_Moss._
Take as much white starch as sugar, and sift it; colour some of the sugar with turmeric, some with blue powder, some with chocolate, and some with the juice of spinach; and wet each by itself with a solution of gum-dragon. Strain and rub it through a hair sieve, and let them dry before you touch them.
_m.u.f.fins._
Mix flour in a pan, with warm new milk and water, yest and salt, according to your judgment. Beat it up well with a wooden spoon till it is a stiff batter; then set it near the fire to rise, which will be in about an hour. It must then be well beaten down, and put to rise again, and, when very light, made into m.u.f.fins, and baked in flat round irons made for the purpose. The iron must be made hot, and kept so with coals under it. Take out the batter with a spoon, and drop it on a little flour sprinkled lightly on a table. Then lay them on a trencher with a little flour; turn the trencher round to shape them, a.s.sisting with your hand if they need it. Then bake them; when one side is done, turn them with a m.u.f.fin knife, and bake the other.
_Oranges, to preserve._
Make a hole at the stalk end; take out all the seeds, but no pulp; squeeze out the juice, which must be saved to put to them, taking great care you do not loosen the pulp. Put them into an earthen pan, with water; boil them till the water is bitter, changing it three times, and, in the last water put a little salt, and boil them till they are very tender, but not to break. Take them out and drain them; take two pounds of sugar and a quart of pippin jelly; boil it to a syrup, skim it very clear, and then put in your oranges. Set them over a gentle fire till they boil very tender and clear; then put to them the juice that you took from them; p.r.i.c.k them with a knife that the syrup may penetrate. If you cut them in halves, lay the skin side upwards, and put them up and cover them with the syrup.
Lemons and citrons may be done in the same way.
_Whole Oranges, to preserve._
Take six oranges, rasp them very thin, put them in water as you do them, and let them lie all night. In the morning boil them till they are tender, and then put them into clear water, and let them remain so two or three days. Take the oranges, and cut a hole in the top, and pick out the seeds, but not the meat; then take three pounds of fine sugar, and make a thin syrup, and, when boiled and skimmed, put in your oranges, and let them boil till they are clear. Take them out, and let them stand three or four days; then boil them again till the syrup is rather thick.
Put half a pound of sugar and half a pint of apple jelly to every orange, and let it boil until it jellies; put them into pots, and place any substance to keep down the orange in the pot till it cools.
_Seville Oranges, to preserve._
Put Seville oranges in spring water, where let them remain three or four days, shifting the water every day. Take them out, and grate off a little of the outside rind very carefully without touching the white, only to take away a little of the bitter; make a thin syrup, and, when it is sufficiently cleared and boiled, take it off, and, when it is only warm, put the oranges in and just simmer them over the fire. Put them and the syrup into a pan, and in a day or two set them again on the fire, and just scald them. Repeat this a day afterwards; then boil a thick syrup; take the oranges out of the thin one, and lay them on a cloth to drain, covered over with another; then put them to the thick syrup, as you before did to the thin one, putting them into it just hot, and giving them a simmer. Repeat this in a few days if you think they are not sufficiently done. The insides must be left in.
_b.u.t.ter Orange._
Take a pint of the juice of oranges and eight new-laid eggs beaten well together; mix and season them to your taste with loaf-sugar; then set it on the fire; keep stirring till it becomes thick; put in a bit of b.u.t.ter of the size of a walnut, stirring it while on the fire; then dish it up.
_Candied Orange._
Take twelve oranges, the palest you can get; take out the pulp, pick out the seeds and skins; let the outsides soak in water with a little salt all night: then boil them in a good quant.i.ty of spring water, till tender, which will be about nine or ten hours. Drain and cut them in very thin slices; add them to the pulp, and to every pound take one pound and a half of sugar beaten fine. Boil them together till clear, which will be in about three quarters of an hour.
_Orange Cream._
Grate the peels of four Seville oranges into a pint of water, then squeeze the juice into the water. Well beat the yolks of four eggs; put all together; and sweeten with double-refined sugar. Press the whole hard through a strong strainer; set it on the fire, and stir it carefully one way, till it is as thick as cream.
