Note.—Plain vanilla ice-cream is very good served with hot chocolate sauce. Page447.
Note.—Plain vanilla ice-cream is very good served with hot chocolate sauce. Page447.
Scald the milk. Beat the eggs and sugar together; stir the scalded milk into them slowly; replace on the fire in a double boiler and stir constantly until the custard coats the spoon; do not let it boil, or it will curdle. Beat it for a little while after taking it off the fire. When it is cold add the flavoring, and freeze it as directed at head of chapter.
Cream will improve this mixture, even if it be only a few spoonfuls. More eggs, also, will give a richer ice-cream. When the cream is frozen remove the dasher, press the cream down with a potato-masher to smooth the top and make it compact, and leave it in the freezer until time to serve. A few raisins, thin slices of citron, or a little fresh or preserved fruit may be mixed in when the dasher is removed, and will much improve the cream.
Scald the pint of milk in a double boiler. (It is scalded when the water in the outside kettle boils). Beat the yolks and sugar together until light and smooth. Stir the scalded milk slowly into the beaten eggs and sugar. Put this into a double boiler and cook, stirring constantly until it thickens enough to coat the spoon. Do not let it boil or cook too long, or it will curdle. If a vanilla bean is used it should be cut in two lengthwise and infused with the scalded milk. Remove the custard from thefire; add the cream and the flavoring and stir until it is partly cooled. When cold freeze it as directed at head of chapter.
Note 1.—This makes a solid, fine-grained cream. It can be made with one quart of cream instead of half milk, and eight to ten eggs may be used instead of six. The richness depends upon the amount of cream, and the solidity upon the number of yolks used.
Note 2.—With the whites of the eggs make an angel cake, or keep them until next day, and make an angel cream (page497), or an angel parfait (page505).
Use either of the receipts given for vanilla creams, according to the richness and quality of cream desired; add to the custard while it is hot four ounces of melted chocolate. To melt the chocolate break it into small pieces; place it in a small saucepan on the side of the range where the heat is not great. When it is melted add a very little milk or custard to dilute and smooth it before adding it to the ice-cream mixture. Freeze and pack as directed at head of chapter.
Scald the milk; add it slowly to the beaten eggs; add the chocolate, and cook in a double boiler, stirring constantly until the custard coats the spoon; then add the hot caramel. When the mixture is perfectly cold add the cream, whipped, and freeze. Seegeneral directions.
To make the caramel, put a cupful of sugar with a half cupful of water into a saucepan; stir until the sugar is dissolved; then, without touching, let it cook until a golden color—not longer, or it will blacken. This is the caramel stage, and registers on the thermometer 345° (see page512).
Add the hot caramel to any of the mixtures given for vanilla creams, omitting the sugar and vanilla. The caramel supplies both sweetening and flavoring. It must be mixed with the custards while hot, as it quickly hardens, and will not then dissolve.
To any of the receipts given for vanilla cream add a half cupful of black coffee, and omit the vanilla.
Scald the milk; add the coffee and isinglass and sugar. When it is cold add the cream, whipped, and freeze.
Break the whites of the eggs, but do not beat them to a froth; stir into them the cupful of powdered sugar, and then add the cream. Place it in a double boiler, and stir until it is scalded, but do not let it boil; remove from the fire and stir until it is cold, to make it light. When it is cold add the flavoring, and freeze. When it is frozen remove the dasher, stir in the Italian meringue, turn it into a mold, and pack in ice and salt for two or three hours. This cream requires a little longer to freeze than the other creams.
Whip the whites of eggs to a stiff froth; beat into them slowly some boiling syrup cooked to the ball. This cooks the eggs enough to prevent their separating. The syrup is made by boiling sugar and water until, when a little is dropped into cold water, it will form a ball when rolled between the fingers.
Cook a cupful of rice until very soft. Have the juice of a lemon in the water in which the rice is boiled. When the rice is steamed dry, cover it with a thick sugar syrup and let it stand for an hour or more. Drain off the syrup, add a half pint of cream, whipped (this may be omitted if preferred); stir this into vanilla cream No. 1 or 3, or with angel ice-cream after it is well frozen. Mold and pack in ice and salt for one or two hours.
Blanch two ounces of pistachio nuts; this is done by pouring over them boiling water: after a few minutes the skins can be easily removed. Pound the nuts in a mortar to a smooth paste, using a little cream to prevent their oiling. Add this quantity of nuts to one quart of vanilla cream mixture No. 3; color it green, the shade of green peas; flavor with a little orange-flower water, then freeze. When nuts are not obtainable, the flavor of pistachio can be produced with orange-flower water and a very little bitter almond.
This cream is molded in brick form in three layers of different flavors and colors. Make a cream after the receipt for vanilla cream No. 3, using eight or ten yolks, as it should be solid and of fine grain; omit the vanilla flavoring. Have a pail packed in ice; when the cream is frozen, remove one third of it to the pail and stir in quickly a little vanilla, using the vanilla powderif convenient; put this into the brick-shaped mold, also packed in ice, and smooth it down to an even layer. Take from the freezer one half of the cream remaining in it and put it into the pail; stir into it one ounce of melted chocolate diluted and made smooth with a little cream or milk. Place the chocolate cream in an even layer on the layer of vanilla cream. To the cream remaining in the freezer add an ounce of pistachio nuts, prepared as directed in receipt for pistachio cream; color it green and add it to the mold for the third layer. Seal the joints of the mold with butter to make it very tight, as directed for molding, page491. Pack in ice and salt for several hours. The molding of this cream must be done quickly, but with care to have the layers even. Strawberry ice is often used for one of the layers instead of chocolate cream.
1. Remove the shells from the chestnuts; put them in boiling water for three minutes, then into cold water, and take off the skins. Boil the blanched chestnuts until tender. Take one half of them and press them through a sieve. They will go through more easily while hot.
2. Blanch the almonds; chop them fine and pound them.
3. Cut the candied fruits and the chestnuts into dice; pour over them the maraschino and let them stand until ready to use.
