Part 28

_Pears._--After being peeled and the stem cut off half way, they may be preserved whole or in quarters. In peeling them, they must be dropped in cold water with a little lemon-juice to keep them white. They are picked just before commencing to ripen. When ready, put cold water and the juice of a lemon to every two quarts in a deep pan, and drop the pears in, set on the fire and boil gently till well done; take off, drain and drop in cold water, which you change two or three times and without stopping; then drain again, place them in a large bowl, and then proceed as for peaches. They are kept like peaches also.

_Apples._--Proceed as for pears, except that apples are cooked much quicker.

_Pine-Apples._--Peel, slice, and drop the fruit in cold water; add a little sugar, set on the fire and boil gently till done, when drain and drop in cold water and drain again. Put them in a bowl, and proceed as for peaches for the rest, with the exception that they are kept in jars only, and not dried or put in brandy.

_Chestnuts._--Skin the chestnuts and put them in cold water on the fire, and take off when tender; then remove the under skin or white envelope or pith. Place them in a bowl, and proceed as for peaches for the rest.

_Oranges._--Drop oranges in boiling water and take off when the rind is tender, and when a darning-needle can be run through it easily. Drain and drop them in cold water. After two or three hours drain, cut in slices, and put them in a bowl; then proceed as for peaches, except that they are kept in jars only.

_Quinces._--Peel, quarter, and core quinces just before they commence ripening, drop in boiling water; drain them when done, and drop them immediately in cold water. As soon as cold, take them off, drain and put them in a bowl. For the rest, proceed as for peaches, with the exception that they are only kept in jars, but neither dried nor put in brandy.

To Preserve in Brandy.--Besides the dried fruits above described, several may be preserved in brandy, without being cooked and soaked in syrup of sugar.

_Cherries._--Pick them when fully ripe, see that they are clean, and put them in decanters with cloves, pieces of cinnamon, and entirely covered with brandy; cover well, but do not cork, and leave thus two weeks, at the end of which, place a colander over a vessel and empty the decanters into it; pass the liquor through a jelly-bag, mix it with some syrup of sugar at the second degree, turn over the fruit which you cover with it, and cork the decanters well when perfectly cold. Keep in a dark, cool, and dry place.

Do the same with strawberries and other like fruit.

_Fruit Jellies--With Apples or Quinces._--Peel, core, and cut in small pieces two quarts of good apples or quinces, lay them in a stewpan with a clove well pounded, and the juice of half a lemon; cover with water, set on a moderate fire, and boil slowly till well cooked. Turn into a jelly-bag, or a thick towel under which you place a vessel to receive the juice, and when it is all out, put it in a stewpan with three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of juice; boil to a jelly.

As soon as done put it in pots or jars, let cool, cut a piece of white paper the size of the inside of the pot, dip it in brandy, put it over the jelly, cover the pot well, and place in a dry, cool closet, but not too cold. What remains in the bag may be used to make a _compote_. Watch the process carefully, skimmer in hand, to skim off the scum, and stir now and then, lest it should burn.

_With Apricots, Peaches, Plums, etc._--After having taken the stones out, cut them in four pieces, and proceed as for apple-jelly above in every other particular.

_With Blackberries, Currants, Grapes, Raspberries, or other like Berries._--Put the well-ripened berries in a coarse towel and squeeze all the juice out of them, which you put into a stewpan with as many pounds of loaf-sugar as there are of juice, and finish as directed for apple-jelly. A little rum or essence of rose, or any other, according to taste, may be added just before taking from the fire.

_Punch._--Put a saltspoonful of black tea in a crockery pot, with one clove, a little cinnamon, and the rind of a lemon cut in pieces; pour on the whole half a pint of boiling water; let it remain thus five minutes, and strain. Put a bottle of rum or brandy in a crockery vessel, with twelve ounces of loaf-sugar, set the rum or brandy on fire, and let burn till it stops. Then mix tea and rum together, and it is ready for use. It is drunk cold or warm, according to taste. When wanted warm, if made previously, set it on a moderate fire, in a tin or crockery kettle.

