Domestic French Cookery, 4th ed Part 13

If you want the jelly for immediate use, put it into a mould; set the mould in ice for two or three hours; and when the jelly is congealed, loosen it by setting the mould in warm water, and then turn it out.

PRESERVED PUMPKIN.

Take a fine ripe pumpkin of a deep rich color. Cut from it as many slices as you want; they should be very thin. Have ready some lime-water. Put into it the slices of pumpkin, and let them soak for twenty-four hours. Then take them out, wash them well in cold water, and wipe them dry. Having prepared a nicely clarified syrup of sugar, put the slices of pumpkin into it, and let them simmer over a slow fire without stirring, for a day and a night; but first flavor them to your taste with lemon-juice mixed into the syrup. When done, they will be crisp and transparent. Put them into broad stone or queensware pots, and tie them up with brandy-paper.

PRESERVED RASPBERRIES.

Let your raspberries be gathered on a dry day. Measure them, and to a quart of raspberries allow a pound of fine loaf-sugar. Spread the fruit on large dishes, but do not heap it; let every raspberry lie singly.

Pound the sugar to powder, and sift it over the fruit.

Then have ready the same quant.i.ty of ripe currants. Squeeze them through a linen bag which has been wrung out of cold water. Prepare a pound of loaf-sugar for each pint of currant juice. Put the sugar into a preserving-kettle, and pour the currant-juice over it. When it has melted, set it on the fire, and boil and skim it for ten minutes. When no more sc.u.m rises, put in the raspberries. As soon as they are all scalded, take off the kettle, cover it, and set it away for two hours.

Then put it again on the fire for about five minutes. Afterward set it again away for two hours, and then return it to the fire as before.

This must be done three times in all, but on no account allow the raspberries to boil. If done with care, they will be whole and transparent.

When cold, put them up in gla.s.ses.

If you preserve white raspberries, do them in the juice of white currants.

Any other fruit may be done in jelly in the same manner.

ORANGE JELLY.

Peel twelve large sweet oranges, and cut them into small pieces. Put them into a linen bag, and squeeze out all the juice. Measure the juice, and if it does not amount to a pint, squeeze some more pieces of orange through the bag. Put a pound of double-refined loaf-sugar into a preserving kettle, and pour the juice over it. When the sugar has melted, put it over the fire. Dissolve two ounces of isingla.s.s in a little hot water, and add it to the jelly just as it is beginning to boil. Let it boil hard twenty minutes. Then put it into gla.s.ses, and tie it up with brandy-paper.

Lemon-jelly may be made in this manner.

CLARIFIED SUGAR, FOR PRESERVES, AND OTHER USES.

To each pound of sugar allow half a pint of water, and half the white of an egg; thus four pounds of sugar will require a quart of water and the whites of two eggs. Mix the white of egg with the water, and beat it to a froth with rods. Take two thirds of the water, and pour it over the sugar. When it has melted, set it over the fire. When it rises and boils, pour in a little more of the water, and diminish the fire to abate the boiling and allow the sc.u.m to rise. Take it off, skim it well, and in five minutes set it on the fire again. When it boils a second time, add a little more water; and afterwards take it off and skim it again. Repeat this till it is quite clear, and no more sc.u.m rises. Then take it from the fire. Dip a fine napkin in warm water, wring it out, and then strain the syrup through it. Afterwards put your fruit into the syrup, and boil it till tender.

You may keep this syrup in bottles, and at any time you can put fruit into it; for instance, strawberries, raspberries plums, apricots &c. If only wanted for immediate use, you need not boil them, but send them to table in the syrup, with the advantage of their natural color and flavor.

FRUIT IN SUGAR COATS.

Prepare some of the best loaf-sugar powdered as fine as possible. Have ready some white of egg. Take some of the best and largest plums, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, apricots (peeled) or any other suitable fruit.

Dip the fruit, separately, in the white of egg, and then roll it all over in the powdered sugar, which will thus adhere to it, and form a coat. Then lay it on a dish (spreading it out so as not to touch) and set it in a cool oven to harden.