4. Put into a saucepan on the fire a cupful of granulated sugar and one quarter cupful of boiling water; stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let it cook slowly for five minutes, making a sugar syrup.
5. Beat the yolks of three eggs until light. Pour onto them slowly, stirring all the time, the sugar syrup; place them on the fire and stir constantly until the mixture is enough thickened to coat the spoon and has the consistency of thick cream. Remove it from the fire, turn it into a bowl, and beat it until it is cold. When it is cold add a half pint of cream, the mashed chestnuts, the pounded almonds, and the vanilla flavoring, and freeze it. When it is frozen remove the lid of the freezer, add the fruits, replace the lid, and turn the freezer for another five minutes. Put the cream into a fancy mold and pack in ice and salt until ready to use. Serve with it whipped cream, or the sauce given below for plum pudding glacé flavored with maraschino. This makes a quart of cream, and, being very rich, is enough to serve to ten persons.
Gouffé gives the receipt for this pudding, which he says he obtained from the chef of Count Nesselrode. He omits the grated almonds, and uses stoned raisins and currants instead of candied fruits. When the cream is half frozen he adds a half pint of whipped cream. The raisins and currants are boiled until plump and added after the cream is frozen, but before it is packed.
Make a chocolate ice-cream as directed on page496, using the French ice-cream mixture. Have a scant three quarters of a pound of mixed fruit, composed of seeded raisins and currants boiled until plump, thin slices of citron, a few candied cherries and apricots if convenient. Pour over them a little sherry and let them stand long enough to be a little softened. When the cream is frozen, drain the fruit and mix it into the cream, turning the dasher for a few minutes to get it well mixed and again hardened. Place it in a melon mold and pack in ice and salt. This will make about two quarts of cream. Serve with a sauce placed around it on the same dish. The sauce may be whipped cream flavored with a little kirsch or brandy, or a sauce made as follows.
Beat the yolks of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar to a cream. Stir it over the fire in a double boiler until the egg is a little thickened, but not hard. Continue to beat the egg until it is cold. It will then be light and creamy; add a tablespoonful of brandy, or of kirsch, or of rum, or of maraschino; and then mix in lightly a half pint of cream whipped to a dry, stiff froth.
Make a French vanilla ice-cream, page495. Cut into small dice four ounces each of candied cherries, apricots, and plums; and other fruits may be used if desired. Let them soak until a little softened in maraschino, or kirsch, or sherry. When the cream is frozen, stir in the salpicon of fruit, drained; replace the lid of the freezer and turn it for five minutes. Turn it into a fancy mold and pack in ice and salt until ready to use. The angel ice-cream, page497, may be used instead of the vanilla No. 3 if preferred. Serve with the Tutti-Frutti a sauce of whipped cream flavored with kirsch, maraschino, or sherry.
No. 1. Berries, or any kind of larger fruit cut into small pieces, may be added to any of the vanilla creams after they are frozen. Remove the paddle of the freezer, mix the fruit in well, then mold and pack in ice and salt for one or two hours. The fruit will become too solid if packed for a long time.
No. 2. Crush any fruit or berries to a pulp. Sweeten it to taste with a thick sugar syrup (32° on the syrup gauge). Freeze the same as any ice cream, and pack in ice and salt if molded. This makes a delicious ice. Sugar may be used instead of syrup for sweetening, but the latter gives a better result.
No. 3. Using canned fruit. Strain the liquor from the fruit; sweeten it if necessary with sugar or with syrup. Mix it with an equal quantity of cream, and freeze. When it is frozen add the drained fruit. Mix it well together. Mold and pack in ice and salt for one or two hours. The fruit will become hard if it is packed too long. Preserved strawberries are a particularly good fruit to use for ice-cream.
Note.—Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, pineapple, bananas, and oranges are the fruits generally used for ices and creams.
No. 4. Line a mold one or one and a half inches thick with vanilla ice-cream; fill the center with fresh strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, peaches, bananas, or any fruit. Cover the top with cream. Pack in ice and salt for two hours. The fruit may be mixed with whipped cream, if convenient, when it is put in the center of the mold. Whipped cream may also be served as a sauce with this cream.
Vanilla ice cream No. 3, also angel ice-cream, is good with chopped nuts mixed with it after it is frozen and before it is packed. Boiled chestnuts cut into small pieces, chopped English walnuts, filberts, pecan nuts, or almonds may be used. Almonds should be blanched, chopped, and browned; and a caramel or an almond flavoring is better than vanilla for the cream when almonds are used.
Thisclass of ice-creams is very easily made, as they are not stirred while freezing. The yolks of eggs are cooked with sugar syrup to a thick smooth cream, then flavored and beatenuntil cold and light, and mixed with drained whipped cream. They are then simply put into a mold and packed in ice and salt for three or four hours, according to size of mold. They are not solid like the custard ice-creams, but have a sponge-like texture. They should not be frozen too hard. It is because they have no water in them to crystallize that they do not require to be stirred while freezing.
Put two cupfuls of sugar and a half cupful of water into a saucepan on the fire. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let it cook slowly without touching it for about ten minutes, or until it is a clear syrup. The syrup can be made in larger quantities and kept in preserve jars ready for use. To keep well it should be boiled to a rather thick consistency, or should register 32° on the syrup gauge. For parfaits it should be thinner or register 20°. For water ices it should register 32° (see boiling sugar, page513).
In using syrups by measure, articles may be too much sweetened if the right degree is not designated; but if one has not a syrup gauge the sweetening must be determined by taste. All classes of ice-creams are better sweetened with syrup than with sugar. It seems to give them more smoothness and delicacy.
Beat the yolks of eight eggs until light; add one cupful of syrup. Place the mixture on a slow fire and stir constantly until the eggs have thickened enough to make a thick coating on the spoon. Turn it into a bowl and beat it with a whip until it is cold; it will then be very light. If a vanilla bean is used for flavoring, infuse it with the syrup; if the extract is used add a teaspoonful of it to the custard when it is taken from the fire. When the custard is cold add a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth. (If any liquid has drained from the cream do not let it go in.) Stir these lightly together; turn the mixture into a mold holding three pints. Pack in ice and saltfor four hours. Make the joints of the mold very tight as directed for molding at head of chapter.
