FRENCH GREEN PEA SOUP.--This soup is made without meat. Put into a
soup-pot four quarts of shelled green peas, two large onions sliced, a
handful of leaves of sweet marjoram shred from the stalks, or a handful
of sweet basil; or a mixed handful of both--also, if you like it, a
handful of green mint. Add four quarts of water, and boil the whole
slowly till all the peas are entirely to pieces. Then take off the pot,
and mash the peas well against its sides to extract from them all their
flavour. Afterward strain off the liquid into a clean pot, and add to
it a tea-cup full of the juice of spinach, which you must prepare,
while the soup is boiling, by pounding some spinach in a mortar. This
will give the soup a fine green colour. Then put in a quarter of a
pound of the best fresh butter rolled whole in flour; and add a pint
and a half more of shelled young peas. If you wish the soup very thick,
you may allow a quart of the additional peas. Season it with a very
little salt and cayenne; put it again over the fire, and boil it till
the last peas are quite soft, but not till they go to pieces.
Have ready in a tureen two or three slices of toasted bread cut into
small squares or dice, and pour the soup on it.
This soup, if properly made, will be found excellent, notwithstanding
the absence of meat. It is convenient for fast days; and in the
country, where vegetables can be obtained from the garden, the expense
will be very trifling.
What is left may be warmed for the next day.
GIBLET SOUP.--Take three pounds of shin of beef or of neck of mutton.
Cut off the meat and break the bones. Then put the meat with the bones
into a soup-pot, with a tea-spoonful of salt, and three quarts of
water. Add a bunch of sweet marjoram, one of sweet basil, and a quarter
of an ounce of black pepper-corns, all tied in a thin muslin rag; a
sliced onion, and six or eight turnips and carrots, cut small. Let the
whole boil slowly for two or three hours, skimming it well. In the mean
time, have ready two sets of goose-giblets, or four of duck. They must
be scalded, and well washed in warm water. Cut off the bills, and split
the heads; and cut the necks and gizzards into mouthfuls. Having taken
the meat and bones out of the soup, put in the giblets, with a head
of celery chopped. Boil it slowly an hour and a half, or more, taking
care to skim it. Make a thickening of an ounce and a half of butter,
and a large table-spoonful of flour, mixed together with a little of
the soup. Then stir it into the pot, adding a large table-spoonful of
mushroom catchup, and some small force-meat balls, or little dumplings.
Boil the soup half an hour longer. Then send it to table with the
giblets in the tureen.
GUMBO.--Take an equal quantity of young tender ochras and of ripe
tomatas, (for instance, a quarter of a peck of each.) Chop the ochras
fine, and scald and peel the tomatas. Put them into a stew-pan without
any water. Add a lump of butter, and a very little salt and pepper;
and, if you choose, an onion minced fine. Let it stew steadily for an
hour. Then strain it, and send it to table as soup in a tureen. It
should be like a jelly, and is a favourite New Orleans dish. Eat dry
toast with it. This gumbo is for fast days.
HAM OMELET.--Take six ounces of cold boiled ham, and mince it very
fine, adding a little pepper. Beat separately the whites and yolks of
six eggs, and then mix them together; add to them gradually the minced
ham. Beat the whole very hard, and do not let it stand a moment after
it is thoroughly mixed. Have ready some boiling lard in a frying-pan,
and put in the omelet immediately. Fry it about ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour. When done, put it on a hot dish, trim off the
edges, and fold it over in a half moon. Send it to table hot, and
covered. It is eaten at breakfast.
If you wish a soft omelet, (not to fold over,) fry it a shorter time,
and serve it in a deep dish, to be helped with a spoon.
A similar omelet may be made of the lean of a cold smoked tongue.
BATTER PUDDING.--Take a quart of milk, and stir into it gradually eight
large table-spoonfuls of flour, carefully pressing out all the lumps
with the back of the spoon. Beat eight eggs very light, and add them by
degrees to the milk and flour. Then stir the whole very well together.
Dip your pudding-cloth into boiling water, and then dredge it with
flour. Pour in the pudding, and tie it tightly, leaving room for it
to swell. Put it into a pot full of boiling water, and boil it hard
for two hours. Keep it in the pot till it is time to send it to table.
