Chapter 7

Skin the almonds, divide the two parts and cut each part into small pieces. Put these almonds so cut at the fire and dry them until they take a yellowish color, but do not toast. Meanwhile put the sugar on the fire in a saucepan and, when it is perfectly melted, pour the almonds hot and already slightly browned. Now lower the fire and be careful not to allow the compound to be overdone. The precise point is known when the mixture acquires a cinnamon color. Then pour little by little in a cold mold, previously greased with butter or oil. Press with a lemon against the walls of the mold, making the mixture as thin as possible. Remove from the mold when perfectly cooled and, if it is difficult to do so, dip the mold in boiling water.

The almonds can also be dried in the sun and chopped fine, adding a small piece of butter when they are in the sugar.

194

WAFER BISCUITS

(Cialdoni)

Put in a kettle:

Flour, three ounces. Brown sugar, one ounce. Lard virgin, half an ounce. Cold water, seven tablespoonfuls.

First dilute the flour and the sugar in the water, then add the lard.

Put on the fire the iron for waffles or better an appropriated iron for flattened wafers. When it is quite hot open it and place each time half a tablespoonful of the paste. Close the iron and press well. Pass over the fire on both sides, trim all around with a knife and open the iron when you see that the wafer is browned. Then detach it from one side of the iron and hot as it is roll it on the iron itself or on a napkin using a little stick. This operation must be made with great rapidity because if the wafer gets cold, it cannot be rolled.

Should the wafers remain attached to the iron, grease it from time to time, and if they are not firm enough, add a little flour.

These wafer-biscuits are generally served with whipped cream.

195

QUINCE CAKE

(Cotognata)

The ingredients are about six pounds of quinces and four pounds of granulated sugar.

Put on the fire the apples covered with water, and when they begin to crack remove them, skin and scrape to put together all the pulp. Rub the latter through a sieve. Put back the pulp on the fire with the sugar and stir continually in order that it may not attack to the bottom of the kettle. It will be enough to boil for seven or eight minutes and remove when it begins to form pieces when lifted with the ladle.

Now in order to prepare the quince-cake spread it on a board to the thickness of about a silver dollar and dry it in the sun covered with cheese cloth to keep away the flies. When it is dry cut it in the form of chocolate tablets and remove each piece from the board passing the blade of a knife underneath.

If it is wished to make it crisp, melt about three and a half pounds of granulated sugar with two tablespoonfuls of water and when the sugar has boiled enough to "make the thread" smear every one of the little quince cakes with it. If the sugar becomes too hard during the operation put it back on the fire with a little water and make it boil again. When the sugar is dry on one side and on the edge, smear the other side.

196

PORTUGUESE CAKE

(Focaccia alla Portoghese)

Sweet almonds, five ounces. Granulated sugar, five ounces. Potato meal, one and a half ounce. Three eggs. One big orange or two small.

First mix the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, then add the flour, then the almonds skinned and chopped fine, then the orange juice (through a colander) then a taste of orange peel. Finally add to the mixture the whites of the eggs well beaten. Put in a paper mold greased evenly with butter, with a thickness of about an inch and bake in a very moderately hot oven. After baked, cover with a white glaze or frost, made with powdered sugar, lemon juice and the white of eggs.

197

MACAROONS

(Amaretti)

I

Granulated sugar, nine ounces. Sweet almonds, three and a half ounces. Bitter almonds, half of the above quantity. Whites of egg, two.

Skin and dry the almonds, then chop them very fine. Mix the sugar and the whites of egg and stir for about half an hour, then add the almonds to form a rather hard paste. Of this make little balls, as large as a small walnut. If the paste is too soft add a little butter, if too hard add a little white of egg, this time beaten. Were it desired to give the macaroons a brownish color, mix with the paste a little burnt sugar.

As you form the little ball, that you will flatten to the thickness of one third of an inch, put them over wafers or on pieces of paper or in a baking tin greased with butter and sprinkled with half flour and half powdered sugar. Dispose them at a certain distance from one another as they will enlarge and swell, remaining empty inside.

