Part 11
For baking tarts it is well to use (instead of tin patty-pans) small deep plates of china or white-ware, with broad flat edges, like little soup-plates. You can then have all round the edge a rim of paste ornamentally notched. In notching the edge of a tart, (this must, of course, be done before it goes into the oven,) use a sharp knife. Make the cuts at equal distances about an inch broad, so as to form squares. Turn upwards one square, and leave the next one down; and so on all round the edge. This is the _chevaux-de-frize_ pattern. For the shell-pattern, having notched the edge of the paste into squares, turn up one half of _every_ square, giving the corner a fold down. The paste should always be thickest round the rim or edge.
All tarts are best the day they are baked; but they should never be sent to table warm.
A VERY FINE CHARLOTTE RUSSE.--Boil a vanilla bean and a few blades of mace in half a pint of rich milk till it is highly flavoured. Then take out the bean; wipe it; and put it away for another time, and remove the mace also. Mix the flavoured milk with a large half-pint of cream. Beat four or five eggs till very light and thick; strain them, and add them gradually to the cream, (when it is entirely cold,) to make a rich custard. Set this custard over the fire, (stirring it all the time,) and before it comes to a hard boil, take it off, and set it on ice. Have ready, in another sauce-pan, an ounce of the best Russia isinglass boiled to a thick jelly in a half pint of water. When the custard and isinglass are both cold, (but not hard,) mix them well together, and add four table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf-sugar. Then take half a pound of loaf-sugar in lumps, and rub on them the yellow rind of two lemons. Mix together the strained juice of the lemons, and two glasses of sherry or madeira, and a glass of brandy; pour it upon the sugar; and when the sugar is entirely dissolved, mix it with a quart of rich cream, and whip it with rods or a whisk to a stiff froth. Take off the froth as it stiffens, and add it gradually to the custard, stirring it very hard, at the time; and also after the whole is mixed. Then set it on ice.
Cover the bottom of a handsome china dish or a glass bowl, with sliced almond sponge-cake cut to fit. Then place round the sides slices of the cake all of the same shape and size, making them wrap a little over each other. Pour in the mixture. Cover the top with a layer of cake cut very thin. Have ready an icing made in the usual manner of beaten white of egg and powdered loaf-sugar; and flavoured with rose or lemon. Spread it thickly and evenly over the surface of the top, smoothing it with a broad knife dipped in cold water. Then set it on ice till wanted. This Charlotte Russe is not to be turned out of the dish. It may be made in two dishes.
Instead of vanilla, you may flavour the custard with a handful of peach-leaves, or of broken up bitter almonds, boiled in the first half-pint of milk, and two large sticks of cinnamon broken in pieces.
When the icing on the top has about half-dried, you may ornament it by sticking on ripe strawberries of equal size in circles, stars, or any fanciful figures. Or it may be decorated with white grapes, each grape standing on end, if oval or long shaped.
ANOTHER CHARLOTTE RUSSE.--Take a large circular or oval lady cake, and with a sharp knife cut out nicely the inside, leaving the sides and bottom standing, (about half an inch thick,) in the form of a mould. Make a rich boiled custard, allowing eight eggs to a quart of unskimmed milk, half a pint of which has been previously flavoured by boiling in it half a dozen blades of mace with a vanilla bean, or a handful of shelled bitter almonds or peach-kernels blanched and broken up. Strain this flavoured milk and add it to the other. Then beat the eggs very light and stir them gradually into the milk. Set it over hot coals, stirring it all the time, but take it off before it comes to a boil, or it will curdle. Have ready an ounce of isinglass boiled to a jelly in a little water. When the custard and the isinglass are both cold (not hard) mix them well together and add sufficient powdered loaf-sugar to make it very sweet. Take a quart of rich cream that has been seasoned with extract of roses, and whip it to a stiff froth. Take off the froth as it stiffens, and add it gradually to the custard, stirring it very hard after it is all in to prevent its separating. Fill with the mixture the scooped-out sponge cake. Then cover the whole with an icing made in the usual way of white of egg and sugar, flavoured with rose or lemon. Then set it on ice till wanted.
