The Virginia Housewife Part 22

PEACH CREAM.

Get fine soft peaches perfectly ripe, peel them, take out the stones, and put them in a China bowl: sprinkle some sugar on, and chop them very small with a silver spoon--if the peaches be sufficiently ripe, they will become a smooth pulp; add as much cream or rich milk as you have peaches; put more sugar, and freeze it.

COFFEE CREAM.

Toast two gills of raw coffee till it is a light brown, and not a grain burnt; put it hot from the toaster without grinding it, into a quart of rich, and perfectly sweet milk; boil it, and add the yelks of eight eggs; when done, strain it through a sieve, and sweeten it; if properly done, it will not be discoloured. The coffee may be dried, and will answer for making in the usual way to drink, allowing more for the quant.i.ty of water, than if it had not gone through this process.

QUINCE CREAM.

Wash ripe quinces and boil them whole till quite tender--let them stand to drain and cool--then rub them through a hair sieve; mix with the pulp as much cochineal finely powdered, as will make it a pretty colour; then add an equal quant.i.ty of cream, and sweeten it. Pears or apples may be used, prepared in the same manner.

CITRON CREAM.

Cut the finest citron melons when perfectly ripe--take out the seeds, and slice the nicest part into a China bowl in small pieces, that will lie conveniently; cover them with powdered sugar, and let them stand several hours--then drain off the syrup they have made, and add as much cream as it will give a strong flavour to, and freeze it. Pine apples may be used in the same way.

ALMOND CREAM.

Pour hot water on the almonds, and let them stand till the skins will slip off, then pound them fine, and mix them with cream: a pound of almonds in the sh.e.l.ls, will be sufficient for a quart of cream--sweeten and freeze it. The kernels of the common black walnut, prepared in the same way, make an excellent cream.

LEMON CREAM.

Pare the yellow rind very thin from four lemons--put them in a quart of fresh cream, and boil it; squeeze and strain the juice of one lemon, saturate it completely with powdered sugar; and when the cream is quite cold, stir it in--take care that it does not curdle--if not sufficiently sweet, add more sugar.

LEMONADE ICED.

Make a quart of rich lemonade, whip the whites of six fresh eggs to a strong froth--mix them well with the lemonade, and freeze it. The juice of morello cherries, or of currants mixed with water and sugar, and prepared in the same way, make very delicate ices.

TO MAKE CUSTARD.

Make a quart of milk quite hot, that it may not whey when baked; let it stand to get cold, and then mix six eggs with it; sweeten it with loaf sugar, and fill the custard cups--put on the covers, and set them in a Dutch oven with water, but not enough to risk its boiling into the cups; do not put on the top of the oven. When the water has boiled ten or fifteen minutes, take out a cup, and if the custard be the consistence of jelly; it is sufficiently done; serve them in the cups with the covers on, and a tea-spoon on the dish between each cup--grate nutmeg on the tops when cold.

TO MAKE A TRIFLE.

Put slices of Savoy cake or Naples biscuit at the bottom of a deep dish; wet it with white wine, and fill the dish nearly to the top with rich boiled custard; season half a pint of cream with white wine and sugar; whip it to a froth--as it rises, take it lightly off, and lay it on the custard; pile it up high and tastily--decorate it with preserves of any kind, cut so thin as not to bear the froth down by its weight.

RICE BLANC MANGE.

Boil a tea-cup full of rice in a very small of water, till it is near bursting--then add half a pint of milk, boil it to a mush, stirring all the time; season it with sugar, wine, and nutmeg; dip the mould in water, and fill it; when cold, turn it in a dish, and surround it with boiled custard seasoned, or syllabub--garnish it with marmalade.

FLOATING ISLAND.

Have the bowl nearly full of syllabub, made with milk, white wine, and sugar; beat the whites of six new laid eggs to a strong froth--then mix with it raspberry or strawberry marmalade enough to flavour and colour it; lay the froth lightly on the syllabub, first putting in some slices of cake; raise it in little mounds, and garnish with something light.

SYLLABUB.

Season the milk with sugar and white wine, but not enough to curdle it; fill the gla.s.ses nearly full, and crown them with whipt cream seasoned.

COLD CREAMS.

LEMON CREAM.

Pare the rind very thin from four fresh lemons, squeeze the juice, and strain it--put them both into a quart of water, sweeten it to your taste, add the whites of six eggs, beat to a froth; set it over the fire, and keep stirring until it thickens, but do not let it boil--then pour it in a bowl; when cold, strain it through a sieve, put it on the fire, and add the yelks of the eggs--stir it till quite thick, and serve it in gla.s.ses.

ORANGE CREAM.

Is made in the same manner, but requires more juice to give a flavour.

RASPBERRY CREAM.

Stir as much raspberry marmalade into a quart of cream, as will be sufficient to give a rich flavour of the fruit--strain it, and fill your gla.s.ses, leaving out a part to whip into froth for the top.

TEA CREAM.

Put one ounce of the best tea in a pitcher, pour on it a table spoonful of water, and let it stand an hour to soften the leaves; then put to it a quart of boiling cream, cover it close, and in half an hour strain it; add four tea-spoonsful of a strong infusion of rennet in water, stir it, and set it on some hot ashes, and cover it; when you find by cooling a little of it, that it will jelly, pour it into gla.s.ses, and garnish with thin bits of preserved fruit.

SAGO CREAM.