Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers Part 18

Take a pound of blanched almonds, and roll them fine with a bottle; mix them with a few drops of rose-water, and stir them into a quart of cream; sweeten it with loaf-sugar, put it in a pot over the fire, and stir it till it thickens.

Tincture of Vanilla.

Vanilla beans, well bruised, half an ounce; French brandy, one gill; let it stand one week, and it will be fit for use. Keep it corked tight.

This article will keep any length of time, and is very convenient for seasoning ices.

Superior Receipt for Ice Cream.

One gallon of cream, two pounds rolled loaf-sugar, one tea-spoonful of oil of lemon. If for vanilla cream; use a table-spoonful of tincture of vanilla, two eggs beaten; mix well and freeze in the usual way. The seasoning should be well mixed with the sugar, before it is added to the cream; by this means, it will be all flavored alike. This has been much admired.

Coloring for ice cream, may be made in this way: take of powdered cochineal, cream of tartar and powdered alum, each two drachms; of salts of tartar, ten grains; pour upon the powders half a pint of boiling water; let it stand for two hours to settle, or filter through paper.

Use as much of this infusion as will give the desired shade. This produces a brilliant pink color.

Freezing Ice Cream.

Take a bucket of ice and pound it fine; mix with it two quarts of salt; put your cream in a freezer; cover it close, and immerse it in the bucket; draw the ice round it, so as to touch every part; after it has been in a few minutes, put in a spoon, and stir it from the edge to the centre. When the cream is put in a mould, close it and move it in the ice, as you cannot use a spoon without waste.

Ice Cream with Lemon.

Roll two fresh lemons, in as much powdered loaf-sugar as will sweeten a quart of cream; if you wish the juice, you can put some in with more sugar; freeze it. A good plan is to rub the lemon on a large lump of sugar, and then use the sugar in sweetening the cream.

Ice Cream with Fruit.

Mix the juice of the fruit with as much sugar as will be wanted before you add the cream, which need not be very rich.

Pokeberry Juice to Stain Ices.

Mash and strain ripe pokeberries; to each pint of juice put a pound of sugar; boil them together till it becomes a jelly; when cold put it in a jar and tie it close; use a small quant.i.ty of this to stain ice cream or jelly.

Isingla.s.s Jelly.

To one ounce of shaved isingla.s.s, put a quart of water; boil it down, to a pint, and strain it through a flannel bag; add some sugar and wine; stir it and put it in gla.s.ses.

Blancmange.

Shave an ounce of isingla.s.s, and dissolve it in boiling water; then boil it in a quart of new milk; strain it and sweeten it to your taste; season as you prefer, with rose water, cinnamon, or vanilla.

Blancmange of Jelly.

To one pint of calf's foot jelly, add a pint of cream, a little mace, and a quarter of a pound of loaf-sugar; boil it fifteen minutes, stirring it constantly; strain it through a flannel bag, and when nearly cold put in n gla.s.s of white wine; wet your moulds with cold cream before putting it in.

Calf's Foot Jelly.

Split the feet, and soak them in cold water, four or five hours; wash them clean, and put them to boil in six quarts of water; when it has boiled down to one-half, strain it through a colander, and skim off all the fat that is on the top; set it away to cool, and when the jelly is quite stiff, wipe it with a towel, to take off any grease that should remain; cut it in pieces, and pare of the discolored parts; put it in your preserving kettle, with half a pint of wine, the juice and peel of two lemons, mace and sugar to your taste, and the whites and sh.e.l.ls of six eggs; after it has boiled twenty minutes, pour in a little cold water, to make it settle; if any sc.u.m arises, take it off; let it boil five minutes longer, and take it off the fire; keep it covered for about an hour, when strain it through a bag that has been dipped in hot water, and put it in your gla.s.ses.

When eggs are used in calf's foot and other jellies, care should be taken to have the ingredients cool. If the jelly is hot when the eggs are added, it cannot be clarified so well--they should only cook by heating the jelly after they have been diffused, by stirring them through it.

