  Illustration No. 1, Egg-beaters.—No. 1, Dover beater; Nos. 2 and 3, Wire Whips; No. 4, Daisy beater. Illustration No. 2, Jelly Molds.—No. 1, Two Charlotte Russe molds to use for double molding; No. 2, cylindrical mold for Charlottes, Bavarians, cornstarch, etc.; Nos. 3 and 4, ring molds. No. 2. JELLY MOLDS. No. 2. JELLY MOLDS.
Illustration No. 3.—No. 1, jelly mold packed in ice ready to be filled; No. 2, smaller mold to fit inside for double molding. See caption No. 3. JELLY MOLDS.
Illustration No. 4.—Pastry bag and tubes. Illustration No. 5.—Paper for filtering fruit juices. Illustration No. 6.—No. 1, lace papers to use under cake, puddings, jellies, individual creams, bonbons, etc.; also for timbales; No. 2, paper boxes and china cups to use for individual soufflÉs, biscuits, glacÉ oranges and grapes, creamed strawberries, and cherries; also for creamed chicken, and fish, salpicon, etc. The china cups are useful for the latter purposes. The rectangular paper boxes are easily made. For boxes 3¼ x 1¾ inches, cut heavy unruled writing paper into pieces 5¾ x 7¼ inches; fold down an edge two inches wide all around; fold it back again on itself, giving a border one inch broad. Cut the corners at the black line, as shown in diagram, and fold the box together. The ends will fit under the folds, and hold
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| 4 gills | = | 1 pint. |
| 2 pints | = | 1 quart. |
| 4 quarts | = | 1 gallon. |
| 16 ounces | = | 1 pound |
| ½ kitchen cupful | = | 1 gill. |
| 1 kitchen cupful | = | ½ pint or 2 gills. |
| 4 kitchen cupfuls | = | 1 quart. |
| }2 cupfuls of granulated sugar 2½ cupfuls of powdered sugar | = | 1 pound. |
| 1 heaping tablespoonful of sugar | = | 1 ounce. |
| }1 heaping tablespoonful of butter Butter size of an egg | = | 2 oz. or ¼ cupful |
| 1 cupful of butter | = | ½ pound. |
| }4 cupfuls of flour 1 heaping quart | = | 1 pound. |
| 8 round tablespoonfuls of dry material | = | 1 cupful. |
| 16 tablespoonfuls of liquid | = | 1 cupful. |
- 5 to 8 eggs to 1 quart of milk for custards.
- 3 to 4 eggs to 1 pint of milk for custards.
1 saltspoonful of salt to 1 quart of milk for custards. - 1 teaspoonful of vanilla to one quart of milk for custards.
- 2 ounces of gelatine to 1¾ quarts of liquid.
- 4 heaping tablespoonfuls of cornstarch to 1 quart of milk.
- 3 heaping teaspoonfuls of baking-powder to 1 quart of flour.
- 1 even teaspoonful of baking-powder to 1 cupful of flour.
- 1 teaspoonful of soda to 1 pint of sour milk.
- 1 teaspoonful of soda to ½ pint of molasses.
Isinglass comes in thin sheets, is very clear, and makes a brilliant jelly. It costs ten cents an ounce, and there are eight and one half sheets of the white, thirteen sheets of the red, to an ounce.
For dissolving and proportions, see page 412.
To whip cream. To whip cream, see page 408.
Vanilla has long held first place in American cooking as flavoring, but is no longer highly esteemed,
Flavoring sugars. Flavoring sugars can be made as follows:
Vegetable coloring pastes, which are entirely harmless, can be obtained for twenty-five cents a bottle. The green and the red, or carmine, are the colors generally used for icings, creams and jellies. The orange is used for orange-cake icing and candies. Very little should be used, as the colors should be delicate. To guard against using too much it is well to dilute it with a little water and add only a few drops at a time to the mixture.
The various shades of red to pink are obtained by using more or less carmine.
Fruit juices. Fruit juices impart both color and flavor. They should be filtered (see page 415) before using, or they give a muddy color.
To decorate cold sweet dishes, use fancy cakes, icings, fruits either fresh, candied, compote or glacÉ; jellies or blanc-mange molded, or made into a layer and then cut into fancy shapes. Spun sugar (see page 515) makes a fine decoration, and can be formed into nests, wreaths, balls, or simply spread irregularly over a dish.
Raisins and almonds. Raisins and almonds also make an effective garnish for either hot or cold desserts.
Nuts. Almonds, pistachio nuts, filberts, English walnuts and chestnuts are employed in many ways, as see receipts.
Garnishing and flavoring. The various articles needed for garnishing, flavoring, etc., should be kept in glass preserve jars, and labeled. The store-closet, once furnished with the requisites for fancy dishes, will tempt the ordinary cook to a higher class of work, and contribute to the desirable end of presenting dishes that please both sight and taste, and so raise the standard of every-day cooking. It is very easy to garnish a dish or decorate a mold, and the habit once formed will lead to more ambitious attempts.