Bake in an oven moderately hot.

II

Powdered sugar, ten and a half ounces. Sweet almonds, three ounces. Bitter almonds, one ounce. Two whites of egg.

Skin the almonds and dry them in the sun or on the fire, then chop and grind very fine with one white of egg poured in various times. When this is done, put half of the sugar, stirring and kneading with your hand. Then pour everything in a large bowl and, always mixing, add half of the other white of egg, then the other half of the sugar and finally the other half of the white.

In this way an homogenous mixture will be obtained of the right firmness. Shake into a kind of a stick and cut it in rounds all equal, one third of an inch thick. Take them up one by one with moistened fingers and make little balls as large as a walnut. Flatten them to the thickness of a third of an inch and for the rest proceed as said above, but dust with powdered sugar before putting in a hot oven.

With this dose about thirty macarons can be obtained.

198

FARINA CAKES

(Pasticcini di semolino)

Farina, six and a half ounces. Sugar, three and a half ounces. Pine-seeds, two ounces. Butter, a small piece. Milk, one quart. Four eggs. A pinch of salt. Taste of lemon peel.

Cook the farina in the milk and when it begins to thicken pour the pine-seeds, previously chopped fine and pounded with the sugar, then the butter and the rest, less the eggs which must be put in last when the mixture has completely cooled. Then place the whole well mixed in little molds, greased evenly with butter and sprinkled with bread crumbs ground fine, and bake.

199

RICE TART

(Torta di riso)

Milk, one quart. Rice, seven ounces. Sugar, five and a half ounces. Sweet almonds with four bitter ones, three and a half ounces. Candied cedar (angelica), one ounce. Three whole eggs. Five egg-yolks. Taste of lemon peel. A pinch of salt.

Skin the almonds and grind or pound them with two tablespoonfuls of the sugar.

Cut the candied cedar in very small cubes. Cook the rice in the milk until it is quite firm, put in all the ingredients except the eggs, which are added when the mixture is cold. Put the entire mixture in a baking tin greased with butter and sprinkled with bread crumbs ground fine, harden in the oven and after 24 hours cut the tart into diamonds. When serving dust with powdered sugar.

200

FARINA TART

(Torta di semolino)

Milk, one quart. Farina finely ground, four and a half ounces. Sugar, four and a half ounces. Sweet almonds with three bitter, three and a half ounces. Butter, a small piece. Four eggs. Taste of lemon peel. A pinch of salt.

Skin the almonds in warm water and ground or pound very fine with all the sugar, to be mixed one tablespoonful at a time.

Cook the farina in the milk and before removing from the fire add the butter and the almonds, which will dissolve easily, being mixed with the sugar. Then put the pinch of salt and wait until it becomes lukewarm to add the eggs that are to be beaten whole previously. Pour the mixture in a baking tin greased evenly with butter, sprinkled with bread crumbs and of such a size that the tart has the thickness of an inch or less. Put it in the oven, remove from the mold when cold and serve whole or cut into sections.

201

PUDDING OF RICE MEAL

(Budino di farina di riso)

Milk, one quart. Rice meal, seven ounces. Sugar, four and a half ounces. Six eggs. A pinch of salt. Taste of vanilla.

First dissolve the rice meal in half a pint of the milk when cold, and pour it in the rest of the milk when it is boiling. This is done to prevent the formation of lumps. When the meal is cooked add the sugar, the butter and the salt. Remove from the fire and when it is lukewarm mix the eggs (beaten) and the taste of vanilla. Then bake the pudding like all the others and serve warm.

202

BREAD PUDDING

(Budino di pane)

Soft bread crumb, five ounces. Butter, three and a half ounces. Four eggs. Taste of lemon peel. A pinch of salt.

Cut the bread crumb into pieces and soak in cold milk. Then rub though a sieve. Melt the butter in a double boiler (in a vessel immersed in boiling water) and mix with the eggs until butter and eggs are incorporated to each other. Add the bread crumb and the sugar and mix well. Pour the mixture in a mold greased with butter and sprinkled with bread crumb ground fine and bake like other puddings.

