Chocolate Creams.—(a) Mix 2 oz. Bermuda arrowroot smoothly with 1½ gill cold water; add 12 oz. pulverised sugar, and boil rapidly 8-10 minutes, stirring continually. Remove it from the fire, and stir till a little cool; flavour with vanilla or rose; continue stirring till it creams, then roll into little balls. Melt some chocolate over steam (add no water), and when the cream balls are cold roll them in it one by one, and lay on a buttered slab to cool. The creams may be varied by dividing the cream into 3 parts, adding grated coconut to one, chopped almonds to another, and pistachios to the third.
(b) Grate 8 oz. vanilla chocolate; put into a stewpan, with 8 oz. sugar, 8 yolks of eggs, 1 pint cream. Stir the whole over the fire until the preparation begins to thicken, allowing the yolks to sufficiently set without curdling; strain the cream through a clean napkin, placed over a fine hair sieve, then pass it again through a tammy cloth with pressure into a basin, then clarify 1 oz. best cut isinglass, or gelatine; mix the whole well together, and pour it into a mould embedded in rough ice.
(c) Put 1 lb. loaf sugar in a stewpan; pour upon it as much milk or thin cream as the sugar will absorb. Dissolve it over the fire, and boil slowly until it will candy when dropped into cold water. Neither stir it, nor allow it to stick to the pan; take it off and stir it until you can cream it with a spoon. Add a tablespoonful of extract of vanilla, and beat it till cool enough to handle. Then fashion it into balls the size of a filbert; lay these aside on buttered paper. Put ½ lb. unsweetened pure chocolate in a tin plate over a kettle of boiling water, and when it is dissolved dip the bonbons into it and lay them out on buttered paper to cool. If the sugar grains like sand instead of creaming, it has been boiled too long, and it will be necessary to begin anew with other sugar.
Coconut Candy.—Place in an earthen pipkin 1 lb. best loaf sugar cut as for table, with a breakfastcupful of cold spring water. Let it remain until the sugar is dissolved, and then set it on a clear fire to boil for about 5 minutes, or rather more. As the scum rises carefully skim it away until the sugar looks quite white and thick, and then stir into it ¼ lb. grated coconut, taking care that it is a nice fresh one. Again set it on the fire, and with a wooden spoon stir it continuously until it rises quite up in the pipkin, then at once spread it out on well-dried sheets of writing-paper, which should be warmed before the fire before putting the coconut upon them; the paste should berather more than ½ in. thick. Let it remain in this way until nearly but not quite cold, when the paper must be removed, and it can then be cut up into small squares. Let it get thoroughly dry before storing it in tin boxes for use. It is an improvement to give it a slightly pink colour by adding a few drops of cochineal to the sugar just before putting in the coconut. Some people grate this, and spread it out to dry for a day or two before it is used for candy.
Marzipan.—(a) ½ lb. almonds, ¾ lb. sugar, the white of an egg, and the juice of half a lemon. The whole to be well pounded together till it acquires the consistency of a soft dough.
(b) Blanch, and then pound very fine 1 lb. sweet and a few bitter almonds, adding a few spoonfuls of rosewater; put the almond paste in a stewpan with 1 lb. powdered sugar, and stir over the fire till a smooth paste is obtained, which will not stick to the finger when touched. Turn it out on to a pasteboard well strewn with powdered sugar; roll out the paste, divide it into cakes of any shape you like, and put them on sheets of paper on the baking sheet well sprinkled with sugar; bake in a slow oven until of a pale yellow colour.
Popcorn Candy.—Put into an iron kettle 1 tablespoonful butter, 3 tablespoonfuls water, and 1 cup white sugar; boil until ready to candy, then throw in 3 qt. nicely popped corn; stir vigorously until the sugar is evenly distributed over the corn; take the kettle from the fire, and stir until it cools a little, and in this way you may have each kernel separate and all coated with the sugar. Of course, it must have your undivided attention from the first to prevent scorching. Almonds, walnuts, or, in fact, any nuts are delicious prepared in this way.
Toffee.—(a) Take 1 breakfastcupful rich cream (if slightly sour it would be just as good, or better), 1 breakfastcupful pounded white sugar, pour the above into a very clean copper saucepan, and boil slowly over a clear but not too hot fire. The mixture will first become quite liquid, and will afterwards gradually thicken; when almost done pour in 1 dessertspoonful essence of vanilla and 1 of whisky. When the mixture becomes very frothy, and leaves the sides of the pan clean, pour it out as quickly as possible on to a flat buttered dish. It should set at once, cut it into squares; before it is cold it should be quite smooth, and of a creamy white; it should be “short,” without being at all crisp or crumbly. The only difficulty is to know the exact moment to take it off the fire. This can only be learned by practice.
(b) Put 3 oz. butter into a brass preserving pan, and, as soon as it is melted, add 1 lb. brown sugar. Keep these stirred gently over a moderate fire for 15 minutes, or until a little of it, dropped into cold water, breaks clean between the teeth without sticking to them. When it is boiled to this point it must be poured out immediately, or it will burn. The grated rind of a lemon, or a small teaspoonful of powdered ginger added when half done, very much improves the taste.
(c) 1 lb. treacle or golden syrup, 1 lb. moist whity-brown or Demerara (this is best) sugar, ½ lb. fresh butter. Mix the treacle and sugar well together in a large china-lined saucepan, and add the butter broken into small pieces. Place the saucepan on a clear fire, and stir slowly until all be incorporated. After this stop stirring, or the toffee will “sugar”; boil about ½ hour, and be careful not to let it burn. The juice of ½ lemon added is a great improvement. Have a buttered tin ready to pour the toffee on, and when nearly done put a little into cold water to taste if it be done enough.
(d) Put ¼ lb. butter into a saucepan over a clear fire, and when it is melted add to it 1 lb. brown sugar; boil for 15 minutes. Have ready some almonds (1½ oz.) blanched and halved, and a little very finely grated lemon peel. Add these to the mixture, boil and stir until when dropped into cold water it hardens directly; then immediately pour it on to well-buttered dishes or on to marble slabs. The almonds may be added after the toffee is put on to the dishes. Also, ½ lb. treacle and ½ lb. sugar may be substituted for the 1 lb. sugar. When nearly cold, it should be marked with the back of a knife.
Rahat Lukum.—Make a syrup with 3 lb. best sugar and 3 pints water; clear it with the whites of 3 eggs and the juice of a lemon. Dissolve 6 oz. purest wheat starch in ¾ pint cold water, strain it, and add it to the clear syrup when it is boiling; reduce the whole by boiling to ⅔. It should be very thick and stringy. Flavour the paste with attar of roses or any sweet essence. Have ready a large dish well covered with almond oil; empty the paste on the dish when it is cool, spread it about 1 in. thick, then have ready another dish covered with finely-powdered sugar, and when the paste is quite cold turn it over very carefully upon the sugared dish. Absorb the oil with silver paper or blotting paper; cut the paste into pieces 2-3 in. square; powder them with sugar, and keep them very dry. A finer rahat is made with rose or cherry syrup, with blanched almonds stirred in before the paste thickens. This recipe was obtained at Athens from a Sciote lady. The ladies of Scios are considered the most skilful confectioners in the Levant.
Ices.—The following general remarks on ices are condensed from a series of papers on the subject by Mary Hooper, in theQueen.
Freezing-powders.—Ice, in combination with salt, is the best material for making ices; but when travelling, or in remote districts where ice is difficult to procure, freezing powders are of the greatest service, and those of the best makers are perfectly satisfactory in their action. Indeed, there is no doubt freezing powders would be more largely used than they are at present, were it not that they are more expensive than ice. For cooling water and other liquids, and for refrigerating food in the sick chamber, where it is sometimes impossible either to keep or manage ice for this purpose, freezing powders are invaluable. They are useful also when a very rapid and strong freezing mixture is required, being used instead of salt with the ice. It is desirable in choosing a freezing machine to ascertain if it is as well adapted for the use of powders as of ice, as some of them lined with metal would be corroded by the action of the former.