Serve it up with wine-sauce, butter and sugar, or molasses and cold
butter.
PEACH MANGOES.--Take free-stone peaches of the largest size, (when they
are full grown, but not quite ripe,) and lay them in salt and water for
two days, covered with a board to keep them down. Then take them out,
wipe them dry, cut them open, and extract the stones. Mix together, to
your taste, minced garlic, scraped horse-radish, bruised mustard seed,
and cloves; and a little ginger-root soaked in water to soften, and
then sliced. Fill the cavity of the peaches with this mixture. Then tie
them round with pack-thread, and put them into a stone jar till it is
two-thirds full. Strew among them some whole cloves, broken cinnamon,
and a little cochineal. Season some cold vinegar, (allowing to each
quart a jill of fresh made mustard, and a little ginger, and nutmeg,)
and having mixed this pickle well, fill up the jar with it.
BROILED TOMATAS.--Take large ripe tomatas; wipe them, and split them in
half. Broil them on a gridiron till brown, turning them when half done.
Have ready in a dish some butter seasoned with a little pepper. When
the tomatas are well broiled, put them into the dish, and press each
a little with the back of a spoon, so that the juice may run into the
butter and mix with it. This is to make the gravy. Send them to table
hot.
Tomatas are very good sliced, and fried in butter.
PRESERVED TOMATAS.--Take large fine tomatas, (not too ripe,) and scald
them to make the skins come off easily. Weigh them, and to each pound
allow a pound of the best white sugar, and the grated peel of half a
lemon. Put all together into a preserving kettle, and having boiled it
slowly for three hours, (skimming it carefully,) add the juice of the
lemons, and boil it an hour longer. Then put the whole into jars, and
when cool cover and tie them up closely. This is a cheap and excellent
sweetmeat; but the lemon must on no account be omitted. It may be
improved by boiling a little ginger with the other ingredients.
TOMATA HONEY.--To each pound of tomatas, allow the grated peel of a
lemon and six fresh peach-leaves. Boil them slowly till they are all
to pieces; then squeeze and strain them through a bag. To each pint of
liquid allow a pound of loaf-sugar, and the juice of one lemon. Boil
them together half an hour, or till they become a thick jelly. Then put
it into glasses, and lay double tissue paper closely over the top. It
will be scarcely distinguishable from real honey.
PRESERVED CUCUMBERS.--Your cucumbers should be well shaped, and all of
the same size. Spread the bottom and sides of a preserving kettle with
a thick layer of vine leaves. Then put in the cucumbers with a little
alum broken small. Cover them thickly with vine leaves, and then with a
dish. Fill up the kettle with water, and let them hang over a slow fire
till next morning, but do not allow the water to boil. Next day, take
them out, cool them, and repeat the process with fresh vine leaves,
till the cucumbers are a fine green. When cold drain them, cut a small
piece out of the flat side, and extract the seeds. Wipe the cucumbers
in a dry cloth, and season the inside with a mixture of bruised mace
and grated lemon-peel. Tie on with a pack-thread the bit that was cut
out.
Weigh them, and to every pound of cucumbers allow a pound of
loaf-sugar. Put the sugar into a preserving kettle, a half pint of
water to each pound, and the beaten white of an egg to every two
pounds. Boil and skim the sugar till quite clear, adding sliced ginger
and lemon parings to your taste. When cool, pour it over the cucumbers,
and let them lie in it two days, keeping them covered with a plate, and
a weight on it to press it down. Then boil up the syrup again, adding
one-half as much sugar, &c. as you had at first; and at the last the
juice and grated peel of two lemons for every six cucumbers. The lemon
must boil in the syrup but ten minutes. Then strain the syrup all over
the cucumbers, and put them up in glass jars.
If they are not quite clear, boil them in a third syrup. Small green
melons may be preserved in this manner.
