Part 78

_Cherry Water Ice._--Take out the stones of the cherries, pound them in a mortar in order to get the flavour, and then pass them through a sieve with the fruit. Add syrup, and freeze as strawberry water ice. The flavour of the kernel should come out well in cherry ices, a few drops of home-made extract of almonds (bitter almonds infused in spirit) is therefore an improvement. If the cherries do not give sufficient sharpness, add a little lemon juice.

_Chocolate Ice Cream._--Mix 2 teaspoonfuls Van Houten’s cocoa in a gill of cold milk, stir it into 1 pint cream or custard, add vanilla flavour, and sweeten. Scraped and sifted chocolate, so as to bring it to a fine powder, can be used; but the cocoa named is on all accounts best for this cream.

_Chocolate Icing._--Put into a saucepan ½ lb. powdered loaf sugar, 2 oz. grated chocolate, and about 1 gill water; stir on the fire until the mixture assumes the consistence of a thick, smooth cream. Lay the icing evenly on the cake or pastry, with a palette knife, and put it into the oven for a minute or two to set the icing.

_Coconut Ice._--Put on in a brass or copper pan 4 lb. loaf sugar, with 2 pints of cold water, stir till it comes to the boil, by which time the sugar should be quite dissolved, let it boil to candy light, and draw it to the side. Have a large coconut pared and grated, mix together with the milk, add ¾ of it to the sugar, and stir till it begins to candy. Have a sheet of paper greased and laid upon a stone slab; on it place 4 iron rods so as to form a square, into which pour the tablet. Repeat the above process with 2 lb. sugar and 1 pint cold water, adding a little cochineal to colour it, and the remainder of the grated coconut; when ready, pour it over the first sheet of tablet, which will be set by the time you have done the second; when quite cold, turn it over, draw off the paper, and cut it in stripes 3-4 in. long.

_Coffee Ice Cream._--Make a custard, without any flavour, of 1 pint cream and 4 yolks of eggs. Put into this ¼ lb. freshly-roasted mocha coffee berries; they should, if possible, be used hot. Cover up the stewpan closely with its lid, putting a napkin over to keep in the steam. Let the custard stand for an hour, strain and sweeten, and when cold put it into the freezing pot. Cream thus prepared will not take the colour of the coffee, and when carefully made is very delicate and delicious. Coffee ice cream is also made with a strong infusion of coffee, or Branson’s extract of coffee can be used. To make the infusion, put 2 oz. ground coffee into a French cafetière, and pour over it 1 gill fast-boiling water. When the infusion has all run through boil it up, and pour it over 2 oz. more coffee. Put the infusion thus obtained to 1 pint sweetened cream or custard and freeze.

_Ginger Ice Cream._--Make a custard of 1 pint cream and 4 eggs put to it. Cut up in small pieces 2 oz. preserved ginger, add sufficient ground ginger to flavour well, and syrup or sugar to taste. Stir occasionally until cold, and put it into the freezing pot. Care should be taken to use fresh and good ground ginger, as otherwise it is apt to impart a mouldy kind of flavour.

_Lemon Water Ice._--Wash the lemons in cold water in order to ensure cleanliness. Take a few lumps of sugar, and rub them over the peel until you have enough to flavour the ices; probably 2 fine lemons will be sufficient. Put this lemon sugar into 1 qt. cold filtered water, and let it stand 10 minutes, or while the lemons are squeezed. About ½ pint juice is usually needed, with sufficient syrup to register 24° by the saccharometer. Having strained the juice and water flavoured with the lemon sugar, add the syrup, and strain into the freezing pot. When the ices register 22° F., press well down in the pot, and leave them in the freezing mixture for an hour. A little Nelson’s gelatine is useful to give richness and body to water ices; but care must be taken not to use more than the quantity named. Soak and dissolve in boiling water ¼ oz. Nelson’s gelatine, add it to the quart of water to be used for the ices, thoroughly mix it with the other materials, and afterwards strain them.

_Pineapple Ice Cream._--Press the juice from a fine ripe pineapple, add that of a lemon, with syrup or pounded sugar to give the required sweetness. Mix with an equal quantity of rich cream, and strain into the freezing pot. Or, make a custard as follows: boil 1 pint milk, pour it whilst boiling on the yolks of 6 eggs; stir rapidly over the fire until it thickens, taking care not to curdle it. With a little experience a perfect custard may be thickened in this way in less than 7 minutes, a much longer time being required if the milk is not boiled. When cold, add pineapple pulp made as follows: Boil 1 lb. pineapple sliced and peeled, in 1 gill water for 10 minutes, pound the fruit and rub it through a sieve, add syrup or sugar to taste. When cold mix with the custard, and strain into the freezing pot. Lemon juice can be added if necessary.

