123.When sandwiches of a substantial nature are desired, those in which high-protein foods are used as fillings will be found very acceptable. Here considerable variety may be had, for there are a number of these foods that make excellent fillings. Some sandwiches of this kind are suitable for serving with salads while others, such as those containing meat or chicken, are very satisfactory for picnics or light lunches.
124. JELLY-AND-CREAM-CHEESE SANDWICHES.--A sandwich that is very dainty as well as unusually good is made by using both jelly and cream cheese for filling. Sandwiches of this kind are shown on the plate to the right in Fig. 25. If a red jelly, such as currant jelly, is used, the appearance of the sandwich will be better than if a light jelly or a very dark jelly is used.
Cut the bread very thin and match three slices for the sandwich instead of two. Spread the first piece thinly with butter and spread the opposite side of the second piece with jelly. Place this on the buttered bread and spread the other side with cream cheese. Spread another piece with butter and place this on top of the cream cheese. Trim the edges if desired, and cut into narrow strips. Serve.
125. RYE-BREAD-AND-CHEESE SANDWICHES.--Rye bread and cheese make a favored combination with many persons. Swiss cheese is an excellent kind to serve with rye bread, but the American-made Cheddar cheese does very nicely if the other cannot be procured.
Cut rye bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Spread them very thinly with butter, and between each two slices place a thin slice of the cheese. Serve mustard with sandwiches of this kind for any one who may desire it.
126. CHEESE SANDWICHES.--Cheese combined with pimiento, sweet pickles, olives, and nuts makes a filling that has an excellent flavor. Sandwiches containing this filling will be found to be very good for picnics or lunches. Their food value, which, of course, is high, depends somewhat on the amount of filling used.
CHEESE FILLING
Put the cheese through a grinder unless it is soft enough to mash. Chop the pimiento, pickles, nuts, and olives quite fine and add the cheese. Work together with a spoon. Cut bread into thin slices, spread one piece with butter, the other one with the cheese filling, place the two together, trim if desired, and serve.
127. CHEESE-AND-NUT SANDWICHES.--Cream cheese is used in the accompanying recipe, but other cheese may be substituted for it if desired. Sandwiches containing this filling are high in both protein and fat, and may be served very nicely with a vegetable salad.
CHEESE-AND-NUT FILLING
Mash the cheese with a spoon and add the salad dressing. Just before making the sandwiches, add the nut meats, which have been chopped very fine. If this mixture is put together and allowed to stand for any length of time before serving, the filling will grow dark.
Cut bread thinly, butter one slice, place filling on the opposite slice, put together, trim if desired, and serve.
128. PEANUT-BUTTER SANDWICHES.--Peanut butter alone makes a rather dry sandwich, as it has a peculiar consistency that makes it difficult to swallow without moistening. This condition can be overcome by adding a little salad dressing to the peanut butter.
Place a few tablespoonfuls of peanut butter in a bowl and pour a sufficient amount of salad dressing into it to moisten it enough to spread. Season with salt. Cut slices of bread thin, spread one piece with butter, the opposite piece with peanut butter, place together, trim if desired, and serve.
129. HARD-COOKED-EGG SANDWICHES.--An excellent sandwich filling can be made by seasoning hard-cooked eggs and combining them with vinegar. To make this filling, cook the desired number of eggs until they are hard. Remove them from the shells and put them through a sieve. Season well with salt and pepper and then add sufficient vinegar to make them of a good consistency to spread. Cut bread thin, spread one piece with butter, and the opposite piece with the egg mixture. Put them together, trim the edges if desired, and serve.
130. MEAT SANDWICHES.--Cold cooked meat may be used in sandwiches in the usual way by putting thin slices between buttered bread, or it may be put through the grinder or chopped finely and then mixed with salad dressing until thin enough to spread. With the meat may also be chopped pickles, olives, a small amount of onion, green pepper, pimiento, or anything desired for flavoring. Left-over roast meat that will not slice very well and trimmings from ham may be utilized in this way.
