To a pound of the best fresh butter allow a pound of the finest flour, sifted into a deep pan. Have on a plate some additional sifted flour for sprinkling and rolling in. Divide the pound of butter into four equal parts, and three of those parts divide again into two portions. Mix the first quarter of butter into the mass of flour, cutting it with a broad-bladed knife. If your hands are naturally warm, avoid touching the dough with them, as their heat will render it heavy. Paste, to be very good, should be made on a marble slab. All well-furnished kitchens or pastry rooms should be provided with marble-topped tables, and marble mortars. Add gradually to the lump of dough a very little cold water, barely sufficient to moisten it with the first quarter of butter, and mix it well with the aid of the broad knife; but proceed as fast as you can, and do not work with it too long. Too much water will render it tough, and too much working will make it heavy. Then sprinkle the marble slab with some of the spare flour, take the lump of paste from the pan, and roll it out into a sheet. Divide one of the portions of butter into little bits, and with the knife disperse them equally all over the sheet of paste. Then sprinkle it again with flour, fold it up so as to cover the butter, and roll it out again. Proceed in this manner till you have got in all the butter, rolling always lightly, and you will soon see the surface of the dough puffing up in little blisters, a sign that it is becoming light. Besides the first mixing in the lump, the butter will then be put in with what are called six turns. When baked, you will see that every turn makes a layer or sheet. If you choose to multiply them, you may make nine sheets. We have seen twelve. All this must be done fast and lightly. Then put away the paste to cool for ten minutes before arranging it in the dishes. This quantity will make two pies or four tarts. In baking, let the oven be hot, and keep up a steady heat, so the paste may not fall after it has first risen. When pale brown, it is done.

SHELLS.—

For shells take the best puff paste, and line with it large deep plates, the size of a soup-plate. They should have broad rims. Notch the edges of the paste handsomely with a sharp penknife, and be careful not to plaster on, afterwards, any bits by way of mending or rectifying an error. When baked, every patch in the border will show itself plainly. Bake the shells entirely empty, till pale brown all over. When cool fill them, quite up the top, with whatever marmalade or stewed fruit you have prepared for the purpose. In this way (baking them empty,) the shells are thoroughly done, and not clammy and heavy at the bottom, as they always are when filled before baking. The fruit requires no other cooking, having been done once already. Sift white sugar over the surface. If for company whip some cream, sweeten it, and flavor it with lemon, orange, pine-apple, strawberry or vanilla, and pile it on the surface of the shell before it goes to table.

Small tarts may, in this way, be baked empty, for patty-pans, and filled with ripe fruit, such as strawberries, raspberries, or grated pine-apple, made very sweet, and creamed on the top—or you may fill the shells with any sort of sweetmeats, either preserves or marmalade, or with mince-meat. Shells may be made thus, and filled with stewed oysters, or reed-birds, cooked previously, and served up warm; or with nicely-dressed lobster. You may make lids for them of the same paste baked by itself on a shallow plate, and when taken off fitting well as a cover to put on afterwards before sending to table.

BORDERS OF PASTE.—

These are made of fine puff-paste cut into handsome patterns, or wreaths of leaves or flowers. They are laid round the broad edge of the deep plate that contains a rich pudding, such as lemon, orange, almond, cocoa-nut, pine-apple, &c.; the dish being full down to the bottom and up to the top, and having no paste but the border round the edge. They must be baked in the dish on which they come to table, and not in tin or iron, as the pudding cannot be transferred. At handsome tables, a pudding baked with a paste under it (lining the dish,) is now seen but seldom.

Instead of wreaths, you may make a puff-paste border by laying a thick evenly cut band of paste round the flat rim of the dish, and notching it, forming with a penknife small squares about an inch wide, and turning one square up and one square down alternately, cheveux de frize fashion. Or you may make the squares near two inches wide and turn over one corner sharp, leaving the other flat. This looks pretty when baked, if the paste is very puff.

LEMON PUDDING.—

To make two puddings take two fine large ripe lemons, and rub them under your hand on a table. Grate off the thin yellow rind upon a large lump of loaf sugar. Cut the lemon, and squeeze the juice into a saucer through a strainer, to avoid the seeds. Put half a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep earthen pan, (including the sugar on which you have rubbed the lemons) and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh butter, adding the juice. Stir them to a light cream with a wooden spaddle, which is shorter than a mush-stick, and flattened at one end; that end rather thin, and rather broad. Beat in a shallow pan, (with hickory rods) six eggs, till very thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Have ready some of the best puff-paste, made in the proportion of a pint or half a pound of very nice fresh butter to a pint or half a pound of sifted flour. Take china or white-ware dishes with broad rims. Butter the rim, and lay round it neatly a border of the paste. Put no paste inside the dish beneath the mixture. Fill each dish to the top with the pudding mixture, and set it immediately into the oven. It will bake in about half an hour When done, and browned on the surface, set it to cool, and send it to table in the dish it was baked in.

Fine puddings are now made without an under crust, but merely a handsome border of puff-paste laid round the edge, and helped with the pudding. Sift sugar over the surface. This quantity will make one large pudding, or two small ones.

To almost all puddings the flavor of lemon or orange is an improvement. A genuine baked lemon pudding, (such as was introduced by the justly celebrated Mrs. Goodfellow,) and is well known at Philadelphia dinner parties, must have no flour or bread whatever. The mixture only of butter, sugar, and eggs, (with the proper flavoring) and when baked it cuts down smooth and shining, like a nice custard. Made this way, they are among the most delicious of puddings; but, of course, are not intended for children or invalids. We have already given numerous receipts for plain family desserts. In this chapter the receipts are "for company." The author was really a pupil of Mrs. Goodfellow's, and for double the usual term, and while there took notes of every thing that was made, it being the desire of the liberal and honest instructress that her scholars should learn in reality.

ALMOND PUDDING.—

Blanch in hot water a quarter of a pound of shelled sweet and two ounces of bitter almonds, and as you blanch them throw them into a bowl of cold water. When all are thus peeled, take them out singly, wipe them dry in a clean napkin, and lay them on a plate. Pound them one at a time in a marble mortar till they become a smooth paste, adding frequently a few drops of rose-water to make them light and preserve their whiteness, mixing the bitter almonds with the sweet. As you pound them, take out the paste and lay it in a saucer with a tea-spoon. Without the rose-water they will become oily and dark-colored. Without a few bitter almonds the others will be insipid. The almonds may be thus prepared a day before they are wanted for use. Cut up a large quarter of a pound of fresh butter in a large quarter of a pound of powdered sugar, and stir them together with a spaddle till very light and creamy. Add a large wine-glass of mixed wine and brandy, and half a grated nutmeg. Beat, till they stand alone, the whites only of six eggs, and stir them gradually into the butter and sugar, in turn with the pounded almonds. Stir the whole very hard at the last. Put the mixture into a deep dish with a broad rim, and fill it up to the top, laying a border of puff-paste all round the rim. Serve up the pudding cool, having sifted sugar over it.