_Strawberry Ice Cream._--Pick and press through a coarse sieve fine ripe strawberries to make as much juice as you require, then strain through a coarse sieve, and mix with it fine powdered sugar in the proportion of ¼ lb. to each ½ pint of juice. Stir into each ½ pint of the sweetened juice 1½ pint rich cream, and a few drops of pink colouring. Mix all well together and strain into the freezing pot. As the flavour of strawberries varies in different seasons, and they are more acid at one time than another, some judgment in the use of sugar is necessary, and sufficient of it should always be used to bring out the flavour of the fruit. Sometimes it will happen, after freezing has begun, that a little more sweetness is desirable. This is best given by adding a little plain syrup, taking care to mix it well in; for the perfection of ices depends in a great measure on all the materials being well incorporated. For this reason the direction is given to strain into the freezing pot after all is stirred together.

The product from 2 qt. cream, made as above, should be 3-3½ qt. firm ice cream of the highest quality. It is probable, however, that by some machines and the ordinary ice pail so good a result would not be obtained. The horizontal freezer will yield the given quality.

When the fresh fruit juice cannot be procured, preserved juice or preserved strawberries must be substituted. Of these the first is the best; but when there is not a fairly suitable apparatus, or other conditions are unfavourable for its domestic manufacture, it will be best to purchase it. In this case it should be borne in mind that a preparation of the fresh juice is necessarily somewhat expensive, and that a cheap article is generally flavoured with some unwholesome chemical imitation of the true flavour.

_Vanilla Ice Cream._--This favourite ice is easily made. It is needlessly expensive to use the vanilla pod itself. To flavour 1 pint custard a whole pod would have to be boiled in the milk. But, as the bright essence is often wanting in delicacy, and is not unfrequently merely an imitation of vanilla made from deleterious material, it is desirable to have a home-made extract. To make it, cut the pods into very small pieces, put them into a small bottle with 1 tablespoonful brandy to each pod; let them stand for a week or longer, shaking occasionally. Drain the extract into another bottle, and keep well corked. The flavour of the vanilla pod itself will not have been exhausted by taking the extract, and, if boiled in milk, will flavour puddings, creams, custards, &c. Vanilla sugar is made by putting the pods into a closed jar of fine sifted sugar, and allowing them to remain in it for a week or longer. Afterwards the extract can be made. There is a great difference in the quality of vanilla, and when it is deficient in flavour, it has without doubt been deprived of aroma by some such process as that of making vanilla sugar. Vanilla ices require a good custard, made of cream with 4 eggs to the pint, and to be well sweetened. Vanilla extract must be used with reference to its strength, and the flavour of it should be kept delicate. Should it be preferred to use the pod itself for flavouring, it is usual to strain the milk or cream in which it has been boiled in a strainer, coarse enough to allow the seeds to pass through, and thus a distinctive character is given to the ices. Water ices are occasionally flavoured with vanilla, but are not to be recommended. For invalids and delicate persons vanilla is useful, as it is a safe and light stimulant.

=Cheese= (Fromage).--The cookery of cheese is a much-neglected subject in this country, though deserving of study.

_Baked_ (Fondu).--(_a_) Take ¼ lb. grated cheese, add it to 1 gill milk in which is dissolved as much powdered bicarbonate of potash as will stand upon a threepenny-piece; mustard, pepper, &c. Heat this carefully until the cheese is completely dissolved. Then beat up 3 eggs, yolk and whites together, and add them to this solution of cheese, stirring the whole. Now take a shallow metal or earthenware dish or tray that will bear heating; put a little butter on this and heat the butter till it frizzles. Then pour the mixture into this, and bake or fry it until it is nearly solidified. A cheaper dish may be made by increasing the proportion of cheese--say 6-8 oz. to 3 eggs, or only 1 egg to ¼ lb. cheese for a hard-working man with powerful digestion. The chief difficulty in preparing this dish conveniently is that of obtaining suitable vessels for the final frying or baking, as each portion should be poured into and fried or baked in a separate dish, so that each person may, as in Switzerland, have his own fondu complete, and eat it from the dish as it comes from the fire. (Prof. W. M. Williams.)