It keeps very well if carefully bottled and corked when cold.

Another way to make it is to mix the rum or brandy with the tea without burning it. It is warmed, used, and kept like the above. The quantity of water may be reduced or augmented, according to taste, and so also the sugar.

_Another._--Grate the rind of a lemon and of two oranges on a piece of sugar, the yellow part only, and put it in a bowl with cold water to dissolve it; then add two gills of pine-apple syrup, essence of vanilla, a pint of claret wine, a pint of Catawba, Sauterne, or Rhine wine, a pint of Champagne, and a gill of brandy; sweeten to taste; strain, put on ice for some time, and serve.

_Another._--Put a pound of sugar in a bowl with a gill of water to dissolve it; then add the juice of three oranges, a little rind grated, a bottle of Champagne and one of Catawba or Sauterne wine; strain, place on ice for some time, and serve cold.

_Roman Punch._--Make iced lemon with one quart of juice, same of syrup as directed, then mix with it the juice of four oranges, some lemon and orange rind grated, and about three gills of rum (or according to taste); also, if liked, the preparation used for iced fruit. Then put the mixture in the freezer, stir while freezing, and serve. It must not be frozen hard, as it is better when served rather liquid and frothy. It may be made with any other liquor, if preferred.

Punch is served either after the _entrees_ or after the _releves_ of fish, according to taste.

PASTRY.

Of all the branches of the science and art of cooking, pastry, if not the most difficult, requires the greatest care. An inferior piece of meat makes an inferior dish, but still it can be eaten without danger: but inferior pastry can hardly be eaten; or, if eaten, it is indigestible. We will recommend our readers to be very careful about proportions; it would not make a great difference for some kinds, but for others, putting too much or too little of one or more things would certainly result in failure. It is very important to have good materials. New flour is very inferior for pastry; it must have been ground for at least three months. Always keep it in bags, and in a dry and well-ventilated place. Sift before using it. Use fresh eggs, good butter, and good pulverized sugar.

The most important of all is the oven, for, supposing that you have used good materials, have mixed them well, if not properly baked, every thing is lost, materials and labor. Supposing that you have a good oven, there is still a difficulty--and if the last, not the least--the degree of heat. Some require a quick oven, as puff-paste, _choux_, etc.; others a warm one, and others a slow oven, as _meringues_ biscuits, etc. By putting the hand in the oven you can tell if it is properly heated, but it requires experience, and even practitioners are often mistaken; therefore, the easiest way is to have a thermometer in the oven. It may be placed in the oven of every stove or range; it is only necessary to bore a hole on the top of the range or stove, reaching the oven, and have a thermometer with the bulb inclosed in a brass sheath, perforated, long enough to reach the oven, and of the size of the hole bored--the glass tube being above the top of the range.

_Pastes._--There are several kinds of paste. Puff-paste is the most important; it can be made very rich, rich, and less so; and several hundred different cakes can be made with it. Small cakes are called _petits fours_.

The next in importance is the _pate-a-choux_; then the paste for meat-pies, sometimes called _pate brisee_.

Puff-paste requires care, but is easily made; _pate-a-choux_ must be well worked.

_Puff-paste._--To make good puff-paste, good flour and butter, free from salt or sour milk, are indispensable. It must be made in a cool place. Take half a pound of good butter and knead it well in a bowl of cold water; if fresh and not salt, the kneading will take the sour milk out of it; if salty, it will remove the salt, then put it in another bowl of cold water and leave it till it is perfectly firm, and then use. When the butter is ready, put half a pound of flour on the paste-board or marble, make a hole in it, in which you put a pinch of salt, and cold water enough to make a rather stiff dough. It requires about half a pint of water, knead well, make a kind of ball with the dough, and put it on a corner of your marble or paste-board. Take the butter from the water and knead it on the board, to press all the water out of it. Give it the shape of a large sausage; dredge the board slightly with flour, roll the butter over only once, as it must take very little of it, dredge both ends of the piece of butter with flour also, then by putting one end on the board and pressing on the other end with your hands, you will flatten it of a rather round shape, and till of about half an inch in thickness. Put it thus on the corner of the board also. Immediately after having prepared the butter, take the dough and roll it down, of a round form also, and till large enough to envelop the butter in it easily. Remember that during the whole operation of folding and rolling the paste down, you must dust the marble or paste-board with flour, very slightly and often; do the same on the top of the paste. It is done in order to prevent the paste from adhering to the board or to the rolling-pin. It must be dusted slightly, so that the paste cannot absorb much of it, as it would make it tough. Have a slab of marble or slate; it is much easier than wood, and cooler.