This cream can be varied by using different flavorings in place of the vanilla: a tablespoonful of curaçao or of noyau, two ounces of chocolate melted and smoothed with a little cream, etc., etc.
This is made the same as the vanilla parfait, using maple syrup in place of the sugar syrup, and omitting the vanilla flavoring. Maple syrup may be made by adding water to maple sugar and cooking it to the right consistency.
Put the yolks of five eggs into a saucepan; beat them light; add three tablespoonfuls of sugar syrup and four tablespoonfuls of strong black coffee. Stir the mixture over a slow fire until it is enough thickened to make a thick coating on the spoon. Turn it into a bowl and beat it until it is cold and light. If making coffee praliné, add three tablespoonfuls of praline powder (seebelow). Mix in lightly a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth. If any liquid has drained from the cream do not let it go in. Turn the mixture into a mold holding three pints and pack in ice and salt for four hours.
Put the yolks of five eggs into a saucepan; beat them until light; add three tablespoonfuls of sugar syrup. Cook over a slow fire, stirring constantly until it makes a thick coating on the spoon. Turn it into a bowl; add two ounces of melted unsweetened chocolate and beat until it is cold and light. If making chocolate praliné, add three tablespoonfuls of praline powder; stir in lightly a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth. If any liquid has drained from the cream do not let it go in. Pack in ice and salt for four hours. This makes three pints of cream.
Put one and a half cupfuls of sugar and a half cupful of water into a saucepan on the fire; stir until the sugar is well dissolved; then add a cupful of shelled almonds and a cupful of shelled filberts without removing the skins. Let it cook, without touching, until it attains a golden color, the caramel stage. Turn it onto a slab or oiled dish. When it is cold pound it in a mortar to a coarse powder. Keep the praline powder in a close preserve jar ready for use.
Whip the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth. Put a half cupful of sugar and a half cupful of water into a saucepan on the fire. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let it cook slowly, without touching, to the ball, or until a little dropped into cold water will form a ball when rolled between the fingers. Pour three tablespoonfuls of the boiling-hot syrup slowly onto the whipped whites, beating constantly. Add a teaspoonful of vanilla, or of maraschino, or of sherry, or of noyau, or any other flavoring. When the Italian meringue is cold, add a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth. Do not let any liquid that has drained from the cream go into the mixture. Mold and pack in ice and salt for four hours.
Boil a scant half cupful of rice in milk and water as directed for boiling rice, page222, so each grain will be separate; but it must be quite soft, so boil it half an hour. This will make a cupful of rice when boiled. Whip half a pint of cream to a stiff froth; mix into it four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and one tablespoonful of noyau or any flavoring desired; mix the rice lightly with the whipped cream. Turn it into a mold, and as quickly as possible pack it; leave it in the ice and salt for three hours.
This gives about a quart of cream.
Make a vanilla parfait as directed, page503. When the mixture is ready to go in the mold add a cupful of boiled chestnuts, or marrons glacé, or of mixed candied fruits cut into dice. Roll them in powdered sugar so each piece will be dry and separate and not sink to the bottom. Stir them in quickly and pack the mold as quickly as possible after the fruit is mixedin. When fresh fruits or berries are used crush the fruit; strain off the juice; add enough powdered sugar to the pulp to make it of the same consistency as the whipped cream. Pack in ice and salt for three hours.
Make a syrup of one cupful of sugar and a quarter cupful of water. Beat the yolks of four eggs; add to them three quarters of a cupful of syrup and a half cupful of cream or milk. Place the mixture on the fire and cook, stirring constantly until it makes a thick coating on the spoon. Turn it into a bowl; place it on the ice, and beat it until it is cold and quite stiff and light; then fold in lightly a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth. If any liquid has drained from the cream do not let it go in. For flavoring infuse a vanilla bean with the syrup, or add a teaspoonful of vanilla extract, or of maraschino, or any flavoring desired, to the custard when it is taken from the fire. Put the mixture into paper boxes; sprinkle over the top some chopped browned almonds or some macaroons rolled to crumbs, and pack. Tin boxes containing a framework of shelves are made for holding individual ices while freezing, but a tin lard-pail can be used if necessary, placing a sheet of paper between each layer of boxes. Securely seal with butter the lid of the pail and pack in ice and salt for four or five hours.
Whip a pint of cream very stiff; turn it onto a sieve to drain for a few minutes so it will be entirely dry. Return it to thebowl and whip into it lightly four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a tablespoonful of curaçao, of noyau, of kirsch, or of very black coffee, or a teaspoonful of any flavoring extract, or an ounce of chocolate, melted, and diluted with a little milk or cream, and flavor with a few drops of vanilla. When a liqueur is used for flavoring less sugar is needed than with coffee, chocolate, or essences. Turn the cream into a mold and pack it in ice and salt for four hours. Garnish the dish with small iced cakes.
Whip a pint of cream very stiff and drain as directed above. Mix with it a cupful of any fruit-pulp, the juice drained off and the pulp mixed with enough powdered sugar to make it of the same consistency as the whipped cream; a little cochineal added to strawberry or to peach mousse gives it a better color. A little vanilla improves the flavor. Mold and pack in ice and salt for three hours.
Beat the yolks smooth; add a tablespoonful of syrup, and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture makes a thick coating on the spoon. Remove from the fire, add the sherry and lemon-juice, and beat it until it is light and cold; whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth; pour into them slowly two tablespoonfuls of boiling syrup cooked to the ball (see Italian meringue, page498); add the Italian meringue to the mixture of yolks, put it into a mold, and pack in ice and salt for four hours. This mousse can be flavored with a tablespoonful of kirsch, rum, or brandy instead of sherry. A few white grapes or candied cherries laid in the bottom of the mold before the mixture is put in, makes the dish more ornamental.