Boiled Almond Pudding—Is made as above; only with whole eggs, both yolks and whites beaten together. Boil it in a bain-marie or in a thick square cloth, in a pot of boiling water. When done, turn it out and send it to table warm. Eat it with sugar, wet with rose-water.

Orange Pudding—Is made exactly like lemon pudding; the ingredients in the same proportion, and baked without an under crust, having a border of puff-paste all round the edge, and sent to table in the dish it was baked in. These fine-baked puddings should have no addition whatever of bread-crumbs or flour. They should cut down smooth and glassy.

Boiled Lemon or Orange Pudding—Make the foregoing mixture either with two lemons or two oranges, adding to the other ingredients a half pint finely-crumbled sponge cake. Boil the mixture either in a bain-marie or a thick pudding cloth, and serve it up warm. For sauce, have ready butter and sugar beaten to a cream, and flavored well with lemon or orange, and grated nutmeg.

Break up a ripe cocoa-nut. Having peeled off the brown skin, wash all the pieces of nut in cold water, and wipe them dry on a clean napkin. Then grate the cocoa-nut very fine into a pan, till you have a quart. In a deep pan cut up a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and add a very light quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar. Stir together (with a spaddle,) the butter and sugar till they are very light and creamy, and add a grated nutmeg. Beat, (till they stand alone) the whites only of six eggs; the yolks may be reserved for soft custards. Stir the beaten white of egg gradually into the pan of butter and sugar, alternately with the grated cocoa-nut, a little at a time of each, and a glass of mixed brandy and white wine. Stir the whole very hard. Fill with it a broad-edged deep white dish, and lay a puff-paste border all round the rim. Bake it light brown, and when cool sift white sugar over it, serving it up in the dish it was baked in.

Boiled Cocoa-nut Pudding.—For this make the above mixture, and boil it in a mould, or in a bain-marie, with the water in the outside kettle. Eat it either warm or cold.

SWEET POTATO PUDDING.—

Wash, boil, and peel some fine sweet potatos. Mash them, and rub them through a coarse sieve—this will make them loose and light. If merely mashed the pudding will clod and be heavy. In a deep pan stir to a cream a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar; adding a grated nutmeg, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a half glass of white wine, and a half glass of brandy. Beat in a shallow pan three eggs, till very thick and smooth, and stir them into the mixture of butter and sugar, alternately with the sweet potato. At the last mix all thoroughly with a very hard stirring. Put the mixture into a deep dish, and lay a border of puff-paste all round the rim. Set the pudding immediately into a rather brisk oven, and when cool sift white sugar over it. For two of these puddings double the quantities of all the ingredients.

White Potato Pudding—Is made exactly as above. Chestnut pudding also—the large Spanish chestnuts, boiled, peeled, and mashed.

Fine Pumpkin Pudding—Also, allowing to the above ingredients a half pint of stewed pumpkins, squeezed dry and rubbed through a sieve.

Cashaw Pudding.—A similar pudding may be made of stewed cashaw, or winter squash.

PINE-APPLE TART.—

Take a fine large ripe pine-apple. Remove the leaves, and quarter it without paring, standing up each quarter in a deep plate, and grating it down till you come to the rind. Strew plenty of powdered sugar over the grated fruit. Cover it, and let it rest for an hour. Then put it into a porcelain kettle, and steam it in its own syrup till perfectly soft. Have ready some empty shells of puff-paste, baked either in patty-pans or in soup plates. When they are cool, fill them full with the grated pine-apple; add more sugar, and lay round the rim a border of puff-paste.

QUINCE PIES.—

Wash well, pare, and core some fine ripe quinces, having cut out all the blemishes. Put the cores and parings into a small sauce-pan, and stew them in a little water, till all broken to pieces. Then strain and save the quince water. Having quartered the quinces, or sliced them in round slices, transfer them to a porcelain stew-pan, and pour over the quinces water extracted from boiling the cores and parings. Let them cook in this till quite soft all through. Make them very sweet with powdered sugar, and fill with them two deep soup plates that have been baked empty, with a puff paste border round the rims. Fill them up to the top, (they are already cooked) and sift sugar over them—or, you may pile on the surface of each some ice-cream. You may cook the quinces whole, and lay one on each tart.

FINE APPLE PIES—

May be made in the same manner, flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon. The apples should be fine juicy pippins. If done whole, lay one on each patty-pan tart, and stick into the core hole a slip of the yellow rind of lemon, pared so thin as to be nearly transparent.

A MERINGUE PUDDING.—

Rub off upon a large lump of sugar the yellow rind of two fine ripe lemons, and mix it with a pound of powdered loaf sugar, adding the juice. Whip, to a stiff froth, the whites only of eight eggs; and then, gradually, beat in the sugar and lemon, adding a heaped table-spoonful of the finest flour. Spread part of the mixture thickly over the bottom of a deep dish, the rim of which has been bordered with a handsome wreath of puff-paste, and baked. Lay upon it a thick layer of stiff currant or strawberry jelly. Then fill up the dish, and set it, a few minutes in a rather cool oven to brown slightly. This pudding is for dinner company. If you use oranges, omit half the grated peel.

You may flavor the meringue with vanilla. Split, and break up a small vanilla bean, and boil it in a very little cream till all the vanilla flavor is extracted, the cream tasting of it strongly. Then strain it well, and mix the vanilla cream with the white of egg. Or, a little home-made extract of vanilla will be still better. This is obtained by splitting and breaking up some vanilla beans, and steeping them for a week or two in a bottle of absolute alcohol; then straining the liquid, transferring it to a clean bottle, and keeping it closely corked. Very little of what is called "Extract of Vanilla" is good, and it is more expensive than to make it yourself. Also, what is generally sold for essence of lemon is very inferior to real lemon juice.

JELLY OR MARMALADE PUDDING.—

Divide the paste equally and line two puff-paste shells. Bake them empty; and while baking, beat till very light and thick, the yolks of six eggs. Mix the beaten egg with a liberal portion of any nice kind of fruit, jelly or marmalade, and boil it ten minutes in a sauce-pan, stirring it well. Take it up and set it away to cool. When cold, fill with it the baked shells. Fill them up to the top with the mixture, and before they go to table sift powdered white sugar over the surface of the puddings.

CHEESE PUDDING.—

Take a quarter of a pound of excellent cheese; rich, but not strong or old. Cut it in small bits, and then beat it (a little at a time) in a marble mortar. Add a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter. Cut it up, and pound it in the mortar with the cheese, till perfectly smooth and well mixed. Beat five eggs till very thick and smooth. Mix them, gradually, with the cheese and butter. Put the mixture into a deep dish with a rim. Have ready some puff-paste, and lay a broad border of it all round the edge, ornamenting it handsomely. Set it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it till the paste is browned, and has risen very high all round the edge of the dish. Sift white sugar over it before it goes to table.

It is intended that the cheese taste shall predominate. But, if preferred, you may make the mixture very sweet by adding powdered sugar; it may be seasoned with nutmeg and mace. Either way is good.