When the dough is spread, place the butter right on the middle of it. Turn one side of the dough over the butter, covering it a little more than half way; do the game with the opposite side, the dough lapping over that of the first side turned; do the same with the side toward you, and also with the side opposite. Dough stretching easily when pulled, and contracting easily when let loose after having pulled it, you have now still four corners of the dough to bring over the butter and in the same way as above, and by doing which, you give to the whole a somewhat round form, and also have the butter perfectly enveloped in the dough. Place the rolling-pin on the middle of the paste, horizontally, and press gently on it so as to make a furrow; do the same from place to place, on the whole surface, making furrows about an inch apart. Repeat the process again, this time placing the rolling-pin right on the top of each elevated line; and again, repeat it a third time, also placing the pin on each elevated line. Now do exactly the same contrariwise. Then, roll the paste down, gently, evenly, to a thickness of about one fourth of an inch, and of a rectangular shape. Fold it in three by turning over one-third of its length toward the other end, and thus covering another third of it; fold or turn over the remaining third, so as to cover the first third turned over. Roll it down again of about the same thickness as above, but without making furrows in it; give it also the same rectangular shape, taking care to make the length of what was the width, _i. e._ extending it the longer way in an opposite direction to that of the first time, so that the ends will be what the sides were. Fold in three as before, put it on a plate and set in a refrigerator for from ten to twenty minutes. Take hold of it again, roll down as above, fold in the same way also, and put away for ten minutes. You roll down and fold from four to six times, not counting the time you envelop the butter in the dough. In cold weather, and when the butter is firm, fold and roll only four times; but in rather warm weather, fold and roll six times. If it is too warm, it is of no use to try with butter.

Puff-paste may be made without stopping; that is, without putting it away in a cool place for some time; but it is better to let it rest; it is lighter and rises better. When finished, it can be used immediately; but it is better also to put it in a plate or dish, cover it with a towel, and put it in a refrigerator for from twelve to twenty-four hours. Although it must be kept in a cool place, do not put it near enough to the ice to freeze. It may be kept thus for two or three days.

_Puff-paste with Beef-Suet_.--Take half a pound of fresh beef suet, the nearest the kidney the best; break it in small pieces with the hands, at the same time removing the thin skin and fibres as much as possible; put it in a bowl of cold water and knead well till it is rather soft; take it off, mash and bruise it well on the paste-board with a rolling-pin; knead it again like butter; roll it in flour like butter also, and proceed as above for the rest, and with the same proportion, weight for weight of flour and beef-suet, but it requires more salt. Beef-suet being more firm than butter, puff-paste can be made with it during summer, but it must be eaten immediately, being very inferior after a while.

The proportion of butter and flour may be varied. Weight for weight makes the real puff-paste, and very rich. If less butter is used it will not rise as much, but is excellent nevertheless, and is more handy to make different cakes, such as short-cakes with fruit. Therefore puff-paste may be made with the following proportions: to one pound of flour, use fourteen, twelve, ten, eight, or even four ounces of butter or suet. Another way is to mix one or two eggs in the flour, water, and salt before rolling it down. When eggs are used, it requires less water. Envelop the butter in it in the same way.