Water-icesare made of fruit-juice sweetened with sugar syrup. Sugar may be used, but the result is better with syrup. The liquid mixture should register 20° on the syrup gauge, but if one is not at hand, it can be sweetened to taste.
A good way of preparing it is to make a syrup of 32° and add enough fruit juice to dilute it to 20°. Freeze the same as ice-cream, and pack in salt and ice. The ices will not get so hard as creams. The following method may also be used:
Boil a quart of water and two and one half cupfuls of sugar for ten minutes; strain and add the juice of six oranges and one lemon. When cold, freeze.
Add to the amount of sugar and water given above the juice of four lemons and one orange.
To a quart of syrup made as given above, add a cupful and a half of strawberry-juice.
Ices may be made of any fruit used in the same proportions.
Serving.Theseices are served in glasses after the joint or last entrée, and before the game. A quart is enough for twelve portions.Liquors.Punches differ from sherbets only in having a little Italian meringue added to them just before serving. They are simply water-ices with liquors added. Roman Punch has a cupful or two gills of rum added to a quart of lemon-ice. Punches having other names are made in the same way, but have other liquors or mixtures of liquors. These may be kirsch,kirsch and rum, kirsch and maraschino, rum and sherry, or any other combination desired. When champagne is used it is generally added to orange-ice.Strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, or orange-ices are generally used for sherbets with liqueurs such as curaçao, maraschino, noyau, etc., combined with kirsch, rum, or champagne.Mixing in the liquors.The liquors can be added to the ice mixture before it is frozen, in which case it takes them longer to freeze; (in fact, spirits will not freeze at all, and hence these ices are always soft, and have to be eaten with a spoon); or the liquors may be poured over the frozen mixture and stirred in with the paddle. Sometimes the water-ice is placed in the glasses and a teaspoonful of the liquor or mixture of liquors is poured over each glassful at the moment of serving.
Serving.Theseices are served in glasses after the joint or last entrée, and before the game. A quart is enough for twelve portions.
Liquors.Punches differ from sherbets only in having a little Italian meringue added to them just before serving. They are simply water-ices with liquors added. Roman Punch has a cupful or two gills of rum added to a quart of lemon-ice. Punches having other names are made in the same way, but have other liquors or mixtures of liquors. These may be kirsch,kirsch and rum, kirsch and maraschino, rum and sherry, or any other combination desired. When champagne is used it is generally added to orange-ice.
Strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, or orange-ices are generally used for sherbets with liqueurs such as curaçao, maraschino, noyau, etc., combined with kirsch, rum, or champagne.
Mixing in the liquors.The liquors can be added to the ice mixture before it is frozen, in which case it takes them longer to freeze; (in fact, spirits will not freeze at all, and hence these ices are always soft, and have to be eaten with a spoon); or the liquors may be poured over the frozen mixture and stirred in with the paddle. Sometimes the water-ice is placed in the glasses and a teaspoonful of the liquor or mixture of liquors is poured over each glassful at the moment of serving.
Mix together a quart of black coffee, a cupful of cream, three quarters cupful of sugar; freeze, and then mix in a half cupful of brandy or rum, and a half pint of cream, whipped, and let it stand half an hour. Stir it well before serving.
Mix a quart of black coffee with a quart of cream and a cupful of sugar, or, better, sweeten with syrup. Freeze the same as ice-cream, and serve in glasses. A little brandy may be mixed in just before serving, if desired.
Make a vanilla cream No. 3. When it is frozen add a cupful of Jamaica rum. Turn the dasher until it is well mixed.
Allow a cupful of rum to each quart of cream. Serve in glasses the same as punch.
BOILING SUGARToboil sugar is one of the niceties of cooking, but as the uses of boiled sugar in fancy cooking are so various, it is worth some practice to acquire the requisite skill. With the ordinary ways of testing, it requires much experience to tell the exact point at which to arrest the cooking, and on this the success depends. The stages named “thread,” “blow,” “ball,” etc., give the different degrees required for different purposes. It passes quickly from one to the other and needs careful watching and close attention. The professional cook’s method of testing it by dipping in the fingers is not practicable for ordinary use. It is also difficult to judge by dropping it in water unless experienced, but with a sugar thermometer it can easily be determined with perfect exactness and much less trouble. A sugar thermometer costs $1.75 or $2.00, a syrup gauge costs fifty cents, and both should be considered as necessary cooking utensils as are molds, mortars, and other articles used in fancy cooking. For measuring syrups, the syrup gauge is used as explained below. Ice-creams and frozen fruits are much nicer when sweetened with syrup instead of sugar. Water-ices and compotes to be right must measure a certain density, and for this the syrup gauge is employed.Fondant, one of the very useful articles, candies, and spun sugar are easily made with the aid of the thermometer. Eleven stages of sugar are explained below, but it is not essential to learn exactly more than the four which are most used, namely: the “thread” for boiled icing, the “soft-ball” for fondant, the “crack” for glacé fruit, and the “caramel.”
Toboil sugar is one of the niceties of cooking, but as the uses of boiled sugar in fancy cooking are so various, it is worth some practice to acquire the requisite skill. With the ordinary ways of testing, it requires much experience to tell the exact point at which to arrest the cooking, and on this the success depends. The stages named “thread,” “blow,” “ball,” etc., give the different degrees required for different purposes. It passes quickly from one to the other and needs careful watching and close attention. The professional cook’s method of testing it by dipping in the fingers is not practicable for ordinary use. It is also difficult to judge by dropping it in water unless experienced, but with a sugar thermometer it can easily be determined with perfect exactness and much less trouble. A sugar thermometer costs $1.75 or $2.00, a syrup gauge costs fifty cents, and both should be considered as necessary cooking utensils as are molds, mortars, and other articles used in fancy cooking. For measuring syrups, the syrup gauge is used as explained below. Ice-creams and frozen fruits are much nicer when sweetened with syrup instead of sugar. Water-ices and compotes to be right must measure a certain density, and for this the syrup gauge is employed.Fondant, one of the very useful articles, candies, and spun sugar are easily made with the aid of the thermometer. Eleven stages of sugar are explained below, but it is not essential to learn exactly more than the four which are most used, namely: the “thread” for boiled icing, the “soft-ball” for fondant, the “crack” for glacé fruit, and the “caramel.”