BURNT ALMONDS.

Take a pound of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds, a pound of loaf-sugar, and half a pint of water. Melt the sugar in the water, and then set it over the fire. Put in the almonds, and stir them about till they are well dispersed through the sugar. Let them boil, and when you hear the almonds crack, they are sufficiently done. Take them off, and stir them till they are dry, and then put them into a wire sieve, and sift from them the loose sugar. Put this sugar again into the pan, with sufficient water to moisten it, and let it come to a boil. Then put in two spoonfuls of cochineal powder to color it red; add the almonds, and stir them over the fire till they are quite dry. Put them away in gla.s.s jars.

PEPPERMINT DROPS

Powder some fine loaf-sugar, add to it a little essence of peppermint (sufficient to give it a strong flavor) and enough of water to make it into a thick paste, which you must mix on a plate with the point of a broad knife. Then put the paste into a pan that has a lip or little spout at one side; melt it over the fire, and let it come to a boil. As soon as it boils, take it off and drop it from the lip of the pan into a clean broad tin pan or plate. Let the drops be all of the same size and shape. The tin pan that receives them must be very cold. As soon as the drops have hardened, loosen them from the tin, by slipping the point of a knife under each.

You may color them red with cochineal.

Keep them in a gla.s.s jar.

If the mixture congeals before all the drops are made, melt it again over the fire.

CHOCOLATE DROPS.

Sc.r.a.pe some of the best chocolate, and mix it with powdered white sugar.

Moisten it with a little water, so as to make a paste. Work it on a plate with a knife. Then boil it in a pan with a lip, and pour it (a drop at a time) into a cold tin pan. While moist, sprinkle colored sugar-sand or non-pareils over the surface of each chocolate drop, which drop must be of a good shape, and about the size of a sixpence. When they are hardened, take them off the tin, by slipping under them the point of a knife.

Keep them in gla.s.s jars.

After the chocolate has boiled, make the drops as fast as possible; for if it gets cold before they are all done, it will injure it much to boil it over again.

The confectioners use for these purposes small leaden moulds, greased with oil of almonds. Into these moulds they pour the mixture, so that every thing comes out of the same size and shape.

NOUGAT.

This is a very fine confection. Take three quarters of a pound of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds, and one quarter of a pound of sh.e.l.led bitter almonds. Blanch them by scalding them in boiling water. Then throw them into cold water, and take them out and wipe them. Cut them into small pieces (but do not pound them,) and mix them well together.

Take a pound of loaf-sugar broken small, and mix it with half a pint of cold water, and an ounce of isingla.s.s melted in a very little hot water.

Boil the sugar, and skim it well. When it is quite clear, throw in your almonds, having first squeezed over them the juice of two lemons. Stir the almonds well through the sugar; and as soon as they are properly mixed with it, take the kettle off the fire.

Have ready a mould or a square tin pan well greased with sweet-oil. Put your mixture into it, a little at a time; dispersing the almonds equally through the sugar, before it has time to get cold. But if it does chill before the almonds are well mixed in it, set it again over the fire to melt. Turn it frequently in the mould, to prevent its sticking. When it has become a hard cake, set the mould for a moment in warm water, and turn out the nougat.

In stirring it, you had better use a wooden spoon.

ORGEAT PASTE.

Take half a pound of sh.e.l.led bitter almonds, and a pound and a half of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds. Blanch them, and pound them in a mortar one or two at a time, pouring in frequently a little rose-water, which will preserve their whiteness and prevent them from being oily and heavy.

Pound them to a fine smooth paste, and then mix them with a pound and a half of loaf-sugar finely powdered.

Put the mixture again into the mortar, a little at a time, and pound it awhile that the sugar and almonds may be thoroughly incorporated; adding still a little rose-water.

When done, put it away in small covered pots or gla.s.ses, and it will keep several months in a cool dry place. It makes a very fine drink.

When you want to use it, put a small piece into a tumbler of cold water, and stir it till dissolved.