It may be baked in small patty-pans, lined at the bottom and sides with puff-paste. Remove them from the tins as soon as they come out of the oven, and place them on a large dish.

This pudding is very nice made of rich fresh cream cheese; the rind, of course, being pared off. Cream cheese pudding will require sugar and spice—that is, a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon, all mixed; two ounces of fresh butter, and six eggs.

FLORENDINES.—

These are made of any sort of fruit, stewed in its own juice or in sweetmeat syrup, but when practicable, without any water. A pint of this fruit is mixed with half a pint of fresh butter, and half a pint of powdered sugar stirred together to a light cream, and then mixed with three well-beaten eggs, and the fruit stirred in alternately with the beaten butter and sugar. Have ready baked shells of puff-paste, ready to be filled with the mixture. The fruit may be apples, quinces, peaches, gooseberries, currants, raspberries. Cranberries, gooseberries, and currants, require additional sugar, as they are naturally very sour. If you use plums or cherries for any sort of cooking, stone them first.

PEACH PIES.—

Take a sufficient number of fine juicy freestone peaches. Clingstones are very hard and insipid when raw, and still more tasteless when cooked. Peel the peaches and quarter them, having removed the stones. Stew them in their own juice, and while hot make them very sweet with white sugar. When you put them to stew, place among them a bunch of fresh green peach leaves, to be removed when the peaches are done. Or, cook with them some peach kernels, blanched in hot water, to be picked out when the stewing is finished. Peach leaves or kernels communicate a flavor which to most persons is pleasant. Have ready some puff-paste shells; baked, and beginning to cool. Fill them to the top with the stewed peaches, and pile on them some whipped cream sweetened, and flavored with noyau or rose-water.

A FRUIT CHARLOTTE.—

Have ready a large fresh almond sponge cake, or lady cake. Cut a round or circular piece to fit the bottom of a great glass bowl. Also, about twelve or fourteen oblong slices, to stand up all round to line the sides. Have ready two quarts or more of ripe strawberries or raspberries. Mash the fruit to a jam, and having made it very sweet with white sugar, spread it thickly over the pieces of cake. Lay the circular piece of cake in the bottom of the bowl and stand up the others all round the sides, all close to each other or wrapping over a little. Proceed to fill the bowl with the fruit; and when half way up, put on another layer of sliced cake spread with fruit. Then fill up with fruit to the top. Have ready a quart of whipped cream flavored with vanilla or bitter almonds. Heap it high on the bowl, and set it in a cool place till it goes to table. This is a very fine article for a nice dessert, and can be prepared at a short notice, and without going down stairs, as it requires no cooking.

For the whipped cream, you may pile the bowl with any sort of white ice-cream ready made, and if there is no fresh fruit in season, substitute marmalade or fruit jelly.

If you have no large bowl you may serve up this charlotte in glass or china saucers, laying in the bottom of each a circular slice of cake spread over with ripe fruit or marmalade. Fill up with the same, and finish with whipped cream, or ice-cream heaped on the top.

VANILLA CUSTARDS.—

Split a vanilla bean, break it into small bits, and boil it in a half pint of milk, till all the flavor of the vanilla is extracted. Strain it through a very fine strainer, cover it, and set it aside. Boil a quart of rich milk, and when it comes to a boil set it away to cool. Beat eight eggs till very thick and smooth, (and when the milk is cold) add that which is flavored with vanilla, and stir it in gradually with a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar. Divide the mixture in custard cups, (filling them to the top) and set them into an iron bake-pan filled with boiling water, reaching nearly to the the rim of the cups. Put them into a moderate oven, and bake them a pale brown. When cool, grate nutmeg, or lay a maccaroon on the top over each. Never send custards warm to table. If well made, and baked not too much, there will be no whey at the bottom of the cups, and the custards will be smooth and firm all through, and have no spongy holes in them.

To make soft custards, omit the whites of all the eggs, and have a double quantity of yolks. The whites may be used for almond or cocoa-nut pudding, for lady cake, for meringue or icing, and for kisses or maccaroons.

Orange Custards.—Prepare four large ripe oranges, by rolling them under your hand on a table to increase the juice. Use none of the peel for these custards, but reserve it for something else. Beat in a shallow pan twelve eggs till thick and smooth. Mix the orange juice with a wineglass of cold water, and stir it gradually into the beaten egg, with a small tumblerful of powdered sugar. There is no milk in these custards. Divide them into custard cups, and beat them ten minutes. When cold, grate nutmeg over them.

Lemon Custard—Is made in the above manner, with the juice of four large lemons, (omitting the rind) a small wineglass of cold water, twelve beaten eggs, and a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar. Any of these fine custards may be boiled in a bain-marie, with water in the outside kettle, and there is no way better. When boiled and cool, grate in some nutmeg, and serve up the custard in a glass or china pitcher, with saucers of the same to eat it from, or divide it in small glass cups with handles to them.

Lemon or orange custards are very fine. They are made without milk.

Chocolate Custard.—Make some strong chocolate, allowing a quarter of a pound of the best, (which is Baker's prepared cocoa) to a quart of rich milk; first mixing the milk and scraped chocolate to a smooth paste. Boil them together a quarter of an hour. While warm, stir in two or three table-spoonfuls of loaf sugar. Then set it away to cool. Have ready eight well-beaten eggs, and stir them gradually into the chocolate. Bake the mixture in cups, and serve them up with a chocolate maccaroon laid on the top of each.

Almond and Maccaroon Custard.—Boil in half a pint of rich milk a handful of bitter almonds, blanched and broken up. When highly flavored, strain that milk and set it aside. Boil a quart of milk by itself, and when cold stir in, gradually, eight well beaten eggs, adding the flavored milk, and half a pint of powdered sugar. Stir the whole very hard at the last. Bake it in cups, and when done and cold, lay on the top of each a maccaroon with four others placed around it; five maccaroons to each custard. Or, if the maccaroons are made in the house, let every one be large enough to cover the top of the custard like a lid.

FINE PLUM PUDDING.—

This pudding is best when prepared, (all but the milk and eggs,) the day before it is wanted. Seed and cut in half one pound of the best bloom raisins; and pick, wash, and dry before the fire, a pound of Zante currants, (commonly called plums.) Dredge the fruit well with flour, to prevent its sinking or clogging. Take one pound of fresh beef suet, freed from the skin and strings, and chopped very fine; a pint of grated bread-crumbs, and half a pint of sifted flour; a large quarter of a pound of the best sugar, a large table-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed, and two powdered nutmegs—all the spice steeped in a half pint of mixed wine and brandy. Put away these ingredients separately, closely covered, and let them stand undisturbed all night. Next morning proceed to finish the pudding, which requires at least six hours boiling. Beat nine eggs till very thick and smooth, then add gradually a pint of rich milk, in turn with the bread-crumbs and flour. Mix with the sugar the grated yellow rind and juice of two large lemons or two oranges, and add gradually to the mixture all the ingredients, stirring very hard. If you find it too thick, add by degrees some more milk; if too thin, some more bread-crumbs. But take care not to have too much bread or flour, or the pudding will be solid and heavy. Dip a large strong cloth in boiling water; shake it out, and spread it in a large pan. Dredge it lightly with flour, and pour in the mixture. Tie it tightly, but leave sufficient space for the pudding to swell in boiling. Put it into a pot of fast-boiling water, and boil it steadily six hours or more, not taking it up till wanted for table. Before turning it, dip the cloth for a moment in cold water to make the pudding come out easily. Have ready some slips of citron or of blanched sweet almonds, or both, and stick them, liberally, all over the surface of the pudding after you have dished it. Serve it up with wine sauce highly flavored, or with butter and sugar beaten to a cream, and seasoned with nutmeg and rose. Do not set the pudding on fire to burn out the liquor; that practice has had its day, and is over. It was always foolish.