See captionSUGAR THERMOMETER AND SYRUP GAUGE. (SEE PAGE510.)
See captionUTENSILS FOR BOILING SUGAR.1. Thermometer standing in saucepan of sugar on gas-stove.2. Cup of water and brush for washing crystals from side of saucepan.3. Wooden spatula for working sugar on marble slab to make fondant.4. Wooden skewer for testing sugar when thermometer is not used.5. Candy wire for dipping nuts or other things to be coated.
GRANULATIONThe tendency of sugar, when the water which holds it in solution is evaporated, is to resume its original form of crystals; to prevent this is the chief care: the liquid must not be jarred or stirred after the sugar is dissolved. The grains which form on the sides of the pan as the boiling proceeds must be wiped away; this is done by dipping a cloth or brush into water and passing it around the pan above the sugar. If these crystals are allowed to remain, the whole mass will become granular. Also the sugar has a great affinity for water, and care must be used to have a dry atmosphere. No steam from boiling kettles, etc., must be in the room, and it is useless to attempt confections requiring the ball or crack stages on a rainy or damp day. When the right degree is reached, place the sugar pan in one containing cold water, to prevent the cooking from proceeding any farther. The different stages follow very quickly after the thread; it is therefore well to have a moderate heat and give it undivided attention. A very little cream of tartar (a scant half saltspoonful to a pound of sugar) added at the beginning makes the sugar less liable to grain. If cream of tartar is not used, a few drops of lemon-juice should be added at the crack stage. If the sugar passes the degree desired, add a spoonful of water and continue the boiling. No sugar need ever be wasted unless it becomes burned. In working thesugar, if it begins to grain there is nothing to do but to add a little water and boil it again.DEGREES OF BOILING SUGARFirst and second degrees.Small Thread, 215°.Large Thread, 217°.Press a little of the syrup between the thumb and finger. A ring will form and a fine thread be drawn out which breaks at once and returns to the drop; for the second stage the thread draws a little farther than the first.Third and fourth.Little Pearl, 220°.Large Pearl, 222°.The sugar forms a thread between the fingers which stretches long, but breaks. For the fourth it stretches without breaking. The first four degrees are syrups.Fifth and sixth.The Blow, 230°.}crystallization.The Feather, 232°.Dip in a broom-straw twisted to form a small loop at the end. A film will fill the loop, which will blow into a bubble.At the sixth stage fine threads will fly from the bubble. The candy stages follow:Seventh and eighth.Small Ball, 236°-238°.Large Ball, 246°-248°.Drop a little into cold water; for the 7th a soft ball can be rolled between the fingers; for the 8th a hard ball.Ninth and Tenth.Small Crack, 290°.Crack, 310°.At the 9th a little, dropped into water, will break when cooled. At 300° it begins to assume a light color, and a few drops of lemon-juice should be added (four drops to a pound of sugar). At 310° it breaks off sharp and crisp, and crackles when chewed.Eleventh.The Caramel, 345°-350°It now assumes a yellow color, and great care must be used or it will burn. The cooking must be arrested as soon as it is taken from the fire by holding the pan in cold water for a minute or so. A skewer or stick is the best thing to use for testing, as the little sugar that adheres to it will cool quickly. Dip the stick first into water, then into the sugar, and again into water.SYRUPSSyrup kept in stock.To use a syrup gauge have a glass deep enough to allow the gauge to float. A small cylindrical glass like the one shown in illustration is best, as it requires so little syrup that removing and pouring it back does not arrest the boiling. Syrups can be prepared and kept in air-tight preserve jars until needed for use. It is well to have in stock syrup at 34° for softening fondant when used for icing cakes, éclairs, etc. Water-ices should register 18°-20° on the gauge when ready to freeze. Fruits to be frozen are better when sweetened with syrup at 32° than when sugar is used.Making syrup without a gauge.To prepare syrup without a gauge the following method can be employed: Put into a saucepan three and one half cupfuls of sugar and two and one half cupfuls of water. Stir it over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. After it has boiled five minutes, counting from the time it is actually boiling, it will register 28°; every five minutes’ additional boiling will thicken it one degree.At the end of 15 minutes it is 30°.At the end of 25 minutes it is 32°.At the end of 35 minutes it is 34°.FONDANTThe uses of fondant.Fondant is the basis of all French cream candies. It can be kept any length of time in air-tight preservejars, and used as needed for the various purposes which it serves. A great variety of bonbons can be made of it by using different flavors, colors, and nuts in various forms and combinations. Some of these are given under “Candies,” but each one’s taste may suggest something different. Fondant makes the nicest icing for small cakes; strawberries with the hulls on dipped into fondant make a delicious fruit glacé. It will be found easy to make fondant if the directions given below are strictly followed.TO MAKE FONDANTPlace in a copper or a graniteware saucepan two cupfuls of granulated sugar, one cupful of water, and a scant half saltspoonful of cream of tartar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, but not a minute longer. As it boils, a thin scum of crystals will form around the edge of the pan. These must be wiped away by wetting a cloth or brush in water and passing it around the dish without touching the boiling sugar. This must be done frequently, or as often as the crystals form, or the whole mass will become granular.Testing.When large bubbles rise it must be carefully watched and tested, as from this time it quickly passes from one stage to another. Have a cup of ice-water and a skewer or small stick; dip it into the water, then into the sugar, and again into the water. If the sugar which adheres to it can be rolled into a soft ball, it is done. This is the stage of small-ball, and the thermometer registers 236°-238° (see page512). Have ready a marble slab, very lightly but evenly rubbed over with sweet-oil. If a slab is not at hand, a large platter will serve the purpose.Cooling.The moment the sugar is done, pour it over the slab and let