Raisins in Syrup.

Make a syrup of half a pound of sugar to a pint of water, boil and skim it; put in five bunches of raisins, and let them boil twenty minutes; if you prefer, you can pick off the stems.

To Blanch Almonds and Peach Kernels.

Pour boiling water on them, which will make them peel easily; either roll them with a bottle on the cake board or pound in a mortar, with a little loaf-sugar; they should not be pounded too much or they will be oily; peach kernels make a fine flavoring for custard, but as they contain prussic acid, do not use too many.

Snow Cream.

Take the richest cream you can procure, season it with a few drops of essence of lemon, or syrup of lemon peel, and powdered white sugar, and if you choose a spoonful of preserve syrup, and just as you send it to table, stir in light newly fallen snow till it is nearly as stiff as ice cream.

Kisses.

Beat the whites of eight eggs till they will stand alone; put with them, a little at a time, a pound of powdered sugar; roll a lemon in some of the sugar till the flavor is extracted. After it is beaten very well, drop it in heaps about the size of half an egg on a sheet of paper; smooth them over with a spoon, and let them be of a regular shape; bake them in an oven that has been moderately heated, till they are of a pale brown color; do not have the oven too cool, or they will run together; take them from the papers carefully, and stick two together.

CAKES.

Remarks on Making and Baking Cake.

The materials for making cake should be of the best quality, as your success very much depends on it. Flour should be dried and sifted, sugar rolled fine, spices pounded and sifted. Where brown sugar is used, it should be spread on a dish and dried before rolling it. I have known very good pound cake made with brown sugar; also jumbles, &c. Persons that make their own b.u.t.ter sometimes use it fresh from the churn, which prevents the necessity of was.h.i.+ng the salt out of it for cake, and it mixes more readily than hard b.u.t.ter. Currants should be picked over, washed and dried; raisins should be stemmed and stoned. When these preparations are made the day before, it is a great a.s.sistance. Eggs should be fresh, or they will not beat light: in beating the whites, take a broad flat dish, and beat them until you can hold the dish upside down,--this is a test of their lightness. A large bowl is best for mixing and beating cake. You must use your hand for mixing the sugar and b.u.t.ter, and as you add the other ingredients, you may take a large wooden spoon; beat it some time after all is mixed. The oven should be ready to bake immediately, as standing makes cake heavy. A brick oven is the most certain,--and over your pans of cake, you should spread several layers of newspaper, to prevent its browning too suddenly. Cake requires more time than bread: a large cake should stay in the oven from an hour and a half to two hours, turning and looking at it from time to time; when you think it is sufficiently baked, stick a broad bright knife in the centre; if it is dry and free from dough when drawn out, the cake is likely to be done, though sometimes this is not a certain test, and you will have to draw a little from the centre of the cake with the knife. A broom straw will sometimes answer in a small cake instead of a knife. A large stone pan, with a cover, is the best for keeping cake, or a large covered bowl.

Icing for Cake.

Roll and sift a pound of loaf-sugar; whip the whites of three eggs; put in the sugar gradually, and beat it for half an hour; if it is so thick that it will not run, put in some rose water; let the cake be nearly cool; dry it in an oven that is nearly cool.

Another Way.

Put the white of one egg and a little rose water into half a pound of pulverized sugar, and heat them together till they stand; when it is nearly light enough, add a few drops of lemon juice, or a small portion of tartaric acid, dissolved in a _little_ water. It must be beaten in a bowl which has never had any thing greasy in it, (either cream or b.u.t.ter). The cake must have a little flour sifted over it, and wiped off with a towel, then cover it with a thin coat of the icing, set it under the stove or in a place that is a little warm, and let it harden; then add the second coat thicker; this will he perfectly white, but the first is always dark and has crumbs through it.

A Rich Fruit Cake.