AN ITALIAN CHARLOTTE.--Take a pint of rich cream; set it on ice, and beat and stir it till it becomes a solid froth. Then boil a vanilla bean in half a pint of rich milk till it is highly flavoured. Strain the milk, and when cold mix with it six ounces of loaf-sugar and the beaten yolks of four eggs, and set it over the fire, or rather on a bed of hot coals. Boil it ten minutes, stirring it frequently. When it comes to a boil, add half a pint of clear firm jelly-stock that has been made of calves’ feet, or else an ounce of isinglass that has been melted in barely as much boiling water as will cover it. Stir the mixture well, and let it remain five minutes over the fire. Then take it off, and place it on ice, stirring it till it begins to thicken. When it is about the consistence of very thick gruel, add the whipped cream. Have ready an almond sponge cake, baked in the form of a circular loaf. With a sharp knife cut out the inside of this cake carefully and smoothly; leaving the sides and bottom together, so as to form a mould not quite an inch thick. Fill this up to the top with the Charlotte mixture; and placing a large plate beneath it, set it on ice to congeal. In the mean time, prepare a meringue or icing of beaten white of egg, thickened with powdered loaf-sugar, and flavoured with extract of orange-flowers. Cover the top and sides of the Charlotte with this icing; spread on evenly, and smoothed with a knife dipped in cold water. Ornament it with coloured sugar-jelly rings, handsomely arranged, or any other nice bonbons.
A FRENCH CHARLOTTE.--Lay in a deep dish or pan half a pound of bitter almond maccaroons (chocolate maccaroons will be still better) and pour on sufficient white wine to cover them well, and let them stand till entirely dissolved. Whip to a stiff froth a pint of rich cream, sweetened with sugar and flavoured with rose or lemon. Have ready a large circular almond sponge cake with the inside cut out, so as to leave the sides and bottom standing in the form of a mould, not quite an inch thick. Ornament the edge with a handsome border of icing. In the bottom of this mould put the dissolved maccaroons; over them a layer of thick jelly, made of some very nice fruit; and fill up with the whipped cream, heaping it high in the centre.
This is a very fine Charlotte, and is easily made, no cooking being required, after the materials are collected.
A SWEET OMELET.--Break small in an earthen pan six maccaroons made with bitter almonds, and mix with them a dozen orange-blossoms pounded to a paste. If the orange-flowers are not quite blown, the fragrance and flavour will be finer. If more convenient, substitute for the blossoms a large wine-glass of orange-flower water. Add six ounces of powdered loaf-sugar, and mix all well together. Separate the whites from the yolks of six eggs. Beat the yolks in a broad earthen pan till very light and smooth, and add to them, gradually, the other ingredients. Have ready the whites beaten to a stiff froth, and stir them in at the last, a little at a time. Put four ounces of fresh butter into an omelet pan (or a small, clean, short-handled frying-pan, tinned or enamelled inside.) Set it over hot coals, and when the butter is all melted put in the omelet-batter; which some one should continue to beat till the last minute. When the omelet has become hot and has begun to colour, transfer it to a well-buttered dish. Place it instantly in a rather brisk oven and bake it from five to ten minutes, till it is a light-yellowish brown, and puffed up high. Sift powdered sugar over it as quickly as possible, and carry it immediately to the dinner-table; handing it round rapidly for every one to take a piece, as it falls very soon.
These omelets are served up at dinner-parties immediately on the removal of the meats.
They must be made, cooked, served up, and eaten with great celerity. Therefore it is not usual to commence mixing a sweet or soufflée omelet, till after the company has set down to dinner.
If exactly followed, this receipt will be found excellent.