it cool a few minutes, or until, pressing it with the finger, it leaves a dent on the surface. If stirred while too warm itwill grain. If a crust forms, every particle of it must be taken off, or else the boiling must be done again, as it shows it has cooked a little too long. When it will dent, work it with a wooden spatula, keeping the mass in the center as much as possible.Working.Continue to stir until it becomes a very smooth, fine, white, creamy paste, which is soft and not brittle and can be worked in the hands like a thick paste. If the results are not right and the mass becomes grained, the sugar need not be wasted, but can be put in the saucepan with a spoonful of water and boiled again. In stirring the fondant do not mix in the scrapings unless the whole is still very soft. They can be worked by themselves afterward. Confectioners use one part of glucose to ten of sugar and boil to 240°.SPUN SUGARThree requisites.Although spinning sugar has been called the climax of the art of sugar work, one need not be deterred from trying it; for with a dry atmosphere, the sugar boiled to the right degree, and care given to prevent graining, it can be accomplished. It is upon these three things alone that success depends. Spun sugar makes a beautiful decoration for ice-creams, glacé fruits, and other cold desserts. The expense of making it is only nominal, but it commands a fancy price.DIRECTIONS FOR SPINNING SUGARKeeping.Put in a copper or a graniteware saucepan two cupfuls (one pound) of sugar; one half cupful of water, and one half saltspoonful of cream of tartar. Boil the sugar as directed for fondant above, letting it attain the degree of crack, or 310°. This is the degree just before caramel, and care must be used. When it has reached the crack, place the sugar pan in coldwater a moment to arrest the cooking, for the heat of the pan and sugar may advance it one degree. For spinning, two forks may be used, but a few wires drawn through a cork are better, as they give more points. Have also two iron bars or rods of any kind (pieces of broom handle will do), placed on a table or over chairs so the ends project a little way; spread some papers on the floor under them. Take the pan of sugar in the left hand, the forks or wires in the right; dip them into the sugar and shake them quickly back and forth over the rods; fine threads of sugar will fly off the points and drop on the rods. If the sugar gets too cold it can be heated again. Take the spun sugar carefully off the rods from time to time and fold it around molds, or roll it into nests or other forms desired. Place the spun sugar under a glass globe as soon as made. Under an air-tight globe with a small piece of lime it may keep crisp for a day or two, but it readily gathers moisture, and it is safer to make it the day it is to be used. Do not attempt to make it on a damp or rainy day, and have no boiling kettles in the room (see general directions for boiling sugar, page513).GLACÉ ORANGES AND GRAPESCauses of failure.Divide an orange into sections; do not break the inside skin, for if the juice escapes in ever so small a quantity the section must be discarded. Let them stand several hours until the surface has become very dry. Remove grapes from the bunch, leaving a short stem attached to each one. Boil some sugar to 340°, or the point just before the caramel stage (see directions for boiling sugar, page512). Remove the pan from the fire and place it for a moment in water to arrest the cooking. Drop the orange sections into the sugar, one at a time, and remove them with acandy wire or with two forks, and place them on an oiled slab to dry. With a pair of pincers take each grape by the small stem and dip it into the sugar, and be sure it is entirely coated. Place each separately on the slab to dry. If the day is damp, the sugar not sufficiently boiled, or the fruit at all moist, the sugar will all drain off; therefore the work must be done only under the right conditions. Candied cherries may be treated in this way: first wash them to remove the sugar; let them dry, then pierce them with an artificial stem and dip them carefully so as not to deface the stem.See captionGLACÉ ORANGES AND GRAPES IN PAPER BOXES.See captionGLACÉ GRAPES AND ORANGES COVERED WITH SPUN SUGAR.See captionGLACÉ GRAPES IN NEST OF SPUN SUGAR.See captionGLACÉ GRAPES COVERED WITH SPUN SUGAR.CANDIESWhen making candies observe carefully the rules for boiling sugar. When sugar reaches the candy stage, the water has evaporated, and the tendency is to return to the original state of crystals.To prevent granulation.If it is jarred, or is stirred, or if the thin line of crystals formed around the pan by the sugar rising while boiling is allowed to remain, the whole mass will granulate, hence, for success, it is necessary to avoid these things. To keep the sides of the pan washed free of crystals dip a brush in water and pass it around the pan close to the edge of the sugar as often as is necessary; a sponge or a small piece of cloth may be used, but with these there is danger of burning the fingers. A very little acid added at the crack stage also prevents graining; this is termed “Greasing.”Greasing.If too much acid is used it prevents the sugar advancing to the caramel stage, and also may cause granulation. A few drops, only, of lemon-juice, of vinegar, or a little cream of tartar are the acids used.The success of candy-making depends entirely upon boiling sugar to just the right degree. The candy will not harden if boiled too little. Another stage,where it hardens but sticks to the teeth, means the boiling was arrested at the hard-ball instead of the crack stage.Making candies.Unless a thermometer is used, a little practice seems necessary before one recognizes the small differences upon which success depends; but the experience once gained, it is easy to make a pound or more of candy at slight expense. In the country, where it is often impossible to get fresh candies, it is desirable to be able to make them. Where fondant is already prepared and kept in preserve jars, the cream bonbons can be quickly made. Carameled nuts are perhaps the least trouble to make of any candies.Marble slab and iron bars.A marble slab is almost requisite in making candy, though greased papers and tins can be used. Candy poured upon a slab cools quickly, has an even surface, and can be easily removed. Four square iron bars are useful to confine the sugar. These can be placed so as to form bays of the size suitable to the amount of sugar used and the thickness required.