APPLE RICE PUDDING.--Wash half a pint of rice, and boil it till soft
and dry. Pare, core, and cut up six large juicy apples, and stew them
in as little water as possible. When they are quite tender, take them
out, and mash them with six table-spoonfuls of brown sugar. When the
apples and rice are both cold, mix them together. Have ready five eggs
beaten very light, and add them gradually to the other ingredients,
with five or six drops of essence of lemon, and a grated nutmeg. Or you
may substitute for the essence, the grated peel and the juice of one
large lemon. Beat the whole very hard after it is all mixed; tie it
tightly in a cloth, (leaving but a very small space for it to swell,)
and stopping up the tying place with a lump of flour moistened to paste
with water. Put it into a pot of boiling water, and boil it fast for
half an hour. Send it to table hot, and eat it with sweetened cream, or
with beaten butter and sugar.
BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS.--Take large, fine, juicy apples, and pare and
core them, leaving them as whole as possible. Put them into a kettle
with sufficient water to cover them, and let them parboil a quarter of
an hour. Then take them out, and drain them on a sieve. Prepare a paste
in the proportion of a pound of butter to two pounds of flour, as for
plain pies. Roll it out into a sheet, and cut it into equal portions
according to your number of apples. Place an apple on each, and fill up
the hole from whence the core was extracted with brown sugar moistened
with lemon-juice, or with any sort of marmalade. Then cover the apple
with the paste, closing it neatly. Place the dumplings side by side in
buttered square pans, (not so as to touch,) and bake them of a light
brown. Serve them warm or cool, and eat them with cream sauce.
They will be found very good.
INDIAN LOAF CAKE.--Mix a tea-cup full of powdered white sugar with
a quart of rich milk, and cut up in the milk two ounces of butter,
adding a salt-spoonful of salt. Put this mixture into a covered pan
or skillet, and set it on coals till it is scalding hot. Then take it
off, and scald with it as much yellow Indian meal (previously sifted)
as will make it of the consistence of thick boiled mush. Beat the whole
very hard for a quarter of an hour, and then set it away to cool.
While it is cooling, beat three eggs very light, and stir them
gradually into the mixture when it is about as warm as new milk. Add a
tea-cup full of good strong yeast, and beat the whole another quarter
of an hour--for much of the goodness of this cake depends on its being
long and well beaten. Then have ready a turban mould or earthen pan
with a pipe in the centre, (to diffuse the heat through the middle of
the cake.) The pan must be very well buttered, as Indian meal is apt
to stick. Put in the mixture, cover it, and set it in a warm place to
rise. It should be light in about four hours. Then bake it two hours
in a moderate oven. When done, turn it out with the broad surface
downwards, and send it to table hot and whole. Cut it into slices, and
eat it with butter.
This will be found an excellent cake. If wanted for breakfast, mix it,
and set it to rise the night before. If properly made, standing all
night will not injure it. Like all Indian cakes, (of which this is
one of the best,) it should be eaten warm. It will be much improved
by adding to the mixture, a salt-spoon of pearl-ash, or sal-aratus,
dissolved in a little water.
PLAIN CIDER CAKE.--Sift into a large pan a pound and a half of flour,
and rub into it half a pound of butter. Mix in three-quarters of
a pound of powdered white sugar, and melt a small tea-spoonful of
sal-aratus or pearl-ash in a pint of the best cider. Pour the cider
into the other ingredients while it is foaming, and stir the whole very
hard. Have ready a buttered square pan, put in the mixture, and set it
immediately in a rather brisk oven. Bake it an hour or more, according
to its thickness. This is a tea cake, and should be eaten fresh. Cut it
into squares, split and butter them.
TENNESSEE MUFFINS.--Sift three pints of yellow Indian meal, and put
one-half into a pan and scald it. Add a good piece of butter. Beat six
eggs, whites and yolks separately. The yolks must be beaten till they
become very thick and smooth, and the whites till they are a stiff
froth that stands alone. When the scalded meal is cold, mix it into
a batter with the beaten yolk of egg, the remainder of the meal, a
salt-spoonful of salt, and, if necessary, a little water. The batter
must be quite thick. At the last, stir in, lightly and slowly, the
beaten white of egg. Grease your muffin rings, and set them in an oven
of the proper heat; put in the batter immediately, as standing will
injure it.