_Orange Jelly._
Dissolve two ounces of isingla.s.s in a pint of water; add a pint of the juice of four China oranges, two Seville oranges, and two lemons. Grate the peel of them all, and sweeten to your palate.
_Orange Paste._
Pick all the meat out of the oranges, and boil the rinds in water till they are very tender. Cut off all the outside, and beat the pulp in a mortar till it is very fine. Shred the outside in long thin bits, and mix it with the meat, when you have taken out all the seeds. To every pint of juice put half a pint of the pulp, and mix all together. Then boil up a candy of sugar; put in your paste, and just scald it; add a good pound of sugar to a pint of the paste; put it into a broad earthen pan, set it on a stove, let it remain till it candies; skim it off with a spoon, drop it on gla.s.ses to dry, and as, often as it candies keep skimming it.
_Another way._
To six ounces of sugar put six ounces at least of fine flour, mixed with a little orange-flower water, but no eggs, as they would make it too dry. Moisten with water, taking care that it is neither too hard nor too soft. Rub the pan with a little fine oil.
_Orange Puffs._
Pare off the yellow peel of a large Seville orange, but be careful not to touch the white; boil it in three several waters to take out the bitterness; it will require about three hours" boiling. Beat it very fine in a marble mortar, with four ounces of fine lump sugar, four ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter, the yolks of six eggs, four good spoonfuls of sweet thick cream, and one spoonful of orange-flower water. Beat all these ingredients so well together that you cannot discern a particle of the orange-peel. Roll out your puff paste as thin as possible, lay it in pattypans, fill them with the ingredients, but do not cover them. Bake them in an oven no hotter than for cheesecakes; but for frying you must make them with crust without b.u.t.ter, and fry them in lard.
_Another way._
Take one pound of single-refined sugar sifted and the rind of an orange grated, a little gum-dragon, and beaten almonds rubbed through a sieve.
Mix all these well together; wet it into paste, and beat it in a mortar; add whites of eggs whipped to a frost.
_Orange Sponge._
Dissolve two ounces of isingla.s.s in one pint of water; strain it through a sieve; add the juice of two China oranges and some lemon; sugar it to your taste. Whisk it till it looks like a sponge; put it into a mould, and turn it out.
_Orange and Lemon Syrup._
To each pint of juice, which must be put into a large pan, throw a pound and a half of sugar, broken into small lumps, which must be stirred every day till dissolved, first carefully taking off the sc.u.m. Let the peel of about six oranges be put into twelve quarts, but it must be taken out when the sugar is melted, and you are ready to bottle it.
Proceed in the same way with lemon, only taking two pounds of sugar to a pint of juice.
_Oranges for a Tart._
Pare some oranges as thin as possible; boil them till they are soft. Cut and core double the number of good pippins, and boil them to pap, but so as that they do not lose their colour; strain the pulp, and add one pound of sugar to every pint. Take out the orange-pulp, cut the peel, make it very soft by boiling, and bruise it in a mortar in the juice of lemons and oranges; then boil it to a proper consistence with the apple and orange-pulp and half a pint of rose-water.
_Orange Tart._
Take eight Seville oranges; cut them in halves, pick out all the seeds; then pick out all the orange as free from the white skins as possible.
Take the seeds out of the cores, and boil them till tender and free from bitter. When done enough, dry them very well from the water, and beat five of the orange-peels in a marble mortar till quite smooth. Then take the weight of the oranges in double-refined sugar, beaten fine, and sifted; mix it with the juice, and pound all well in the mortar; the peel that was left unbeaten you slice into your tart. You may keep out as much sugar as will ice the tart. Make the crust for it with twelve ounces of flour, six ounces of b.u.t.ter, melted in water, and the yolks of two eggs, well beaten and mixed into your flour. Be sure to p.r.i.c.k the crust well before it goes into the oven.
Half this quant.i.ty makes a pretty-sized tart.
_Another way._
Take as many oranges as you require. Cut the peel extremely thin from the white, and shred it small. Clear the oranges entirely from the white, and cut them in small pieces like an apple, taking out the seeds.
Sweeten as required, and bake in a nice paste. In winter, apples may be mixed.