When a filling of chopped meat is to be used, slice bread thin, spread one slice with butter and the opposite slice with the meat filling. Put together, trim if desired, and serve.
131. CHICKEN SANDWICHES.--Cold chicken sliced thinly, put between pieces of crisp toast, and spread with salad dressing, makes a sandwich that is most delicious and offers a pleasant change from the usual plain-bread sandwich. Cut bread 1/4 inch thick and toast it a delicate brown on both sides. Spread thinly with butter when it comes from the toaster. Between each two pieces place thin slices of chicken. Spread the chicken with a small amount of salad dressing, place a lettuce leaf on top of this, and cover with a second piece of toast. Serve.
132. CHICKEN-SALAD SANDWICHES.--When there is on hand only a small amount of chicken that is perhaps not in the right condition for slicing, it is a good plan to make a salad of it and use this for sandwich filling. If necessary, a little veal or pork may be used with the chicken.
CHICKEN-SALAD FILLING
Chop all the ingredients very fine, mix together, and season well with salt and pepper. Add sufficient salad dressing to moisten well. Cut bread thin and spread a slice with butter and another slice with the sandwich mixture. Place a lettuce leaf over this, put the two pieces of bread together, trim and serve.
133.All the sandwiches thus far discussed are served cold, but various hot sandwiches can also be made. As these generally have meat or a high-protein food for their filling, they may be used as the main dish in the meal in which they are served. Sandwiches of this kind are excellent for a light luncheon or for supper.
134. HOT-MEAT SANDWICHES.--If both meat and gravy remain from a roast, a very excellent luncheon dish may be made by slicing the meat thin, placing it on slices of bread, and pouring the gravy, which has been heated, over both the bread and meat. There may be a second layer of bread on top of the meat if desired.
135. HOT FRIED-EGG SANDWICHES.--A very good way in which to serve eggs is to sauté them and then make sandwiches of them. Spread slices of bread thinly with butter. Break the desired number of eggs into a frying pan with melted butter or other fat, season with salt and pepper, and fry on one side. Then turn and fry on the other side until the yolk becomes quite hard. Place an egg on one slice of the buttered bread, place a second slice over this, and serve while hot.
136. HAM-AND-EGG SANDWICHES.--The combination of ham and eggs is always a good one, but it becomes especially palatable when used in a sandwich, as here explained. Slice boiled ham into thin slices and sauté in hot fat for a few minutes. Then break into a bowl as many eggs as will be required, beat slightly, and pour over the slices of ham in the frying pan. When the mass has cooked well on one side, turn and cook on the opposite side. There should not be sufficient egg to make this very thick. Season well with salt and pepper and when the mixture is thoroughly cooked, cut it into pieces of a size to fit the bread used for the sandwiches. Cut the bread, butter it slightly, place a piece of the ham-and-egg mixture between each two slices of bread, and serve hot. If desired, toast may be used in place of bread and a more delicious sandwich will be the result.
137. CLUB SANDWICHES.--Nothing in the way of sandwiches is more delicious than club sandwiches if they are properly made. They involve a little more work than most sandwiches, but no difficulty will be experienced in making them if the directions here given are carefully followed. The ingredients necessary for sandwiches of this kind are bread, lettuce, salad dressing, bacon, and chicken. The quantity of each required will depend on whether a two- or a three-layer sandwich is made and the number of sandwiches to be served.
Cut the bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick and cut each slice diagonally across to form two triangular pieces. Trim the crust and toast the bread on a toaster until it is a light brown on both sides and then butter slightly if desired. Slice chicken into thin slices. Broil strips of bacon until they are crisp. On a slice of toast, place a lettuce leaf and then a layer of sliced chicken, and spread over this a small quantity of salad dressing, preferably mayonnaise. On top of this, place strips of the broiled bacon and then a second slice of toast. If desired, repeat the first layer and place on top of it a third slice of toast. This should be served while the bacon is still hot. Thin slices of tomato may also be used in each layer of this sandwich if desired.