- 2 cupfuls, or one pint, of milk.
- Yolks of 3 eggs.
- ½ saltspoonful of salt.
- ½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
- 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
Boiled custard is the basis of many puddings, ice-creams and sauces. It requires care to get it just right, for the cooking must be arrested at the right point; a moment too soon leaves it too thin, a moment too long curdles and spoils it. It should have the consistency of thick cream, and be perfectly smooth. It is safer to make it in a double boiler. Bring the milk to the scalding-point without boiling; then take from the fire, and pour it slowly into the eggs and sugar, which have been beaten together to a cream; stir all the time; replace on the fire, and stir until the custard coats the spoon, or a smooth creamy consistency is attained; then immediately strain it into a cold dish, and add the flavoring. If vanilla bean, peach leaves, or lemon zest are used for flavoring, they can be boiled with the milk. If by accident the custard begins to grain, arrest the cooking at once by putting the saucepan in cold water; add a little cold milk, and beat it vigorously with a Dover beater. Five egg yolks to a quart of milk will make a good boiled custard, but six or eight
Boiled custard may be flavored with vanilla, almond, rose, maraschino, noyau, caramel, coffee, chopped almonds, grated cocoanut, or pounded macaroons. The cocoanut makes a delicious custard, but must be rich with eggs and stiff enough to keep the cocoanut from settling to the bottom.
Make a boiled custard (see preceding receipt), using a pint of milk, three egg yolks, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, dash of salt, and any flavoring preferred. Let it get entirely cold; just before serving mix in lightly the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth. This will give a sponge-like texture, and make a very delicate custard. As the whites are not cooked it will not keep long after they are added. Ornament the top with bits of jelly on small pieces of the whipped egg.
Whip the whites of two or three eggs very stiff; add a tablespoonful of powdered sugar (see page 389) to each egg; flavor with essence of almond, and add a few chopped almonds. Turn it into an oiled pudding-mold which has a fancy top; cover and place it in a saucepan of boiling water to poach for twenty minutes. Leave enough room in the mold for the meringue to swell. Let it stand in the mold until cold; it will contract and leave the sides. When ready to serve, unmold the meringue and place it on boiled custard served in a glass dish.
Make a boiled custard No. 1, using the whites as well as the yolks of the eggs; add one bar of melted chocolate (see page 388). Mix thoroughly and strain into cups.
Use the same proportions as for boiled custard. Beat the eggs, sugar, and salt together to a cream; stir in the scalded milk; turn into a pudding-dish or into cups; grate a little nutmeg over the top; stand it in a pan of hot water, and bake in a moderate oven until firm in the center. Test by running a knife into the custard. If it comes out clean, it is done; if milky, it needs longer cooking; but it must be carefully watched, for it will separate if cooked too long.
A custard, to be smooth and solid, must be baked very slowly. The holes often seen in baked custard are caused by escaping bubbles of steam, which rise through the mixture when the heat reaches the boiling-point.
Put a cupful of granulated sugar into a small saucepan with a tablespoonful of water; stir until melted; then let it cook until a light brown color (see caramel, page 78). Turn one half the caramel into a well-buttered mold which has straight sides and flat top, and let it get cold. Into the rest of the caramel turn a half cupful of hot water, and let it stand on the side of the range until the caramel is dissolved. This is for the sauce.
Stir four yolks and two whole eggs, with three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and one half saltspoonful of salt, to a cream, but do not let it froth; add a pint of scalded milk and a half teaspoonful of vanilla. Strain this into the mold onto the cold hardened caramel. Place the mold in a pan of hot water, and bake in a very moderate oven until firm in the center; test by running in a knife (see baked custard), and watch it carefully. The water in the pan must not boil, and the oven should be so slow that it will take at least an hour to cook the custard. It will then be very firm and smooth. Unmold the custard when ready to serve. It will have a glaze of caramel over the top, and some will run down the sides. Serve the caramel sauce in another dish. This dish is recommended.
Use the same proportions as for caramel custard. Add one and one half ounces of melted chocolate (see page 388). Strain it into a buttered mold, and bake slowly the same as caramel custard. Unmold when cold, and serve with or without whipped cream.
Both the caramel and the chocolate cream custards may be baked in individual timbale-molds, if preferred.
Sweeten and flavor the milk; heat it until lukewarm; then turn it into the glass dish in which it is to be served. Add to each quart of milk a tablespoonful of liquid rennet (which comes prepared for custards), and mix it thoroughly. Let it stand where it will remain lukewarm until a firm curd is formed; then remove carefully to a cold place. If jarred the whey is likely to separate. Brandy or rum make the best flavoring for this custard, but any flavoring may be used. It may be served without sauce, but a whipped cream, colored pink, improves it, and also takes away the suggestion of soured milk which curds give.
- 1 pint of milk.
- 2 heaping tablespoonfuls
- of corn-starch.
- 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
- Whites of 3 eggs.
