The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 49

Take half a pound of almonds; blanch them, and cut out all their spots: then beat them very fine, in a clean stone or wooden mortar, with a little rose-water, and mix them with one quart of sweet cream. Strain them as long as you can get any out. Take as much fine sugar as will sweeten it, a nutmeg cut into quarters, some large mace, three spoonfuls of orange-flower water, as much rose-water, with musk or ambergris dissolved in it; put all these things into a gla.s.s churn; shake them continually up and down till the ma.s.s is as thick as b.u.t.ter; before it is broken, pour it all into a clean dish; take out the nutmeg and the mace; when it is settled smooth, scatter some comfits or sc.r.a.pe some hard sugar upon it.

_Almond Paste, for Shapes, &c._

Blanch half a pound of almonds in cold water; let them lie twenty-four hours in cold water, then beat them in a mortar, till they are very fine, adding the whites of eggs as you beat them. Put them in a stewpan over a stove fire, with half a pound of double-refined sugar, pounded and sifted through a lawn sieve; stir it while over the fire, till it becomes a little stiff; then take it out, and put it between two plates, till it is cold. Put it in a pan, and keep it for use. It will keep a great while in a cool place. When you use it, pound it a little in a mortar, or mould it in your hands; then roll it out thin in whatever shape you choose, or make it up into walnuts or other moulds; press it down close that it may receive the impression of the nut, &c., and with a pin take it out of the mould and turn it out upon copper sheets, and so proceed till you have a sufficient quant.i.ty. The mould should be lightly touched with oil. Bake them of a light brown; fill them with sweetmeats, &c. and such as should be closed, as nuts, &c. cement together with isingla.s.s boiled down to a proper consistence.

_Almond Puffs._

Take one pound of fine sugar, and put water to it to make a wet candy: boil it till pretty thick; then put in a pound of beaten almonds, and mix them together, still keeping it stirred over a slow fire, but it must not boil, till it is as dry as paste. Then beat it a little in a mortar; put in the peel of a lemon grated, and a pound of sifted sugar; rub them well together, and wet this with the froth of whites of eggs.

_Another way._

Blanch and beat fine two ounces of sweet almonds, with orange-flower water, or brandy; beat the whites of three eggs to a very high froth, and then strew in a little sifted sugar till it is as stiff as paste.

Lay it in cakes, and bake it on paper in a cool oven.

_Angelica, to candy._

Take the youngest shoots; sc.r.a.pe and boil them in water till tender, and put them on a cloth to drain. Make a very strong syrup of sugar; put in the angelica while the syrup is hot, but not boiling. Set it in a tin before the fire, or in the sun, for three or four days, to dry.

_Apples, to do._

Scoop as many apples as you choose to do; dip them several times in syrup, and fill them with preserved raspberries or apricots; then roll them in paste, and when baked put on them either a white iceing, or with the white of an egg rub them over; sift on sugar, and glaze them with a hot salamander.

_Pippins, to candy._

Take fine large pippins; pare and core them whole into an earthen platter: strew over them fine sugar; and sprinkle on the sugar a little rose-water. Bake them in an oven as hot as for manchet, and stop it up close. Let them remain there half an hour; then take them out of the dish, and lay them on the bottom of a sieve; leave them three or four days, till quite dry, when they will look clear as amber, and be finely candied.

_Pippins, to dry._

Take two pounds of fine sugar and a pint of water; let it boil up and skim it; put in sixteen quarters of Kentish pippins pared and cored, and let them boil fast till they are very clear. Put in a pint of jelly of pippins, and boil it till it jellies; then put in the juice of a lemon; just let it boil up, and put them in bottles. You may put in the rind of an orange, first boiled in water, then cut in long thin pieces, and put it into the sugar at the same time with the pippins.

_Apples, to preserve green._

Take green apples the size of a walnut, codlings are the best, with the stalks on; put them into spring water with vine leaves in a preserving pan, and cover them close; set them on a slow fire. When they are soft, take off the skins, and put them with vine leaves in the same water as before, and when quite cold put them over the fire till they are quite green. Then put them into a dish without liquor; sift loaf sugar over them while they are hot; when dry, they make a good syrup.