Send them to table hot; pull them open, and eat them with butter.
HOE CAKE.--Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, and sift
into a pan a quart of wheat flour, adding a salt-spoon of salt. Make a
hole in the middle, and mix in the white of egg so as to form a thick
batter, and then add two table-spoonfuls of the best fresh yeast. Cover
it, and let it stand all night. In the morning, take a hoe-iron (such
as are made purposely for cakes) and prop it before the fire till it is
well heated. Then flour a tea-saucer, and filling it with batter, shake
it about, and clap it to the hoe, (which must be previously greased,)
and the batter will adhere till it is baked. Repeat this with each
cake. Keep them hot, and eat them with butter.
MILK TOAST.--Boil a pint of rich milk, and then take it off, and stir
into it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, mixed with a small
table-spoonful of flour. Then let it again come to a boil. Have ready
two deep plates with half a dozen slices of toast in each. Pour the
milk over them hot, and keep them covered till they go to table. Milk
toast is generally eaten at breakfast.
POTATO YEAST.--Pare half a dozen middle-sized potatoes, and boil them
in a quart of soft water, mixed with a handful of hops, till quite
soft. Then mash the potatoes smooth, not leaving in a single lump.
Mix with them a handful of wheat flour. Set a sieve over the pan in
which you have the flour and mashed potatoes, and strain into them the
hop-water in which they were boiled. Then stir the mixture very hard,
and afterwards pass it through a cullender to clear it of lumps. Let
it stand till it is nearly cold. Then stir in four table-spoonfuls
of strong yeast, and let it stand to ferment. When the foam has sunk
down in the middle, (which will not be for several hours,) it is done
working. Then put it into a stone jug and cork it. Set it in a cool
place.
This yeast will be found extremely good for raising home-made bread.
Yeast when it becomes sour may be made fit to use by stirring into it
a little sal-eratus, or pearl-ash, allowing a small tea-spoonful to a
pint of yeast. This will remove the acidity, and improve the bread in
lightness. The pearl-ash must be previously melted in a little lukewarm
water.
CREAM CHEESE.--The cheese so called, of which numbers are brought to
Philadelphia market, is not made entirely of cream, but of milk warm
from the cow, (and therefore unskimmed,) mixed with cream of last
night. To a small tub of fresh morning's milk, add the cream skimmed
from an equal quantity of last evening's milk. Mix the cream and the
new milk together, and warm them to about blood-heat or 100 degrees of
the thermometer. Have ready a cup of water in which has been soaking,
since last night, a piece of rennet, (the salt wiped off,) about the
length and breadth of two fingers. Stir the rennet-water into the
vessel of mixed milk and cream, and set it in a warm place till the
curd has completely formed. Then, with a knife, cut the curd into
squares. Next, take a large, thin, straining-cloth, and press it down
on the curd so as to make the whey rise up through it. As the whey
rises, dip it off with a saucer or skimming dish. When the whey is
nearly all out, put the curd into the cloth, and squeeze and press
it with your hands till it becomes dry. Next, crumble the curd very
fine with your hands, and then salt it to your taste. Then wash the
straining-cloth clean, and lay it in the cheese-hoop (a bottomless
vessel, about the size of a dinner-plate, perforated with small
gimlet-holes) put the crumbled curd into the cloth, and then fold the
rest of the cloth closely over it. The cheese-hoop should be set on a
clean wooden bench or table. Place on it its round wooden cover, so as
to fit exactly; and lay on the top two bricks or a heavy stone. After
it has stood six hours in the hoop or mould, turn it, and let it stand
six hours longer.
When you take out the cheese, rub it all over with a little fresh
butter. Set it in a dark, dry place, turning it every day, and in four
or five days it will be fit for use. When once cut, it should be eaten
immediately, if the weather is warm. But while uncut, it may keep a
week in a cold place, provided it is turned several times a-day.