Keeping and Choosing Ice.—It is often necessary—in cases of sickness, for instance, in the houses of the poor—to keep a small quantity of ice without a refrigerator. This is best done by wrapping the ice first in paper—newspaper answers as well as any other—and then covering it up in woollen or other cloths; place the ice thus wrapped as much as possible out of draughts. Each time the ice is opened, dry paper should be supplied; the sheets will last for some time, and can be dried as often as desired. There is a great difference in the quality of ice. Rough English ice, from being frozen at a low temperature, is brittle, and melts rapidly; and that taken from ponds is utterly unfit for drinking purposes, for there is abundant proof that the poisonous properties of such water, and the living organisms it contains, are not destroyed by its having been frozen. Much of the foreign ice sold in this country as Wenham Lake, is uncleanly, and a necessary rule to observe in the choice of ice for the table is that it is perfectly clear and crystal-like, and of a smooth and shining surface. In all cases, after being broken up, ice should be rinsed before being sent to the table. A proper awl for breaking ice into small pieces costs but a few pence, and should always be kept at hand; otherwise, to their great injury, forks and knives, with a hammer, and other unsuitable implements, are substituted. When not in use, the point of the awl should be stuck into a cork, both to prevent its being broken or causing injury to inadvertent people.
Freezing-machines.—The only way to avoid failure in the domestic manufacture of ices is to have one of the small patented machines, which, besides being certain in action, require but 3-4 lb. ice to freeze as many quarts of ices.
The principle which guides all freezing operations is—first, to have the vessel which contains the material to be frozen embedded in the freezing mixture, ice and salt, and then so rapidly and skilfully to rotate it that ice soon begins to be made at the sides. This is then scraped to the middle, and the whole thoroughly mixed, so as to ensure an equal freezing throughout the mass. This process is continued until a satisfactory result is obtained, when the ices will be left in the freezing mixture to harden and ripen. Thecost of the necessary apparatus—namely, a pail, which should have a hole, stopped with a cork, near the bottom, in order that water may be drawn off as the ice melts, a pewter freezing pot, and spatula—for freezing in the primitive manner, will be at least equal to that of a patent machine for making ices. There are a large number of these competing for public favour, each one possessing some special feature of merit. In the choice of such a machine it should be ascertained that it is simple in action, not liable to get out of order, of good seasoned wood and the best workmanship, and that ices are made in it rapidly, and with but a small quantity of freezing material. The tendency in most perpendicular machines is to freeze too hard at the bottom and too lightly at the top. This defect is remedied by the Patent Horizontal Revolving Freezer (Kent, 199 High Holborn), and the arrangement by which the ices are turned from the sides of the freezing pot to the middle is perfectly satisfactory. In one of these small freezers so small a quantity as 1 pint to 3 qt. can be frozen with 3 lb. ice in as many minutes. The tubs being closed at the end, and perfectly air-tight, prevents the waste of ice by the action of the atmosphere, and thus secures a uniformity and intensity of cold within the freezer, tending to produce very perfect, light, and smooth ices.
For whatever method ice is required for freezing, it is necessary both that it should be broken small, that is in pieces about the size of small walnuts, and be thoroughly mixed with the salt. The easiest way of breaking ice is to put it in a sack and crush it with a wooden mallet. This done, well rolled salt of strong good quality should be mixed with the ice, in the proportion of 1 lb. salt to 2-3 lb. ice. It is safe to say that nearly all the failures in making ices result from the neglect of these simple directions.
The expense of a thermometer for taking the temperature of ices, and a saccharometer for ascertaining the correct amount of sweetness in ices, is but small, and they are real helps to inexperienced confectioners. For instance, if there is any doubt about the ices being sufficiently frozen, if the thermometer registers less than 22°F. you will be sure that the ices will not melt too rapidly on being served. Even in the hottest weather, a well-made ice will not dissolve as soon as taken from the freezer.
As it is only for a short period in the year that the favourite fruits for flavouring ices can be had fresh, it is necessary to make of them syrups or preserves. To make strawberry and the like preserves without sugar is somewhat difficult in domestic practice, though, if the niceties of the process are observed, failure ought not to follow.
Dessert ices are now served in many beautiful forms, to represent flowers, fruit, vegetables, and other tasteful objects. For these special moulds are provided, into which the ices, having been made as before described, are pressed. After being left embedded in ice for more than an hour, the moulds are dipped in lukewarm water to facilitate turning out, and, having been carefully wiped to free them from salt, the moulds are opened, the ices placed on a suitable dish, and they are then rapidly painted with carefully prepared vegetable colours, as the nature of the case may require. These ornamental ices must have considerable care, but any person with ordinary skill, and able to give time and attention to detail, may manage them.
In colouring ices before freezing with a pink tinge, it is desirable to avoid cochineal, as it is prepared with a strong acid, which, in coming in contact with the pewter, is apt to turn the cream of a violet shade. Breton’s vegetable colourings, to be had at Italian warehouses, are as pure and good as any which can be made at home, and the vegetable carmine is free from the acid of cochineal. In families where ices are in constant request it is desirable to have simple syrup—that is, sugar boiled to the requisite strength—always ready prepared. The most useful quality of syrup is that registering 30°-36° on the saccharometer. The preparation of this is easy, nevertheless it requires care.
Simple Syrup.—Put 2 lb. finest lump sugar into a copper pan with 1 qt. cold water; stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved; let it come to the boil, and take off any scum as it rises. Draw the pan to the side of the fire, and let the syrup boil gently until it registers 30°-36°. If the sugar is boiled too fast, it will cause trouble to an inexperiencedoperator, as it will candy. Should this happen, more water must be added to the sugar, and boiling go on again until the syrup attains the requisite strength. If a small quantity of syrup is made, it must be tested by the saccharometer in a deep mug or jug, as in the boiling pan there will not be depth of liquid for the instrument. If no saccharometer is at hand, an approximate idea of the strength of the syrup can be obtained by letting a drop fall into a glass of cold water; if it retains its shape, the syrup will answer your purpose. If fine lump sugar is used, the syrup, when done as directed, will be perfectly bright, with a slight yellow tinge, and as thick as new honey; no other process of clarification will be needed. This syrup is exceedingly useful for many purposes, and will keep for any length of time.
Brown Bread Ice.—(a) Make a custard of eggs and milk, flavoured with vanilla. Cut up some brown bread into dice, dry it in the oven, and put it hot into the cold custard; freeze; pour iced custard round it in the dish in which it is to be served.
(b) To 6 yolks of eggs, well beaten, add gradually 1 pint boiling milk, with ½ lb. sugar boiled in it. Pour this on to some very fine crumbs of brown loaf; beat all together; add ¼ pint cream.
Cake, Iced.—(a) Mix thoroughly ½ lb. flour, ½ lb. ground rice, ½ lb. currants, ¼ lb. sugar, 5 oz. mace and cloves, some mixed peel, a few bitter almonds pounded, some sweet almonds split, 1 teaspoonful carbonate of soda, melt ½ lb. fresh butter in ¾ pint warm milk, add the yolks and whites of 4 eggs beaten separately; pour this by degrees on to the dry ingredients, add a glass of brandy, beat it well; put into a buttered mould, and bake.
(b) Beat up the whites of 2 eggs; then add ½ lb. castor sugar and the juice of a lemon or a few drops of orange-flower water. Beat the mixture until it hangs upon the fork in flakes, then spread over the cake, dipping the knife in cold water occasionally. Stand it before the fire, and keep turning the cake constantly, or the sugar will catch and turn brown. As soon as it begins to harden it may be removed. The icing must not be put on until the cake itself is cold, otherwise it will not set. A few drops of cochineal will colour it if desired.
Cherry Water Ice.—Take out the stones of the cherries, pound them in a mortar in order to get the flavour, and then pass them through a sieve with the fruit. Add syrup, and freeze as strawberry water ice. The flavour of the kernel should come out well in cherry ices, a few drops of home-made extract of almonds (bitter almonds infused in spirit) is therefore an improvement. If the cherries do not give sufficient sharpness, add a little lemon juice.
Chocolate Ice Cream.—Mix 2 teaspoonfuls Van Houten’s cocoa in a gill of cold milk, stir it into 1 pint cream or custard, add vanilla flavour, and sweeten. Scraped and sifted chocolate, so as to bring it to a fine powder, can be used; but the cocoa named is on all accounts best for this cream.