If you wish to send it to a distant place, (for instance, to some part of the world where plum puddings are not known or not made) you may preserve it, (after boiling it well,) by leaving it tied up in the cloth it was cooked in; hanging it up in a cool dry place, and then packing it well in a tin vessel having a close fitting cover. Paste a band of thick white paper all around the place where the lid shuts down, and put into a tight box the vessel that contains the pudding. When it arrives at its destination, the friend who receives it will pare off thinly the outside, and tying up the pudding in a fresh clean cloth, will boil it over again for an hour or more; and when done the surface may be then decorated with slips of citron or almond. It has been said that in this way a plum pudding can be kept for six months, as good as ever. It cannot. But it may keep six weeks. Do not fry or broil plum pudding that is left at dinner. The slices will be greasy and heavy. But tie the piece that remains in a small cloth, and boil it over again for an hour. It will then be nearly as good as on the first day. Believe in no wonders that you hear, of the long keeping of either plum pudding, plum cake, or mince meat, which are all of the same family. However long they may be preserved from absolute decomposition, these things are always best when fresh.

MINCE PIES.—

The best mince meat is made of fresh beef's tongue boiled, peeled, and when quite cold, chopped very fine. The next best is of beef's heart boiled and chopped. The next of cold roast beef. And the next, of the lean of cold boiled beef, quite fresh, and cooked especially for the purpose. All the meat must be fresh, and not minced till entirely cold. To two large pounds of lean meat allow two small pounds of nice kidney suet, cleared from skin and strings, and chopped very small; two pounds of fine juicy apples, pared, cored, and minced; two pounds of Zante currants, washed, and picked clean; two pounds of fine bloom raisins, seeded and chopped, or of seedless sultana raisins cut in half; two pounds of the best sugar; two large nutmegs, powdered; a table-spoonful of ground cinnamon; the same quantity of ground ginger, with the juice and grated yellow rind of six large lemons, or the juice of six oranges, and their grated rind; a pint of Madeira or sherry, and half a pint of brandy; lastly, half a pound of citron cut into slips, rather large. If the citron is chopped small it cannot be distinguished among the other ingredients, and its flavor is lost. When all is prepared, mix well in a large pan the chopped meat, suet, and fruit. Then, gradually add the spice, having steeped it in the liquor all the preceding night, mixing the whole thoroughly, and putting in the citron at the last. Line with fine puff-paste deep pie-dishes, or patty-pans. Fill them, quite full of the mince, heaping it higher towards the centre; and put on a lid, handsomely decorated with puff-paste ornaments, and having a cross slit in the centre surrounded with paste leaves or flowers. Set the pies immediately into a moderately brisk oven, and bake them a light brown. Eat them warm. If baked the preceding day, heat them again before they go to table. The foolish custom of setting the pies on fire after they come to table, and causing a blue blaze to issue from the liquor that is in them, is now obsolete, and considered ungenteel and tavern-like. If this practice originated in a polite desire to frighten the ladies, its purpose is already a failure, for the ladies are not frightened; that is, not really.

Mincemeat will taste more fresh and pleasant if the apples are not added till the day the pies are made. It should be kept well-secured from air and damp, in stone jars closely covered. Whenever a jar is opened to take out some for immediate use, pour in a large glass or two of brandy, and stir it about. It is not true that mincemeat will keep all winter, even by this preservative. It is sure to become musty (or worse,) before two months. It is best to make fresh mincemeat at least three times during the season. When the cold weather is over, do not attempt it, unless a little for immediate use.

Mincemeat, with a double portion of excellent raisins, (cut in half,) will do very well without currants, which are very troublesome to prepare; and those imported of late years are rarely of good quality.

We have heard of West India mincemeat made with cold roast turkey; chopped pine-apple; grated cocoa-nut; preserved ginger chopped, and moistened with its own syrup; and seasoned with nutmeg and noyau.

The above mince pies are for company.

CALF'S FEET JELLY.—

Select the largest and best calf's feet. Four is called a set. Choose those that, after the hair has been well scalded and scraped off, are prepared with the skins left on. There is much glutinous substance in the skin itself, therefore it adds to the strength and firmness of the jelly. The feet being made perfectly clean, split them upwards as far as you can, and put them to boil in a gallon of very clear soft water. Boil them till they have all gone to pieces, and the flesh is reduced to rags, and the liquid to one half. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a white-ware pan, and set it away to cool. When quite cold, it should be a cake of firm jelly. Take it out, and scrape from it all the fat at the top and sediment at the bottom. Press on the surface, some clean blotting paper, to remove any grease that may yet remain about it. Cut the cake of jelly into pieces, and put it into a very clean porcelain kettle, with a large pint of sherry, (inferior wine will spoil it,) a pound of the best loaf sugar, broken small; the yellow rind of six lemons, pared so thin as to be transparent, and their juice squeezed over the sugar through a strainer; the whites of six or seven eggs, with their shells mashed small. If the jelly is to be moulded, add a quarter ounce of the best Russia isinglass. Boil together all these ingredients for near twenty minutes. Then take it off the fire, and let it stand undisturbed for about five minutes, to settle. Next, have ready a pointed jelly bag, made of clean white flannel. Spread it open, suspended by strings to a table edge. Set a large tureen or white-ware pan beneath it, and let the jelly drip as long as it will; but on no account squeeze or press the bag, as that will spoil all, rendering the whole jelly cloudy or streaked. If it is not quite clear at the first straining, empty the contents of the bag into a basin, wash the bag clean, hang it up again, pour the jelly back, wash the tureen or pan, and let the jelly pass into it again. Repeat this straining if necessary. When quite clear, shape the jelly in white-ware moulds, which have been setting two hours in cold water. When the jelly is wanted, wrap round the moulds for a moment, a cloth dipped in warm water, and turn it out on glass dishes. The ingredients that are left in the bag may be boiled and strained over again for children. If the jelly is not to be moulded, you may omit the isinglass. In that case break it up, and serve it in a glass bowl. It is now the general opinion that jellies have a more lively taste when broken up, from the numerous acute angles they present to the tongue and palate. We think this opinion correct; and also they look brighter and more glittering, and go farther.