ALMOND BREAD.--Blanch, and pound in a mortar, half a pound of shelled
sweet almonds till they are a smooth paste, adding rose-water as you
pound them. They should be done the day before they are wanted. Prepare
a pound of loaf-sugar finely powdered, a tea-spoonful of mixed spice,
(mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon,) and three-quarters of a pound of sifted
flour. Take fourteen eggs, and separate the whites from the yolks.
Leave out seven of the whites, and beat the other seven to a stiff
froth. Beat the yolks till very thick and smooth, and then beat the
sugar gradually into them, adding the spice. Next stir in the white of
egg, then the flour, and lastly the almonds. Add the juice of a large
lemon.
Put the mixture into a square tin pan, (well buttered,) or into a
copper or tin turban-mould, and set it immediately in a brisk oven. Ice
it when cool. It is best if eaten fresh.
You may add a few bitter almonds to the sweet ones.
CUSTARD CAKES.--Mix together a pound of sifted flour and a quarter of a
pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Divide into four a pound of fresh butter;
mix one-fourth of it with the flour, and make it into a dough. Then
roll it out, and put in the three remaining divisions of the butter at
three more rollings. Set the paste in a cool place till the custard is
ready.
For the custard, beat very light the yolk only of eight eggs, and then
stir them gradually into a pint of rich cream, adding three ounces of
powdered white sugar, a grated nutmeg, and ratafia, peach-water, or
essence of lemon, to your taste. Put the mixture into a deep dish; set
it in an iron baking pan or a Dutch oven half full of boiling water,
and bake it a quarter of an hour. Then put it to cool.
In the mean time roll out the paste into a thin sheet; cut it into
little round cakes about the size of a dollar, and bake them on flat
tins. When they are done, spread some of the cakes thickly with the
custard, and lay others on the top of them, making them fit closely in
the manner of lids.
You may bake the paste in patty-pans like shells, and put in the
custard after they come out of the oven. If the custard is baked in the
paste, it will be clammy and heavy at the bottom.
You may flavour the custard with vanilla.
HONEY GINGER CAKE.--Rub together a pound of sifted flour and
three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter. Mix in, a tea-cup of fine
brown sugar, two large table-spoonfuls of strong ginger, and (if you
like them) two table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds. Having beaten five
eggs, add them to the mixture alternately with a pint of strained
honey; stirring in towards the last a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash,
that has been melted in a very little vinegar.
Having beaten or stirred the mixture long enough to make it perfectly
light, transfer it to a square iron or block-tin pan, (which must be
well buttered,) put it into a moderate oven, and bake it an hour or
more, in proportion to its thickness.
When cool, cut it into squares. It is best if eaten fresh, but it will
keep very well a week.
ROCK CAKE.--Blanch three-quarters of a pound of shelled sweet almonds,
and bruise them fine in a mortar, but not to a smooth paste as for
maccaroons. Add, as you pound them, a little rose-water. Beat to a
stiff froth the whites of four eggs, and then beat in gradually a pound
of powdered loaf-sugar. Add the juice of a lemon. Then mix in the
pounded almonds. Flour your hands, and make the mixture into little
cones or pointed cakes. Spread sheets of damp, thin, white paper on
buttered sheets of tin, and put the rock cakes on it, rather far apart.
Sprinkle each with powdered loaf-sugar. Bake them of a pale brown, in a
brisk oven. They will be done in a few minutes.
When cold, take them off the papers.
FROZEN CUSTARD.--Slice a vanilla bean, and boil it slowly in half
a pint of milk, till all the strength is extracted and the milk
highly flavoured with the vanilla. Then strain it, and set it aside.
Mix a quart of cream and a pint of milk, or, if you cannot procure
cream, take three pints of rich milk, and put them into a skillet or
sauce-pan. Set it on hot coals, and boil it. When it has come to a
boil, mix a table-spoonful of flour in three table-spoonfuls of milk,
and stir it into the boiling liquid. Afterwards add six eggs, (which
have been beaten up with two table-spoonfuls of milk,) pouring them
slowly into the mixture. Take care to stir it all the time it is
boiling. Five minutes after, stir in gradually half a pound of powdered
loaf-sugar, and then the decoction of vanilla. Having stirred it hard a
few moments, take it off the fire, and set it to cool. When quite cold,
put it into a mould and freeze it, as you would ice-cream, for which it
frequently passes.