Chocolate Icing.—Put into a saucepan ½ lb. powdered loaf sugar, 2 oz. grated chocolate, and about 1 gill water; stir on the fire until the mixture assumes the consistence of a thick, smooth cream. Lay the icing evenly on the cake or pastry, with a palette knife, and put it into the oven for a minute or two to set the icing.
Coconut Ice.—Put on in a brass or copper pan 4 lb. loaf sugar, with 2 pints of cold water, stir till it comes to the boil, by which time the sugar should be quite dissolved, let it boil to candy light, and draw it to the side. Have a large coconut pared and grated, mix together with the milk, add ¾ of it to the sugar, and stir till it begins to candy. Have a sheet of paper greased and laid upon a stone slab; on it place 4 iron rods so as to form a square, into which pour the tablet. Repeat the above process with 2 lb. sugar and 1 pint cold water, adding a little cochineal to colour it, and the remainder of the grated coconut; when ready, pour it over the first sheet of tablet, which will be set by the time you have done the second; when quite cold, turn it over, draw off the paper, and cut it in stripes 3-4 in. long.
Coffee Ice Cream.—Make a custard, without any flavour, of 1 pint cream and 4 yolks of eggs. Put into this ¼ lb. freshly-roasted mocha coffee berries; they should, if possible, be used hot. Cover up the stewpan closely with its lid, putting a napkin over to keep in the steam. Let the custard stand for an hour, strain and sweeten, and when cold put it into the freezing pot. Cream thus prepared will not take the colour of the coffee, and when carefully made is very delicate and delicious. Coffee ice cream is also made with a strong infusion of coffee, or Branson’s extract of coffee can be used. To make the infusion, put 2 oz. ground coffee into a French cafetière, and pour over it 1 gill fast-boiling water. When the infusion has all run through boil it up, and pour it over 2 oz. more coffee. Put the infusion thus obtained to 1 pint sweetened cream or custard and freeze.
Ginger Ice Cream.—Make a custard of 1 pint cream and 4 eggs put to it. Cut up in small pieces 2 oz. preserved ginger, add sufficient ground ginger to flavour well, and syrup or sugar to taste. Stir occasionally until cold, and put it into the freezing pot. Care should be taken to use fresh and good ground ginger, as otherwise it is apt to impart a mouldy kind of flavour.
Lemon Water Ice.—Wash the lemons in cold water in order to ensure cleanliness. Take a few lumps of sugar, and rub them over the peel until you have enough to flavour the ices; probably 2 fine lemons will be sufficient. Put this lemon sugar into 1 qt. cold filtered water, and let it stand 10 minutes, or while the lemons are squeezed. About ½ pint juice is usually needed, with sufficient syrup to register 24° by the saccharometer. Having strained the juice and water flavoured with the lemon sugar, add the syrup, and strain into the freezing pot. When the ices register 22° F., press well down in the pot, and leave them in the freezing mixture for an hour. A little Nelson’s gelatine is useful to give richness and body to water ices; but care must be taken not to use more than the quantity named. Soak and dissolve in boiling water ¼ oz. Nelson’s gelatine, add it to the quart of water to be used for the ices, thoroughly mix it with the other materials, and afterwards strain them.
Pineapple Ice Cream.—Press the juice from a fine ripe pineapple, add that of a lemon, with syrup or pounded sugar to give the required sweetness. Mix with an equal quantity of rich cream, and strain into the freezing pot. Or, make a custard as follows: boil 1 pint milk, pour it whilst boiling on the yolks of 6 eggs; stir rapidly over the fire until it thickens, taking care not to curdle it. With a little experience a perfect custard may be thickened in this way in less than 7 minutes, a much longer time being required if the milk is not boiled. When cold, add pineapple pulp made as follows: Boil 1 lb. pineapple sliced and peeled, in 1 gill water for 10 minutes, pound the fruit and rub it through a sieve, add syrup or sugar to taste. When cold mix with the custard, and strain into the freezing pot. Lemon juice can be added if necessary.
Strawberry Ice Cream.—Pick and press through a coarse sieve fine ripe strawberries to make as much juice as you require, then strain through a coarse sieve, and mix with it fine powdered sugar in the proportion of ¼ lb. to each ½ pint of juice. Stir into each ½ pint of the sweetened juice 1½ pint rich cream, and a few drops of pink colouring. Mix all well together and strain into the freezing pot. As the flavour of strawberries varies in different seasons, and they are more acid at one time than another, some judgment in the use of sugar is necessary, and sufficient of it should always be used to bring out the flavour of the fruit. Sometimes it will happen, after freezing has begun, that a little more sweetness is desirable. This is best given by adding a little plain syrup, taking care to mix it well in; for the perfection of ices depends in a great measure on all the materials being well incorporated. For this reason the direction is given to strain into the freezing pot after all is stirred together.
The product from 2 qt. cream, made as above, should be 3-3½ qt. firm ice cream of the highest quality. It is probable, however, that by some machines and the ordinaryice pail so good a result would not be obtained. The horizontal freezer will yield the given quality.
When the fresh fruit juice cannot be procured, preserved juice or preserved strawberries must be substituted. Of these the first is the best; but when there is not a fairly suitable apparatus, or other conditions are unfavourable for its domestic manufacture, it will be best to purchase it. In this case it should be borne in mind that a preparation of the fresh juice is necessarily somewhat expensive, and that a cheap article is generally flavoured with some unwholesome chemical imitation of the true flavour.
Vanilla Ice Cream.—This favourite ice is easily made. It is needlessly expensive to use the vanilla pod itself. To flavour 1 pint custard a whole pod would have to be boiled in the milk. But, as the bright essence is often wanting in delicacy, and is not unfrequently merely an imitation of vanilla made from deleterious material, it is desirable to have a home-made extract. To make it, cut the pods into very small pieces, put them into a small bottle with 1 tablespoonful brandy to each pod; let them stand for a week or longer, shaking occasionally. Drain the extract into another bottle, and keep well corked. The flavour of the vanilla pod itself will not have been exhausted by taking the extract, and, if boiled in milk, will flavour puddings, creams, custards, &c. Vanilla sugar is made by putting the pods into a closed jar of fine sifted sugar, and allowing them to remain in it for a week or longer. Afterwards the extract can be made. There is a great difference in the quality of vanilla, and when it is deficient in flavour, it has without doubt been deprived of aroma by some such process as that of making vanilla sugar. Vanilla ices require a good custard, made of cream with 4 eggs to the pint, and to be well sweetened. Vanilla extract must be used with reference to its strength, and the flavour of it should be kept delicate. Should it be preferred to use the pod itself for flavouring, it is usual to strain the milk or cream in which it has been boiled in a strainer, coarse enough to allow the seeds to pass through, and thus a distinctive character is given to the ices. Water ices are occasionally flavoured with vanilla, but are not to be recommended. For invalids and delicate persons vanilla is useful, as it is a safe and light stimulant.
Cheese(Fromage).—The cookery of cheese is a much-neglected subject in this country, though deserving of study.
Baked(Fondu).—(a) Take ¼ lb. grated cheese, add it to 1 gill milk in which is dissolved as much powdered bicarbonate of potash as will stand upon a threepenny-piece; mustard, pepper, &c. Heat this carefully until the cheese is completely dissolved. Then beat up 3 eggs, yolk and whites together, and add them to this solution of cheese, stirring the whole. Now take a shallow metal or earthenware dish or tray that will bear heating; put a little butter on this and heat the butter till it frizzles. Then pour the mixture into this, and bake or fry it until it is nearly solidified. A cheaper dish may be made by increasing the proportion of cheese—say 6-8 oz. to 3 eggs, or only 1 egg to ¼ lb. cheese for a hard-working man with powerful digestion. The chief difficulty in preparing this dish conveniently is that of obtaining suitable vessels for the final frying or baking, as each portion should be poured into and fried or baked in a separate dish, so that each person may, as in Switzerland, have his own fondu complete, and eat it from the dish as it comes from the fire. (Prof. W. M. Williams.)
