Have ready a rich boiled custard, flavoured by boiling in the milk the same vanilla bean that was previously used for the flummery. The custard should be made in the proportion of a pint of milk to four eggs, and four table-spoonfuls of sugar. Stir it all the time it is over the fire, and take it off just as it begins to boil hard. When it is quite cold, send it to table in a gla.s.s pitcher or bowl to eat with the flummery.
Rice flummery may be flavoured by boiling in the first pint of milk a stick of cinnamon and a handful of bitter almonds or peach-kernels all broken up.
The custard should then be flavoured also with cinnamon and bitter almonds boiled in the custard milk.
Flummery may be coloured green by boiling in the last milk, spinach juice extracted by pounding in a mortar some raw spinach, or some pistachio nuts.
To colour it red, mix with the milk the juice of a beet that has been boiled, sc.r.a.ped, cut up and pounded. Or boil in the milk a very small muslin bag with alkanet tied up in it.
MERINGUED APPLES.--Pare and core (with a tin apple-corer) some fine large pippin apples, but do not quarter or slice them. Wash them separately in cold water, and then with the water still remaining about the surface of the apples, stand them up in a deep baking-dish, but do not place them so near each other as to touch. Pour into the bottom of the dish just water enough to prevent their burning, set them into a close oven, and bake them till they are perfectly tender all through, but not to break; as they must on no account lose their shape. When done, take them out; remove them to a flat china dish; and set them immediately to cool, clearing off any juice that may be about them. When quite cold, fill up the hole from whence the cores were extracted with thick marmalade or fruit jelly. Have ready a meringue or icing made of beaten white of egg, thickened with finely powdered loaf-sugar and flavoured with lemon-juice, or extract of roses. In making a meringue the usual proportion is the whites of four eggs to a pound of powdered sugar. The white of egg must first be whisked to a stiff firm froth, and the sugar then beaten into it, gradually, a spoonful at a time; the flavouring being added at the last. When the apples are quite cold cover them all over with the meringue, put on in table-spoonfuls, beginning at the top of each apple and then spreading it down evenly with a broad-bladed knife dipped frequently into a bowl of cold water. The meringue must be put on very smoothly and of equal thickness all over.
Then dredge the surface with finely powdered loaf-sugar sifted in from a very small sieve. Set them into a rather cool oven, and as soon as the meringue is hardened, take them out.
Fine large free-stone peaches may be meringued in this manner. To extract the stones of peaches loosen them carefully all round with a sharp, narrow-pointed knife. You may then easily thrust them out, without breaking the peaches, which for this purpose should not be over-ripe.
CHOCOLATE CREAM.--Sc.r.a.pe down a quarter of a pound of the best chocolate, or of Baker"s prepared cocoa. Put it into a marble mortar.
Pour on by degrees as much boiling water as will dissolve it, and beat it well for about a quarter of an hour. Then sweeten it with four table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf-sugar. Add, gradually, a pint and a half of rich cream. Mill it with a chocolate mill, or a little tin churn; or beat it hard with rods. As the froth rises, take it off and lay it on the inverted bottom of a sieve that is placed in a deep pan.
When done, take the liquid that has drained through the sieve, and put a portion of it in the bottom of each gla.s.s. Then fill the gla.s.ses with the froth, heaping it high on the top, and set it in a cool dry place till wanted.
ANOTHER WAY.--Boil a vanilla bean in half a pint of milk till the flavour is well-extracted. Then take out the bean, wipe it dry, and put it away. It may be used a second time for a slight vanilla flavouring.
Sc.r.a.pe down a quarter of a pound of excellent chocolate, or of Baker"s prepared cocoa, and mix with it the vanilla-milk. Put it into a chocolate pot or a sauce-pan, and pour on it a pint and a half of rich milk. Set it over the fire, or on a bed of hot coals, and boil it slowly; stirring it till the chocolate is entirely dissolved and thoroughly incorporated with the milk. Beat six eggs very light, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture; continuing to stir, lest it should curdle. When the egg is all in, and it begins to boil up, take it off, and when cool enough transfer it to gla.s.ses, or to a bowl.
PISTACHIO CREAM.--Take half a pound of pistachio nuts. Throw them into scalding water, and peel off the skins. Put the nuts (not more than two at a time) into a marble mortar, and pound them to a smooth paste, adding frequently, as you proceed, a few drops of rose-water. Sweeten a quart of cream with half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and stir into it, gradually, the pistachio paste. Set the mixture over the fire; and let it just come to a boil. Then take it out; stir in two table-spoonfuls of rose-water or peach-water, and set on ice to cool.
Either serve it up liquid in a gla.s.s bowl, or put it into a freezer, and freeze it as ice-cream. If you freeze it, you must subst.i.tute for the rose-water or peach-water, a table-spoonful of extract of roses, or the same quant.i.ty of extract of bitter almonds. The process of freezing diminishes the strength of every sort of flavouring; and of sweetening also.
If you serve it up as frozen, stick it all over with slips of pistachio nut, peeled and sliced.