Apple Jelly—Is far less expensive than that of calf's feet, and if well made looks beautifully. It requires the very best and most juicy apples, (for instance, two dozen large pippins or bell-flowers.) Wash and wipe them well, (removing all blemishes,) pare, core, and slice or quarter them. Put them into a bain-marie or double kettle, with the water outside, and let them boil till broken and dissolved, putting in with them the grated yellow rind of four large lemons. Press and mash the stewed apples through a very clean sieve, till you have extracted all the juice. Measure it while warm, and allow to each quart a pound of the finest powdered and sifted loaf sugar well mixed in, and the juice of the lemons. Transfer it to a clean white flannel jelly bag, and let it drip into a large white-ware pan. When quite clear, put it into moulds, and set it on ice to congeal. When wanted, turn it out of the moulds, (loosened by wrapping round their outsides cloths dipped a minute in warm water) and serve it up in glass dishes.

Siberian Jelly.—A fine pink-colored jelly may be made in the above manner, of the red Siberian crab-apple, but it requires an additional quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Instead of lemon you may flavor it, (after all the juice has done dripping) by mixing with extract of rose, or strong rose-water, allowing a wine-glassful to each quart of jelly. Rose-water, or extract of rose, evaporates so speedily when over the fire, that it should never be added till the very last.

Orange Jelly—Is made in the proportion of a pint of strained orange juice to a pound of loaf sugar, boiled with an ounce of isinglass, that has first been melted over the fire by itself in a very little water. Add the yellow rind of the oranges pared from the white as thin as possible. Give it one boil up, and strain it into the jelly-bag. When clear, transfer it to moulds. Twelve large oranges will generally yield a pint of juice. Lemon jelly is made in the same manner, but with more sugar.

CURRANT JELLY.—

The currants should be large, fine, and fully ripe. The best and sweetest currants grow in the shade; and the largest, also. If exposed to the full heat of our American sun, it turns them sour, dries up the juice, and withers their growth. Gather them when fully ripe, strip them from the stems into a cullender, and wash and drain them. Transfer them to a large pan, and mash them well with a wooden beetle. Then put the currants, with their juice, into a bain-marie or double kettle, and cook them with the water outside, stirring them hard to bring out the juice. Simmer them for a quarter of an hour, and then transfer them to a very clean sieve, and press them over a pan till no more juice appears. Measure the juice, and to each pint allow a pound of broken-up loaf sugar. Mix the sugar with the juice, put all into a porcelain kettle, and boil it till the scum ceases to rise. If the sugar is of excellent quality, (the best double-refined should be used for all nice sweetmeats) it will need but little skimming, and leave no sediment when poured off. Boil it twenty minutes with the sugar. To try if it is done, take up a spoonful and hold it out in the open air. If it congeals very soon, it is cooked enough. Put it warm into glass tumblers. Cut out some white tissue paper into double rounds, exactly fitting the glasses. Press these papers lightly on the surface of the jelly; and, next day, tie over the top thick papers dipped in brandy, and set them in the sun all that day if the weather is bright and warm.

All jellies of small fruit may be made in a similar manner; first boiling the fruit by itself, and mashing it to get out all the juice. Then boiling the berries again, with the sugar, for about twenty minutes. The above receipt is equally good for grapes, blackberries, and gooseberries. Black currant jelly (excellent for sore throats,) requires but three quarters of a pound of sugar, the juice being very thick of itself. Peaches, plums, damsons, and green gages, must be scalded, peeled, and stoned, before boiling for jelly, and they require, at least, a pound and a half of sugar to a pint of juice. It is better to preserve them as marmalade than as jelly. Strawberries and raspberries require no previous cooking; mash out the juice, strain it, allow a pound of sugar to every pint of juice, and then boil them together (skimming carefully) for about a quarter of an hour, or till they congeal on being tried in the air.

WINE JELLY.—

Wine jellies are seldom made except for company. The wine must be of excellent quality; either port, madeira, or champagne. To a quart of wine allow a pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar, and an ounce of the best Russian isinglass. Melt the sugar (broken small) in the wine. Melt the isinglass by itself in as much warm water as will just cover it, and when quite dissolved, stir it into the mixed wine and sugar. Boil all together, till on trial it becomes a firm jelly, which will be very soon. If it does not congeal well, add some more dissolved isinglass, and more sugar. Serve in moulds, and eat it on saucers. Jelly is made in this manner of any nice sort of liqueur or cordial. Also of strong green tea, or very strong coffee; first made as usual, and then boiled with loaf sugar and isinglass till they congeal. We do not recommend them, except as some exhilaration to the fatigue of a party.

TRIFLE.—

This is a very nice and very elegant party dish, and is served in a large glass bowl. Put into the bottom of the bowl a pound of bitter almond maccaroons. Pour on sufficient madeira or sherry to dissolve them. Let them soak in it till soft and broken. Have ready a very rich custard, flavored with vanilla bean (broken up and boiled by itself in a little milk), and then strained into the quart of milk prepared for the custard, which should be of ten eggs, (using only the yolks) and sweetened with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar. It is best and easiest to bake the custard. It will be very rich and soft with yolk of egg only. When the custard is cold lay it on the dissolved maccaroons. Then add a thick layer of very nice marmalade. Rub off the yellow rind of a large lemon or two on some pieces of loaf sugar, and add to it some powdered sugar mixed with the lemon juice. Whip to a strong froth a large quart (or more) of rich cream, gradually mixing with it the lemon and sugar. Lastly, pile up the frothed cream high on the glass bowl, and keep it on ice till it is sent to table. Instead of lemon you may flavor the whipt cream with rose-water; it will require, if not very strong, a wine-glassful. To give the cream a fine pink color, tie up some alkanet chips in a thin muslin bag; lay the bag to infuse in a tea-cup of plain cream, and then add the pink infusion to the quart of cream as you froth it.

BLANCMANGE.—

The best and finest blancmange is made with a set of calves' feet, (singed but not skinned) boiled slowly in a gallon of water till the meat drops from the bone; then strain it, and set it away till next day, in a broad white-ware pan. Skim it well while boiling. Next day it should be a solid cake of clear jelly. Scrape off all the fat and sediment from the outside, cut the jelly into small bits, and melt it over again. Boil in a porcelain kettle a pint of cream, and when it has come to a boil, stir in six ounces of loaf sugar, and whatever you intend for flavoring; either the milk, in which a handful of bitter almonds has been boiled, (first being blanched and broken up) or a vanilla bean split and cut to pieces, and boiled in a little milk and strained. Or, it may be mixed with three ounces of chocolate, (Baker's prepared cocoa is the best) scraped fine. When the flavoring has had a boil with the sugar, stir into it, gradually, the melted jelly, and transfer it to white-ware moulds that have set in cold water, and are still damp. Stir it well, and when the blancmange is thickening, and becoming hard to stir, set the moulds on ice, or in pans of cold water in the cellar, and cease stirring. When quite congealed, dip the moulds in lukewarm water, and turn out the blancmange on glass dishes. You may color almond or vanilla blancmange a fine pink, by putting into the cream chips of alkanet root tied in a small thin muslin bag, to be removed as soon as the cream is highly colored. Or, it may be made green by the infusion of spinach juice, obtained by pounding in a marble mortar, and then boiling and straining.