- ½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
Beat the eggs to a stiff froth. Dissolve the corn-starch in a little of the cold milk. Stir the sugar into the rest of the milk, and place it on the fire. When it begins to boil, add the dissolved corn-starch. Stir constantly for a few moments. When it becomes well thickened, stir in the beaten whites of the eggs, and let it remain a little longer to cook the eggs. Remove from the fire; flavor with vanilla, and turn it into a mold.
When the corn-starch is sufficiently set to hold the fruit in place, stir into it lightly one half can of well-drained fruit (cherries, raspberries, strawberries, or any other fruit), and turn it into a mold to harden. Serve the juice of the fruit with it as a sauce.
CORNSTARCH PUDDING MOLDED IN RING MOLD WITH WHITE CALIFORNIA CANNED CHERRIES AND CENTER FILLED WITH CHERRIES.
When the corn-starch is removed from the fire, and partly cooled, add half a cocoanut grated. Mix it well together and turn into a mold; serve with a custard or, better, with whipped cream. Sprinkle sugar over the half of the grated cocoanut not used, and spread it on a sieve to dry. It will keep for some time when dried.
When the corn-starch is taken from the fire and flavored, turn one third of it into a saucepan, and mix with it one and a half ounces or squares of chocolate melted, a tablespoonful of sugar if unsweetened chocolate is used, and a half cupful of stoned raisins. Let it cook one minute to set the chocolate. Turn into a plain cylindrical mold one half of the white corn-starch. Make it a smooth, even layer, keeping the edges clean; then add the chocolate; smooth it in the same way; then add the rest of the white corn-starch, making three even layers, alternating in color; after each layer is in wipe the sides of the mold so no speck of one color will deface the other. (See illustration.)
CORNSTARCH PUDDING WITH PANSIES MOLDED IN A LAYER OF JELLY ON TOP—GARNISHED WITH PANSIES.
(VERY SIMPLE, AND QUICKLY MADE)
Scald a pint of milk and four tablespoonfuls of sugar; add an ounce of chocolate shaved thin, so it will dissolve quickly; then
- ½ box, or 1 ounce, of gelatine.
- 3½ cupfuls of milk.
- ¾ cupful of sugar.
- 1 teaspoonful of vanilla, or other flavor.
Scald three cupfuls of milk with the sugar; then add and dissolve in it the gelatine, which has soaked for one half hour in a half cupful of milk. Remove from the fire, add the flavoring, and strain into a mold. Blanc-mange may be flavored with any of the liqueurs, and it may have incorporated with it, when stiffened enough to hold them suspended, chopped nuts or fruits, or raisins, currants, and citron.
- ½ box, or 1 ounce, of gelatine soaked ½ hour in 1 cupful of cold water.
- 1½ ounces of chocolate.
- 1 cupful of sugar.
- 1 pint of milk.
- 1 cupful of raisins stoned.
- ½ cupful of currants.
- ¼ cupful of sliced citron.
Dissolve the sugar in the milk, and put it in a double boiler to scald. Melt the chocolate on a dry pan; then add a few spoonfuls of the milk to make it smooth, and add it to the scalded milk. Remove from the fire, and add the soaked gelatine. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved; then strain it into a bowl. When it begins to set, or is firm enough to hold the fruit in place, stir in the fruit, which must have stood in warm water a little while to soften. Flavor with one half teaspoonful of vanilla, or a few drops of lemon. Turn it into a mold to
General remarks about. Bavarian creams are very wholesome, light, and delicious desserts. They are easily made, and are inexpensive, as one pint of cream is sufficient to make a quart and a half of bavarian. They are subject to so many variations that they may be often presented without seeming to be the same dish. Bavarian creams may be used for Charlotte Russe.
General Rules.—Have the cream cold; then whipped, and drained (see whipping cream), and do not add the whipped cream to the gelatine mixture until the latter is beginning to set.
How to make. Have the gelatine soaked in cold water one hour. It will then quickly dissolve in the hot custard.
Do not boil the gelatine.
- 1 pint of cream whipped.
- 1 pint of cream or milk.
- ½ cupful of sugar.
- Yolks of 4 eggs.
- ½ saltspoonful of salt.
- ½ box, or 1 ounce, of gelatine soaked in one half cupful of water.
- ½ vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract.
Whip one pint of cream, and stand it aside to drain. Scald one pint of cream or milk with the vanilla bean split in two; remove it from the fire, and turn it slowly, stirring all the time, on the yolks, which have been beaten with the sugar and salt to a cream. Return it to the fire a moment to set the egg, but take it off the moment it begins to thicken. Add the soaked gelatine and flavoring (if the bean has not been used). Stir until the gelatine has dissolved, then pass it through a sieve.
Use the receipt given above for plain Bavarian. Melt two ounces of chocolate, and dissolve it in a little milk; add this to the custard mixture before the gelatine.