(_b_) Melt ½ oz. fresh butter in a saucepan, stir into it 1 tablespoonful flour; when the two are well amalgamated put in a small quantity of milk and about 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese. Stir the mixture on a slow fire till it assumes the appearance of thick cream, but be careful not to let it boil, then add 1 clove of garlic, a small quantity of flour of mustard, a dash of powdered nutmeg, and some white pepper; mix thoroughly, and, if required, add a little salt; keep on stirring the mixture at a very moderate heat for about 10 minutes, then remove the pod of garlic, take the saucepan off the fire, and stir the contents occasionally until quite cold, when you stir into them the yolks of 3 eggs, beaten up with a little milk and strained, and finally the whites of 5 eggs whisked into a stiff froth. Pour the mixture into a deep, round tin, put it into the oven, which must not be too hot; in about 20-30 minutes the fondu will have risen and taken colour. Pin a napkin round the tin, and serve quickly.

_Biscuits_ (Galettes).--(_a_) Take 4 oz. grated cheese, 3 oz. finely grated breadcrumbs, 2 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful flour of mustard, 1 saltspoonful cayenne, 1 of white pepper, and 2 beaten-up eggs; melt the butter and mix all the ingredients together, and let them stand an hour. Knead and work out the paste as thin as possible, and cut into triangles or roll it up into thin sticks about 3 in. long. Bake in a quick oven for 16-18 minutes; serve hot.

(_b_) Have a little puff or short paste ready, and sprinkle over it a little cayenne, and as much grated Parmesan cheese as the dough will take; double up the paste, roll it out rather thin, and cut it with a round paste cutter, glaze with an egg, arrange on a floured tin, and bake in a sharp oven till of a light yellow colour.

_Boiled._--(_a_) Put 1 tablespoonful milk in a saucepan, with a bit of butter the size of a nutmeg, and ¼ lb. good cheese, grated fine. Put the whole on a slow fire until it boils, then add 1 egg well beaten. Stir all well together, turn it into your dish, and brown it. Serve very hot.

(_b_) Put 4 oz. good cheese, sliced as thin as possible, 2 tablespoonfuls cream, a piece of butter the size of 2 walnuts, into a saucepan and boil, stirring it gently all the time till it becomes thick and smooth, then add a raw egg and a little cayenne pepper. Put the saucepan again on the fire, stirring as before till the whole is quite hot. Serve on small squares of dry toast. The above is enough for four people.

_Boulettes._--Take equal weights of eggs, breadcrumbs, butter, and grated cheese; these must be well beaten together, leaving out half the whites of the eggs; season them with salt and a little cayenne pepper, and make them up into little balls; these must be dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried a light brown in lard or well-clarified dripping. The fat must not quite boil before the balls are put in, or they will become too dark a colour before they are sufficiently cooked; they should be served up high in a dish on a napkin.

_Canapés._--Cut some stale bread in thin slices, which must be stamped out into shapes with a cutter. Fry these lightly in butter or boiling lard; cover the top of each with Parmesan or Cheshire cheese, add a little pepper and salt and mustard, and put them before the fire till the cheese is dissolved. Serve hot on a napkin.

_Custard._--(_a_) Butter a rather small flat dish (one that will stand the oven--an old strong one would be best), whisk 2 eggs a minute or two, and mix with them ¼ pint cream, or cream and milk mixed; now grate 2-3 oz. dry pieces of any kind of cheese, to these add a little salt and a few grains of cayenne pepper, mix all well together, pour into the buttered dish, and bake in a rather sharp oven 10-15 minutes; when done, set the dish over another, a size larger, and send to table immediately. The custard should be firm, and brown and light in the time stated.

(_b_) A breakfastcupful of sliced cheese, the same quantity of milk, and 2 eggs; butter a pie-dish, put in the cheese, pour the milk over, and then stir in the beaten-up eggs; bake for ½ hour; if a smaller quantity is required, put a teacupful of cheese and milk and 1 egg.