The tendency of sugar, when the water which holds it in solution is evaporated, is to resume its original form of crystals; to prevent this is the chief care: the liquid must not be jarred or stirred after the sugar is dissolved. The grains which form on the sides of the pan as the boiling proceeds must be wiped away; this is done by dipping a cloth or brush into water and passing it around the pan above the sugar. If these crystals are allowed to remain, the whole mass will become granular. Also the sugar has a great affinity for water, and care must be used to have a dry atmosphere. No steam from boiling kettles, etc., must be in the room, and it is useless to attempt confections requiring the ball or crack stages on a rainy or damp day. When the right degree is reached, place the sugar pan in one containing cold water, to prevent the cooking from proceeding any farther. The different stages follow very quickly after the thread; it is therefore well to have a moderate heat and give it undivided attention. A very little cream of tartar (a scant half saltspoonful to a pound of sugar) added at the beginning makes the sugar less liable to grain. If cream of tartar is not used, a few drops of lemon-juice should be added at the crack stage. If the sugar passes the degree desired, add a spoonful of water and continue the boiling. No sugar need ever be wasted unless it becomes burned. In working thesugar, if it begins to grain there is nothing to do but to add a little water and boil it again.
First and second degrees.
Press a little of the syrup between the thumb and finger. A ring will form and a fine thread be drawn out which breaks at once and returns to the drop; for the second stage the thread draws a little farther than the first.
Third and fourth.
The sugar forms a thread between the fingers which stretches long, but breaks. For the fourth it stretches without breaking. The first four degrees are syrups.
Fifth and sixth.
Dip in a broom-straw twisted to form a small loop at the end. A film will fill the loop, which will blow into a bubble.
At the sixth stage fine threads will fly from the bubble. The candy stages follow:
Seventh and eighth.
Drop a little into cold water; for the 7th a soft ball can be rolled between the fingers; for the 8th a hard ball.
Ninth and Tenth.
At the 9th a little, dropped into water, will break when cooled. At 300° it begins to assume a light color, and a few drops of lemon-juice should be added (four drops to a pound of sugar). At 310° it breaks off sharp and crisp, and crackles when chewed.
Eleventh.
It now assumes a yellow color, and great care must be used or it will burn. The cooking must be arrested as soon as it is taken from the fire by holding the pan in cold water for a minute or so. A skewer or stick is the best thing to use for testing, as the little sugar that adheres to it will cool quickly. Dip the stick first into water, then into the sugar, and again into water.
Syrup kept in stock.To use a syrup gauge have a glass deep enough to allow the gauge to float. A small cylindrical glass like the one shown in illustration is best, as it requires so little syrup that removing and pouring it back does not arrest the boiling. Syrups can be prepared and kept in air-tight preserve jars until needed for use. It is well to have in stock syrup at 34° for softening fondant when used for icing cakes, éclairs, etc. Water-ices should register 18°-20° on the gauge when ready to freeze. Fruits to be frozen are better when sweetened with syrup at 32° than when sugar is used.
Making syrup without a gauge.To prepare syrup without a gauge the following method can be employed: Put into a saucepan three and one half cupfuls of sugar and two and one half cupfuls of water. Stir it over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. After it has boiled five minutes, counting from the time it is actually boiling, it will register 28°; every five minutes’ additional boiling will thicken it one degree.
At the end of 15 minutes it is 30°.
At the end of 25 minutes it is 32°.
At the end of 35 minutes it is 34°.
The uses of fondant.Fondant is the basis of all French cream candies. It can be kept any length of time in air-tight preservejars, and used as needed for the various purposes which it serves. A great variety of bonbons can be made of it by using different flavors, colors, and nuts in various forms and combinations. Some of these are given under “Candies,” but each one’s taste may suggest something different. Fondant makes the nicest icing for small cakes; strawberries with the hulls on dipped into fondant make a delicious fruit glacé. It will be found easy to make fondant if the directions given below are strictly followed.
Place in a copper or a graniteware saucepan two cupfuls of granulated sugar, one cupful of water, and a scant half saltspoonful of cream of tartar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, but not a minute longer. As it boils, a thin scum of crystals will form around the edge of the pan. These must be wiped away by wetting a cloth or brush in water and passing it around the dish without touching the boiling sugar. This must be done frequently, or as often as the crystals form, or the whole mass will become granular.Testing.When large bubbles rise it must be carefully watched and tested, as from this time it quickly passes from one stage to another. Have a cup of ice-water and a skewer or small stick; dip it into the water, then into the sugar, and again into the water. If the sugar which adheres to it can be rolled into a soft ball, it is done. This is the stage of small-ball, and the thermometer registers 236°-238° (see page512). Have ready a marble slab, very lightly but evenly rubbed over with sweet-oil. If a slab is not at hand, a large platter will serve the purpose.Cooling.The moment the sugar is done, pour it over the slab and let it cool a few minutes, or until, pressing it with the finger, it leaves a dent on the surface. If stirred while too warm itwill grain. If a crust forms, every particle of it must be taken off, or else the boiling must be done again, as it shows it has cooked a little too long. When it will dent, work it with a wooden spatula, keeping the mass in the center as much as possible.Working.Continue to stir until it becomes a very smooth, fine, white, creamy paste, which is soft and not brittle and can be worked in the hands like a thick paste. If the results are not right and the mass becomes grained, the sugar need not be wasted, but can be put in the saucepan with a spoonful of water and boiled again. In stirring the fondant do not mix in the scrapings unless the whole is still very soft. They can be worked by themselves afterward. Confectioners use one part of glucose to ten of sugar and boil to 240°.
Three requisites.Although spinning sugar has been called the climax of the art of sugar work, one need not be deterred from trying it; for with a dry atmosphere, the sugar boiled to the right degree, and care given to prevent graining, it can be accomplished. It is upon these three things alone that success depends. Spun sugar makes a beautiful decoration for ice-creams, glacé fruits, and other cold desserts. The expense of making it is only nominal, but it commands a fancy price.