(b) Melt ½ oz. fresh butter in a saucepan, stir into it 1 tablespoonful flour; when the two are well amalgamated put in a small quantity of milk and about 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese. Stir the mixture on a slow fire till it assumes the appearance of thick cream, but be careful not to let it boil, then add 1 clove of garlic, a small quantity of flour of mustard, a dash of powdered nutmeg, and some white pepper; mix thoroughly, and, if required, add a little salt; keep on stirring the mixture at a very moderate heat for about 10 minutes, then remove the pod of garlic, take the saucepan off the fire, and stir the contents occasionally until quite cold, when you stir into them the yolks of3 eggs, beaten up with a little milk and strained, and finally the whites of 5 eggs whisked into a stiff froth. Pour the mixture into a deep, round tin, put it into the oven, which must not be too hot; in about 20-30 minutes the fondu will have risen and taken colour. Pin a napkin round the tin, and serve quickly.
Biscuits(Galettes).—(a) Take 4 oz. grated cheese, 3 oz. finely grated breadcrumbs, 2 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful flour of mustard, 1 saltspoonful cayenne, 1 of white pepper, and 2 beaten-up eggs; melt the butter and mix all the ingredients together, and let them stand an hour. Knead and work out the paste as thin as possible, and cut into triangles or roll it up into thin sticks about 3 in. long. Bake in a quick oven for 16-18 minutes; serve hot.
(b) Have a little puff or short paste ready, and sprinkle over it a little cayenne, and as much grated Parmesan cheese as the dough will take; double up the paste, roll it out rather thin, and cut it with a round paste cutter, glaze with an egg, arrange on a floured tin, and bake in a sharp oven till of a light yellow colour.
Boiled.—(a) Put 1 tablespoonful milk in a saucepan, with a bit of butter the size of a nutmeg, and ¼ lb. good cheese, grated fine. Put the whole on a slow fire until it boils, then add 1 egg well beaten. Stir all well together, turn it into your dish, and brown it. Serve very hot.
(b) Put 4 oz. good cheese, sliced as thin as possible, 2 tablespoonfuls cream, a piece of butter the size of 2 walnuts, into a saucepan and boil, stirring it gently all the time till it becomes thick and smooth, then add a raw egg and a little cayenne pepper. Put the saucepan again on the fire, stirring as before till the whole is quite hot. Serve on small squares of dry toast. The above is enough for four people.
Boulettes.—Take equal weights of eggs, breadcrumbs, butter, and grated cheese; these must be well beaten together, leaving out half the whites of the eggs; season them with salt and a little cayenne pepper, and make them up into little balls; these must be dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried a light brown in lard or well-clarified dripping. The fat must not quite boil before the balls are put in, or they will become too dark a colour before they are sufficiently cooked; they should be served up high in a dish on a napkin.
Canapés.—Cut some stale bread in thin slices, which must be stamped out into shapes with a cutter. Fry these lightly in butter or boiling lard; cover the top of each with Parmesan or Cheshire cheese, add a little pepper and salt and mustard, and put them before the fire till the cheese is dissolved. Serve hot on a napkin.
Custard.—(a) Butter a rather small flat dish (one that will stand the oven—an old strong one would be best), whisk 2 eggs a minute or two, and mix with them ¼ pint cream, or cream and milk mixed; now grate 2-3 oz. dry pieces of any kind of cheese, to these add a little salt and a few grains of cayenne pepper, mix all well together, pour into the buttered dish, and bake in a rather sharp oven 10-15 minutes; when done, set the dish over another, a size larger, and send to table immediately. The custard should be firm, and brown and light in the time stated.
(b) A breakfastcupful of sliced cheese, the same quantity of milk, and 2 eggs; butter a pie-dish, put in the cheese, pour the milk over, and then stir in the beaten-up eggs; bake for ½ hour; if a smaller quantity is required, put a teacupful of cheese and milk and 1 egg.
(c) Cut the cheese into shreds, or grate it, or chop it up fine like suet. To every lb. cheese thus treated add ¼ oz. potash bicarbonate. Put the mixture of cheese and bicarbonate into a saucepan with either 3 times its bulk of cold water or 4 times its bulk of cold milk, and mix well. Put the saucepan on the fire and bring the mixture slowly to the boiling point, taking care to stir it all the time. Having got it to boil, keep it hot until the cheese is melted, which does not take long. Turn it out into a dish, and the result gives a beautiful nutritious mixture which thickens like a custard in cooling. This custard may be eaten with impunity even by those persons who would be ill aftereating a piece of cheese the size of a nut, and is peculiarly adapted as food for all persons who work hard with either brain or muscle. Fancy dishes may be made in the following manner, e.g., take the mixture of cheese and bicarbonate and water (or milk) given above, and add to it 2 eggs, white and yolk beaten up together, for every ¼ lb. of cheese in the mixture. Put into a dish or a series of little dishes (previously buttered), and bake till brown. This must be eaten with bread or biscuit. Another way is to make the mixture a little thinner by adding a little more milk or water, and to put it in a pie-dish with slices of bread laid one over the other. The custard should be poured in cold, and left for an hour to soak before it is baked. This dish is a great improvement on the ordinary bread and butter pudding.
Cream.—Take 2 tablespoonfuls raw cream, rather less than 2 tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, a very little cayenne pepper, and salt to taste. Mix these ingredients carefully together and quite smoothly, then spread it on some good puff paste, lay another piece of puff paste over it, then press round carefully with the fingers, cut out with fancy cutters into any shapes you may select, egg and breadcrumb the shapes, and fry in boiling lard or butter.
Fritters(Beignets).—Put about 1 pint water into a saucepan with a piece of butter the size of an egg, the least bit of cayenne, and plenty of black pepper. When the water boils throw gradually into it sufficient flour to form a thick paste; then take it off the fire and work into it about ¼ lb. ground Parmesan cheese, and then the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs and the whites of 2 beaten up to a froth. Let the paste rest for 2 hours, and proceed to fry by dropping pieces of it the size of a walnut into plenty of hot lard. Serve sprinkled with very fine salt.
Meringues.—2 oz. Parmesan cheese, 1 oz. Gloucester or any other kind of good cheese that is dry (the piece that has become too mean-looking to go to table in its present state will do admirably for this purpose, also for many other dishes), the whites of 2 eggs, pepper and salt, lard to fry. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater, and beat the eggs on a plate, with the blade of a broad knife, to a firm froth, add to this the cheese and a little salt and pepper, make into balls the size of a walnut, throw them into plenty of boiling lard, and fry 2-3 minutes, when they will be a delicate brown and double their former size; drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Put a clean napkin into a dish, arrange the meringues on it, and send to table as quickly as possible. There should be a little fresh parsley between the meringues; it improves the appearance.
Potato.—Take 6 medium-sized potatoes, as nearly as possible equal in shape; wash them quite clean, dry them, and on that side of them which will more readily stand uppermost make an incision ¼ in. deep with a patty cutter as large as the size of each potato will allow; then put the potatoes in the oven to bake. When quite done, remove the covers (marked out with the patty cutter), and with a teaspoon empty each potato as thoroughly as is possible without breaking the skin; pass through a sieve what is taken out of the potatoes. Take 4 tablespoonfuls of the potato snow thus obtained, 1½ tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, and mix the two thoroughly with ½ gill milk and the yolks of 2 eggs, pepper and salt to taste, and the least bit of cayenne or grated nutmeg, or both. Beat up the whites of 3 eggs to a stiff froth, mix the whole well together, fill quickly the potato skins with the mixture flush with the top, and bake them long enough for the mixture to rise and take a golden-brown colour; about 20 minutes.
Potted.—(a) Cut ½ lb. good, sound, mellow Stilton cheese in slices, with 2 oz. fresh butter. The cheese must not be either green or very ripe. Add a small quantity of mace and some made mustard. Pound all together in a mortar until a thick, smooth paste, and the ingredients well amalgamated. Then press it down in a jar or glass, and run some oiled butter over the top.
(b) Beat 3 lb. Cheshire cheese in a mortar with ½ lb. butter, a large glass of sherry, a little mace, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix all thoroughly together, put into pots, and pour a little clarified butter over the top.
Pudding.—(a) Take 4 tablespoonfuls finely grated breadcrumbs, the same quantity of grated cheese, and 2 eggs, mustard, pepper, and salt to taste. Butter a pie-dish, then put in the breadcrumbs, cheese, mustard, &c.; beat up the 2 yolks with a small cup of milk, and put into the pie-dish; beat the whites into a froth, and put them in with a good-sized lump of butter. Place the dish in a quick oven for 20 minutes, and serve very hot. Enough for 4 or 5 persons.