138. CHEESE DREAMS.--With persons who are fond of melted cheese, a favorite kind of sandwich is that known as cheese dreams. These make a good dish for a Sunday evening supper or for an evening lunch.
Cut bread about 1/4 inch thick. Cut slices of cheese about half as thick, and between each two slices of bread place a slice of the cheese. Place these on a broiler, broil first on one side and then on the other until the cheese is thoroughly melted, or sauté the sandwiches in a frying pan with melted butter, first on one side and then on the other. Serve while hot.
139.If sandwiches that are entirely different and at the same time attractive are desired for an afternoon tea or to serve with a salad, open sandwiches will undoubtedly find favor. Fig. 27 illustrates several varieties of such sandwiches and shows how artistically they can be made. These are merely submitted as suggestions, but with a little ingenuity, the housewife may work out in designs any ideas she may have. To make such sandwiches attractive, fancy cutters of various shapes will be found helpful. As here shown, round, diamond-shaped, crescent-shaped, triangular, and star-shaped cutters have been used.
140.The most suitable materials for open sandwiches include cream cheese, jam, stuffed olives, chopped parsley, hard-cooked eggs with the yolks or whites forced through a ricer, pimiento cut into attractive shapes, and any other material that will add either flavor or color. Either white or brown bread may be used. After cutting the bread in the preferred shapes, spread first with butter, if desired, and then with cream cheese, jam, or jelly. With this done, decorate the sandwiches in any desired way. Slices of stuffed olives are placed in the center of several here shown and strips or small pieces of pimiento are used for much of the decoration. On those that have jam or jelly for their foundation, cream cheese put through a pastry tube forms the decoration.
[Illustration: FIG. 27]
[Illustration: FIG. 27]
[Illustration: FIG. 27]
141.If an accompaniment for a salad is desired and time will not permit the making of open sandwiches, small crisp crackers, decorated with cream cheese, as shown in Fig. 28, will be a very good substitute. These are excellent with a vegetable or a fruit salad; also, when served after the dessert they make a good final course to a meal.
[Illustration: FIG. 28]
[Illustration: FIG. 28]
[Illustration: FIG. 28]
To prepare them, add cream to cream cheese until it is thin enough to be forced through a pastry bag. Using the rosette tube in the bag, make a single rosette in the center of each wafer. Dust with paprika and serve.
142. CANAPES.--Although differing somewhat from the open sandwiches that have been described, canapes are usually placed under this head.Canapesare small pieces of bread toasted or sautéd in butter and then spread with some highly seasoned material, such as caviar, anchovy paste, well-seasoned smoked or canned salmon, or a vegetable mixture. They are served either hot or cold as an appetizer or as a first course for lunch or dinner.
To make canapes, toast or sauté slices of bread and cut them into any shape desired. Cover each piece with a thin layer of the material to be used and then decorate in any of the ways shown in Fig. 27 or in any other manner. Sometimes a thin layer of tomato is used, but often just a border of some material of contrasting color, such as the yolk of egg forced through a ricer, finely chopped parsley, a thin strip of pimiento, etc., is placed around the edge.
SALADS AND SANDWICHES
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
(1) Discuss the importance of salads and their value in the diet.
(2) In planning meals to include salads, what rules should be observed in order to make the meals balance properly?
(3) Of what value to the salads are the accompaniments often served with them?
(4) What ingredients used in salads make them satisfactory as high-protein salads?
(5) How is fat usually supplied in making salads?
(6) What salad ingredients are of the most value for supplying mineral salts?
(7) To what extent are vegetables and fruits combined in making salads?
(8) Of what value are salads in the use of leftovers?
(9) (a) What is meant by garnishing salads? (b) How may coarse lettuce be used to advantage for garnish?
(10) (a) Describe the best quality of olive oil. (b) What other kinds of oils may be used as salad oils?