Make a custard of one pint of milk, the yolks of three eggs, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar; add a dash of salt. When it is cooked enough to coat the spoon, add an ounce of gelatine, which has soaked for half an hour in some of the cold milk. As soon as the gelatine is dissolved, remove from the fire, and when it begins to stiffen fold in carefully the whites of three eggs whipped to a stiff froth, and turn it into a mold to set.
Mash and press through a colander any fresh or canned fruit. If berries are used, press them through a sieve to extract the seeds. Sweeten to taste, and flavor with a little orange and lemon-juice, curaÇao, or maraschino. To a pint of fruit juice or pulp add a half box or one ounce of gelatine, which has soaked an hour in one half cupful of cold water, and then been dissolved in one half cupful of hot water. Stir the fruit and gelatine on ice until it begins to set, otherwise the fruit will settle to the bottom. Then stir in lightly a pint of cream whipped and well-drained, and turn it into a mold to harden. Strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, peaches, and apricots are the fruits generally used. With fruits it is better to use a porcelain mold if possible, as tin discolors. If a tin one is used, coat it with jelly as directed on page 323, using a little of the dissolved gelatine (sweetened and flavored) prepared for the fruit.
Put into a double boiler one and one half pints of milk and a few thin cuts of lemon-zest; when it boils stir in one half cupful of well-washed rice and a saltspoonful of salt. Cook until the rice is perfectly tender. The milk should be nearly boiled away, leaving the rice very moist. Then add or mix in carefully a half cupful of sugar and a quarter of a box, or one half ounce, of gelatine, which has soaked in half a cupful of cold water for one hour, and then melted by placing the cup containing it in hot water for a few minutes. When the mixture is partly cold add three tablespoonfuls each of maraschino and of sherry, or of sherry alone, or of any other flavoring. When it is beginning to set, stir in lightly one half pint or more of well-whipped cream, and turn it into a mold. This is a very white dish, and is a delicious dessert. It may be served alone, or with orange jelly cut into croÛtons, or with orange compote (see page 536), or with plain or whipped cream.
Make a plain Bavarian; flavor with vanilla; divide it into three parts before the cream is added. Into one third stir one ounce of melted chocolate. Into another third mix two tablespoonfuls of pistachio nuts chopped fine, and color it green (see page 392). Arrange the three parts in layers in a mold, beginning with the white, and stir into each one, after it has begun to set, and just before putting it into the mold, a third of the whipped cream. By keeping it in a warm place the Bavarian will not set before it is wanted, and it can then be made to set quickly by placing it on ice.
Line a mold with chocolate Bavarian one inch thick. Fill the center with vanilla Bavarian mixed with chopped nuts, or line the mold with vanilla Bavarian, and fill with fruit Bavarian (see double molding, page 325).
This is molded in a double mold, and made of very clear lemon, orange, or wine jelly for the outside, and a Bavarian cream for the inside. With candied fruits make a design on the bottom of the larger mold (see molding, page 325); fix it with a very little jelly, then add enough more to make a half or three quarter inch layer of jelly. When it is set put in the center mold. Make a layer of fruit and a layer of jelly alternately until the outside space is filled, using fruits of different colors for the different layers or stripes. When it is set, remove the small mold, and fill the space with Bavarian, using a flavor that goes well with the one used in the jelly—maraschino with orange; sherry, noyau, or almond with lemon.
Take six lady-fingers; open, and spread them with apricot, or with peach jam. Place them together again like a sandwich. Moisten them with maraschino, and cut them in one inch lengths. Boil until softened a half cupful of stoned raisins and a half cupful of currants; drain them, and moisten them with maraschino. Make a plain Bavarian flavored with kirsch. When it is beginning to set and ready to go into the mold, mix it lightly with the cake and fruit, and turn into a mold to harden.
Forms. Charlotte Russe is simply a cream mixture, molded, with cake on the outside. It is easily made and always liked. Charlotte pans are oval, but any plain, round mold, or a kitchen basin with sides not too slanting, or individual molds may be used.
General directions. First place on the bottom of the pan an oiled paper which is cut to fit it neatly; then arrange lady-fingers evenly around the sides, or instead of lady-fingers use strips of layer sponge cake, No. 1 (page 466), or of Genoese (page 467). Cut the strips one or one and a
A sheet of cake cut to fit the top may, or may not, be used. If cake is used it is better to place it on the Charlotte after it is unmolded and the paper removed. The layer cake should be one quarter or three eighths of an inch thick only. Ornamentation. Charlottes can be ornamented in many ways, and made very elaborate if desired.
Cake in two colors. A simple decoration is obtained by having the strips of cake in two colors, alternating the upper, or browned, with the under, or white, side of the cake. For the top, cut a piece of cake to the right shape. Then cut it transversely, making even, triangular pieces, with the width at the base the same as the side strips. Turn over each alternate piece to give the two colors (see illustration); or, ice the strips and the top piece of cake with royal icing (see illustration) in two colors. Icing in two colors. Let the icing harden before placing it in the mold. Have the sides, as well as the bottom, of the mold lined with paper. Arrange the strips in the mold with the colors alternating. Instead of using cake for the top, some of the filling mixture can be put into a pastry-bag, and pressed through a tube over the top in fancy forms. Decorating the top. Meringue or whipped cream may also be used for decorating the top.