(b) Melt ½ oz. fresh butter in a saucepan, stir into it 1 tablespoonful flour; when the two are well amalgamated, put in a small quantity of milk and about 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese. Stir the mixture on a slow fire till it assumes the appearance of thick cream, but be careful not to let it boil; then add some white pepper; mix thoroughly, and, if required, add a little salt; keep on stirring the mixture at a very moderate heat for about 10 minutes; take the saucepan off the fire, and stir the contents occasionally until quite cold, then stir into them the yolks of 3 eggs beaten up with a little milk and strained, and finally the whites of 5 eggs whisked into a stiff froth. Put the mixture into a pudding dish, and put it into the oven at once. Serve quickly as soon as the pudding has risen, and the top is well browned.
(c) Mix 2 eggs with 5 oz. cheese and ½ pint boiling milk; put into a pie-dish, and bake ¼ hour: to be turned out and sent to table on a napkin.
(d) Soak in fresh milk a breakfastcupful of stale breadcrumbs; add to it 2 well-beaten eggs, 1 oz. butter, and 6 oz. grated cheese; mix well, strew breadcrumbs over the top, and bake a light brown. (Bessie Tremaine.)
(e) ¼ lb. cheese chopped very fine, 1 egg well beaten, teacupful of new milk or cream, a small piece of butter dissolved in it, cayenne pepper and salt; bake for 20 minutes.
(f) Take 6 oz. grated cheese, 2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, a small teacupful of milk, and beat up all together in a basin; then put them in a small baking dish and bake a light brown.
Puffs(Talmouses).—Put into a stewpan 3 oz. butter with 1½ gill milk, stir them together over the fire with a wooden spoon. Directly it boils gradually add 3 oz. flour, and continue stirring until it separates from the sides of the pan, forming a ball of paste, then add by degrees 6 beaten eggs, ½ lb. Parmesan cheese, and ¼ lb. Gruyère, or the whole quantity may be Parmesan if more convenient. Season well with salt, pepper, and a very little cayenne. When thoroughly mixed, make the paste up into little balls no larger than a pigeon’s egg, and fry them in hot lard; it must not be boiling, or they will be too dark a colour; they take a very short time to fry, and should be a light golden brown. Let them drain on paper for a minute or two before the fire, and serve in pyramid on a folded napkin garnished with parsley. Half this quantity would be enough for a small dish. Another way: Equal weight of eggs, butter, fresh breadcrumbs, and grated cheese; mix the dry ingredients together, seasoning rather highly with pepper and salt and a little cayenne. Put them into a mortar with the butter, the yolks of all and the whites of half the number of eggs, and pound them together until thoroughly mixed. Make up into small balls, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry in hot, but not boiling, lard as before. To be similarly drained and served. Two eggs and their weight of other ingredients make a small dish.
Ramakins.—(a) 2 eggs, 2 spoonfuls flour, 2 oz. melted butter, 2 oz. grated cheese. Mix all well together, and bake for ¼ hour.
(b) 3 oz. toasting cheese, 4 oz. good Cheshire cheese, 2 oz. butter, and the yolks of 3 eggs; pound altogether very fine in a mortar; boil a fresh roll in thin cream, or good milk, only give it one boil up, then mix the whites of the eggs with the roll, and all the other ingredients in a basin, and beat it very well with a fork; then put it into paper cases, or one large one, and bake in a Dutch oven. The mixture will be good if made overnight, which is sometimes a convenience. (F. R. A.)
(c) ¼ lb. Cheshire cheese, ¼ lb. Parmesan, ¼ lb. fresh butter, 4 eggs, the crumb of a small roll, pepper, salt, and mace to taste. Boil the crumb of the roll in milk for5 minutes, strain, and put into a mortar; add the cheese, which should be finely scraped, the butter, the yolks of the eggs, and seasoning, and pound these ingredients well together. Whisk the whites of the eggs, mix them with the paste, and put it into small saucers, half filled. Bake 10-12 minutes. (W. C. D.)
Roasted.—Grate 3 oz. fat Cheshire cheese, mix with it the yolks of 2 eggs, 4 oz. grated bread, and 3 oz. butter; beat the whole well in a mortar, with 1 dessertspoonful mustard, and a little salt and pepper. Toast some bread, cut it into proper pieces, lay the paste as above thick upon them; put them into a Dutch oven, covered with a dish, till hot through, remove the dish, and let the cheese brown a little; serve as hot as possible.
Sandwiches.—(a) Take 2 oz. grated cheese, 2 oz. pounded ham, 1 teaspoonful mixed mustard, a very small quantity of cayenne pepper and salt; mix all together with the beaten-up yolk of an egg. Spread the mixture between thin slices of bread, and fry in boiling lard or butter.
(b) Cut some slices of bread a day old, ⅛ in. thick, and some very thin slices of Gruyère cheese. Pick the leaves of a quantity of watercress, and mince them as fine as you can, then dry them in a cloth, mince them still more, and dry them again; then knead them with as much fresh butter as they will take up, adding a very little salt and white pepper; butter the slices of bread with this mixture, put the slices of Gruyère between 2 slices of bread, press them lightly, cut out the sandwiches into the shape of Savoy biscuits, and serve immediately.
Scallop.—Soak a small teacupful of stale breadcrumbs in fresh milk; beat into this one large egg, a teaspoonful of melted butter, and 3 oz. grated cheese, pepper and salt to taste. Strew sifted crumbs over the top, and bake till it is of a delicate brown.
Soufflé.—(a) Take 6 oz. grated cheese, 2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, a small teacupful of milk, and beat up all together in a basin; then put them in a small baking dish and bake a light brown. (H. E. C.)
(b) In a medium-sized round-bottomed saucepan, melt 1 oz. butter, add 1 oz. flour, and ¼ pint milk, 3 oz. grated Parmesan, salt, cayenne or pepper to taste, and boil well. Then stir in the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs, and beat the mixture thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Whip the whites of 3 or 4 eggs to the stiffest froth, and stir very lightly but thoroughly into the saucepan. Bake immediately in a very hot oven for 20 minutes, and serve at once in the dish in which it is cooked. The mixture can also be steamed for the same time or rather longer, or it can be baked for 5 minutes in paper cases. If it is baked as a whole, use earthenware made thoroughly hot before the soufflé is put in. Pretty red pans can be bought quite suitable to send to table, and as the great difficulty with soufflés is to get them to table before they cool and sink, it is very advantageous to have some pan that retains heat longer than the tin commonly used. The pan or tin must be well greased. Fresh-grated Parmesan is the best cheese for the purpose, or sometimes Gruyère for a change, but any dry well-flavoured cheese can be used. (E. A. B.)
Stewed.—Cut ½ lb. Cheshire and Gloucester cheese in thin slices, put it into a stewpan with a little ale or white wine, and keep it stirring over the fire till it is melted; then put in a spoonful of mustard, the yolks of 2 eggs; beat up, stir it a moment over the fire, then put it in a small deep dish or soup plate, and brown it with a very hot iron or salamander; have ready thin toasted sippets or fried ones, cut triangularly. Stick them all round, and in the middle. Send it up hot and quick.
Straws(Bâtons).—(a) Equal proportions of butter, flour, and cheese seasoned with salt and cayenne, and just enough butter to roll the mixture into a good paste. Cut the straws the desired size with a paste cutter, and bake them in a quick oven till they are quite crisp and a golden blown colour. The ordinary American cheese makes them as well as any other.
(b) 4 oz. flour, 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. Parmesan or other good cheese, grated, a little salt,and as much cayenne pepper as would cover a sixpenny piece. First mix the dry ingredients, and then proceed as for puff paste; cut the mixture into very narrow straws 4 in. long, round them at the sides with a knife, and bake a pale gold colour; serve hot. (F. C.)