(11) (a) What ingredients beside oil are included in the making of the various kinds of salad dressings? (b) What is the value of each?
(12) Describe the ideal condition of ingredients used for salads.
(13) How may salad ingredients be freshened if they have become wilted?
(14) Describe the cleaning of lettuce for salad.
(15) (a) When may a salad serve as a dessert? (b) In making a salad that contains nuts, when should they be added?
(16) (a) Tell how and why marinating is done. (b) What kind of salads should always be marinated?
(17) At what time during a meal is the salad served when it is used as a separate course?
(18) (a) Give several points that must be observed if mayonnaise dressing is to be successfully made. (b) What utensil is best for the cooking of boiled salad dressing? Tell why.
(19) (a) Describe the bread that may be used to best advantage for sandwiches. (b) Into what shapes may sandwiches be cut so that there will be no waste of bread?
(20) (a) How should butter be prepared for spreading sandwiches? (b) How may sandwiches be kept moist when they are prepared some time before they are to be served?
ADDITIONAL WORK
Give a recipe for an original salad in which at least one ingredient is a left-over.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
1.A dessert always consists of sweet food of some kind, and in the usual meal it is served as the last course. Sometimes, especially in more elaborate meals, another course, such as cheese and coffee, may follow, but ordinarily the dessert is the last food that is served.
The eating of something sweet after the heavy course of a meal has undoubtedly become a habit with almost every person. At any rate, a dinner in which a dessert is not included generally leaves one unsatisfied and gives the feeling that the meal has not been properly completed. Some housewives, however, make the mistake of serving a heavy dessert after a large meal, with the result that those served leave the table feeling they have had too much to eat. If this occurs, the same combination of food should be avoided another time and a simple dessert used to follow a dinner that is already sufficiently heavy.
2.There is nothing fixed about the dessert course of a meal. It may be very simple or it may be as complicated and elaborate as desired. To make an elaborate dessert usually requires a good deal of time, and unless time and care can be devoted to such a dessert it should not be attempted. However, whether a dessert is simple or elaborate, it should always be made sufficiently attractive to appeal to an appetite that is already almost satisfied. Besides providing a chance to end a meal in an attractive and appetizing way, it offers a splendid opportunity to carry out a color scheme that may be adopted for a meal. Of course, this is seldom done, except for a party or a company meal, for a color scheme has no particular value other than to appeal to the esthetic sense.
3.The cost of desserts is also a matter that may be varied. For instance, it may be low, as in plain rice pudding, which contains merely rice and milk, or it may be high, as in such concoctions as mousse or parfait, which may contain cream, eggs, gelatine, and fruit. It is possible then, with correct planning, to make the price of the dessert equalize the cost of the meal. For example, if the previous courses have contained expensive foods, the dessert should be an economical one, whereas an expensive one is permissible either when an elaborate meal is desired or when the cheapness of the food served before the dessert warrants greater expense in the final dish.
4.The fact that desserts are often a means of economically utilizing left-over foods should not be overlooked. A famous cooking expert is responsible for the statement that any edible left-over may be utilized in the making of soup, salad, or dessert. This is an important truth to keep in mind, for, with the exception of a knowledge of the correct purchase and cooking of foods, nothing makes so much for economy in cookery as the economical use of leftovers.
5.Desserts are really of two kinds: those which are heavy, such as hot puddings and pastry, and those which are light or of a less substantial nature, such as gelatine, custards, ices, etc. In general, light desserts are either frozen or allowed to cool before they are used and consequently may be made some time before the serving of the meal. It is with desserts of this kind that this Section deals, the heavier desserts being discussed elsewhere.
6.Attention should be paid to the composition and food value of desserts in order that the meals in which they are served may be properly balanced. For instance, when a housewife understands the value of the ingredients used in the preparation of a dessert, she will be able to determine the kind of dessert necessary to supply what is lacking in the meal. Of course, if she first decides on a particular dessert that she wants to serve, it will be necessary for her to plan the other dishes accordingly. This, however, is not the logical way in which to plan meals. It is much more reasonable to have the dessert supply anything that the meal may lack in the way of food constituents.