You may flavour it with the juice of two large lemons, stirred in just
before you take it from the fire, or with a quarter of a pound of
shelled bitter almonds, blanched, pounded in a mortar with rose-water,
and then boiled in half a pint of milk, till the flavour is extracted.
Then use the milk only.
CHERRY CORDIAL.--Take a bushel of fine ripe cherries, either red or
black, or mixed; stone them, put them into a clean wooden vessel, and
mash them with a mallet or beetle. Then boil them about ten minutes,
and strain the juice. To each quart of juice allow a quart of water,
a pound of sugar, and a quart of brandy. Boil in the water (before
you mix it with the juice) two ounces of cloves, and four ounces of
cinnamon; then strain out the spice. Put the mixture into a stone jug,
or a demijohn, and cork it tightly. Bottle it in two or three months.
COMMON ICE CREAM.--Split into pieces a vanilla bean, and boil it in a
very little milk till the flavour is well extracted; then strain it.
Mix two table-spoonfuls of arrow-root powder, or the same quantity
of fine powdered starch with just sufficient cold milk to make it a
thin paste; rubbing it till quite smooth. Mix together a pint of cream
and a pint of rich milk; and afterwards stir in the preparation of
arrow-root, and the milk in which the vanilla has been boiled. Beat
it very hard, stir in half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, beating it
very hard again. Then strain it, and put it into a freezer placed in a
tub that has a hole in the bottom to let out the water; and surround
the freezer on all sides with ice broken finely, and mixed with
coarse salt. Beat the cream hard for half an hour. Then let it rest;
occasionally taking off the cover, and scraping down with a long spoon
the cream that sticks to the sides. When it is well frozen, transfer
it to a mould; surround it with fresh salt and ice, and then freeze it
over again. If you wish to flavour it with lemon instead of vanilla,
take a large lump of the sugar before you powder it, and rub it on the
outside of a large lemon till the yellow is all rubbed off upon the
sugar. Then, when the sugar is all powdered, mix with it the juice of
two large lemons.
For strawberry ice cream, mix with the powdered sugar the juice of a
quart of ripe strawberries squeezed through a linen bag.
PINK CHAMPAGNE JELLY.--Beat up the white of an egg to a stiff froth,
and then stir it hard into three wine-glasses of filtered water. Put
twelve ounces of the best double-refined loaf-sugar (powdered fine and
sifted) into a skillet lined with porcelain. Pour on it the white of
egg and water, and stir it till dissolved. Then add twelve grains of
cochineal powder. Set it over a moderate fire, and boil it and skim it
till the scum ceases to rise. Then strain it through a very fine sieve.
Have ready an ounce and a half of isinglass that has been boiled in
a little water till quite dissolved. Strain it, and while the boiled
sugar is lukewarm mix it with the isinglass, adding a pint of pink
champagne and the juice of a large lemon. Run it through a linen bag
into a mould. When it has congealed so as to be quite firm, wrap a wet
cloth round the outside of the mould, and turn out the jelly into a
glass dish; or serve it broken up, in jelly glasses, or glass cups.
Jelly may be made in a similar manner of Madeira, marasquin, or noyau.
A CHARLOTTE RUSSE.--Boil in half a pint of milk a split vanilla bean,
till all the flavour is extracted. Then strain the milk, and when it
is cold stir into it the yolks of four beaten eggs, and a quarter of a
pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Simmer this custard five minutes over
hot coals, but do not let it come to a boil. Then set it away to cool.
Having boiled an ounce of the best Russian isinglass in a pint of water
till it is entirely dissolved and the water reduced to one-half, strain
it into the custard, stir it hard, and set it aside to get quite cold.
Whip to a stiff froth a quart of rich cream, taking it off in spoonfuls
as you do it, and putting it to drain on an inverted sieve. When the
custard is quite cold, (but not yet set or congealing,) stir the whipt
cream gradually into it.
Take a circular mould of the shape of a drum, the sides being straight.