Whip a pint of cream to a stiff froth. Soak a half ounce of gelatine in three tablespoonfuls of cold water for half an hour; then dissolve it with two tablespoonfuls of boiling water. Add to the whipped cream a tablespoonful of powdered sugar (or a little more if liqueurs are not used for flavoring), and two dessertspoonfuls of noyau or other liqueur, or a teaspoonful of vanilla. Then turn in slowly the dissolved gelatine, beating all the time. When it begins to stiffen turn it into a mold which is lined with cake.
Beat well together two yolks of eggs and a half tablespoonful of sugar. Scald a half cupful of milk, and stir it into the beaten yolks; add a dash of salt, and return it to the double boiler. Stir it over the fire until it coats the spoon, thus making a plain boiled custard. Add to the hot custard a level tablespoonful of Cooper’s gelatine, which has soaked for half an hour in four tablespoonfuls of cold water; stir until the gelatine is dissolved, then strain it into a bowl, add two tablespoonfuls of sherry (or use any flavoring desired) and the whipped whites of two eggs; beat until it just begins to thicken, then mix in lightly a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth, and turn into the mold.
Soak an ounce of gelatine in a half cupful of cold water for half an hour. Make a syrup of one cupful of sugar, a half cupful of lemon-juice, and two cupfuls of orange-juice. When it has become a light syrup, turn it slowly onto the beaten yolks of four eggs, beating all the time. Return it to the double boiler, and cook until it is a little thickened, then add the gelatine. When the gelatine is dissolved, strain and beat until it is cold; add the whites of four eggs, and beat until it stiffens, then turn it into the mold. A pint of whipped cream may be used instead of the whipped whites of the eggs if convenient. In place of orange and lemon-juice, any fruit may be used. Stew the fruit until tender, add enough sugar to sweeten, and cook it to a light syrup; then press the fruit through a sieve, and to two and a half cupfuls of fruit syrup or of fruit pulp add the four eggs, and proceed as directed for the orange filling.
Use any of the plain or fruit Bavarian creams.
Use whipped jelly plain, or whipped jelly with fruits, called macÉdoine of fruits (see page 417).
Bake a brioche (see page 359) in a cylindrical mold. Cut a straight slice off the top about one inch thick; replace the cake in the tin, and carefully pick out the center of the loaf, leaving a thickness of one inch of the brioche. Spread the inside with a layer of jam. Put in a saucepan the liquor from a can of apricots or peaches. Stir into it two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot, moistened with a little water, and stir over the fire until the juice is thickened and clear. Fill the center of the brioche with the drained fruit, mixed with blanched almonds and raisins; pour over it the thickened syrup, replace the cover. When set turn it onto a dish; spread the outside with a little jam, and sprinkle with chopped blanched almonds. This makes a very simple and wholesome sweet.
Take eight Carlsbad wafers of oblong shape. Stand them on end around the outside of a cylindrical mold, and carefully stick the edges together with sugar cooked to the crack, or with royal icing (see page 483). Make the octagon as regular as possible. When the edges are well set place it on a foundation either of puff-paste or of layer cake cut to the shape of the form. Ornament it with dots of royal icing pressed through a pastry-bag and tube onto the edges. Just before serving fill the center with whipped cream, or with czarina cream, or with whipped jelly and fruits, or whipped jelly and meringue, or with any of the mousses. The wafers quickly loose their crispness, so the form must not be filled until the moment of serving.
A filling may also be made for this Charlotte of any of the Charlotte Russe mixtures, molding them in a form smaller than the form of wafers, and when unmolded the ornamental form placed over it, and whipped cream piled on top. In this way the wafers will not be softened.
Cut large firm strawberries in two lengthwise; dip them in liquid gelatine, and line a plain mold, placing the flat side
This is a combination of puff-paste, cream cakes, glacÉ fruits, and whipped cream. It is said to be the triumph of the chef’s art, yet one need not fear to undertake it when one has learned to make good pastry and to boil sugar. It is an ornamental, delicious dessert, and one that can be presented on the most formal occasions. First: Roll thin a very short or a puff-paste, so when baked it will be one quarter of an inch thick only. Cut it the size of a layer-cake tin; place it on a dampened baking-tin, and prick it with a fork in several places. Second: make a cream-cake batter (see page 474); put the batter in a pastry-bag with half inch tube, and press out onto and around the edge of the paste a ring of the batter. With the rest of the batter make a number of small cakes (two dozen), forming them with the tube into balls one half inch in diameter. Brush the ring and balls with egg, and bake in a quick oven; then fill them with St. HonorÉ cream (see below). Third: boil a cupful of sugar to the crack, and glacÉ some orange sections and some white grapes (see glacÉ fruits, page 516). Fourth: with some of the sugar used for the fruits stick the small cream cakes onto the ring, making an even border; on top of each cake stick a grape, and between them a section of orange. Place a candied cherry on each piece of orange, and one below it, if there is room. Other candied fruits and angelica may be used also, if desired, and arranged in any way to suit the fancy. Fifth: make a
Oil the outside of a dome-shaped mold. Beginning at the bottom, cover it with macaroons, sticking the edges of the macaroons together with sugar boiled to the crack, or with royal icing (see page 483). Just before serving turn it off the mold, and place it over a form of plain or fruit Bavarian cream, which has been hardened in a smaller mold of the same shape. There should be an inch or more of space between the two, the outer one covering the other like a cage.