_Allumettes._--Cut strips of puff-paste of any length, about three inches wide and about one-fifth of an inch in thickness; mix well together, and for about three or four minutes, one ounce of sugar and about half the white of an egg; spread this mixture over the strips of paste, so as to have a rather thin coat of it; then cut the paste across, so as to make small strips about one inch broad and three inches long. Bake in an oven at about 400 deg. Fahr.

_Feuillettes._--Roll puff-paste down to a thickness of from one-eighth to one-half of an inch in thickness; cut it in pieces of any size and shape, according to fancy with a knife or with a paste-cutter; glaze the top only with egg, and bake in an oven at about 450 deg. Fahr.

_Feuillettes a la Conde._--Roll and cut the paste exactly as for the above; then, instead of baking it, fry it in hot fat (_see_ Frying); turn into a colander when fried, dust with sugar, and serve as warm as possible.

_Pommees._--Line the bottom of a bakepan with puff-paste, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness; spread stewed apples over it of a thickness of one-quarter of an inch; cover these with another thickness of puff-paste; prick the cover all over with the point of a knife, and bake in an oven at about 400 deg. Fahr. When baked, cut it in square pieces, dust with sugar, and serve hot or cold, according to taste.

_Porte-manteaux._--Cut strips of puff-paste of any length, about three inches broad, and one-eighth of an inch in thickness; spread on the middle of the strips, and lengthwise, some frangipane, or stewed apples, or any kind of sweetmeats, of the size of the finger. Then turn one side of the paste over the frangipane or sweetmeats, glaze the border with egg (we mean by "the border," about half an inch in width, measuring from the edge); then turn the other side over it so that the glazing will cause the two pastes to stick together. Thus it will be only a little over an inch broad and about half an inch thick. Cut the strips across in small pieces about two inches long, glaze the top with egg, and then bake in an oven at 400 deg. Fahr.

_Tartelettes._--Roll some puff-paste down to a thickness of about one-sixteenth of an inch; cut it, with a paste-cutter, of the size of small tin moulds, and place the pieces in the moulds; put about a teaspoonful of frangipane in each; place two narrow strips of paste across each, which strips you cut with a truckle; bake in an oven at about 380 deg. Fahr.

_Tartelettes (sweet)._--Proceed as for the above in every particular, except that you use any kind of sweetmeats or jelly instead of frangipane.

_Cake Pithiviers._--Roll some puff-paste down to a thickness of about one-eighth of an inch; cut it round and place on a baking-pan; if the pan be square or rectangular, cut a round piece that will go in easily; cut a strip of paste about one inch broad, glaze with egg the border of the paste in the pan, place the strip all around, and then glaze it also. Fill the middle with the following mixture: pound four ounces of sweet almonds and mix them well with half a pound of sugar, two ounces of butter, four yolks of eggs, essence to flavor, and four macaroons chopped. Cut another piece of puff-paste round, and of the same size as the other; dust it slightly with flour, fold it gently in four; the piece then will have two straight sides and a circular one. With a sharp knife make three cuts in each of the two straight sides through the four thicknesses of the paste, and about half an inch in length. Make another cut through the paste also, representing half of the figure 8, right in the middle of the piece of paste, commencing half an inch from the border of the circular side and in the middle of it, and going toward the point, so that when the paste is open there are sixteen cuts in it. Place the paste still folded on the paste and mixture in the pan, the circular side on the border and the point right in the middle; open it gently, and the whole will be covered. Glaze with egg, and put in an oven at from 430 to 460 deg. Fahr. The same cake may be filled with a frangipane, and prepared as the above for the rest.

_Rissoles (also called Fourres)._--Cut round pieces of puff-paste about three inches in diameter; wet the edge with water, put a teaspoonful of compote or any kind of sweetmeat on one side of it, then fold the paste in two, so as to cover the sweetmeat; pinch the paste around to cause it to adhere, in order to envelop the sweetmeat; you have then a cake of a semicircular shape. Glaze with egg, bake in a quick oven, dust with sugar, and serve.