Keeping.Put in a copper or a graniteware saucepan two cupfuls (one pound) of sugar; one half cupful of water, and one half saltspoonful of cream of tartar. Boil the sugar as directed for fondant above, letting it attain the degree of crack, or 310°. This is the degree just before caramel, and care must be used. When it has reached the crack, place the sugar pan in coldwater a moment to arrest the cooking, for the heat of the pan and sugar may advance it one degree. For spinning, two forks may be used, but a few wires drawn through a cork are better, as they give more points. Have also two iron bars or rods of any kind (pieces of broom handle will do), placed on a table or over chairs so the ends project a little way; spread some papers on the floor under them. Take the pan of sugar in the left hand, the forks or wires in the right; dip them into the sugar and shake them quickly back and forth over the rods; fine threads of sugar will fly off the points and drop on the rods. If the sugar gets too cold it can be heated again. Take the spun sugar carefully off the rods from time to time and fold it around molds, or roll it into nests or other forms desired. Place the spun sugar under a glass globe as soon as made. Under an air-tight globe with a small piece of lime it may keep crisp for a day or two, but it readily gathers moisture, and it is safer to make it the day it is to be used. Do not attempt to make it on a damp or rainy day, and have no boiling kettles in the room (see general directions for boiling sugar, page513).
Causes of failure.Divide an orange into sections; do not break the inside skin, for if the juice escapes in ever so small a quantity the section must be discarded. Let them stand several hours until the surface has become very dry. Remove grapes from the bunch, leaving a short stem attached to each one. Boil some sugar to 340°, or the point just before the caramel stage (see directions for boiling sugar, page512). Remove the pan from the fire and place it for a moment in water to arrest the cooking. Drop the orange sections into the sugar, one at a time, and remove them with acandy wire or with two forks, and place them on an oiled slab to dry. With a pair of pincers take each grape by the small stem and dip it into the sugar, and be sure it is entirely coated. Place each separately on the slab to dry. If the day is damp, the sugar not sufficiently boiled, or the fruit at all moist, the sugar will all drain off; therefore the work must be done only under the right conditions. Candied cherries may be treated in this way: first wash them to remove the sugar; let them dry, then pierce them with an artificial stem and dip them carefully so as not to deface the stem.
See captionGLACÉ ORANGES AND GRAPES IN PAPER BOXES.
See captionGLACÉ GRAPES AND ORANGES COVERED WITH SPUN SUGAR.
See captionGLACÉ GRAPES IN NEST OF SPUN SUGAR.
See captionGLACÉ GRAPES COVERED WITH SPUN SUGAR.
When making candies observe carefully the rules for boiling sugar. When sugar reaches the candy stage, the water has evaporated, and the tendency is to return to the original state of crystals.To prevent granulation.If it is jarred, or is stirred, or if the thin line of crystals formed around the pan by the sugar rising while boiling is allowed to remain, the whole mass will granulate, hence, for success, it is necessary to avoid these things. To keep the sides of the pan washed free of crystals dip a brush in water and pass it around the pan close to the edge of the sugar as often as is necessary; a sponge or a small piece of cloth may be used, but with these there is danger of burning the fingers. A very little acid added at the crack stage also prevents graining; this is termed “Greasing.”Greasing.If too much acid is used it prevents the sugar advancing to the caramel stage, and also may cause granulation. A few drops, only, of lemon-juice, of vinegar, or a little cream of tartar are the acids used.
The success of candy-making depends entirely upon boiling sugar to just the right degree. The candy will not harden if boiled too little. Another stage,where it hardens but sticks to the teeth, means the boiling was arrested at the hard-ball instead of the crack stage.Making candies.Unless a thermometer is used, a little practice seems necessary before one recognizes the small differences upon which success depends; but the experience once gained, it is easy to make a pound or more of candy at slight expense. In the country, where it is often impossible to get fresh candies, it is desirable to be able to make them. Where fondant is already prepared and kept in preserve jars, the cream bonbons can be quickly made. Carameled nuts are perhaps the least trouble to make of any candies.
Marble slab and iron bars.A marble slab is almost requisite in making candy, though greased papers and tins can be used. Candy poured upon a slab cools quickly, has an even surface, and can be easily removed. Four square iron bars are useful to confine the sugar. These can be placed so as to form bays of the size suitable to the amount of sugar used and the thickness required.
Blanch one cupful of almonds. Chop them and place them in the oven to dry. They must be watched that they do not brown. Put into a saucepan two and a half cupfuls of powdered sugar and a tablespoonful of lemon-juice. Place it on the fire and stir with a wooden spoon until it is melted and slightly colored. Let it stand a few minutes so it will be thoroughly melted and not grainy, then turn in the hot almonds, mix them together quickly, not stirring long enough to grain the sugar, and turn it onto an oiled slab. Spread it out in an even sheet, one eighth of an inch thick, using a half lemon to press it with. While it is still warm, mark it off into squares or diamonds. Break it into pieces when cold. These sheets of nougat can be lifted and pressed into molds, but it hardens quickly and is not as easy to work as the receipt No. 2.
Put two cupfuls of granulated sugar into a saucepan with a half cupful of water. Let it boil to the crack (310°) without stirring (see boiling sugar, page511), add a few drops of lemon-juice, and then turn in a half cupful of hot chopped blanched almonds which have been dried in the oven. Mix them together, stirring only enough to mix them and not grain the sugar. Pour it on an oiled marble slab, and press it as thin as an eighth of an inch or less. Cut the sheet of nougat into pieces of the right size and press them into oiled molds. Do this while the nougat is only just cool enough to handle, so it will be pliable. Loosen the form from the mold while it is still warm, but keep it in the mold until cold. The work has to be done quickly, as the nougat hardens in a few minutes. Perhaps the first trial to make nougat forms will be a failure, but a few trials will enable one to accomplish it.
If any pieces get broken off the molded forms, they can be stuck on again with liquid sugar or with royal icing. Horns of plenty are favorite forms for nougat. The molds come of different sizes. These pieces filled with glacé fruits make very ornamental pieces. The horns are molded in halves. When the nougat has hardened, the two pieces are tied together, rested on a muffin ring, and royal icing pressed through a pastry-tube into any ornamental shape along the edges. This quickly hardens and binds the horn together. A support for the form is made from nougat cut into strips and formed into a box-shape, open at one end.