAÇOA may be successfully imitated by pouring over eight ounces of the
_thinly_ pared rind of very ripe oranges a pint of boiling water, cover,
and let it cool; then add two quarts of brandy, or strong French spirit,
cover closely, and let it stand fourteen days, shaking it every day.
Make a clarified syrup of two pounds of sugar into one pint of water,
well boiled; strain the brandy into it, leaving it covered close
another day. Rub up in a mortar one drachm of potash, with a teaspoonful
of the liqueurs; when well blended, put this into the liqueur, and in
the same way pound and add a drachm of alum, shake well, and in an hour
or two filter through thin muslin. Ready for use in a week or two.
MARASCHINO.--Bruise slightly a dozen cherry kernels, put them in a deep
jar with the outer rind of three oranges and two lemons, cover with two
quarts of gin, then add syrup and leave it a fortnight, as for curaçoa.
Stir syrup and spirit together, leave it another day, run it through a
jelly bag, and bottle. Ready to use in ten days.
NOYEAU.--Blanch and pound two pounds of bitter almonds, or four of peach
kernels; put to them a gallon of spirit or brandy, two pounds of white
sugar candy--or sugar will do--a grated nutmeg, and a pod of vanilla;
leave it three weeks covered close, then filter and bottle; but do not
use it for three months. To be used with caution.