Pare off very thin the yellow rind of four large lemons, and lay it
in the bottom of a deep dish. Squeeze the juice of the lemons into
a large bowl containing a pint of white wine, and sweeten it with
half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Then, by degrees, mix in a quart
of cream. Pour the whole into the dish in which you have laid the
lemon-peel, and let the mixture stand untouched for three hours. Then
beat it with rods to a stiff froth, (first taking out the lemon-peel,)
and having put into each of your glasses a table-spoonful or more of
fruit jelly, heap the syllabub upon it so as to stand up high at the
top. This syllabub, if it can be kept in a cold place, may be made the
day before you want to use it.
COUNTRY SYLLABUB.--Mix half a pound of white sugar with a pint of fine
sweet cider, or of white wine; and grate in a nutmeg. Prepare them in a
large bowl, just before milking time. Then let it be taken to the cow,
and have about three pints milked into it; stirring it occasionally
with a spoon. Let it be eaten before the froth subsides. If you use
cider, a little brandy will improve it.
A TRIFLE.--Place half a pound of maccaroons or Naples biscuits at the
bottom of a large glass bowl. Pour on them as much white wine as will
cover and dissolve them. Make a rich custard, flavoured with bitter
almonds or peach leaves: and pour it when cold on the maccaroons; the
custard may be either baked or boiled. Then add a layer of marmalade
or jam. Take a quart of cream, mix with it a quarter of a pound of
sugar, and half a pint of white wine, and whip it with rods to a stiff
froth; laying the froth (as you proceed) on an inverted sieve, with
a dish under it to catch the cream that drips through; which must be
saved and whipped over again. Instead of rods you may use a little tin
churn. Pile the frothed cream upon the marmalade in a high pyramid. To
ornament it,--take preserved water-melon rind that has been cut into
leaves or flowers; split them nicely to make them thinner and lighter;
place a circle or wreath of them round the heap of frothed cream,
interspersing them with spots of stiff red currant jelly. Stick on the
top of the pyramid a sprig of real flowers.
FLOATING ISLAND.--Take a quart of rich cream, and divide it in half.
Sweeten one pint of it with loaf-sugar, and stir into it sufficient
currant jelly to colour it of a fine pink. Put it into a glass bowl,
and place in the centre a pile of sliced almond-sponge cake, or of
lady cake; every slice spread thickly with raspberry jam or marmalade,
and laid evenly one on another. Have ready the other pint of cream,
flavoured with the juice of two lemons, and beaten with rods to a stiff
froth. Heap it all over the pile of cake, so as entirely to cover it.
Both creams must be made very sweet.
A RASPBERRY CHARLOTTE.--Take a dozen of the square or oblong
sponge-cakes that are commonly called Naples biscuits. They should
be quite fresh. Spread over each a thick layer of raspberry jam, and
place them in the bottom and round the sides of a glass bowl. Take the
whites of six eggs, and mix with them six table-spoonfuls of raspberry
or currant jelly. Beat the egg and jelly with rods till very light,
and then fill up the bowl with it. For this purpose, cream (if you can
conveniently procure it) is still better than white of egg.
You may make a charlotte with any sort of jam, marmalade, or fruit
jelly. It can be prepared at a short notice, and is very generally
liked. You may use ripe strawberries, washed and sweetened.
A PLUM CHARLOTTE.--Stone a quart of ripe plums; first stew, and then
sweeten them. Cut slices of bread and butter, and lay them in the
bottom and round the sides of a large bowl or deep dish. Pour in the
plums boiling hot, cover the bowl, and set it away to cool gradually.
When quite cold, send it to table, and eat it with cream.
CLOTTED CREAM.--Mix together a jill of rich milk, a large wine glass of
rose water, and four ounces of white sugar. Add to it the beaten yolks
of two eggs. Stir the mixture into a quart of the best cream; set it
over hot coals, and let it just come to a boil, stirring it all the
time. Then take it off, pour it into a glass bowl, and set it away to
get cold. Eat it with fresh strawberries, raspberries, or with any sort
of sweetmeats.
LEMON CREAM.--Beat well together a quart of thick cream and the
yolks of eight eggs. Then gradually beat in half a pound of powdered
loaf-sugar, and the grated rind of three large lemons. Put the mixture
into a porcelain skillet, and set it on hot coals till it comes to a
boil; then take it off, and stir it till nearly cold. Squeeze the juice
of the lemons into a bowl; pour the cream upon it, and continue to stir
it till quite cold. You may serve it up in a glass bowl, in glass cups,
or in jelly glasses. Eat it with tarts or sweetmeats.
ORANGE CREAM.--Beat very light six eggs, omitting the whites of two.
Have ready a pint of orange juice, and stir it gradually into the
beaten egg, alternately with a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Put into a
porcelain skillet the yellow rind of one orange, pared very thin; pour
the mixture upon it, and set it over a slow fire. Simmer it steadily,
stirring it all the time; but when nearly ready to boil, take it off,
remove the orange-peel, and put the mixture into glasses to get cold.
CURDS AND WHEY.--Take a piece of rennet about three inches square, and
wash it in two or three cold waters to get off the salt; wipe it dry,
and fasten a string to one corner of it. Have ready in a deep dish or
pan, a quart of unskimmed milk that has been warmed but not boiled.
Put the rennet into it, leaving the string hanging out over the side,
that you may know where to find it. Cover the pan, and set it by the
fire-side or in some other warm place. When the milk becomes a firm
mass of curd, and the whey looks clear and greenish, remove the rennet
as gently as possible, pulling it out by the string; and set the pan
in ice, or in a very cold place. Send to table with it a small pitcher
of white wine, sugar and nutmeg mixed together; or a bowl of sweetened
cream, with nutmeg grated over it.
You may keep rennet in white wine; cutting it in small pieces, and
putting it into a glass jar with wine enough to cover it well. Either
the wine or the rennet will be found good for turning milk; but do not
put in both together, or the curd will become so hard and tough as to
be uneatable.
Rennets properly prepared and dried, are sold constantly in the
Philadelphia markets. The cost is trifling; and it is well to have one
always in the house, in case of being wanted to make whey for sick
persons. They will keep a year or more.