In considering the food value of desserts, it should be remembered that they are just as valuable as the ingredients they contain. The ingredients in which this class of foods is highest are carbohydrate in the form of starch or sugar or both, protein, especially when eggs in any quantity are used, and fat.
7. CARBOHYDRATE IN DESSERTS.--As a rule, the carbohydrate in desserts is obtained from two sources. It is furnished by the sugar, honey, or other sweetening that is added to the mixture, or it is in the form of starch added to thicken, as in the case of corn starch, or material actually used as the basis of the dessert itself, such as rice, tapioca, bread, etc. These ingredients are, of course, easily digested if they are properly cooked. On the whole, desserts can therefore be regarded as high-carbohydrate foods.
8. PROTEIN IN DESSERTS.--Protein is usually supplied in desserts by means of eggs and milk. Custard made almost exclusively of these two foods is sufficiently high in protein to be taken into account in the planning of the main dish for the meal. Because of the presence of this food substance in many desserts, proper cooking is a matter to which attention must be given, for it makes for digestibility as well as consistency. Cream added to desserts also supplies a little protein. If wheat flour is used, it adds a small amount of protein in the form of gluten. Most of the starchy preparations, such as tapioca, rice, corn starch, etc., however, are almost entirely devoid of protein material. Gelatine desserts are sometimes thought to be high-protein foods, but, as is explained elsewhere, gelatine is not regarded as true protein. If such desserts are to contain protein, it must come from some other source.
9. FAT IN DESSERTS.--Fat is usually added to desserts in the form of cream. Sometimes, a little butter is used in the making of a dessert, but for the most part the chief source of fat in desserts is the plain or whipped cream that is added to them or served with them.
10. ATTRACTIVENESS OF DESSERTS.--Attractiveness, as has been mentioned, is essential in a dessert if it is to appeal to an appetite that may be nearly satisfied by the time the dessert course is reached. To render dessert attractive, it should be carefully made and artistically garnished and served. It may be made to appeal through a sense of beautiful proportion, an attractive color combination, or an attractive or artistic preparation. Because sweets are liked by most persons, it is seldom difficult to prepare attractive desserts. Indeed, the housewife who fails in this respect may be said to be unsuccessful in the easiest part of cookery.
11. ECONOMICAL USE OF INGREDIENTS.--The ingredients required for dessert making are usually expensive ones, although there are some marked exceptions to this rule. In view of this fact, the housewife should strive to use economically the various ingredients she purchases. For instance, the first strawberries, which, because of their scarcity, are much more expensive than the later ones, may be made to go much further if they are used in shortcake than if they are served as plain fruit. In making a fruit gelatine, apples and bananas, while they may not be so attractive as canned pineapple and maraschino cherries, are much cheaper and may be used for a considerable portion of the fruit that is put into the gelatine. Then, too, it is well to remember that cream goes much further with desserts when it is whipped than when it is served plain.
12. APPLYING COOKERY RULES TO DESSERTS.--If the best results in dessert making are to be obtained, the rules that govern the cooking of various ingredients in other dishes should be observed. For instance, eggs should not be cooked at a higher temperature in making desserts than when they are being poached. Then, again, starchy materials that are used to thicken desserts or that form a basis for these dishes must be thoroughly cooked in order to be agreeable and digestible. Therefore, to put both starchy materials and eggs into a dessert at the same time and give them the same amount of cooking at the same temperature, is, as the woman who understands cookery knows, not only a very poor plan, but a possible means of ruining good material. Another waste of good material results when a custard is so prepared that it is half water or when a rice or a bread pudding floats in liquid that was never intended to be served with it. Again, nothing is less tasty than a corn-starch pudding or a blanc mange in which the starch has not been thoroughly cooked or a tapioca pudding in which the centers of the tapioca are hard and uncooked. Such mistakes as these, however, can be avoided if the housewife will apply to desserts the principles she has learned in other parts of cookery, for knowledge coupled with care in preparation is the keynote of successful dessert making.