(c) ½ lb. dried flour, ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese, 1 teaspoonful flour of mustard, 1 saltspoonful cayenne, and 1 saltspoonful salt. Rub the butter into the flour, then mix the whole well together; beat the whites of 2 eggs with ¼ pint cold water, and stir in enough to form a firm paste; knead the paste well, then roll it out ⅛ in. thick, and cut it into straw-like strips about 5 in. long. Bake in a quick oven till of a pale brown colour—about 5 minutes. Pile them on a dish prettily, and serve either hot or cold. Must be kept in a dry place.
(d) ¼ lb. Parmesan cheese, ¼ lb. flour, 2 oz. butter, ½ teaspoonful dry mustard, and a little cayenne pepper; grate the cheese, mix it and the flour into a paste with as small a quantity of water as possible, and the butter, which will be nearly sufficient to make the paste without water; roll and cut as thick as straws, and mark with the marker in stripes; bake a nice brown. This quantity will probably last for some time, and can be kept in a tin. When required for use re-warm before the fire, which crisps them better than re-warming in the oven.
(e) ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. Parmesan cheese grated, ¼ lb. fine flour, well mixed with 1 small saltspoonful cayenne pepper, 1 egg, and a little salt. Roll it out into a thin paste, and bake a light brown. Cut it into a neat form, and serve quite hot on a napkin.
(f) Make a paste with 6 oz. flour, 4 oz. butter, 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese, moisten with a little cream or milk, season with salt, white pepper, and cayenne; roll it out thin, cut into narrow strips, and bake in a moderate oven.
Tartlets.—Make a paste with 1 oz. butter, 2 oz. flour, the yolk of 1 egg, a little water, a pinch of salt, roll it out to the thickness of ⅛ in., and line some patty pans with it. Take 2 oz. finely grated Parmesan cheese, beat it up in a bowl with the yolks of 2 eggs; add pepper, salt, cayenne, and nutmeg, according to taste—very little of the two latter; then work in 3 tablespoonfuls cream, fill each patty pan with the mixture, and bake in a moderate oven till done.
Tomato.—Take some tomatoes (the tinned ones do very well), chop them finely, cut up some cheese in small pieces, mix with a little milk, and season with pepper and salt. Have some slices of toast ready, and when the mixture is soft pour it over the toast, and serve very hot. Time, about 10 minutes. (E. Brace.)
Toast(Rôties).—(a) Grate some rich cheese, add pepper to taste, a beaten egg, and sufficient milk to make it of the consistency of thick cream. Warm the mixture on the fire, and when quite hot pour it over some slices of hot buttered toast; serve immediately.
(b) English Rarebit.—Toast a slice of bread on both sides, put it into a cheese plate, pour a glass of red wine over it, and put it to the fire till it soaks up the wine; then cut some cheese in very thin slices, and put it thick on the bread; put it in a tin oven before the fire, toast it till it is brown, and serve it up hot. Or this way: Toast your bread, soak it in the wine, and set it before the fire to keep hot; cut the cheese in very thin slices, rub some butter over a pewter plate, lay the cheese on it, pour in 2-3 spoonfuls white wine, set it over a chafing dish of coals, and cover it with another plate for 2-3 minutes; uncover it, and stir it till it is done and well mixed, put in a little mustard, put it on the bread, brown it with a hot iron or salamander, and send it away hot.
(c) Scotch Rarebit.—Toast a piece of bread nicely on both sides, and butter it; cut a slice of cheese nearly the size of the bread, put it in a cheese toaster, and toast one side, then put the toasted side on the bread, and toast the other side nicely.
(d) Welsh Rarebit.—Slice some rich cheese into a stewpan, pour in a very little oldale, and set over the fire to simmer. When the cheese is quite melted pour it on to some hot toast, and serve quickly. Mustard and pepper should be spread on the cheese before serving. Some use butter, but ale is far nicer.
(e) Ditto.—Take rather a thick slice of either Cheddar or Gloucester cheese, cut into small pieces, put it into a small saucepan, with 1 teaspoonful mustard, 2 tablespoonfuls ale, a very little salt, and a small piece of butter; let it get well heated, stir it up well till it becomes the consistency of thick cream. Pour the mixture on a slice of toast cut into four, dredge a little pepper on the top and serve on a table napkin, very hot.
(f) Ditto.—Use a small iron saucepan. Grease with butter all the inside; then pour 3-4 tablespoonfuls good rich milk or cream into it; then 3-4 large mustardspoonfuls of made mustard; then about ½ oz. butter in small pieces; then about a ¼ lb. good Cheddar cheese; then dust the whole over with ground black pepper, and be not afraid of putting on too much pepper. Set the saucepan aside. Place a dish before the fire which is to go to table. Take a round of a loaf of bread, cut very thick and the hard crust cut off; toast, and then butter one side only, and put it, toasted side downwards, on the dish before the fire. Now set the little saucepan on the fire, and stir its contents with an iron spoon till the cheese is melted. Immediately then pour it on the bread which is before the fire and send to table; of course, with hot plates. (L.)
(g) Ditto.—Make some slices of toast about ¼ in. thick, trim off the crusts, and spread them with butter. Slice very thinly some rich cheese (about ¼ lb.) into a stewpan, add 1 small teaspoonful flour of mustard, a little salt and cayenne, ½ oz. butter, and pour over it a very little ale or porter, let it simmer until quite hot, pour it on the toast, and serve immediately.
Eggs(Œufs).—Few English cooks have any idea of the number of ways in which these nutritious articles may be dressed.
À la Bonne Femme.—Slice an onion, fry it in butter to a light brown, add a teaspoonful of vinegar; butter a dish, spread the onion and vinegar over it, break the eggs into it, put the dish into the oven; when the eggs are done strew fried breadcrumbs over them, and serve very hot.
À la Maître d’Hôtel.—(a) Make a sauce with boiling milk, rather highly seasoned and thickened with butter and flour and an onion chopped small; let it simmer gently for ½ hour, then add 2 oz. fresh butter and some finely chopped parsley; next lay in 4-6 hard-boiled eggs, cut in quarters or sliced, heat them through carefully, and serve very hot; squeeze in the juice of a lemon just before serving.
(b) Take 6 eggs, boil hard, and when ready plunge them into cold water to enable you to take off the shells easily; this must be carefully done so as not to damage the appearance of the eggs; then cut them into rounds—each, if properly managed, will cut 4. Have ready a sauce made as follows: Add to ½ pint ordinary good white sauce, a slight sprinkling of nutmeg, some very finely chopped parsley, say a teaspoonful, and about a saltspoonful of the green part of some shallots also very finely chopped. Put the eggs into this, make them hot, and serve heaped high on a dish, with the sauce poured round and over the eggs.
À la Tartuffe.—Fry lightly some bacon; when done, lay it in a dish that will stand the fire, pour over it 2 spoonfuls strong stock flavoured with wine, and break in carefully 5 or 6 eggs, dusting them with pepper and salt. Let them cook over a slow fire, and pass a heated shovel over them to set the whites. The yolksmust not harden.
And Artichokes.—Strip the green leaves from 6 artichokes, and boil the bottoms in hard water for ½ hour, boil 3 eggs for 10-12 minutes, cut them across, and place on each artichoke half an egg, leaving the round end uppermost; put them each on a small round of toast, which must be cut with a round cutter, and serve on a very hot dish, with a little good melted butter or some rich gravy.
And Caviar.—Cut some small slices of French rolls into rounds, lightly butter them, then spread some very fresh Russian caviar on them, add a sprinkle of lemon juice.Now cut some hard-boiled eggs into rounds, and lay a round on each round of French roll.
And Mushrooms.—(a) 1 lb. mushrooms, 2 raw eggs, 2 hard-boiled, 3 oz. butter, 2 tablespoonfuls mushroom ketchup, 1 of vinegar, 1 onion, a little grated nutmeg, mashed potatoes. Peel the mushrooms and put into a rather large stewpan, with the butter, a small onion minced fine, a little grated nutmeg, 2 tablespoonfuls mushroom ketchup, 1 of vinegar, a little salt and pepper; let them stew about 20 minutes with the lid on, when done, add the yolks of 2 eggs to thicken the sauce, but do not let them boil after the eggs are in, or the sauce will curdle. Have ready some nicely mashed potatoes and 2 hard-boiled eggs, put a wall of the potatoes round an entrée dish, pour some of the sauce in the centre of the dish, then arrange the mushrooms piled high in the middle of the dish, and the remainder of the sauce over, and ornament the dish with the eggs cut in quarters or in slices, and serve. (E. A. Robbins.)