Cut to fit it two round slices from the top and bottom of an almond
sponge-cake; glaze them with white of egg, and lay one on at the bottom
of the mould, reserving the other for the top. You can get the mould at
a tinner's.
Having thus covered the bottom, line the sides of the mould with more
of the sponge-cake, cut into long squares and glazed all over with
white of egg. They must be placed so as to stand up all round--each
wrapping a little over the other so as to leave not the smallest
vacancy between; and they must be cut exactly the height of the mould,
and trimmed evenly. Then fill up with the custard and cream when it is
just beginning to congeal; and cover the top with the other round slice
of cake.
Set the mould in a tub of pounded ice mixed with coarse salt; and let
it remain forty minutes, or near an hour. Then turn out the Charlotte
on a china dish. Have ready an icing, made in the usual manner of
beaten white of egg and powdered sugar, flavoured with essence of
lemon. Spread it smoothly over the top of the Charlotte, which when
the icing is dry will be ready to serve. They are introduced at large
parties, and it is usual to have two or four of them.
A CHARLOTTE POLONAISE.--Boil over a slow fire a pint and a half of
cream. While it is boiling have ready six yolks of eggs, beaten up with
two table-spoonfuls of powdered arrow-root, or fine flour. Stir this
gradually into the boiling cream, taking care to have it perfectly
smooth and free from lumps. Ten minutes will suffice for the egg and
cream to boil together. Then divide the mixture by putting it into two
separate sauce-pans.
Then mix with it, in one of the pans, six ounces of chocolate scraped
fine, two ounces of powdered loaf-sugar, and a quarter of a pound of
maccaroons, broken up. When it has come to a hard boil, take it off,
stir it well, pour it into a bowl, and set it away to cool.
Have ready, for the other sauce-pan of cream and egg, a dozen bitter
almonds, and four ounces of shelled sweet almonds or pistachio nuts,
all blanched and pounded in a mortar with rose-water to a smooth paste,
and mixed with an ounce of citron also pounded. Add four ounces of
powdered sugar; and to colour it green, two large spoonfuls of spinach
juice that has been strained through a sieve. Stir this mixture into
the other half of the cream, and let it come to a boil. Then put it
aside to cool.
Cut a large sponge-cake into slices half an inch thick. Spread one
slice thickly with the chocolate cream, and cover another slice with
the almond cream. Do this alternately (piling them evenly on a china
dish) till all the ingredients are used up. You may arrange it in the
original form of the sponge-cake before it was cut, or in a pyramid.
Have ready the whites of the six eggs whipped to a stiff froth, with
which have been gradually mixed six ounces of powdered sugar, and
twelve drops of oil of lemon. With a spoon heap this meringue (as the
French call it) all over the pile of cake, &c., and then sift powdered
sugar over it. Set it in a very slow oven till the outside becomes a
light brown colour.
Serve it up cold, ornamented according to your taste.
If you find the chocolate cream too thin, add more maccaroons. If the
almond cream is too thin, mix in more pounded citron. If either of the
mixtures is too thick, dilute it with more cream.
This is superior to a Charlotte Russe.
APPLE COMPOTE.--Take large ripe pippin apples. Pare, core, and weigh
them, and to each pound allow a pound of fine loaf-sugar and two
lemons. Parboil the apples, and then set them out to cool. Pare off
very nicely with a penknife the yellow rind of the lemons, taking care
not to break it; and then with scissors trim the edges to an even width
all along. Put the lemon-rind to boil in a little sauce-pan by itself,
till it becomes tender, and then set it to cool. Allow half a pint of
water to each pound of sugar; and when it is melted, set it on the
fire in the preserving kettle, put in the apples, and boil them slowly
till they are clear and tender all through, but not till they break;
skimming the syrup carefully. After you have taken out the apples,
add the lemon-juice, put in the lemon-peel, and boil it till quite
transparent. When the whole is cold, put the apples with the syrup into
glass dishes, and dispose the wreaths of lemon-peel fancifully about
them.
SOUR MILK.--To recover milk that has turned sour, stir in powdered
carbonate of magnesia, of which allow a heaped tea-spoonful to each
quart of milk.