Gelatine is now frequently used for blancmange and jelly, instead of calves' feet or isinglass. It has no advantage but that of being more speedily prepared than calves' feet, which must be boiled the day before. Four cakes of gelatine are equal to four calves' feet. Before using, they must be soaked for an hour or more in a pan of cold water, then boiled with the other ingredients. Some persons think they perceive an unpleasant taste in gelatine; perhaps they have heard of what it is made.

When calves' feet cannot be obtained, pigs' feet will do very well, if nobody knows it. Four feet of calves are equal to eight of pigs. They are very glutinous, and have no perceptible taste.

FINEST BLANCMANGE.—

Break up a half pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar. On some of the pieces rub off the yellow rind of two large lemons, having rolled them under your hand to increase the juice. Then powder all the sugar, and mix with it, gradually, the juice of the lemons, a pint of rich cream, and a large half pint (not less) of sherry or madeira. Stir the mixture very hard till all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Then stir in, gradually, a second pint of cream. Put into a small sauce-pan an ounce of the best Russia isinglass, with one jill (or two common-sized wineglasses) of cold water. Boil it till the isinglass is completely dissolved, stirring it several times down to the bottom. When the melted isinglass has become lukewarm, stir it gradually into the mixture, and then give the whole a hard stirring. Have ready some white-ware moulds that have just been dipped and rinsed in cold water. Fill them with the mixture, set them on ice, and in two or three hours the blancmange will be congealed. When it is perfectly firm, dip the moulds for a minute in lukewarm water, and turn out the blancmange on glass dishes. This, if accurately made, is the finest of blancmange. For company, you must have double, or treble, or four times the quantity of ingredients; each article in due proportion.

FARINA.—

Farina is a very fine and delicate preparation, made from the inner part of the grain of new wheat. It is exceedingly nutritious, and excellent either for invalids or for persons in health. It is now much in use, and is to be had, in packages of a pound or half a pound, of the best grocers and druggists, and is highly recommended by physicians for gruel and panade. It also makes an excellent pudding, either boiled or baked, prepared in the same manner as any flour pudding. For boiling farina, nothing is so good as a bain-marie or double kettle.

For Farina Blancmange.—From a quart of rich milk take out a half pint. Put the half pint into a small sauce-pan, and add to it a handful of bitter almonds broken up; or a bunch of fresh peach leaves, or a vanilla bean split, cut up, and tied in a thin muslin bag. When this milk has boiled till very highly flavored, strain it into the pint and a half, and set it over the fire in a porcelain kettle or a bain-marie. When the milk has come to a boil, sprinkle in, gradually, a large half pint or more (or four large heaping table-spoonfuls) of farina, stirring it well—also sprinkling in and stirring, as if making thick mush. Let it boil slowly a quarter of an hour after the farina is all in. When done, remove it from the fire, and stir in two large table-spoonfuls of sugar, and a wineglass of rose-water, or one of white wine. Transfer it to a blancmange mould, (previously wet with cold water,) set it on ice, and turn it out when ready for dinner. Eat it with sauce of wine, sugar, and nutmeg.

FINE MARROW PUDDING.—

Mince very small a quarter of a pound of nice beef marrow, and grate or crumble half a pound of almond sponge cake. Cut in half, a quarter of a pound of sultana or seedless raisins, chop two peels of candied citron, mix them with the raisins, and dredge both thickly with flour. Add a large heaped table-spoonful of loaf sugar, a small nutmeg grated, and a wineglass of mixed wine and brandy. Mix all these ingredients well, put them into a deep dish, lay a border of puff-paste all round the rim, and fill the dish up to the top with a nice custard made in the proportion of four eggs to a pint of well-sweetened milk, flavored with either bitter almonds, rose-water, peach-water, or vanilla. Bake this pudding half an hour. When cool, sift sugar over it.

OMELETTE SOUFFLÉ.—

Break six eggs, separating the yolks and whites. Give them a slight stir, and strain the whites into one pan and the yolks into another. Add to the yolks three large table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar, a heaped tea-spoonful of arrow-root flour, and twelve drops of strong orange-flower water, and beat it till very thick and smooth. Then beat the whites to a stiff froth, beginning slowly at first, but gradually beating faster. Then add the beaten yolk very gently to the whites. Have ready a silver or plated dish well-buttered. Use tin for want of better, but it will not look well, as the omelette has to be served up in the dish it was baked in. Place the dish with the mixture in a hot oven, and watch it while baking. When it has well risen, and seems very light, take it out of the oven for a moment; run a knife round it, sift some sugar over it, set it again in the oven, and when raised to its utmost take it out again, and serve it up as hot as possible, with a spoon on the plate beside it. When once broken, it will sink immediately. It is usual to send round the omelette soufflÉ at the very last of the pastry course; the cook not beginning to make it till the dinner has commenced. If not light when baked, give it up, and do not send it to table at all. It is safest for an inexperienced housewife to engage a French cook to come to the house with his own ingredients and utensils, and make and bake the omelette soufflÉ while there. Still though very fashionable, it is less delicious than many other desserts.

SUNDERLANDS.—

Warm a quart of rich milk, and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh butter to soften in the milk, but not to oil. Beat eight eggs till very light and thick, and then stir them gradually into the pan of milk and butter, in turn with eight large table-spoonfuls of sifted flour. Beat all very hard together, and then transfer the batter to white tea-cups, slightly buttered, not filling them quite full. Set them immediately into a brisk oven, and bake them about twenty minutes, or till they are slightly browned, and have puffed up very light. As soon as they are cool enough to handle without burning your fingers, turn them out of the cups on a dish, cut a slit in the top of each, and, taking a tea-spoon, fill them quite full of any sort of jelly or marmalade; or if more convenient, with ripe strawberries or raspberries, sweetened with powdered sugar, and mashed smoothly. When filled with fruit, close the slit neatly with your fingers; and on the top of each lay a large strawberry or raspberry, having first dredged the sunderland with sugar.

Cream Cakes—Are made in the above manner, but baked in patty-pans. When baked take them out, cut a slit in the side of each; and having prepared an ample quantity of rich boiled custard, made with yolk of egg, and highly flavored (after it has boiled,) with lemon, orange, vanilla, rose-water or peach-water, fill the cakes full of the custard, closing the opening well by pinching it together. Sift powdered sugar over them, and send them to table on a large china dish.

CREAM TART.—

Make a fine puff-paste of equal quantities of fresh butter and sifted flour; mixing into the pan of flour a heaped table-spoonful of powdered sugar, and wetting it with a beaten egg. Rub one quarter of the butter into the pan of flour. Divide the remainder of butter into six, and roll it into the flour at six turns till it is all in. Have, ready grated, the yellow rind and the juice of a large lemon or orange mixed with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar; or a flavoring of a split-up vanilla bean; or a dozen bitter almonds broken up, and boiled in a very little milk. Mix the flavoring with a pint of rich cream, and the well-beaten whites of three eggs. Take small deep pans, line them all through with the paste rolled out very thin, and cut square. Fill them with the cream, and turn the square pieces of paste a little over it at the top, so as to form corners. Bake the tarts in a brisk oven, and when cold, grate nutmeg over the surface.