_Golden Pippins, to preserve._

Into a pint of clear spring water put a pound of double-refined sugar, and set it on the fire. Neatly pare and take out the stalks and eyes of a pound of pippins; put them into the sugar and water; cover them close, and boil them as fast as you can for half a quarter of an hour. Take them off a little to cool; set them on again to boil as fast and as long as they did before. Do this three or four times till they are very clear; then cover them close.

_Crabs, to preserve._

Gently scald them two or three times in a thin syrup; when they have lain a fortnight, the syrup must be made rich enough to keep, and the crabs scalded in it.

_Siberian Crabs, to preserve (transparent.)_

Take out the core and blossom with a bodkin; make a syrup with half their weight of sugar; put in the apples, and keep them under the syrup with a spoon, and they will be done in ten minutes over a slow fire.

When cold, tie them down with brandy paper.

_Another way._

To each pound of fruit add an equal quant.i.ty of sugar, which clarify with as little water as possible, and skim it thoroughly; then put in the fruit, and boil it gently till it begins to break. Take out the apples, boil the syrup again till it grows thick, and then pour it over them. They are not to be pared; and half the stalk left on.

_Golden Pippins, to stew._

Cut the finest pippins, and pare them as thin as you can. As you do them, throw them into cold water to preserve their colour. Make a middling thick syrup, of about half a pound of sugar to a pint of water, and when it boils up skim it, and throw in the pippins with a bit of lemon-peel. Keep up a brisk fire; throw the syrup over the apples as they boil, to make them look clear. When they are done, add lemon-juice to your taste; and when you can run a straw through them they are done enough. Put them, without the syrup, into a bowl; cover them close, and boil the syrup till you think it sufficiently thick: then take it off, and throw it hot upon the pippins, keeping them always under it.

_Apple Cheese._

Seven pounds of apples cored, one pound and three quarters of sugar, the juice and peel of two lemons; boil these in a stewpan till quite a thick jelly. Bake the apple till soft; break it as smooth as possible; put it into pots, and tie down close.

_Conserve of Apples._

Take as many golden rennets as will fill the dish that is to go to table; pick them of a size; pare them, and take out the cores at the bottom, that they may appear whole at the top. With the cores and about half a gla.s.s of water make a syrup; when it is half done, put in your apples, and let them stew till they are done. Be careful not to break them; place them in your dish; that your syrup may be fine, add the white of an egg well beaten; skim it, and it will be clarified. Squeeze into it the juice of a lemon, with the peel cut in small shreds. This should boil a minute; then throw over the syrup, which should be quite a jelly.

_Apple Demandon._

The whites of seven or eight very fresh eggs, put into a flat dish, with a very little finely sifted sugar, and beaten to a very thick froth. It will require to be beaten full half an hour before it becomes of a sufficient substance. It is then to be put over the apple and custard, and piled up to some height; after which place it in a very quick oven, and let it remain till it becomes partially of a light brown colour.

It should be done immediately before it is sent up to table.

_Apple Fraise._

Pare six large apples, take out the cores, cut them in slices, and fry them on both sides with b.u.t.ter; put them on a sieve to drain; mix half a pint of milk and two eggs, with flour, to batter, not too stiff; put in a little lemon-peel, shred very fine, and a little beaten cinnamon. Put some b.u.t.ter into a frying-pan, and make it hot; put in half the batter, and lay the apples on it; let it fry a little to set it; then put the remaining batter over it; fry it on one side; then turn it, and fry the other brown: put it into a dish; strew powder-sugar over it, and squeeze on it the juice of a Seville orange.

_Apple Fritters._

Pare six large apples and cut out the cores; cut them in slices as thick as a half-crown piece. Mix half a pint of cream and two eggs with flour into a stiff batter, put in a gla.s.s of wine or brandy, a little lemon-peel, shred very fine, two ounces of powder-sugar: mix it well up, and then put in the apples. Have a pan of hog's lard boiling hot; put in every slice singly as fast as you can, and fry them quick, of a fine gold colour on both sides; then take them out, and put them on a sieve to drain; lay them on a dish, and sprinkle them with sugar. For fritters be careful that the fat in which you fry them is quite sweet and clean.

_Apple Jelly._ No. 1.