SUNDERLANDS OR JELLY PUFFS.--Take a broad pan, and put into it a pint of rich milk, and half a pound of the best fresh butter. Cut up the butter in the milk, and, if in cold weather, set it in a warm place, on the stove, or on the hearth near the fire, till the butter is quite soft; but do not allow it to melt or oil; it must be merely warmed so as to soften. Then take it off, and with a knife stir the butter well through the milk till thoroughly mixed. Have ready half a pound of fine flour sifted into a deep dish. In a broad pan beat eight eggs, with a whisk, till they are very thick and light. Then stir the beaten egg into the pan of milk and butter, in turn with the sifted flour, a little at a time of each. Stir the whole very hard, and then put the mixture into buttered tea-cups, filling them only two-thirds. Set them _immediately_ into a brisk oven, and bake them twenty minutes or more, till they are well browned, and puffed up very light. Then take them from the oven, and with a knife open a slit in the side of each puff, and carefully put in, with a spoon, sufficient fruit jelly or marmalade to fill up the whole inside or cavity. Afterwards close the slit, and press it together with your fingers. As you fill them, lay each on a large dish; and before they go to table, sift powdered white sugar over them. Eat them cold. If properly made they will be found delicious.
Instead of jelly or marmalade, you may fill the Sunderlands with a rich boiled custard, flavoured with vanilla or bitter almonds; and made with yolk of egg, omitting the whites.
Or the filling may be of thick cream, made very sweet with loaf sugar, and flavoured with rose or peach water, or with orange-flower water, or with white wine.
RHUBARB CUPS.--Take twenty stalks of green rhubarb; cut them, and boil them in a quart of water. When it comes to a hard boil, take it from the fire; strain off the water; drain the rhubarb as dry as possible, and then mash it, and make it very sweet with brown sugar. Have ready half a pint of rice, that has been boiled in a quart of water, till soft and dry. Mix the rhubarb and the rice well together; beating them hard. Then mould it in cups slightly buttered, and set them on ice, or in a very cold place. Just before dinner, turn them out on a large dish. Serve up with them, in a bowl, cream and sugar, into which a nutmeg has been grated; or else a sauce made of equal portions of fresh butter and powdered white sugar, beaten together till very light, and flavoured with powdered cinnamon, or nutmeg, and oil of lemon or lemon-juice.
SPANISH BLANC-MANGE.--Weigh half a pound of broken-up loaf-sugar of the best quality. On one of the pieces rub off the yellow rind of a large lemon. Then powder all the sugar, and mix with it a pint of rich cream, the juice of the lemon, and half a pint (not less) of madeira or sherry. Stir the mixture very hard, till all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Then stir in, gradually, a second pint of cream.
Put into a small sauce-pan an ounce of the best isinglass, with one jill (or two common-sized wine-glass-fulls) of cold water. Set the pan over hot coals, and boil it till the isinglass is completely dissolved, and not the smallest lump remaining. Frequently, while boiling, stir it down to the bottom; taking care not to let it scorch. When the melted isinglass has become lukewarm, stir it, gradually, into the mixture of other ingredients; and then give the whole a hard stirring. Have ready two or three white-ware moulds, that have just been dipped and rinsed in cold water. Fill them with the mixture, and set them immediately on ice, and in about two hours (or perhaps more) the blanc-mange will be congealed. Do not remove it from the ice till _perfectly_ firm. Dip the moulds for a moment in lukewarm water; then turn out the cream on glass dishes.
This will be found a delicious article for a dessert, or an evening party, provided the receipt is _exactly_ followed. We highly recommend it, and _know_ that if fairly tried, precisely according to the above directions, there can be no failure. It is superior to any of the usual preparations of blanc-mange. The wine (which must be of excellent quality) gives it a delicate and beautiful colour, and a fine flavour.
VANILLA BLANC-MANGE.--Chip fine an ounce of the best isinglass, and put it into a small sauce-pan, with a jill of cold water, and boil it till entirely dissolved. In another sauce-pan boil half a pint of rich milk and a vanilla bean. Boil it, (with the lid on,) till the flavour of the vanilla is well extracted. Whip a quart of rich cream to a stiff froth. Separate the whites and yolks of four eggs. Beat the whites till they stand alone. Then, in another pan, beat the yolks, and when they are very light and smooth, add to them, gradually, a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, beaten in very hard. Then (having strained out the bean) mix with the cream the milk in which it was boiled. Then beat in, by degrees, the yolk of egg and sugar; then the white of egg; and, lastly, the melted isinglass. When all the ingredients are united, beat and stir the whole very hard. Rinse your moulds in cold water. Then put in the mixture, and set it on ice, for two hours or more, to congeal. When quite firm, (and just before it is wanted,) dip each mould down, into a pan of lukewarm water, (taking care that the water does not reach the top,) and turn out the blanc-mange on glass or china dishes. Keep it on ice, till the minute before it is served up. It will be found very fine.