Are these the cream tarts of the Arabian Nights?

ORANGE COCOA-NUT.—

Break up a fine ripe cocoa-nut, and after peeling off the brown skin, lay the pieces in cold water for a while. Then wipe them dry with a clean towel, and grate them into a deep dish. Mix in, plenty of powdered white sugar. Take some fine large oranges, very ripe and juicy. Peel off all the rind, and slice the oranges rather thick. Cover the bottom of a large glass bowl with sliced orange, (the first layer being double, where the bowl is small) and strew among the slices sufficient sugar. Then put in a thick layer of the grated cocoa-nut, next another layer of orange—again a layer of cocoa-nut, and so on, alternately, till the bowl is filled, finishing with cocoa-nut heaped high. This is a handsome and delicious article for a supper-table, and a nice impromptu addition to the dessert at a dinner; and soon prepared, as it requires no cooking. When the fruit is in season, a dessert for a small company may consist entirely of orange cocoa-nut, raspberry charlotte, and cream strawberries.

Never send oranges whole to table. To ladies they are unmanageable in company.

Creamed Strawberries.—Take fine large ripe strawberries. Hull or stem them, and set them on ice till just before they are wanted. Divide them into saucerfulls. If you have glass saucers, they will make a better show than china. Put some powdered white sugar in the bottom of each saucer. Fill them with strawberries, and then strew on a liberal allowance of sugar, for American strawberries (however fine in appearance) are seldom sweet. Have ready sufficient whipped cream, that has been frothed with rods or with a tin cream-churn. Pile high a portion of the whipt cream on each saucer of strawberries.

Strawberries are sometimes eaten with wine and sugar, when cream is not convenient. With milk they curdle, and are unwholesome—besides tasting poorly.

Creamed Pine-apple.—Cut into four pieces two large ripe pine-apples. Stand them up successively in a deep dish, and grate them from the rind. When all is grated, transfer it to a large glass bowl, and make it very sweet by mixing in powdered white loaf sugar. Whip to a stiff froth a sufficiency of rich cream, adding to it some sugar, and heap it high upon the grated pine-apple.

Peaches and Cream.—Take fine juicy freestone peaches. Pare them, and cut them in slices. Put them, with their juice, into a large bowl, and make them very sweet with powdered loaf sugar. Set them on ice, and let them remain in the juice till wanted. Then send them to table with fresh sugar sifted over the top. Set near them pitchers of plain cream, not frothed.

If you cannot obtain cream, it is better to be satisfied with sugar alone, than to substitute milk, with peaches, or any other fruit.

Put into a porcelain-lined preserving kettle three pounds of the best loaf sugar, and pour on it a pint and a half of very clear water. When it has entirely dissolved, set it over the fire, and add a table spoonful of fine cider vinegar to assist in clearing it as it boils. Boil and skim it well, and when no more scum rises add the juice of four large lemons or oranges. Let it boil till it will boil no longer, stirring it well. When done transfer it to square tin pans, that have been made very clean and bright, and that are slightly greased with sweet oil. Set the taffy away to cool, first marking it with a knife, while soft. Mark it in straight lines the broad or crossway of the pans. If marked lengthways, the pieces will be too long. When the taffy is cold, cut it according to the lines, in regular slips, like cocoa-nut candy. It is for a handsome supper party. Serve it up in glass dishes.

Orange taffy is made in the same manner. These candies should be kept in tin boxes.

Cocoa-nut Candy—Is made in the manner of taffy, using finely grated cocoa-nut, instead of lemon or orange.

CHARLOTTE RUSSE.—

Split, cut up, and boil a large vanilla bean in half a pint of rich milk, till it is highly flavored, and reduced to one-half. Then strain out the vanilla through a strainer so fine as to avoid all the seeds. Mix the strained milk with half a pint of rich cream. Beat five eggs till very smooth and thick. Strain them, and add them gradually to the cream when it is entirely cold, to make a rich custard. Set this custard over the fire (stirring it all the time) till it simmers; but take it off before it comes to a boil, or it will curdle. Set it on ice. Have ready in another sauce-pan an ounce of the best Russia isinglass, boiled in half a pint of water, till it is all dissolved into a thick jelly. When both are cold, (but not hard) mix the custard and the isinglass together, and add four table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Then take a large lump of loaf sugar, and rub off on it the yellow rind of two large lemons. Scrape off the lemon-grate with a tea-spoon, and add it to the mixture, with the lump of sugar powdered and crushed fine. Mix together the strained juice of the lemons, and two glasses of madeira; dissolve in them the lemon-flavored sugar, and mix it with a pint of rich cream that has been whipped with a whisk to a strong froth. Add the whipped cream gradually to the custard, starring very hard at the time, and also after the whole is mixed. Then set it on ice.

Cover the bottom of a flat oval dish with a slice of almond sponge cake, cut to fit. Prepare a sufficient number of oblong slices of the cake, (all of the same size and shape) to go all round; with one extra slice, in case they should not quite hold out. Dip every one in a plate of beaten white of egg to make them adhere. Stand each of them up on one end, round the large oval slice that lies at the bottom. Make them follow each other evenly and neatly, (every one lapping a little way over its predecessor) till you have a handsome wall of slices, cemented all round by the white of egg. Fill it quite full with the custard mixture. Cover the top with another oval slice of cake, cemented with a little white of egg to the upper edge of the wall. Make a nice icing in the usual way, of powdered sugar beaten into frothed white of egg, and flavored with lemon, orange, or rose. Spread this icing thickly and smoothly over the cake that covers the top of the charlotte, and ornament it with a handsome pattern of sugar flowers. There is no charlotte russe superior to this.

Another Charlotte Russe.—Have a very nice circular lady cake. It should be iced all over, and ornamented with sugar flowers. Take off the top nicely, and without breaking or defacing, and hollow out the inside, leaving the sides and bottom standing. The cake taken from the inside may be cut in regular pieces and used at tea, or for other purposes. Make a very fine boiled custard, according to the preceding receipt. Fill with it the empty cake, as if filling a mould. Then put on the lid, set the whole on ice, and when wanted serve it up on a glass or china dish.

A charlotte that requires no cooking may be very easily made by hollowing a nice circular almond sponge cake, and filling it with layers of small preserves, and piling on the top whipped cream finely flavored.

For the walls of a charlotte russe you may use the oblong sponge cakes, called Naples biscuits, or those denominated lady fingers, dipping them first in beaten white of egg, standing them on end, and arranging them so as to lap over each other in forming the wall. Arrange some of them handsomely to cover the top of the custard.