ALMOND CREAM.--Take a pound of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds, and two ounces or more of sh.e.l.led bitter almonds, or peach-kernels. Blanch them in scalding water, throwing them as you proceed into a bowl of cold water.
Then pound them (one at a time) in a mortar, till each becomes a smooth paste; pouring in, as you proceed, a little rose-water to make the almonds white and light, and transferring the paste to a plate as you go on. Then when they are all done, mix the almonds with a quart of rich cream, and a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Add half a dozen blades of mace; put the mixture into a porcelain kettle, and boil it, slowly, stirring it frequently down to the bottom. Having given it one boil up, remove it from the fire, take out the mace, and when it has cooled a little, put the cream into gla.s.s cups, grating nutmeg over each. Serve it up quite cold. You may ornament each cup of this cream with white of egg, beaten to a stiff froth, and heaped on the top.
COCOA-NUT CREAM may be made as above; subst.i.tuting for the almonds a pound of cocoa-nut grated finely. When it has boiled, and is taken from the fire, stir into the cream a wine-gla.s.s of rose-water.
A similar cream may be made with pounded pistachio nuts.
Pecan nuts, blanched and pounded, (adding occasionally a little cold water to take off the oiliness,) may be boiled as above, with cream, sugar, and spice.
All these creams may be frozen, and served up as ice-cream.
VANILLA CREAM.--Boil a vanilla bean in half a pint of rich milk, till the milk is highly flavoured with the vanilla. Then (having taken out the bean) strain the milk into a pint of thick cream. Beat the yolks of five eggs till very light, and then mix gradually with the beaten egg a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, beating it in very hard. Set the cream over hot coals, and add to it by degrees the egg and sugar.
Stir it continually till it is on the point of coming to a boil. It must be very thick and smooth. Cover the bottom and sides of a gla.s.s bowl or dish, with three quarters of a pound of lady-cake, cut into nice even slices. Pour on the mixture, and then set the bowl on ice or snow till wanted.
For lady-cake, you may subst.i.tute finger-biscuit, or slices of almond sponge-cake.
You may ornament the bowl by beating to a stiff froth the whites of two or three of the eggs, and heaping it on the top.
ICED JELLY.--Make calves" feet jelly in the usual way. Then put it into a freezer, and freeze it as you would ice-cream. Serve it up in a gla.s.s bowl or in jelly-gla.s.ses. You cannot mould it this way; but the taste of jelly when broken up is much more lively than when moulded; also it sparkles and looks handsomer.
CURRANT ICE.--Pick a sufficiency of ripe currants from their stems. Then squeeze the currants through a linen bag, and to each quart of the juice allow a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Mix them together, and when the sugar is thoroughly melted, put it into a freezer, and freeze it in the manner of ice-cream. Serve it up in gla.s.s bowls. It will be found delicious in warm weather.
PLUM-WATER ICE.--Take some fine ripe plums. Wash them; cut them in half, and stone them. Crack the stones, and take out the kernels. Weigh the plums, and to every pound allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar, and the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth. Mix, in a preserving kettle, the white of egg with the sugar, which should be finely powdered; and allow to each pound and a half of sugar, half a pint of water. Having stirred it well, set on the fire, (but not till all the sugar is melted,) add the plum-kernels, and boil and skim it. When the sc.u.m ceases to rise, take the syrup off the fire, pour it into a white-ware vessel, and remove the kernels. While you are boiling the sugar, put the plums into another vessel and boil them by themselves to draw out the juice. Then put them into a linen bag, and squeeze all the juice into a deep pan or pitcher placed beneath. Afterwards mix the plum-juice with the syrup; stirring them thoroughly together; and put it into a freezer. Freeze it well, and when done, serve it in a gla.s.s bowl, and eat it in saucers.
DAMSON-WATER ICE may be made as above; except that you boil the damsons whole and make no use of the kernels. When the damsons have all burst open, put them into a linen bag; squeeze it well, mix the juice with the syrup which you have previously prepared, and freeze it. The juice of damsons is much thicker and richer than that of plums; but it requires still more sugar.
CHERRY-WATER ICE is made nearly as above; except that the cherries must be stoned, but not boiled. Put them raw into the bag, and squeeze them.
The cherries should be of the best and most juicy red sort, and thoroughly ripe.
STRAWBERRY ICE is made of ripe strawberries put into a linen bag, and the juice squeezed out. Then measure it, and to each pint of juice allow half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Having mixed thoroughly the juice and the sugar, put it into a freezer and freeze it. In this manner ices (without cream) may be made of currant and raspberry juice, mixed raw with sugar.
GOOSEBERRY-WATER ICE.--Having stewed the gooseberries, squeeze out the juice through a linen bag. To every pint, allow a pound of loaf-sugar.
Mix it well, and freeze it.
PEACH ICE-CREAM.--Take fine soft free-stone peaches, perfectly ripe.