The cookery methods usually applied in the preparation of desserts are boiling, steaming, dry steaming, and baking. As these methods are explained inEssentials of Cookery, Part 1, and are used constantly in the preparation of the majority of dishes served in a meal, they should by this time be so well understood that practically no difficulty will be experienced in applying them to desserts.
13. SAUCES.--Many cold desserts may be served without any accompaniments, but very often they are much improved by the addition of a sauce of some kind. For instance, when a custard or a blanc mange is very thick and heavy, it can be made more agreeable to the taste if it is served with a sauce of some description. Several recipes for sauces that may be used with any cold dessert in need of an accompaniment are here given, so that the housewife will not be at a loss when she desires to serve a sauce with a dessert she has made.
14.The sauce to use depends on the dessert that it is to accompany. The custard sauce here given could be used, for example, with plain corn-starch mixtures that do not contain eggs or with other desserts of this nature. It is also very satisfactory with chocolate or rather highly flavored desserts. On the other hand, the chocolate sauce may be served with custard mixtures or desserts that require additional flavor. The fruit sauce, in which may be utilized any left-over juice from canned or stewed fruit, may be served with any dessert with which it seems to blend well.
CUSTARD SAUCE
Heat the milk in a double boiler, reserving enough to moisten the corn starch. Mix the sugar, corn starch, and salt, and moisten with the cold milk. Add this to the hot milk. Stir until thick and cook for about 15 minutes. Beat the egg, add this to the mixture, and continue cooking until the egg has thickened. Add the vanilla, cool, and serve.
CHOCOLATE SAUCE
Melt the chocolate over the fire, add half the milk, and cook together for a minute or two. Add the sugar and salt to the corn starch, and moisten with the remainder of the milk. Pour this into the chocolate and milk and cook until thickened. Place in a double boiler and cook for 10 or 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and serve.
FRUIT SAUCE
Moisten the corn starch, sugar, and salt with the fruit juice, and cook together until the corn starch has thickened the mixture. Place in a double boiler and cook for 10 or 15 minutes. The amount of sugar must be gauged by the kind of fruit juice used. If it is very sour, a greater quantity of sugar will be needed. Cool and serve.
BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE
Boil sugar, sirup, and butter until the mixture reaches 230 degrees F. or until it will form a very soft ball when tested in cold water. Remove from the fire and allow it to cool a little; then beat the cream into it.
FUDGE SAUCE
Mix together the sugar, water, and melted chocolate. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes. Cool it slightly, then add the butter and vanilla.
15. WHIPPED CREAM.--Whipped cream is frequently served with cold desserts in place of a sauce or as a garnish. If cream is too thin to whip, it will have to be served plain, but it is an economy to whip it, for whipped cream goes much further. To make whipping possible, the cream must have a comparatively high percentage of fat. The higher the percentage of fat, however, the more expensive will be the cream.
16.One of the requirements of successfully whipped cream, especially in summer, is that it be as cold as possible. Warm cream does not whip nearly so readily as cold. If it is necessary to whip cream in warm weather or in a warm place, the bowl containing the cream may be packed in a larger one containing ice and salt and allowed to stand for some time before the whipping is begun.
17.A bowl-shaped utensil with a round bottom is the best to use for whipping cream. Either an egg whip or a rotary beater may be used to do the beating, which should be done rapidly. If the cream does not show signs of whipping within a reasonable time, the result is likely to be the formation of little globules of butter. Cream that whips properly will become stiff and light in a short time. After cream has been whipped till stiff, it should be sweetened slightly with sugar and flavored with vanilla or any other desirable flavoring.
18.Many of the desserts that are served cold come under the head of custards. These are dishes high in protein and consist of two varieties: those thickened entirely by eggs and known astrue custardsand those in which a starchy material is used for part of the thickening. They may be cooked by steaming, dry steaming, or baking.