(_c_) Cut the cheese into shreds, or grate it, or chop it up fine like suet. To every lb. cheese thus treated add ¼ oz. potash bicarbonate. Put the mixture of cheese and bicarbonate into a saucepan with either 3 times its bulk of cold water or 4 times its bulk of cold milk, and mix well. Put the saucepan on the fire and bring the mixture slowly to the boiling point, taking care to stir it all the time. Having got it to boil, keep it hot until the cheese is melted, which does not take long. Turn it out into a dish, and the result gives a beautiful nutritious mixture which thickens like a custard in cooling. This custard may be eaten with impunity even by those persons who would be ill after eating a piece of cheese the size of a nut, and is peculiarly adapted as food for all persons who work hard with either brain or muscle. Fancy dishes may be made in the following manner, e.g., take the mixture of cheese and bicarbonate and water (or milk) given above, and add to it 2 eggs, white and yolk beaten up together, for every ¼ lb. of cheese in the mixture. Put into a dish or a series of little dishes (previously buttered), and bake till brown. This must be eaten with bread or biscuit. Another way is to make the mixture a little thinner by adding a little more milk or water, and to put it in a pie-dish with slices of bread laid one over the other. The custard should be poured in cold, and left for an hour to soak before it is baked. This dish is a great improvement on the ordinary bread and butter pudding.

_Cream._--Take 2 tablespoonfuls raw cream, rather less than 2 tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, a very little cayenne pepper, and salt to taste. Mix these ingredients carefully together and quite smoothly, then spread it on some good puff paste, lay another piece of puff paste over it, then press round carefully with the fingers, cut out with fancy cutters into any shapes you may select, egg and breadcrumb the shapes, and fry in boiling lard or butter.

_Fritters_ (Beignets).--Put about 1 pint water into a saucepan with a piece of butter the size of an egg, the least bit of cayenne, and plenty of black pepper. When the water boils throw gradually into it sufficient flour to form a thick paste; then take it off the fire and work into it about ¼ lb. ground Parmesan cheese, and then the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs and the whites of 2 beaten up to a froth. Let the paste rest for 2 hours, and proceed to fry by dropping pieces of it the size of a walnut into plenty of hot lard. Serve sprinkled with very fine salt.

_Meringues._--2 oz. Parmesan cheese, 1 oz. Gloucester or any other kind of good cheese that is dry (the piece that has become too mean-looking to go to table in its present state will do admirably for this purpose, also for many other dishes), the whites of 2 eggs, pepper and salt, lard to fry. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater, and beat the eggs on a plate, with the blade of a broad knife, to a firm froth, add to this the cheese and a little salt and pepper, make into balls the size of a walnut, throw them into plenty of boiling lard, and fry 2-3 minutes, when they will be a delicate brown and double their former size; drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Put a clean napkin into a dish, arrange the meringues on it, and send to table as quickly as possible. There should be a little fresh parsley between the meringues; it improves the appearance.

_Potato._--Take 6 medium-sized potatoes, as nearly as possible equal in shape; wash them quite clean, dry them, and on that side of them which will more readily stand uppermost make an incision ¼ in. deep with a patty cutter as large as the size of each potato will allow; then put the potatoes in the oven to bake. When quite done, remove the covers (marked out with the patty cutter), and with a teaspoon empty each potato as thoroughly as is possible without breaking the skin; pass through a sieve what is taken out of the potatoes. Take 4 tablespoonfuls of the potato snow thus obtained, 1½ tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese, and mix the two thoroughly with ½ gill milk and the yolks of 2 eggs, pepper and salt to taste, and the least bit of cayenne or grated nutmeg, or both. Beat up the whites of 3 eggs to a stiff froth, mix the whole well together, fill quickly the potato skins with the mixture flush with the top, and bake them long enough for the mixture to rise and take a golden-brown colour; about 20 minutes.

_Potted._--(_a_) Cut ½ lb. good, sound, mellow Stilton cheese in slices, with 2 oz. fresh butter. The cheese must not be either green or very ripe. Add a small quantity of mace and some made mustard. Pound all together in a mortar until a thick, smooth paste, and the ingredients well amalgamated. Then press it down in a jar or glass, and run some oiled butter over the top.

(_b_) Beat 3 lb. Cheshire cheese in a mortar with ½ lb. butter, a large glass of sherry, a little mace, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix all thoroughly together, put into pots, and pour a little clarified butter over the top.