Pare them, and remove the stones. Crack about half the stones, and extract the kernels, which must be blanched by putting them into a bowl, and pouring on boiling water to loosen the skins. Then break them up, or pound them slightly; put them into a little sauce-pan, and boil the kernels in a small quant.i.ty of rich milk, till it is highly flavoured with them; keeping the sauce-pan covered. Strain out the kernels, and set the milk to cool. Cut up the peaches in a large, broad, shallow pan, or a flat dish, and chop them very small. Mix with the chopped peaches sufficient powdered loaf-sugar to make them very sweet, and then mash them to a smooth jam with a silver spoon. Measure the peach jam; and to each quart allow a pint of cream, and a pint of rich unskimmed milk. Mix the whole well together, and put it into the freezer; adding when the mixture is about half-frozen, the milk in which you boiled the kernels, and which will greatly improve the peach-flavour. When well frozen, turn out the cream and serve it in a gla.s.s bowl. If you wish to have it in a shape, transfer it to a mould, and give it a second freezing. Before you turn it out, wash the outside of the mould all over with cold water, or wrap a wet cloth round it. Then open it, and the ice-cream will come out easily.
Apricot ice-cream may be made as above.
CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM.--Sc.r.a.pe down half a pound of the best chocolate or of Baker"s prepared cocoa. Put it into a sauce-pan, and pour on it a pint of boiling milk. Stir, and mix it well, and smoothly. Then set it over the fire, and let it come to a boil. Mix together in a pan, a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and a pint of rich cream. In another pan beat very light the yolks of nine eggs. Afterwards gradually stir the beaten egg into the cream and sugar, and then put the mixture into a sauce-pan; stir in, by degrees, the chocolate; set it over the fire, and simmer it till it is just ready to come to a boil. Strain it through a sieve, transfer it to a freezer, and freeze it in the usual manner of ice-cream.
BISCUIT ICE-CREAM.--Take some pieces of broken loaf-sugar, and rub off on them the yellow rind of four lemons. Then pulverize the sugar and mix it with half a pound of loaf-sugar already powdered. Have ready eight small Naples biscuits or sponge-cakes, grated fine; stir them, in turn with the sugar, into a quart of cream. Give the whole one boil up. Then put it into a freezer, and freeze it in the usual manner. Afterwards transfer it to a pyramid mould, and freeze it a second time.
Similar ice-cream may be made with maccaroons broken small and dissolved in the cream, from whence half a pint must be previously taken and boiled with a handful of broken up bitter almonds. Afterwards strain this, and mix it with the rest.
FLAVOURED CURDS AND WHEY.--To turn two quarts of milk, take a piece of dried rennet about the size of the palm of your hand; wash it well through several cold waters to get the salt entirely off, and then wipe it dry. Put it into a small bowl, and pour on it half a tumbler (a quarter of a pint) of lukewarm water. The water must on no account be hot, as to scald rennet weakens it and diminishes its power of converting milk into curd. Cover the bowl; and let it stand to infuse at least four hours. A longer time will do no harm; therefore, if you intend making the curd early in the day, you may put the rennet in soak over night. For lemon-flavouring--to two quarts of milk allow two lemons, using only the _yellow_ rind or surface of the skin, and grating it as finely as possible. Reserve the juice of the lemons for some other purpose. Mix the grated rind with the rennet-water, first removing the piece of rennet that has been soaking in it. Have ready in a large china or gla.s.s bowl two quarts of rich milk, and stir into it the rennet-water and lemon-rind. Cover the bowl, and set it in a moderately warm place till the curd has become a firm, smooth, unbroken ma.s.s, and the whey looks clear and greenish. Then set the bowl on ice, and keep it there till wanted for the table. Accompany it with a small pitcher of rich cream, and a little bowl of powdered loaf-sugar and nutmeg. Send it round on saucers. It is a delicious article for summer dessert, or for a summer tea-table.
To flavour curds and whey with vanilla--boil a vanilla bean slowly in half a pint of milk, keeping the saucepan closely covered. When the milk is highly flavoured with the vanilla, strain it; and when cold, mix it with the milk you intend for the curds. Afterwards add the rennet-water.
Or you may use instead of the bean, extract of vanilla, allowing four table-spoonfuls to two quarts of milk. Oliver"s extract of vanilla is of excellent quality, and may be obtained in small bottles at most of the drug stores in Philadelphia.
To give curds and whey a peach-flavour--stir into the milk some peach-water, as soon as you have added the rennet-water; allowing two table-spoonfuls of the peach-water to each quart of milk. If you have no peach-water, take a handful of peach-kernels, (saved from the stones,) pound them, and boil them slowly in half a pint of milk till it tastes strongly of them. Then strain the milk, and when cold, mix it with the rest, and add the rennet-water. A handful of _fresh_ peach-leaves boiled long and slowly in a small portion of milk will produce a similar flavour.
For a rose taste, stir into two quarts of milk a tea-spoonful of extract of roses; or more if it is not very strong; or add four table-spoonfuls of rose-water.
Curds and whey that has _not_ been previously flavoured, should be sent to table with a small pitcher containing white wine, loaf-sugar, and powdered nutmeg.