203

POTATO PUDDING

(Budino di patate)

Potatoes, big and mealy, one and a half lb. Sugar, five and a half ounces. Butter, one and a half ounces. Flour, a tablespoonful. Milk, half a pint. Six eggs. A pinch of salt. Paste of cinnamon or lemon peel.

Boil or steam the potatoes, skin and rub through a sieve. Place them back again on the fire with the butter, the flour and the milk, all poured little by little, stirring well with the ladle, then add the sugar, the salt and the cinnamon or lemon peel (just a taste) and mix everything together well. Remove from the fire and, when the mixture is lukewarm or cold add the eggs, first the yolks, then the whites beaten.

Bake like all other puddings and serve hot.

204

LEMON PUDDING

(Budino di limone)

One big lemon. Sugar, six ounces. Sweet almonds with 3 bitter ones, six ounces. Six eggs.

Cook the lemon in water, for which two hours will be enough. Remove dry and rub through a sieve. Before rubbing, however, taste it, because if it has a bitter taste it must be kept in cold water until it has lost that unpleasant taste. Add the sugar, the almonds skinned and ground very fine and the six yolks of the eggs. Beat the whites of the eggs and add them to the mixture that will then be put in a mold and baked like all other puddings.

205

PUDDING OF ROASTED ALMONDS

(Budino di mandorle tostate)

Milk, one quart. Sugar, three and a half ounces. Sweet almonds, two ounces. Lady-finger biscuits, two ounces. Three eggs.

First prepare the almonds, that is to say skin them in warm water and toast them on the fire over a plate of iron or a stone, then grind very fine. Boil the sugar and the lady-fingers, broken in little pieces in the milk, mixing well. After half an hour of boiling, keeping always stirred, rub the mixture through a sieve. Then add the toasted and ground almonds. When it is cold add the beaten eggs, pour it in a smooth mold, whose bottom will be covered with a film of liquified sugar and cook in a double boiler, that is to say put the mold well closed in a kettle full of boiling water.

When cooked let it cool and place in ice-box before serving.

206

CRISP CAKE IN DOUBLE BOILER

(Croccante a bagno maria)

Sugar, five and a half ounces. Sweet almonds, three ounces. Egg-yolks, five. Milk, one pint.

Skin the almonds and chop them in little pieces about as big as a grain of wheat. Put on the fire two thirds of the sugar and when it is all melted pour the almonds and stir continually with the ladle until they have taken the color of cinnamon. Then put them in a tin greased with butter and when they are cold, pound them very fine with the remaining third of sugar.

Add the yolks and then the milk, mix well and pour the mixture in a mold with a hole in the middle and greased evenly with butter. Place the mold in a double boiler so that it will be cooked by steam.

206

STUFFED PEACHES

(Pesche ripiene)

Six big peaches not very ripe. Four or five lady-finger biscuits. Granulated sugar, three ounces. Two ounces sweet almonds with three peach kernels. Candied fruit (angelica) half an ounce.

Cut the peaches in two parts, remove the stones and enlarge somewhat the cavity where they were with the point of a knife. Mix the peach pulp that you extract with the almonds, already skinned, and grind the pulp and almonds very fine together with two ounces of the sugar. To this mixture add the lady-fingers crumbed and the candied fruits. Cut in very small cubes. This will be the stuffing with which you will fill the cavities of the twelve halves of peach. These you will place in a row in a baking tin, with the stuffing above. Add the remaining ounce of sugar and bake in oven with a moderate fire.

207

MILK GNOCCHI

(Gnocchi di latte)

One quart of milk. Sugar, nine ounces. Starch in powder, four ounces. Eight yolks of eggs. A taste of vanilla.

Mix everything together as you would do for a cream and put on the fire in a saucepan, continually stirring with a ladle. When the mixture has become hard keep it a few moments more on the fire and then pour it in a plate to make it about half an inch thick and cut it into diamonds when it is cold. Put these diamonds one over the other with symmetry in a baking tin or in a fireproof glass plate, with some little pieces of butter in between and brown them a little in the oven. Serve hot.