MACCAROON BLANC-MANGE.--Chip small an ounce of the best Russia isinglass; put it into a small sauce-pan; pour on it a jill of cold water; and boil it till the isinglass is entirely melted, stirring and skimming it well. Then strain it; cover it; and set it away. Have ready a quart of cream, or very rich milk, boiling hot. Crush half a pound or more of _bitter_-almond maccaroons; mix them well with the boiling cream; cover the vessel, and let it stand (stirring it occasionally) till the maccaroons are all dissolved. Next add the lukewarm isinglass; stir the whole very hard, and then transfer it to blanc-mange moulds, that have been slightly rubbed on the inside with a little sweet oil. Set it on ice, (or in a very cold place,) and stir it occasionally till it begins to congeal; then let it rest. When quite firm all through, loosen it in the moulds, by slipping a knife beneath the edge of the blanc-mange, and warm a clean cloth, and lay it a minute over the top. This will render it easy to turn out. Or you may loosen the blanc-mange by setting the mould in a pan of lukewarm water. Turn it out into a glass dish. Lay on the top of the blanc-mange a sufficient number of whole maccaroons, handsomely arranged in a large star, or in a circle, and place another circle on the dish, round the bottom.
CHOCOLATE BLANC-MANGE.--The day before you want the blanc-mange, take four calves’ feet, (singed but not skinned,) or eight or ten pigs’ feet. Boil them slowly, (with frequent skimming,) in four quarts of water, till all the meat drops from the bones. Then strain the liquid, through a sieve, into a broad tin pan, cover it, and set it away in a cold, dry place. Next day it should be a solid cake of clear jelly. Then scrape off all the fat and sediment; cut the jelly into small bits; and put it into a porcelain kettle or preserving pan, and melt it over the fire. Have ready six ounces, or more, of cocoa or chocolate, that has been scraped fine, and melted, over the fire, in a pint of boiling cream, with six ounces of powdered loaf-sugar. When the chocolate, cream, and sugar have boiled together five minutes after coming to a boil, mix them with the melted jelly, and let the whole come to a boil again; and then boil them together five minutes more, stirring it occasionally. Next put it into moulds that have set all night in cold water. Do not wipe the moulds, but leave them damp. Stir their contents well; and when the blanc-mange is thickening, so that it is hard to stir, set the moulds on ice, or place them in the cellar, in pans of cold water. When the blanc-mange has quite congealed, and is very firm, turn it out of the moulds, first setting them in lukewarm water, and serve it up on china dishes.
Instead of calves’ or pigs’ feet, you may substitute an ounce of the best Russia isinglass, or an ounce and a half of the common sort. The isinglass must be previously dissolved, by boiling it in as much water as will cover it, taking care not to let it burn. It must be melted quite smooth. Mix it, while warm, with the chocolate, cream, and sugar.
COFFEE BLANC-MANGE may be made as above, substituting, for the chocolate, six ounces of the best coffee, freshly roasted and ground, and boiled in a pint of rich, unskimmed milk; or of cream, into which there has been stirred an ounce or an ounce and a half of isinglass, previously melted by boiling in water; and, also, six ounces of powdered sugar. Boil all together, and then strain the liquid into moulds, and set them on ice.
GELATINE BLANC-MANGE.--From two quarts of rich milk take a pint, and put the pint into a small saucepan, with the yellow rinds of three lemons, pared thin, and half a beaten nutmeg. For the lemon-rind, you may substitute a handful of bitter almonds or peach-kernels, broken up; or else a vanilla bean. Having boiled the pint of milk long and slowly, till it tastes strongly of the flavouring articles, (keeping it closely covered,) strain it, and mix it, in a larger sauce-pan, with the other three pints of milk. Add an ounce and a half of gelatine, (that has first been soaked in cold water,) and a quarter of a pound of fine loaf-sugar. Set it over the fire, and continue to boil and stir it five minutes after it has come to a boil. Then strain it, and transfer it to blanc-mange moulds, first wetting the inside of each mould with cold water. Place the moulds on ice, or in a very cold place, till the blanc-mange has thoroughly congealed. Then turn it out on dishes.