(b) Put 2 oz. butter into a stewpan; break over it 4 fresh eggs; add 1 tablespoonful chopped mushrooms, ½ teaspoonful salt, ¼ ditto pepper. Stir this mixture over a clear fire continually with a wooden spoon till it is of a thickish consistency, and serve very hot, poured over hot buttered toast.
And Olives.—4 or 5 eggs, 4 large or 6 small olives, 1 slice ham, cooked, ½ oz. butter, a pinch of red pepper. Boil the eggs about 8 minutes, and put into cold water, as they will peel better. Pare the olives, and mince them, also the ham. Now take the shells off the eggs, cut a small piece off each end to make them stand. Now cut in halves, take out the yolks carefully, and put in the mortar with the ham and olives; pound to a smooth paste with ½ oz. butter, season with a little red pepper, and fill the whites of the eggs. Put a napkin on a dish, stand the half eggs on it, having smoothed over the top, and add some strips of toast. Or they can be served without the napkin and a little tartar sauce poured round them. The eggs should stand up like little cups.
And Sorrel.—Boil a number of eggs in their shells for 3-4 minutes, then dip them into cold water, carefully remove the shells, and place them again in hot water to make them quite hot; drain, and serve them on the following purée with sippets of bread fried in butter round the dish. Pick and wash a quantity of sorrel, put it into a saucepan with a little water and some salt, when thoroughly done drain off all the moisture and pass the sorrel through a hair sieve. Amalgamate a piece of butter and 1 tablespoonful flour in a saucepan on the fire, put in the sorrel and stir well for some minutes, then add pepper and salt to taste, and the yolk of 1 egg beaten up with a little cold stock and strained.
And Tomatoes.—Boil some ripe tomatoes, and pulp them through a coarse sieve. Mix this pulp with 3 or 4 eggs (according to the size of your dish), a little very finely chopped onion (some persons like freshly-cut garlic rubbed across the pan instead), pepper and salt, and fry all together lightly; a little chopped ham or cold boiled potato may be added if liked.
Au Gratin.—(a) Wash, bone, and mince finely an anchovy; mince some parsley and chives, or shallot; mix all these well with some fine breadcrumbs, season highly with pepper and salt, and a dash of nutmeg; place some of this mixture and a little piece of butter in as many small cups (that will stand the fire) as you wish to cook eggs. Set them over a clear, gentle fire, and when this gratin is nearly done, break an egg gently into each cup. When done, pass a hot shovel over each to set the whites, dust over them a little salt and pepper, and serve them in their pots, very hot. Bacon minced may be substituted for the anchovy, but then less butter will be required; chopped mushrooms are also a good addition.
(b) Cut some hard-boiled eggs in slices, and lay them on a well-buttered dish, with grated Parmesan cheese, black pepper, and the least bit of powdered nutmeg; sprinkle some baked breadcrumbs over all, put the dish in the oven, and serve as soon as the contents begin to colour.
(c) Slices of hard-boiled eggs laid on a dish with baked breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt, the least bit of nutmeg, and some butter; put into the oven, and serve as soon as they begin to take colour.
(d) Put into a dish that will bear the oven 1 tablespoonful flour, several yolks of eggs, a little very finely chopped parsley and shallot, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg; mix all well together, and put them into the oven just long enough to let the mixture attach itself to the dish. Then take it out, put a few bits of butter on this gratin, and break on it carefully the number of eggs you desire to cook, seasoning them with a little pepper and salt. Let them just simmer in the oven, and serve, while the yolks are still quite soft, with a garnish of either fried or fresh parsley. The dish which they are cooked in should be placed on a neatly folded napkin, and must be thus served.
Baked.—(a) Melt 1 oz. butter in a pie-dish, put the dish into the oven just to brown the butter, break 6 eggs separately into a cup and pour them carefully into the pie-dish; bake them for about 5 minutes or until the white is set, then sift a tablespoonful of fine breadcrumbs, which have been previously browned, over the eggs, through a tin strainer; warm over with a salamander and serve; garnish the dish with parsley.
(b) Beat up 4 eggs well, to each egg allow 2 tablespoonfuls new milk and ½ teaspoonful finely chopped parsley, seasoning with pepper and salt to taste. Melt some butter in an enamelled pie-dish, pour in the mixture, and bake quickly in a hot oven.
Bread.—1 pint sifted meal, nearly 1 pint buttermilk, 1 egg, a lump of lard the size of a small walnut, and 1 teaspoonful salt. Just before baking, add 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in 2 tablespoonfuls warm water, and add 1 teaspoonful salt. If the milk is sweet, add 2 tablespoonfuls cream of tartar.
Buttered.—(a) Make a thick square of buttered toast, buttering it well on both sides, and cutting it into 4 or 6 pieces; let it stand before the fire to keep hot, but not sufficiently near to dry it up. Break 3 fresh eggs into a stewpan over the fire (both yolks and whites), having previously melted in it a piece of butter the size of a walnut; add a little salt, and 1 tablespoonful cream or good milk; stir it rapidly over the fire until it begins to thicken; then take it off and beat it until quite smooth; set it on the fire again, and keep stirring until it is very hot and thick. With a spoon heap this lightly up on to the square of buttered toast which has been keeping hot before the fire, making it stand as high as possible. Serve instantly.
(b) Boil 2 eggs hard. Let them get cold. Chop up yolks and whites finely, and spread them on hot buttered toast with pepper and salt to taste.
Curried.—(a) Boil 6 eggs quite hard, and when cold cut each into 4 pieces, so that they may stand on the dish with the points uppermost; lay aside. Fry 2 onions, shred very fine, in butter, add 1 tablespoonful powder, 2 oz. butter rolled in flour, and by degrees ½ pint veal stock; let the whole boil up for ¼ hour, then stir in very slowly 2 tablespoonfuls cream, simmer 5 minutes; put in the eggs and let them heat slowly for 4-5 minutes, and serve in the sauce with boiled rice.
(b) Cut an onion in very thin and very small slices; fry in butter, flour them while doing to thicken the butter; they must not burn. Take 1 tablespoonful curry powder, or be guided by the strength of it; place in a bowl, squeeze the juice of ½ lemon, add a pinch of salt, 1 teacupful rich gravy or stock, ½ teacupful milk or a little cream, stir all together well; boil some eggs hard, take off the shells, cut them into quarters or halves, stir your curry powder that has been mixed as before directed; let all boil together, and when boiling take off the fire and put in the eggs; serve in a deep dish, with snowballs of rice round. If the eggs are required to be soft, poach them instead of boiling hard.
(c) Slice 1 large or 2 small onions into rounds, and fry in a good quantity of butter until quite brown, but not in the least black; then add 2 tablespoonfuls good gravy, well freed from grease, and, when that has mixed nicely with the onions and butter, add 1 small teaspoonful good curry powder; thoroughly mix this with your gravy, &c., and avoid lumps; let all simmer gently for 10 minutes, then put in 6 hard-boiled eggs cut inrounds, and let them cook till thoroughly hot, serve either with rice round, or, as some like it better, with the rice on a separate dish. Salt to taste should, of course, be added to the above.
(d) Boil 6 eggs quite hard, shell them, and cut them up into thick rounds or pieces. Pile them in the middle of a small dish, with plain boiled rice arranged in a ring around them. Slice 2 or 3 onions, and fry them in a little butter, add 1-2 spoonfuls curry powder to 1 dessertspoonful flour, and with ½ pint water; pour them into the frying-pan. When the curry is made, pour over the eggs. Garnish with slices of lemon.
(e) For this dish the eggs must be boiled hard, the shells removed, and the eggs cut in halves. A good curry sauce, made after the proper Indian fashion, should have been prepared previously, and then heated up again, the eggs, while still hot from boiling, being placed with the halves upright in a hot dish, with the curry poured round, but not over them, the dish garnished with fried rice balls nicely browned, and plain boiled rice sent to table with it, but in a separate dish.
(f) Fry 2 onions in butter, with 1 tablespoonful curry powder and 1 pint good broth. Let it all stew till tender; then mix in a cup of cream (or milk thickened with arrowroot and a dust of sugar). Simmer a few minutes; then lay in 6-8 hard-boiled eggs, cut in half or quarters, and heat them through, butdo not let it boil. If procurable, use coconut milk instead of cream. Serve with rice.
