Make as much thick syrup as will cover the quant.i.ty of gooseberries you intend to do; boil and skim it clear: set it by till almost cold. Have ready some green hairy gooseberries, not quite ripe, and the skins of which are still rather hard; cut off the remains of the flower at one end, leaving the little stalk on at the other; with a small penknife slit down the side, and with the point of the knife carefully remove the seeds, leaving the pulp. Put the gooseberries into the syrup when lukewarm; set it on the fire, shake it frequently, but do not let it boil. Take it off, and let the gooseberries stand all night: with a spoon push them under the syrup, or cover them with white paper. Next day set them on the fire, scald them again, but they must not boil, and shake them as before. Proceed in the same manner a third time. The jelly to put them in must be made thus: Take three pints of the sharpest gooseberries you can get--they must be of the white sort--to one pint of water; and the quant.i.ty you make of this jelly must of course be proportioned to that of the fruit. Boil them half an hour, till all the flavour of the fruit is extracted; strain off the liquor; let it settle, pour off the clear, and to each pint add one pound of double-refined sugar. Boil it till it jellies, which you may see by putting a little into a spoon or cup. Put a little of the jelly at the bottom of the pot to prevent the gooseberries from sinking to the bottom; when it is set, put in the rest of the gooseberries and jelly. When cold, cover with brandy paper.
_Gooseberries, to preserve._
Pick the white gooseberries, stamp and strain them; then take the largest of them when they just begin to turn; stone them, and to half a pound of gooseberries put a pound of the finest sugar, and beat it very fine. Take half a pound of the juice which you have strained; let it stand to settle clear; and set it, with six spoonfuls of water, on a quick fire; boil it as fast as you can; when you see the sugar, as it boils, look clear, they are enough; which will be in less than a quarter of an hour. Put them in gla.s.ses or pots, and paper them close. Next day, if they are not jellied hard enough, set them for a day or two in a hot stove, or in some warm place, but not in the sun; and, when jellied, put the papers close to them after being wetted and dried with a cloth.
_Another way._
Stone your gooseberries, and as you stone them put them into water: then weigh them, and to eight ounces of gooseberries take twelve ounces of double-refined sugar. Put as much water as will make it a pretty thick syrup, and when boiled and skimmed let it cool a little; then put the gooseberries into the syrup, and boil them quick, till they look clear.
Take them out one by one, and put them into gla.s.s bottles; then heat the syrup a little, strain it through muslin, pour it on the fruit, and it will jelly when cold.
_Gooseberry Paste._
Pick off the eyes of the gooseberries, and put them in water scarcely sufficient to cover them; let them boil, and rub them through a sieve.
Boil up a candy of sugar; put in your paste, and just scald it a little.
Add one pound of sugar to a pint of the paste, and put into pots to dry in the stove: when candied over, turn them out on gla.s.ses.
_Grapes, to dry._
Scald bunches of grapes in water till they will peel; when they are peeled and stoned, put them into fresh cold water, cover them up close, and set them over the fire till they begin to green. Then take them out of the water and put them to the syrup; after it has been well skimmed.
Cut a paper that will exactly fit the skillet, and let it rest upon the syrup. Cover the skillet, and set it over a slow fire, till the grapes look green; put them into a thicker syrup, and, when they are as green as you wish them to be, take them out of the syrup, and let them dry in the stove in bunches.
_Grapes, to preserve._
Stone your grapes, and peel off the skin; cover them and no more with codling jelly, and let them boil fast up: then take them off the fire, let them stand until they are cold, and boil them again till they become green. Put a pound of sugar to a pint of the grapes, and let them boil fast till they jelly.
_Greengages, to preserve._
Gather the plums before they are too ripe, and take as much pump water as will cover them. Put to the water a quarter of a pound of double-refined sugar, boil it, and let it stand to be cold. p.r.i.c.k the greengages with a large needle in four places to the stone; wrap each of them lightly in a vine-leaf, and set them over a slow fire to green. Do so for three days running; on the last day, put in a spoonful of old verjuice or lemon-juice, and a small lump of alum. Next day draw them, and, after taking off the vine-leaves, put them in a thick syrup, first boiled and cleared. Finish them by degrees, by heating them a little every day till they look clear.
_Another way._
Stone and split the fruit without taking off the skin. Weigh an equal quant.i.ty of sugar and fruit, and strew part of the sugar over the greengages, having first laid them on dishes, with the hollow part uppermost. Take the kernels from the stones, peel and blanch them. The next day, pour off the syrup from the fruit, and boil it very gently with the other sugar eight minutes. Skim it, and add the fruit and kernels. Simmer the whole till quite clear, taking off any sc.u.m that rises. Put the fruit, one by one, into small pots, and pour the syrup and kernels to it.