A croquenbouche can also be made of little cakes cut from a layer cake with a small biscuit-cutter, and iced in two colors with royal icing, or with glacÉ oranges, or with chestnuts. The latter are difficult to make, but are very good with ice-creams.
General directions. One half pint of double or very rich cream costs ten cents, and may be diluted one half, giving a pint of cream as called for in the receipts. Cream should be placed on the ice for several hours before it is whipped. Temperature. It is essential to have it very cold, otherwise it will not whip well; and also, if rich cream, it will form particles of butter. If not lower than 60° it will all go to butter. Place the bowl containing the cream in a larger bowl containing cracked ice, and with a cream churn, Dover beater, or wire whip, whichever is convenient, whip it to a stiff froth; continue to whip until it all becomes inflated. If the cream is cold it will take but a few minutes. Texture. This gives a firm, fine-grained cream, which is used for Bavarians, mousses, ice-creams, etc. When a lighter and more frothy cream, called syllabub, is wanted for whips and sauces, dilute the cream more, and remove the froth
Cream whipped by the first method is the one recommended for all purposes. When it is added to other things, any liquid cream that may have dripped to the bottom of the bowl should not be put in.
DESSERTS OF WHIPPED CREAM
Preserves and jams served with whipped cream make an excellent dessert.
Flavor a pint of cream with a dessertspoonful of maraschino, kirsch, or rum, or with a teaspoonful of essence of vanilla, rose, or almonds, or flavor it with black coffee. Color it pink, or green, or leave it white. Sweeten with three scant tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Whip it to a stiff froth and drain. Let it stand on ice until ready to use; then with a spoon pile it high on a glass dish. If the cream is white sprinkle it with colored pink and green sugar mixed (see page 393). Or, skim off the foam which first rises, placing several spoonfuls of it on a sieve to drain. Color the rest a delicate pink, and whip it until it all becomes firm and of fine grain. Turn this into a glass dish, and with a spoon place the white froth upon it.
- 1 pint of cream.
- ¼ box of gelatine.
- ? cupful of sugar.
- ¼ cupful of blanched almonds.
- 1 teaspoonful of vanilla.
- ½ teaspoonful of rosewater.
- 4 tablespoonfuls of sherry.
Put a bowl containing the cream on ice; whip it to a stiff froth; add slowly the sugar, then the gelatine (which has first been soaked an hour in one quarter cupful of cold water, and then dissolved by placing the cup in hot water), beating all the time. Add the vanilla and rosewater, and enough green coloring (see page 392) to give it a delicate color. When it begins to stiffen add the sherry, and lastly the almonds chopped fine. When the cream is quite firm put it in round paper boxes, and sprinkle over the top a little colored sugar, or chopped pistachio nuts and granulated sugar mixed. Let it stand an hour or more on ice before serving.
Boil a pound of shelled English chestnuts a few minutes; then drain, and remove the skins. Boil them again until tender; drain, and mash them through a purÉe sieve; sweeten, flavor with vanilla, and moisten them with a little cream. Put the purÉe in a saucepan, and stir over a slow heat until dry; then press it through a colander or potato-press onto the dish in which it is to be served. Form it into a circle, using care not to destroy the light and vermicelli-like form the colander has given it. Serve whipped cream in the center of the ring.
After removing the shells and skins from some English chestnuts, boil them until tender in water, then in sugar and water, until clear. Let them lie in the syrup until cold; then drain, and pile them on a dish. Boil the syrup down to a thick consistency, and pour it over the nuts. Serve cold with whipped cream.
With a biscuit-cutter, cut slices of stale cake or bread into circles. Moisten them with sherry, maraschino, or merely with a little hot water. Chop some fresh or canned pineapple into small pieces, and pile it on the cakes. With a knife press each one into the form of a cone or small pyramid. Place them in a shallow tin close together, but not touching. Put the pineapple liquor into a saucepan, and thicken it with arrowroot (which has first been wet with water), using a teaspoonful to a cupful of liquor. Cook until the arrowroot becomes clear and begins to stiffen; then pour it slowly over the cones. It will cover them with a jelly. When cold, trim them carefully so the base of each one will be round, and lift them carefully from the tin.
Spread slices of stale cake or cottage pudding with jam; place them in a glass dish, and cover with boiled custard; or first moisten the cake with sherry, then cover with custard.
