Place over the fire a saucepan; when it begins to be hot, put into it four tablespoonfuls of white sugar and one tablespoonful of water.
Stir it continually for three or four minutes, until all the water evaporates; then watch it carefully until it becomes a delicate brown color. Have ready a pint of cold water and cup of sugar mixed with some flavoring; turn it into the saucepan with the browned sugar and let it simmer for ten minutes; then add half a gla.s.s of brandy or a gla.s.s of wine. The wine or brandy may be omitted if preferred.
A GOOD PLAIN SAUCE.
A good sauce to go with plain fruit puddings is made by mixing one cupful of brown sugar, one cupful of best mola.s.ses, half a cupful of b.u.t.ter, one large teaspoonful of flour; add the juice and grated rind of one lemon, half a nutmeg grated, half a teaspoonful of cloves and cinnamon. When these are all stirred together, add a teacupful of boiling water; stir it constantly, put into a saucepan and let it boil until clear; then strain.
OLD STYLE SAUCE.
One pint of sour cream, the juice and finely grated rind of a large lemon; sugar to taste. Beat hard and long until the sauce is very light. This is delicious with cold "Brown Betty"--a form of cold farina--cornstarch, blanc mange and the like.
PLAIN COLD, HARD SAUCE.
Stir together one cupful of white sugar and half a cupful of b.u.t.ter until it is creamy and light; add flavoring to taste. This is very nice, flavored with the juice of raspberries or strawberries, or beat into it a cupful of ripe strawberries or raspberries and the white of an egg beaten stiff.
CUSTARD SAUCE.
One cupful of sugar, two beaten eggs, one pint of milk, flavoring to taste, brandy or wine, if preferred.
Heat the milk to boiling; add by degrees the beaten eggs and sugar, put in the flavoring and set within a pan of boiling water; stir until it begins to thicken; then take it off and stir in the brandy or wine gradually; set, until wanted, within a pan of boiling water.
MILK SAUCE.
Dissolve a tablespoonful of flour in cold milk; see that it is free from lumps. Whisk an ounce of b.u.t.ter and a cupful of sugar to a cream and add to it a pinch of salt. Mix together half a pint of milk, one egg and the flour; stir this into the b.u.t.ter and add a dash of nutmeg, or any flavor; heat until near the boiling point and serve. Very nice in place of cold cream.
MILK OR CREAM SAUCE.
Cream or rich milk, simply sweetened with plenty of white sugar and flavored, answers the purpose for some kinds of pudding, and can be made very quickly.
FRUIT SAUCE.
Two-thirds of a cupful of sugar, a pint of raspberries or strawberries, a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter and a cupful of hot water. Boil all together slowly, removing the sc.u.m as fast as it rises; then strain through a sieve. This is very good served with dumplings or apple puddings.
JELLY SAUCE.
Melt two tablespoonfuls of sugar and half a cupful of jelly over the fire in a cupful of boiling water, adding also two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter; then stir into it a teaspoonful of cornstarch, dissolved in half a cupful of water or wine; add it to the jelly and let it come to a boil. Set it in a dish of hot water to keep it warm until time to serve; stir occasionally. Any fruit jelly can be used.
COMMON SWEET SAUCE.
Into a pint of water stir a paste made of a tablespoonful of cornstarch or flour (rubbed smooth with a little cold water); add a cupful of sugar and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Cook well for three minutes. Take from the fire and add a piece of b.u.t.ter as large as a small egg; when cool, flavor with a tablespoonful of vanilla or lemon extract.
SYRUP FOR FRUIT SAUCE.
An excellent syrup for fruit sauce is made of Morello cherries (red, sour cherries). For each pound of cherry juice, allow half a pound of sugar and six cherry kernels; seed the cherries and let them stand in a bowl over night; in the morning, press them through a fine cloth, which has been dipped in boiling water, weigh the juice, add the sugar, boil fifteen minutes, removing all the sc.u.m. Fill small bottles that are perfectly dry with the syrup; when it is cold, cork the bottles tightly, seal them and keep them in a cool place, standing upright.