_Hartshorn Jelly._
Boil one pound of hartshorn shavings over a very gentle fire, in two quarts of water, till it is reduced to one quart; let it settle, and strain it off. Put to this liquor the whites of eight or nine eggs, and four or five of their sh.e.l.ls, broken very fine, the whites well beaten, the juice of seven or eight lemons, or part oranges; sweeten with the best sugar, and add above a pint of Rhenish or Lisbon wine. Mix all these well together, and boil over a quick fire, stirring all the time with a whisk. As soon as it boils up, strain it through a flannel bag, throwing it backward and forward till it is perfectly clear. Boil lemon-peel in it to flavour it. The last time of pa.s.sing it through the bag, let it drip into the moulds or gla.s.ses.
_Hedgehog._
Blanch two quarts of the best almonds in cold water; beat them very fine in a mortar, with a little canary wine and orange-flower water; make them into a stiff paste; then beat in the yolks of twelve eggs, leaving out five whites; add a pint of good cream; sweeten to your taste, and put in half a pound of good b.u.t.ter melted. Set it on a slow fire, and keep it constantly stirring till it is stiff enough. Make it up into the form of a hedgehog; stick it full of blanched almonds, slit and stuck up like the bristles; put it in a dish, and make hartshorn jelly, and put to it, or cold cream, sweetened with a gla.s.s of white wine, and the juice of a Seville orange; plump two currants for the eyes.
_Ice and Cream._
Mix a little cream and new milk together in a dish; put in runnet, as for cheesecakes; stir it together. Pour in some canary wine and sugar.
Then put the whites of three eggs and a little rose-water to a pint of cream; whip it up to a froth with a whisk, and, as it rises, put it upon the runnet and milk. Lay in here and there bunches of preserved barberries, raspberry jam, or any thing of that sort you please. Whip up more froth, and put over the whole.
_Lemon Ice._
Grate the peel of two lemons on sugar, and put it into a bowl, with the juice of four lemons squeezed, and well stir it about; then sweeten it with clarified sugar to your taste, and add to it three spoonfuls of water. Throw over a little salt on the ice; put the ice in the bottom of the pail; put the ice-pot on it, and cover it also with ice. Turn the pot continually, and in about a minute or two open it, and continue to stir it till it is frozen enough; after this stir every now and then.
_Iceing for Cakes._
Beat the white of an egg to a strong froth; put in by degrees four ounces of fine sugar, beaten and sifted very fine, with as much gum as will lie on a sixpence. Beat it up for half an hour, and lay it over your cakes the thickness of a straw.
_Another._
Take the whites of four eggs and a pound of double-refined sugar, pounded and sifted; beat the eggs a little; put the sugar in, and whip it as fast as possible; then wash your cake with rose-water, and lay the iceing on; set it in the oven with the lid down till it is hard.
_Jaunemange._
Steep two ounces of isingla.s.s for an hour in a pint of boiling water; put to it three quarters of a pint of white wine, the juice of two oranges and one lemon, the peel of a lemon cut very fine, and the yolks of eight eggs. Sweeten and boil it all together; strain it in a mould, and, when cold, turn it out. Make it the day before you use it.
_Another way._
One ounce of isingla.s.s, dissolved in a good half pint of water, the juice of two small lemons, the peel of half a lemon, the yolks of four eggs, well beaten, half a pound of sugar, half a pint of white wine: mix these carefully together, and stir them into the isingla.s.s jelly over the fire. Let it simmer a few minutes; when a little cool, pour it into your moulds, taking care to wet them first; turn it out the next day.
_Coloured Jelly, to mix with or garnish other Jelly._
Pare four lemons as thin as possible; put the rinds into a pint and a half of water; let them lie twelve hours: then squeeze the lemons; put the water and juice together; add three quarters of a pound of the best sugar, but if the lemons are large, it will require more sugar. When the sugar is quite melted, beat up the whites of six new-laid eggs to a froth; mix all together, and strain it through a hair sieve into a saucepan; set it on a slow fire, and keep it stirred till it is near boiling and grows thick. Then take it off, and keep stirring it the same way till it cools. The colouring is to be steeped in a cup of water, and then strained into the other ingredients. Care must be taken to stir it always one way. The eggs are the last thing put in; the whole must be well mixed with a whisk till thoroughly incorporated.
_Gloucester Jelly._
Of rice, sago, pearl barley, candied eringo root, of each one ounce; add two quarts of water; simmer it over the fire till it is reduced to one quart; strain it. This will produce a strong jelly; a little to be dissolved in white wine or warm milk, and to be taken three or four times a day.
_Another way._
Pearl barley, whole rice, sago, and candied eringo root, of each one ounce, and half an ounce of hartshorn shavings, put into two quarts of spring water; simmer very gently till reduced to one quart, and then rub it through a fine sieve. Half a coffee-cup to be taken with an equal quant.i.ty of milk in a morning fasting, and lie an hour after it, and to be taken twice more in the day. You may then put a small quant.i.ty of wine or brandy instead of milk.
_Lemon Jelly._