ICE CREAM.—

Pewter freezers for ice cream are better than those of block tin; as in them the freezing goes on more gradually and thoroughly, and it does not melt so soon, besides being smoother when done. The ice tub should be large enough to allow ample space all round (six inches, at least,) the freezer as it stands in the centre, and should have a plug at the bottom (beneath the freezer) for letting out the water that drips from the ice; that a large coarse woolen cloth should be folded, and laid under it and around it. The ice should be broken up into small bits, and mixed with coarse salt, in the proportion of a pound of salt to five pounds of ice. Fill the tub within three inches of the top; pounding and pressing down hard the mixed ice and salt. Have ready all the ingredients. To every quart of real rich cream mix in a pint of milk, (not more) and half a pound of fine loaf sugar. The following are the most usual flavorings, all the fruit being made very sweet. Ripe strawberries or raspberries, mashed through a sieve till all the juice is extracted; ripe juicy freestone peaches, pared, and cut in half, the kernels being taken from the stones, are pounded, and mashed with the fruit through a cullender; all the juice that can be mashed out of a sliced pine-apple, the grated yellow rind and the juice of lemons or oranges, allowing two to each quart of cream, and mixing the juice with plenty of sugar before it is put to the cream. A handful of shelled bitter almonds blanched, broken, and boiled by themselves in half a pint of milk till all the almond flavor is extracted, and then strain the bitter almond milk into the cream. For vanilla flavor, split and cut up a vanilla bean, boil it by itself in a half pint of milk, and when highly flavored, strain the vanilla milk into the cream. For chocolate ice cream, scrape down a quarter of a pound of Baker's prepared cocoa, and melt it in just water enough to cover it; then sweeten and mix it gradually into a quart of rich milk, (boiling at the time) and then boil and stir it till strong and smooth. Ice cream is spoiled by the addition of eggs. Besides giving it a yellowish color, eggs convert it into mere frozen custard, particularly if instead of using real cream, it is made of milk thickened with arrow-root or flour. For company at least, ice cream should be made in the best and most liberal manner, or else do not attempt it. Mean ice cream is a very mean thing.

When all the ingredients are prepared and mixed, put the whole into the freezer, and set it in the ice tub; and having put on the lid tightly, take the freezer by the handle and turn it about very fast for five or six minutes. Then remove the lid carefully, and scrape down the cream from the sides with a spaddle or long-handled spoon. Repeat this frequently while it is freezing, taking care to keep the sides clear, stirring it well to the bottom, and keeping the tub well filled with salt and ice outside the freezer.

After the cream has been well frozen in the freezer, transfer it to moulds, pressing it in hard, so as to fill every part of the mould. Then set the mould in a fresh tub of ice and salt, (using as before the proportion of a pound of salt to five pounds of ice) and let it remain undisturbed in the mould for an hour, not turning it out till it is time to serve it up to the company. Then wrap a cloth, dipped in warm water, round the outside of the moulds, open them, and turn out the frozen cream on glass or china dishes, and serve it up immediately.

Unless ice cream is very highly flavored at the beginning, its taste will be much weakened in the process of freezing.

The most usual form of ice cream moulds are pyramids, dolphins, doves, and baskets of fruit. We have seen ice cream in the shape of a curly lap-dog, and very well represented.

If you eat what is called strawberry ice cream looking of an exquisite rose-pink color, there is no strawberry about it, either in tint or taste. It is produced by alkanet or cochineal. Real strawberries do not color so beautifully; neither do raspberries, or any other sort of red fruit. But genuine fruit syrups may be employed for this purpose, having at least the true taste. To make strawberry or raspberry syrup, prepare first what is called simple syrup, by melting a pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar in half a pint of cold water; and when melted, boiling them together, and skimming it perfectly clean. Then stir in as much fruit juice (mashed and strained,) as will give it a fine tinge, and let it have one more boiling up.

Vanilla Syrup.—Take six fine fresh vanilla beans. Split, and cut them in pieces. Scrape the seeds loose in the pods with your finger nail, and bruise and mash the shells. All this will increase the vanilla flavor. Put all you can get of the vanilla into a small quart of what is called by the druggist "absolute alcohol." Cork the bottle closely, and let the vanilla infuse in it a week. Then strain it through a very fine strainer that will not let out a single seed. Have ready half a dozen pint bottles of simple syrup. Put into every bottle of the simple syrup a portion of the strained infusion of vanilla. Cork it tightly and use it for vanilla flavoring in ice creams, custards, blancmange, &c.

Orange or Lemon Syrups—Are made by paring off the yellow rind very thin (after the fruit has been rolled under your hand on a table to increase the juice,) then boiling the rind till the water is highly flavored. Strain this water over the best loaf sugar, allowing two pounds of sugar to a pint of juice. The sugar being melted, mix it with the juice.

WATER ICES OR SHERBET.—

Water ices are made of the juice of fruits, very well sweetened, mixed with a little water, and frozen in the manner of ice cream, to which they are by many persons preferred. They are all prepared nearly in the same manner, allowing a pint of juice to a pint of water, and a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix it well, and then freeze it in the manner of ice cream, and serve it up in glass bowls. For lemon and orange sherbet, first roll the fruit on a table under your hand; then take off a very thin paring of the yellow rind, and boil it slowly in a very little water, till all the flavor is extracted. Next, strain the flavored water into the cold water you intend to mix with the juice, and make it very sweet with loaf sugar. Squeeze the juice into it through a tin strainer to avoid the seeds. Stir the whole very hard, and transfer it to a freezer. Orange water-ice is considered the best, if well made. For pine-apple water-ice, pare, core, and slice fine ripe apples very thin. Put them into a dish with thick layers of powdered loaf sugar; cover the dish, and let them lie several hours in the sugar. Then press out all the juice you can, from the pine-apple; mix it with a little water, and freeze it. To two large pine-apples allow a half pound of sugar, which has been melted in a quart of boiling water. This looks very well frozen in a mould shaped like a pine-apple. Orange sherbet may be frozen in a pine-apple mould. It can be made so rich with orange juice as to perfume the whole table.

Roman Punch—Is made of strong lemonade or orangeade, adding to every quart a pint of brandy or rum. Then freeze it, and serve in saucers or a large glass bowl. Put it into a porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. When cold, bottle it, seal the corks and keep it in a cool place.

Syrup of strawberries, raspberries, currants and blackberries, is made in a similar manner.

FLOATING ISLAND.—

For one common-sized floating island have a round thick jelly cake, lady cake, or almond sponge cake, that will weigh a pound and a half, or two pounds. Slice it downwards, almost to the bottom, but do not take the slices apart. Stand up the cake in the centre of a glass bowl or a deep dish. Have ready a pint and a half of rich cream, make it very sweet with sugar, and color it a fine green with a tea-cupful of the juice of pounded spinach, boiled five minutes by itself; strained, and made very sweet. Or for coloring pink you may use currant jelly, or the juice of preserved strawberries. Whip to a stiff froth another pint and a half of sweetened cream, and flavor it with a large glass of mixed wine and brandy. Pour round the cake, as it stands in the dish or bowl, the colored unfrothed cream, and pile the whipped white cream all over the cake, highest on the top.