_Galette du Gymnase._--Make puff-paste with half a pound of butter to a pound of flour, and when done as directed, knead it. Then roll it down to the thickness of about one-fourth of an inch, cut it in strips of any length and about an inch and a half wide, glaze with egg, bake in a quick oven, about 420 deg. Fahr. The two ends of the strips may be brought together and joined, forming a crown. The same _galette_ is made with trimmings of puff-paste, kneaded and rolled as above.

_Fanchonnettes._--These are made with the same puff-paste as the _galette_ above; then cut it in round pieces, place them on small moulds, fill them with any kind of sweetmeats and frangipane, with almonds, half of each; bake, dust with sugar, and serve. Instead of frangipane, spread raisins over the sweetmeats, or almonds, peanuts, hazel-nuts, etc., all cut in small strips, lengthwise; you make then an infinite number of different small cakes.

_Fans._--Make some puff-paste with equal weight of flour and butter, fold and roll it down six times, and put in a cold place. Leave it of a thickness of about one-quarter of an inch; cut it with a sharp knife in pieces of a rectangular shape, about four inches long and two broad, which cut again in two, across and from one corner to the other, so that you make two pieces of a right-angled triangle shape. Place the pieces on their sides in a bake-pan, on their sides, far apart, and bake in a very quick oven. When done, dust with sugar, and serve.

_Vol-au-vent_ and _bouchees_ for the day's use are baked early in the morning. They are warmed in a slow oven just before filling them.

_Vol-au-vent._--A _vol-au-vent_ is made with puff-paste and filled with oysters, meat, etc., when baked; that is, when the cake is baked and emptied, it is warmed in the oven, filled, and served warm. It is made of an oval or round shape. When made small it is generally of a round shape, but when made rather large it is generally of an oval shape. When the puff-paste is ready to be used, roll down to any thickness from one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch; cut it with a sharp-pointed knife of the size and shape you wish, then with the same knife cut what is called the cover, _i. e._, make a cut all around, about half an inch from the edge or border, and about one-third through the paste, leaving two-thirds of the thickness of the paste uncut. This operation is called marking out the cover. Glaze the top of the paste with egg, and bake it in a very quick oven, about 500 deg. Fahr. In glazing, be careful not to glaze the sides or allow any egg to run on the sides; it would prevent the paste from rising. Some drawings may be made on the cover with the back of a knife, according to fancy: leaves, for instance, are very easily imitated; it is only necessary to run the knife on the paste, without cutting it. When in the oven, do not look at it for at least seven or eight minutes, for in opening the door of the oven it might cause the paste to fall and even after that time open and shut the door quickly; take off when properly baked. When the oven is hot enough it takes about twelve minutes, and even less time when the _vol-au-vent_ is small. Take from the oven when baked, and immediately run the point of the knife all around and in the same place as you did before being baked, which place is well marked. Thus you cut off the cover and remove it, then remove also all the unbaked paste that is inside of the _vol-au-vent_, so that you have left what may be called a shell. Keep it then till the oysters or meat are ready to put in it. About five minutes before the filling is ready, put the shell or baked paste in a slow oven to warm it, turn the filling into it, enough to fill it entirely; place the cover on the top, and serve warm. The unbaked paste removed from the inside is baked, and makes an excellent cake, though not a sightly one.

_Another._--Cut a piece of puff-paste the same as for the above one, that is, either round or oval, and of the size you wish. Instead of marking a cover, glaze the border with egg. It is understood here by "the border," a space about three-quarters of an inch broad and all around it, the space being measured from the edge toward the centre. Then cut a strip of puff-paste about three-quarters of an inch broad, long enough to cover the place or space glazed, which strip you put all around the first paste, and you then have a border. The place between the two pastes being glazed, they will adhere in baking. Then also glaze the upper side of the border carefully with egg. With a knife or fork, prick the paste, inside of the border only, in ten, fifteen, or twenty places, according to the size of the _vol-au-vent_, and in order to prevent that part from rising as much as it would if not pricked. Bake in the same oven as the above--a very quick one.