GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON CREAMS, JELLIES, SOUFFLÉS, OMELETS, & SWEET
DISHES.
1385. CREAMS.--The yellowish-white, opaque fluid, smooth and unctuous to
the touch, which separates itself from new milk, and forms a layer on
its surface, when removed by skimming, is employed in a variety of
culinary preparations. The analyses of the contents of cream have been
decided to be, in 100 parts--butter, 3.5; curd, or matter of cheese,
3.5; whey, 92.0. That cream contains an oil, is evinced by its staining
clothes in the manner of oil; and when boiled for some time, a little
oil floats upon the surface. The thick animal oil which it contains, the
well-known _butter_, is separated only by agitation, as in the common
process of _churning_, and the cheesy matter remains blended with the
whey in the state of _buttermilk_. Of the several kinds of cream, the
principal are the Devonshire and Dutch clotted creams, the Costorphin
cream, and the Scotch sour cream. The Devonshire cream is produced by
nearly boiling the milk in shallow tin vessels over a charcoal fire, and
kept in that state until the whole of the cream is thrown up. It is used
for eating with fruits and tarts. The cream from Costorphin, a village
of that name near Edinburgh, is accelerated in its separation from three
or four days' old milk, by a certain degree of heat; and the Dutch
clotted cream--a coagulated mass in which a spoon will stand upright--is
manufactured from fresh-drawn milk, which is put into a pan, and stirred
with a spoon two or three times a day, to prevent the cream from
separating from the milk. The Scotch "sour cream" is a misnomer; for it
is a material produced without cream. A small tub filled with skimmed
milk is put into a larger one, containing hot water, and after remaining
there all night, the thin milk (called _wigg_) is drawn off, and the
remainder of the contents of the smaller vessel is "sour cream."
1386. JELLIES are not the nourishing food they were at one time
considered to be, and many eminent physicians are of opinion that they
are less digestible than the flesh, or muscular part of animals; still,
when acidulated with lemon-juice and flavoured with wine, they are very
suitable for some convalescents. Vegetable jelly is a distinct
principle, existing in fruits, which possesses the property of
gelatinizing when boiled and cooled; but it is a principle entirely
different from the gelatine of animal bodies, although the name of
jelly, common to both, sometimes leads to an erroneous idea on that
subject. Animal jelly, or gelatine, is glue, whereas vegetable jelly is
rather analogous to gum. Liebig places gelatine very low indeed in the
scale of usefulness. He says, "Gelatine, which by itself is tasteless,
and when eaten, excites nausea, possesses no nutritive value; that, even
when accompanied by the savoury constituents of flesh, it is not capable
of supporting the vital process, and when added to the usual diet as a
substitute for plastic matter, does not increase, but, on the contrary,
diminishes the nutritive value of the food, which it renders
insufficient in quantity and inferior in quality." It is this substance
which is most frequently employed in the manufacture of the jellies
supplied by the confectioner; but those prepared at home from calves'
feet do possess some nutrition, and are the only sort that should be
given to invalids. Isinglass is the purest variety of gelatine, and is
prepared from the sounds or swimming-bladders of certain fish, chiefly
the sturgeon. From its whiteness it is mostly used for making
blanc-mange and similar dishes.
1387. THE WHITE OF EGGS is perhaps the best substance that can be
employed in clarifying jelly, as well as some other fluids, for the
reason that when albumen (and the white of eggs is nearly pure albumen)
is put into a liquid that is muddy, from substances suspended in it, on
boiling the liquid, the albumen coagulates in a flocculent manner, and,
entangling with it the impurities, rises with them to the surface as a
scum, or sinks to the bottom, according to their weight.
1388. SOUFFLES, OMELETS, AND SWEET DISHES, in which eggs form the
principal ingredient, demand, for their successful manufacture, an
experienced cook. They are the prettiest, but most difficult of all
entremets. The most essential thing to insure success is to secure the
best ingredients from an honest tradesman. The entremets coming within
the above classification, are healthy, nourishing, and pleasant to the
taste, and may be eaten with safety by persons of the most delicate
stomachs.
RECIPES.