_Pudding._--(_a_) Take 4 tablespoonfuls finely grated breadcrumbs, the same quantity of grated cheese, and 2 eggs, mustard, pepper, and salt to taste. Butter a pie-dish, then put in the breadcrumbs, cheese, mustard, &c.; beat up the 2 yolks with a small cup of milk, and put into the pie-dish; beat the whites into a froth, and put them in with a good-sized lump of butter. Place the dish in a quick oven for 20 minutes, and serve very hot. Enough for 4 or 5 persons.

(_b_) Melt ½ oz. fresh butter in a saucepan, stir into it 1 tablespoonful flour; when the two are well amalgamated, put in a small quantity of milk and about 3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese. Stir the mixture on a slow fire till it assumes the appearance of thick cream, but be careful not to let it boil; then add some white pepper; mix thoroughly, and, if required, add a little salt; keep on stirring the mixture at a very moderate heat for about 10 minutes; take the saucepan off the fire, and stir the contents occasionally until quite cold, then stir into them the yolks of 3 eggs beaten up with a little milk and strained, and finally the whites of 5 eggs whisked into a stiff froth. Put the mixture into a pudding dish, and put it into the oven at once. Serve quickly as soon as the pudding has risen, and the top is well browned.

(_c_) Mix 2 eggs with 5 oz. cheese and ½ pint boiling milk; put into a pie-dish, and bake ¼ hour: to be turned out and sent to table on a napkin.

(_d_) Soak in fresh milk a breakfastcupful of stale breadcrumbs; add to it 2 well-beaten eggs, 1 oz. butter, and 6 oz. grated cheese; mix well, strew breadcrumbs over the top, and bake a light brown. (Bessie Tremaine.)

(_e_) ¼ lb. cheese chopped very fine, 1 egg well beaten, teacupful of new milk or cream, a small piece of butter dissolved in it, cayenne pepper and salt; bake for 20 minutes.

(_f_) Take 6 oz. grated cheese, 2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, a small teacupful of milk, and beat up all together in a basin; then put them in a small baking dish and bake a light brown.

_Puffs_ (Talmouses).--Put into a stewpan 3 oz. butter with 1½ gill milk, stir them together over the fire with a wooden spoon. Directly it boils gradually add 3 oz. flour, and continue stirring until it separates from the sides of the pan, forming a ball of paste, then add by degrees 6 beaten eggs, ½ lb. Parmesan cheese, and ¼ lb. Gruyère, or the whole quantity may be Parmesan if more convenient. Season well with salt, pepper, and a very little cayenne. When thoroughly mixed, make the paste up into little balls no larger than a pigeon’s egg, and fry them in hot lard; it must not be boiling, or they will be too dark a colour; they take a very short time to fry, and should be a light golden brown. Let them drain on paper for a minute or two before the fire, and serve in pyramid on a folded napkin garnished with parsley. Half this quantity would be enough for a small dish. Another way: Equal weight of eggs, butter, fresh breadcrumbs, and grated cheese; mix the dry ingredients together, seasoning rather highly with pepper and salt and a little cayenne. Put them into a mortar with the butter, the yolks of all and the whites of half the number of eggs, and pound them together until thoroughly mixed. Make up into small balls, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry in hot, but not boiling, lard as before. To be similarly drained and served. Two eggs and their weight of other ingredients make a small dish.

_Ramakins._--(_a_) 2 eggs, 2 spoonfuls flour, 2 oz. melted butter, 2 oz. grated cheese. Mix all well together, and bake for ¼ hour.

(_b_) 3 oz. toasting cheese, 4 oz. good Cheshire cheese, 2 oz. butter, and the yolks of 3 eggs; pound altogether very fine in a mortar; boil a fresh roll in thin cream, or good milk, only give it one boil up, then mix the whites of the eggs with the roll, and all the other ingredients in a basin, and beat it very well with a fork; then put it into paper cases, or one large one, and bake in a Dutch oven. The mixture will be good if made overnight, which is sometimes a convenience. (F. R. A.)

(_c_) ¼ lb. Cheshire cheese, ¼ lb. Parmesan, ¼ lb. fresh butter, 4 eggs, the crumb of a small roll, pepper, salt, and mace to taste. Boil the crumb of the roll in milk for 5 minutes, strain, and put into a mortar; add the cheese, which should be finely scraped, the butter, the yolks of the eggs, and seasoning, and pound these ingredients well together. Whisk the whites of the eggs, mix them with the paste, and put it into small saucers, half filled. Bake 10-12 minutes. (W. C. D.)