19.In true custards there must be a sufficient number of eggs to thicken the desired amount of milk, for nothing else produces thickening. To these two ingredients may be added sweetening in the form of sugar, sirup, honey, etc. and flavoring of any desirable kind. The plain custard thus produced makes an excellent dessert and one that is easily digested. In fact, it can be digested with such ease that it is used perhaps more frequently in the diets of children and invalids than any other single dessert. For instance, when it is necessary that eggs and milk be taken in the diet, they usually become monotonous after a time, but a little variety may be added to the diet by serving them in the form of custard. While this is an expensive dessert when eggs are high in price, its value is such that it should be prepared frequently for children in spite of its cost.
20.Although custards are considered to decrease in quality as fewer eggs are used and starch in some form is added for thickening, many excellent custard desserts are made in this way. Then, too, plain custard is often utilized in the making of desserts, such as tapioca, rice, and bread puddings. In such an event, fewer eggs are used and the starchy material is depended on for a certain amount of the thickening. Because the starchy foods used are generally cheaper than eggs, custard desserts that rely partly on starch for their thickening are more economical than those thickened entirely by eggs. They are also different in composition and texture, being lower in protein because of a smaller proportion of eggs and higher in carbohydrate because of additional starch; nevertheless, they are delicious desserts and find much favor.
21.For its thickness, or solidity, a custard depends largely on the thickening property of the protein material in the eggs. Here, again, as in the preparation of other foods, only a certain proportion of milk and eggs will thicken, or solidify, upon being cooked. In general, the correct proportion for a plain custard is1 egg to 1 cupful of milk. So important is this proportion that it should be memorized. Before the eggs are added to the milk, they are, of course, beaten, but their beating is a matter of little consequence, for they are used merely to supply thickening and give richness and not to produce lightness. Therefore, they need only be mixed well and beaten slightly, as any increase in the amount of the beating adds nothing.
The sweetening and flavoring used in custards should be in sufficient quantity to suit the tastes of those who are to eat the dessert. However, the usual proportion of sugar is1 tablespoonful to 1 egg and 1 cupful of milk. A tiny pinch of salt added to a mixture of this kind always improves its flavor and should never be omitted.
Because of the various ways of making custards, they differ somewhat when they are done. They may be thin enough to pour or they may be set and so thick that they can be cut. The consistency of the finished product depends, of course, on the proportion of the ingredients used and the method of cookery adopted.
22. BAKED CUSTARD.--Practically no skill is required in the preparation of baked custard, but care must be taken during the baking in order that the right temperature be applied for the proper length of time. Custard of this kind is quickly made and finds favor with most persons. It may be baked in individual baking dishes and then served in these or it may be cooked in a large baking dish and served either before or after it is placed on the table. Individual baking dishes are perhaps more satisfactory, for, as there is a smaller amount of material, the heat can penetrate more quickly and evenly to the center. Whatever kind of dish is used, however, should be placed in a pan of warm water, so that the custard will bake evenly. The water in the pan should not boil, as this tends to make the custard whey, or separate.
[Illustration: FIG. 1]
23.Several tests can be applied to custard to determine whether it is sufficiently baked. As the heat penetrates to the center last, this part is the last to cook and it is therefore the place where the testing should be done. One test consists in touching the center with the tip of the finger to find out whether it is firm or not. A more common test, however, is shown in Fig. 1. To perform this test, the blade of a silver knife is inserted in the center, as illustrated. If the blade comes out clean, it may be known that the custard is sufficiently baked, but if the mixture sticks to the knife, the custard requires more baking. Before the knife blade is inserted, however, the skin that covers the custard must be broken; if this is not done, the skin is sure to cling to the knife.