Slice in two six square sponge cakes (layer cake cut in squares will do), spread with jam or jelly (a tart jelly is best), and put them together like sandwiches. Moisten them in a mixture of one third brandy and two thirds sherry. Put them in a glass dish, and pour over them a custard made of one pint of milk, three eggs, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar; put together as directed for boiled custard No. 2 (page 395). Blanch and cut in fine strips one half cupful of almonds, and stick them into the top cakes standing upright. Cover all with a half pint of whipped cream, and sprinkle the top with hundreds and thousands (see page
- ½ cupful of milk.
- ½ cupful of water.
- 1 heaping teaspoonful of cornstarch.
- 1 even teaspoonful of sugar.
- ½ saltspoonful of salt.
- 2 bananas.
- 6 lady-fingers.
- ½ pint of cream, or the whipped white of one egg.
Slice the bananas, and lay them in a glass dish in alternate layers with four lady-fingers split in two. Put the milk and water in a saucepan; add the sugar, salt, and the corn-starch diluted in a little cold water. When it has thickened pour it over the bananas, and let it stand until cold and ready to serve; then cover the top with whipped cream, or if that is not convenient use the whipped white of one egg sweetened with one tablespoonful of sugar. Split and break in two the remaining lady-fingers, and place them upright around the edge.
With different flavors, colors, and combinations, a great variety of attractive desserts can be made with gelatine. They are inexpensive, require no skill, and the work is accomplished in a very few minutes.
It does not need cooking. If the jelly is not suffi
For this amount two cupfuls of sugar will give about the right sweetening, but must be modified to suit the flavoring used. In summer, or if the jelly will have to stand any length of time after it is unmolded, it is better to use but one and one half quarts of liquid to two ounces of gelatine.
Double molding. Double Molding (see page 325) can be used with good effect in sweet jellies in combination with whipped jelly, Bavarian creams, fruit jellies, etc.
Unmolding. Unmolding.—See page 324.
Fruit jellies. For fruit jellies it is well to use a china mold, or
- ½ box, or 1 ounce, of gelatine.
- ½ cupful of cold water.
- 2 cupfuls of boiling water.
- 1 cupful of sugar.
- Juice of 1 lemon.
- ¾ cupful of sherry, or 3 parts sherry, 1 part brandy.
Soak the gelatine in one half cupful of cold water for one hour or more. Put the boiling water, the sugar, and a few thin slices of lemon-peel in a saucepan on the fire. When the sugar is dissolved, add the soaked gelatine, and stir until that also is dissolved; then remove, and when it is partly cooled add the lemon-juice and the wine. Strain it through a felt or flannel, and turn it into the mold. If the jelly has to be clarified do it before adding the wine. Any wine or liqueur can be used for flavoring. This will make one quart of jelly.
- ½ box, or 1 ounce, of gelatine.
- ½ cupful of cold water.
- 2 cupfuls of boiling water.
- 1 cupful of sugar.
- Juice of 3 lemons, filtered.
- Thin slices of lemon-rind.
Put together as directed for wine jelly.
- ½ box, or 1 ounce, of gelatine.
- ½ cupful of cold water.
- 1 cupful of boiling water.
- Juice of 1 lemon.
- 1 cupful of sugar.
- 2 cupfuls of orange-juice, filtered.
A stronger flavor and color of orange can be obtained by soaking with the gelatine the grated yellow rind of one or two bright-skinned oranges. In this case the juice need not be filtered, for the mixture will have to be passed through flannel. Putting it through several times gives a clearer and more brilliant jelly.
Use the receipt given for wine jelly, using three quarters of a cupful of strong filtered coffee instead of wine, and omitting the lemon; mold in a ring, and fill the center with whipped cream; or, if this is not convenient, use any mold, and serve with it sweetened milk.
- ½ box of Cox’s gelatine soaked in ½ cupful of cold water.
- 1 cupful of boiling water.
- 1 cupful of sugar.
- 1 teaspoonful of lemon-juice, filtered.
- 1 cupful of champagne.
Combine the same as wine jelly, and do not add the champagne until the jelly is cold. This will give one and a half pints of jelly. It is very clear and transparent, and well suited to fancy molding.
Place on ice a broad round mold (a basin will serve the purpose); arrange, on a very thin layer of jelly, some pink rose petals in rosette form, or to simulate an open rose; add carefully a very little jelly with a spoon to set the decoration; when it has hardened, add a very little more, and so continue to do until the petals are half enveloped; then place in right position some angelica cut in diamond shaped pieces to simulate leaves; add a little jelly at a time until the mold is full. The petals will be bent out of shape if the jelly is not added very slowly. When unmolded place around it some green rose-leaves and a
When flowers are used they must be very fresh.
Make a wine or lemon jelly (page 415). Place it in a bowl on ice; when it is cold, but before it begins to harden, beat it with a Dover beater until it becomes white and a mass of froth. Turn it into a mold to harden. Serve with it a sauce made of boiled custard, or any preserve that will go well with the flavoring, or a compote of orange or any fruit.