(g) Cut 2 onions in slices, and fry them to a light golden colour in plenty of butter, add 1 tablespoonful curry powder and a sprinkling of flour, moisten with a cupful of stock, and simmer gently for 10 minutes, then add 6 hard-boiled eggs cut in slices, simmer for a few minutes longer, and serve.
(h) Mix very smoothly some curry powder with nicely flavoured rich gravy, halve some hard-boiled eggs, take out the yolks, and beat them in a little of the gravy and curry powder; replace them into the whites, of which the under part must be cut a little to make them stand nicely in the dish. Simmer them in the rest of the gravy, thicken it with a little butter and flour, garnish with fried onions, and serve with boiled rice in a separate dish.
Devilled.—Boil a number of eggs very hard; when cold, remove the shells, and cut each egg in half. Take out the yolks and pound them in a mortar with a few boned anchovies, pepper, salt, and a pinch of dry mustard, moistening with a little butter. Fill the empty whites cut in halves with this mixture, and arrange in a dish garnished with parsley. This is a great favourite at Cinderella suppers.
En Matelote.—Put a good piece of butter or lard into a saucepan, cook in it several—about 1 doz.—small onions whole; let them only slightly colour, add a little white wine and stock in equal quantities, pepper and salt to taste, also a sprinkling of nutmeg and a small bunch of sweet herbs. Let all simmer gently for about 15 minutes, then reduce, strain off the herbs and the onions, reserving the latter; break as many eggs as you may require, very carefully so as not to break the yolks, into the sauce, and poach them one after the other. When sufficiently cooked, serve them on a hot dish with the onions (whole) round them, thicken the sauce to a proper consistency, pour over the eggs and serve at once with little fried sippets round.
Fried.—Parboil some well-washed rice in plain water, then simmer till quite done in some good gravy, with a very little curry powder. Serve with some fried eggs on the top.
Forced.—(a) Boil 4 or 5 eggs 10-15 minutes; when done put into cold water. When cold take off the shells, and cut in half lengthways, take out the yolks, and put in a mortar with 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful lemon thyme, and ¼ teaspoonful green onion, all finely minced; 1 teaspoonful essence of anchovies, 1 grate of nutmeg, a little salt, a few grains of cayenne, and 1 oz. butter. Pound these ingredients well together; when quite smooth use this mixture to fill the whites of the eggs. Oil a border mould or shallow mould with funnel, put a little melted aspic in the bottom,let it set, and then put some of the half eggs on the aspic; then pour over them very gently some more of the aspic, let this set, and put on more of the eggs and more aspic; by this time the mould should be full; set on the ice or in a cool place to get firm till wanted, turn out in the usual way, and fill up the centre or form a border of small salad around, add a little oil and vinegar over, and serve.
(b) 10-12 eggs, 1 oz. truffles, ½ pint mushrooms, 1 blade of mace, a grate of nutmeg, 1 dessertspoonful parsley, a small slice of onion, 4 oz. butter, ¼ pint cream, a little good white stock, a small bunch of sweet herbs, 1 wineglass white wine, the juice of 1 lemon, or a little of the peel, a few slices of ham or tongue, pepper and salt. For the croustade have a stale quartern tin loaf rather close, pare off the crust, and with a sharp knife carve the crumb into the shape of a fluted cup or vase, make an incision all round the top about 1 in. from the outer edge, and after it is fried scoop out the middle carefully. The croustade should be fried in plenty of boiling lard in a large stewpan or frying kettle, and should be of a golden brown. When done drain it on a sieve or on a piece of white paper, and keep warm till wanted. Boil the eggs about 10 minutes, then put them into cold water. When cold shell carefully. Cut the eggs in half, take out the yolks, and put the whites aside till wanted. Mince very fine the parsley, truffles, mushrooms, onion, and a little of the ham separately, and then all together. Pound the mace, and put to it a grate of nutmeg. Chop the eggs a little, add them to the other ingredients in a stewpan, with 2 oz. butter, and a little pepper and salt. Stir over the fire a few minutes, then add the yolks of 2 uncooked eggs to bind the mixture. When it thickens, and seems cooked, turn it out on a plate. Fill the whites of the eggs with this mixture, and put the halves together to look like whole eggs. When they are all filled put them in a basin, and stand the basin in a little hot water to keep the eggs hot while you make the sauce. For this stir the remainder of the butter and a tablespoonful of flour over the fire. When the butter is dissolved stir into it a little white stock in which has been boiled a small bunch of sweet herbs, a small onion, a little thin lemon rind, and the cream. When it boils add to it the wine, lemon juice, a pinch of sugar, and pepper and salt to taste. Pile the eggs high in the croustade, and serve croustade with pieces of ham previously warmed, and the chopped truffles between the eggs; pour the sauce round the base and serve.
In Cases.—Oil some small paper cases as for ramakins, put into each a piece of butter the size of a hazel nut, with a small pinch of minced parsley, some pepper, salt, and the least bit of cayenne. Break an egg into each case, add a teaspoonful of grated Parmesan and a sprinkling of baked breadcrumbs. Put the cases in the oven for about 5 minutes, and serve. They may also be so prepared a number at a time in a silver dish, and served in it.
Nogg.—Beat up the yolks of 4 eggs with 4 dessertspoonfuls powdered sugar; add ½ tumblerful brandy gradually, a teaspoonful at a time, and beating continually; add a pint of rich cream gradually, and still beating: beat up the whites of two eggs separately and thoroughly, and put this on top of the mixture. (S. H. R.)
Omelets.Apricot.—Beat up the whites of 4 and the yolks of 6 eggs with a very small pinch of salt. Put a piece of fresh butter in the omelet pan, and directly it is melted pour in the eggs. As soon as they are set, fold up the omelet, inserting within the fold as much apricot jam as will lie in it. Turn out the omelet neatly on its dish, cover it with powdered sugar, and glaze it with a red-hot salamander.
Brussels Sprouts.—Boil 25 young Brussels sprouts until they are tender, divide each sprout into 4 or more portions according to size, dry on a cloth, beat up 6 eggs, yolks and whites; mix the sprouts with them, adding pepper and salt to taste. Melt 1 oz. fresh butter in the pan, when hot, put in the mixture, sprinkle with pepper and salt, and fry until of a nice brown colour. Serve quickly, sending butter sauce, sharpened with a dash of lime juice, to table with it.
Cheese.—(a) Grate 4 oz. good cooking cheese, beat up 6 eggs, only using the whitesof 4; add the grated cheese to them, and by degrees ½ pint cream. Season well with pepper and salt, using cayenne pepper, if liked, and fry with butter in the ordinary way, serving as quickly as possible when ready.
(b) Beat up 3 or 4 eggs with 1-2 tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, and pepper and salt to taste. Put a piece of butter, the size of an egg, into a frying-pan; as soon as it is melted pour in the omelet mixture, and, holding the handle of the pan with one hand, stir the omelet with the other by means of a spoon. The moment it begins to set, cease stirring, but keep on shaking the pan for a minute or so: then with the spoon double up the omelet, and keep shaking the pan until the under side of the omelet has become of a golden colour. Turn it out on a hot dish and serve, with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese strewn over it. The cheese must be of good quality, and grated at the time—not the musty powder which so often does duty for Parmesan.
Haricot Beans.—These make a very nourishing omelet; but require to be carefully prepared beforehand, i.e. they should steep at least 6 hours in cold, slightly salted, water. It is a good plan to set them to steep overnight, especially if they are required for luncheon or early dinner. After steeping they must be boiled in fresh water until perfectly soft, and then mashed in milk, for ½ pint beans ½ teacupful milk will be required; when mashed, rub through a sieve or fine colander; then add 2 tablespoonfuls finely grated breadcrumbs, ½ oz. finely chopped parsley, and 4 eggs, yolks and whites, well beaten, a tablespoonful of melted butter, or else olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix the whole thoroughly, and pour into a buttered pan or enamelled dish. Bake ¾-1 hour in the oven, which should not be too hot; when served send a sharp brown sauce to table with it.