Most excellent to put into pudding sauces.
ROSE BRANDY. (For Cakes and Puddings.)
Gather the leaves of roses while the dew is on them, and as soon as they open put them into a wide-mouthed bottle, and when the bottle is full pour in the best of fourth proof French brandy.
It will be fit for use in three or four weeks and may be frequently replenished. It is sometimes considered preferable to wine as a flavoring to pastries and pudding sauces.
LEMON BRANDY. (For Cakes and Puddings.)
When you use lemons for punch or lemonade, do not throw away the peels but cut them in small pieces--the thin yellow outside (the thick part is not good)--and put them in a gla.s.s jar or bottle of brandy. You will find this brandy useful for many purposes.
In the same way keep for use the kernels of peach and plum stones, pounding them slightly before you put them into the brandy.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
PRESERVES, JELLIES, ETC.
Fruit for preserving should be sound and free from all defects, using white sugar, and also that which is dry, which produces the nicest syrup; dark sugar can be used by being clarified, which is done by dissolving two pounds of sugar in a pint of water; add to it the white of an egg and beat it well, put it into a preserving kettle on the fire and stir with a wooden spoon. As soon as it begins to swell and boil up, throw in a little cold water; let it boil up again, take it off and remove the sc.u.m; boil it again, throw in more cold water and remove the sc.u.m; repeat until it is clear and pours like oil from the spoon.
In the old way of preserving, we used pound for pound, when they were kept in stone jars or crocks; now, as most preserves are put up in sealed jars or cans, less sugar seems sufficient; three-quarters of a pound of sugar is generally all that is required for a pound of fruit.
Fruit should be boiled in a porcelain-lined or granite-ware dish, if possible; but other utensils, copper or metal, if made bright and clean, answer as well.
Any of the fruits that have been preserved in syrup may be converted into dry preserves, by first draining them from the syrup, and then drying them in a stove or very moderate oven, adding to them a quant.i.ty of powdered loaf sugar, which will gradually penetrate the fruit, while the fluid parts of the syrup gently evaporate. They should be dried in the stove or oven on a sieve, and turned every six or eight hours, fresh powdered sugar being sifted over them every time they are turned. Afterwards they are to be kept in a dry situation, in drawers or boxes. Currants and cherries preserved whole in this manner, in bunches, are extremely elegant and have a fine flavor. In this way it is, also, that orange and lemon chips are preserved.
Mold can be prevented from forming on fruit jellies by pouring a little melted paraffine over the top. When cool, it will harden to a solid cake, winch can be easily removed when the jelly is used, and saved to use over again another year. It is perfectly harmless and tasteless.
Large gla.s.s tumblers are the best for keeping jellies, much better than large vessels, for by being opened frequently they soon spoil; a paper should be cut to fit and placed over the jelly; then put on the lid or cover, with thick paper rubbed over on the inside with the white of an egg.
There cannot be too much care taken in selecting fruit for jellies, for if the fruit is over ripe, any amount of time in boiling will never make it jelly--there is where so many fail in making good jelly; and another important matter is overlooked--that of carefully skimming off the juice after it begins to boil and a sc.u.m rises from the bottom to the top; the juice should not be stirred, but the sc.u.m carefully taken off; if allowed to boil under, the jelly will not be clear.
When either preserves or canned fruits show any indications of fermentation, they should be immediately re-boiled with more sugar, to save them. It is much better to be generous with the sugar at first than to have any losses afterwards. Keep all preserves in a cool, dry closet.
PRESERVED CHERRIES.
Take large, ripe Morello cherries; weigh them and to each pound allow a pound of loaf sugar. Stone the cherries (opening them with a sharp quill) and save the juice that comes from them in the process. As you stone them, throw them into a large pan or tureen and strew about half the sugar over them and let them lie in it an hour or two after they are all stoned. Then put them into a preserving kettle with the remainder of the sugar and boil and skim them till the fruit is clear and the syrup thick.