24.The chief requirement of a successful custard is that its texture be right, and the temperature at which the baking is done is largely responsible for this point. Too high a temperature or too long cooking will cause the custard to curdle and leave the edges full of holes. A smoother texture may be obtained if egg yolks alone instead of the yolks and whites are used to thicken the custard. The proportions given in the accompanying recipe make a custard of very good texture, but if a greater proportion of eggs is used, the result will be a firmer, harder custard.
BAKED CUSTARD
(
Sufficient to Serve Four
)
Beat the eggs slightly, add the sugar and salt, and continue beating while adding the milk. Add the vanilla. Pour into a buttered baking dish or individual baking dishes, place in a moderately hot oven in a pan of warm water, and bake until the custard is set, testing with the finger or a silver knife. Remove from the heat, cool at once, and serve cold.
25. CARAMEL CUSTARD.--Caramel is nothing more nor less than browned sugar, but if the process of caramelizing the sugar is performed carefully, the result will be a delicious flavoring material that may be used for desserts of any kind or for making sauces to serve with desserts. When the sugar is browned to make caramel, a certain amount of sweetness is lost, so that more sugar must be used than would ordinarily be needed to sweeten the same amount of custard.
To make the caramel required in the accompanying recipe, place 1/2 cupful of sugar in a small saucepan over the fire. Allow the sugar to melt slowly, stirring it as little as possible. When it has completely melted and no more of it remains white, add 1/2 cupful of boiling water. Allow this to cook until a heavy sirup is formed. Care must be taken not to burn the sugar black, for if this is done, the custard, or whatever is flavored with the caramel, will have a burnt taste. The color should be a clear reddish-brown. Maple sirup may be used in the same way as caramel by cooking it until it becomes thick.
CARAMEL CUSTARD
(
Sufficient to Serve Six
)
Heat the milk in a double boiler, add the caramel to the milk, and then cool the mixture. Beat the eggs and add them to the caramel and milk. Add the salt and vanilla. Pour the custard into buttered baking dishes, set in a pan of warm water, and bake in a moderate oven until firm. Cool and serve.
[Illustration: FIG. 2]
26. SOFT CUSTARD.--The custard given in the accompanying recipe is commonly known asboiled custard, but this is in no sense a correct name, for the custard at no time reaches the boiling point. The common method of preparation is dry steaming, for which the double boiler is an essential utensil. If one is not in supply, however, a saucepan placed in a larger pan of water will serve the purpose. The custard should be stirred continuously during its cooking. Then it will not set nor thicken as does baked custard, even though the proportion of eggs and milk may be higher.
The test for soft custard, which is exactly opposite from that for baked custard, is shown in Fig. 2. As soon as the custard mixture lightly coats a spoon it is done. Then it should be removed from the fire and the inner part of the double boiler removed from the outer part to avoid the application of any more heat. If too much heat has been applied or the custard has been cooked too long, the result will be a curdled mass. As soon as this is observed, the custard should be removed from the hot water, placed at once into a pan of cold water, and beaten vigorously with a rotary egg beater. To improve it further, it may be poured through a fine wire sieve or strainer. Unless the curding has gone too far or the egg has been cooked a great deal too long, this treatment will produce a very decided improvement in the custard and possibly bring it to a normal condition.
SOFT CUSTARD
(
Sufficient to Serve Four
)
Heat the milk in the inner pan of a double boiler. Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks slightly, and to them add the sugar and salt. Dilute with a little of the hot milk. Blend well together and pour into the hot milk. Stir constantly until the mixture coats a spoon, and then remove from the fire. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry, and fold them into the mixture. Flavor with the vanilla and lemon extract, cool, and serve.
To obtain variety in soft custards, chocolate, caramel, maple, and other flavors may be used in their preparation in the same way as for baked custards.
27. FRENCH CREAM.--A custard dessert that is easily made and that most persons are fond of is French cream. As will be noted in the accompanying recipe, only one egg is used and corn starch is supplied for the remainder of the thickening. It is always necessary to salt mixtures containing starch, as any starchy food has a raw taste when it is prepared without salt.