CAKE SYLLABUB.--Half fill a glass bowl with thin slices of sponge-cake or almond-cake. Pour on sufficient white wine to dissolve the cake. Then rub off, on pieces of loaf-sugar, the yellow rind of two lemons, and dissolve the sugar in a pint of rich cream. Squeeze the juice of the lemons on some powdered loaf-sugar, and add it, gradually, to the cream. Whip or mill the cream to a stiff froth; and then pile it on the dissolved cake in the glass bowl. It should be heaped high above the edge of the bowl. You may ornament the top of the syllabub with a circle of real roses or other flowers,--a large one in the centre, and smaller ones placed round in a ring.
ORANGE FLUMMERY.--Begin the day before, by boiling four large calves’ feet or eight small ones in three quarts of water. The best feet for this purpose are those that are scalded and scraped, but not skinned. After they have boiled slowly about five hours, put in the yellow rind of four large oranges, pared very thin and cut small, and several sticks of cinnamon broken up; and, if you choose, a dozen bitter almonds or peach-kernels slightly pounded. Then let it boil an hour longer, till the meat all drops from the bones, and is reduced to shreds, and till the liquid is little more than a quart. Strain it through a sieve over a broad white pan, and set it in a cold place till next morning, when it ought to be a solid cake. Scrape off all the fat and sediment carefully; otherwise it will not be clear when melted. Cut the cake into pieces; put it into a porcelain kettle, with half a pound of double-refined loaf-sugar, broken up, and melt it over the fire, adding, when it has entirely dissolved, the juice of six large oranges. Next stir in, gradually, the yolks of six eggs well-beaten, and continue stirring till it has boiled ten minutes. Then take it off the fire, transfer it to a broad pan, and set it on ice or in cold water. Continue stirring till it is quite cold but not set. Wet some moulds with cold water, put the mixture into them, and set it in a cold place or on ice to congeal. When perfectly firm, wrap a cloth dipped in warm water round the moulds, and turn it out on glass dishes.
Lemon flummery may be made in the same manner.
VANILLA FLUMMERY.--Take two quarts of rich milk. Put a pint of it into a clean sauce-pan, and boil in it a vanilla bean, (keeping it closely covered,) till the milk is highly flavoured. Then strain it into a pan, and stir into it, gradually, half a pound of ground rice flour, mixing it smoothly and free from lumps, till it becomes a thick batter. If you find it too stiff, thin it with a little milk. Put the rest of the milk (about three pints) into a larger sauce-pan, and set it over the fire. When it comes to a boil, stir in, gradually, the rice-flour-batter, alternately with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Let it continue boiling five minutes after all the batter has been put in. Then take it off, and stir in two table-spoonfuls of rose-water. Wet some moulds with cold water; put in the flummery and set it on ice or in a very cold place to congeal. When quite firm, set the moulds for an instant into a pan of lukewarm water.
Have ready a rich boiled custard, flavoured by boiling in the milk the same vanilla bean that was previously used for the flummery. The custard should be made in the proportion of a pint of milk to four eggs, and four table-spoonfuls of sugar. Stir it all the time it is over the fire, and take it off just as it begins to boil hard. When it is quite cold, send it to table in a glass pitcher or bowl to eat with the flummery.
Rice flummery may be flavoured by boiling in the first pint of milk a stick of cinnamon and a handful of bitter almonds or peach-kernels all broken up.
The custard should then be flavoured also with cinnamon and bitter almonds boiled in the custard milk.
Flummery may be coloured green by boiling in the last milk, spinach juice extracted by pounding in a mortar some raw spinach, or some pistachio nuts.
To colour it red, mix with the milk the juice of a beet that has been boiled, scraped, cut up and pounded. Or boil in the milk a very small muslin bag with alkanet tied up in it.