Berries or any fresh fruits, peeled and quartered, may be placed in layers, or irregularly through the entire mold, or a mixture of fruits may be used in the same way, when it is called a macÉdoine. The jelly may be clear or whipped. Strawberries, raspberries, currants (red and white), cherries, peaches, plums, pears, apricots, and pineapples are suitable for this use. Preserved or canned fruits well drained may also be used. Candied fruits are especially good, but should be cut into pieces, and softened in maraschino. Jellies to be used with fruits are best flavored with kirsch or maraschino.
For these double molds are used (see page 386).
No. 1. Make the outside layer of any transparent jelly. When hard remove the inner mold and fill the space with the same jelly whipped until foamy. No. 2. The outside a transparent jelly, the inside one of different flavor and color, such as champagne and maraschino colored pink, orange and strawberry, lemon and coffee. No. 3. The outside champagne jelly, the in
Make a plain jelly; divide it into three parts; flavor one with maraschino; the second with strawberry-juice, and deepen the color with a little carmine (see page 392); the third with orange, noyau, or any other flavor, and whip it until foamy. Put it into mold in layers, beginning with the lightest.
Make a plain blanc-mange (see page 399). Let it set in a layer one half inch thick; cut it into small circles, diamonds, or fancy shapes with cutters. Arrange these pieces in some design around or inside a mold of transparent jelly (see molding jellies, page 324). The blanc-mange may be colored pink, green, or yellow, and gives a very pretty effect.
This is a very clear, ornamental jelly, the gold-leaf giving it the appearance of Venetian glass, and is good in individual molds to serve with ices. Use the receipt for wine jelly, omitting the wine and making the amount of liquid right by using more water; clarify or strain it several times to make it very brilliant; when it is cold add two tablespoonfuls each of eau de vie de Dantzic (see page 390) and brandy.
Add a little lemon-juice, and beat the jelly until it becomes entirely white, which will take some time; turn it again into a mold to set. If there is not enough jelly for this, cut the jelly into fine dice with a knife as directed for cutting aspic on page 323, and beat into it lightly an equal quantity of meringue. This should be prepared in a cold place.
Crush the berries to a pulp; sweeten to taste, and add a little flavoring, either orange and lemon juice, maraschino or CuraÇao. To a pint of the pulp add a half box, or one ounce, of Cooper’s gelatine, which has soaked an hour in one half cupful of cold water, and then been dissolved in one half cupful of hot water. Stir until it begins to set; then turn it into a china mold to harden. The mold may be ornamented with blanched almonds split in two, and arranged in star shapes. When a tin mold is used for fruits, it is well to coat it first with plain jelly (see page 323), as tin sometimes discolors fruit juices. A little carmine may be used to heighten the color of red fruits. Raspberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, pineapples, or oranges can be used in the same way. This gives a very good dessert with little trouble. Serve with cream.
Make a pain de fraises; place it on the outside of a double mold (see page 325), and fill the center space with whole berries, or with any other fruit or mixture of fruits, such as white grapes and oranges, etc. Serve it very cold with whipped cream.
(RICE WITH FRUITS)
Make a rice Bavarian (see page 402); mix with it a few chopped blanched almonds. Put it in a cylindrical mold in layers with pain de fraises (strawberries) or raspberries, keeping the red layer thinner than the white one; or mold it in a double mold, using the jellied fruit for the center or for the outside.
Decorate a mold with candied cherries and angelica; line it with rice Bavarian, and fill the center with fresh or canned pineapple chopped and jellied. The jelly may be clear or whipped or mixed with whipped cream.
(ORANGES)
Take off the peel and divide into sections eight to ten oranges; run a knife between the skin and pulp and remove it carefully. Place the bare but unbroken pulp on a sieve to drain; roll each piece in powdered sugar, and lay them overlapping in a ring around a cylindrical mold; fix and cover them with clear jelly flavored with kirsch or maraschino. Arrange them in the same way around the outside of a double mold. Fill the center with orange Bavarian, using the juice drained from the pieces to flavor the Bavarian. Serve it with orange quarter cakes (see page 478) around the dish.
(PEACHES)
No. 1. Make a jelly of peaches the same as rule given above for strawberries; color it with a little carmine, giving it a delicate pink shade; garnish the mold with blanched almonds and angelica, and fill it with the jellied peach-pulp. No. 2. Cut peaches in quarters or halves, and arrange them in a double mold with blanched almonds to look like the pits; fill the center with peach Bavarian.
(CHESTNUTS)
Make a purÉe of boiled chestnuts; sweeten and flavor with vanilla; add to one pint of purÉe one ounce of dissolved gelatine; when beginning to set add a few spoonfuls of whipped cream; cover a mold with thin coating of jelly (see page 323), and fill outside of double mold with very brown chocolate Bavarian (see page 401); fill the center with the jellied chestnuts.