208

SABAYON

(Zabaione)

Yolks of three eggs. Granulated sugar, two ounces. Marsala or sherry wine, five tablespoonfuls. A dash of cinnamon.

First stir with the ladle the yolks and the sugar until they become almost white, then add the wine. When ready to serve, place the saucepan in another one containing hot water and beat until the sugar is melted and the egg begins to thicken.

SYRUPS

(Sciroppi)

The syrups of acidulated fruits, diluted with ice water are refreshing and pleasant beverages, greatly appreciated during the summer months. It is well, however, not to drink them until the digestion is completed, because they may disturb it, on account of the sugar that they contain.

209

RED CURRANT OR GOOSEBERRY SYRUP

(Sciroppo di ribes)

Remove the stems from the bunches of gooseberry and place them in an earthen vase, to be kept in a cool place. When it has begun to ferment (which may happen after three or four days) sink the surface film and stir with a ladle twice a day, continuing this operation until it has stopped raising. Then put in a cheese cloth, letting the juice come out through pressing with the hands or in a machine. Pass the juice through a filter, two or three times if necessary, until you obtain a limpid liquid. Then put it on the fire and when it begins to boil pour in it granulated sugar and citric acid in the following proportions:

Liquid, six pounds. Sugar, eight pounds. Citric acid, one ounce.

That is to say for each =three= parts of the liquid, add =four= parts of sugar, and =one= ounce of citric acid for =eight= pounds of sugar mixed with =six= pounds of liquid.

Stir continually with the ladle so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom, taste it to add some more citric acid if you judge it necessary, then let it cool and place in bottles to be sealed.

When a beverage is to be prepared pour in a tumbler less than half an inch of syrup for a tumblerful of ice water.

210

RASPBERRY SYRUP

(Sciroppo di lampone)

This is prepared like the other explained above but, since this fruit contains less gluten than the gooseberry the period of fermentation will be briefer. The large quantity of sugar used in these syrups is necessary for their conservation and the citric acid is used to correct the excessive sweetness.

211

LEMON SYRUP

(Sciroppo di limone)

Three big lemons. One and a half pound of sugar. A tumbler of water.

Skin the lemons, removing the internal pulp without squeezing it and taking off all seeds.

Put the water on the fire with the skin of one of the lemons cut in a thin ribbon like strip with a small knife. When the water is near boiling put in the sugar then remove the lemon skin and immerse the pulp of the three lemons. Boil until the syrup is condensed and cooked right, which is known by the pearls that it makes boiling and the color of white wine that it acquires. Preserve in a bottle, and when needed, dilute in a tumbler of ice water. A small quantity will make a delightful beverage.

212

HARD BLACK-BERRY SYRUP

(Sciroppo di amarena)

Use hard but ripe black berries. They must be of the sour kind but, as said, they must not be unripe. Remove the stems and put the berries into a vase with a good piece of whole cinnamon. The fermentation will happen after 48 hours and as soon as the berries begin to rise, stir them from time to time. Then press them to extract the juice, with a pressing machine if you have one, or with your hands, squeezing them a few at a time in cheese cloth.--When the liquid has rested for a while, filter it until it becomes quite clear. When it has been depurated, put it on the fire in the following proportion and with the piece of cinnamon that was already immersed in the cherries: Twelve pounds of liquid to sixteen pounds of sugar and two ounces of citric acid, or three parts of liquid to four of sugar and the citric acid as in the above proportion.

Before putting in the sugar and the citric acid wait until the liquid is quite hot, just before boiling. Then stir continually. The boiling must be brief, four or five minutes are sufficient to incorporate the sugar in the liquid.

When removing the syrup from the fire, put it in an earthen vase and bottle when quite cold. Cork the bottles well and keep in a cool place.

213

ORGEAT

(Orzata)

Sweet almonds with 10 or 12 bitter ones, seven ounces. Water, one and half pounds. Granulated sugar, two pounds.

Skin the almonds and grind them very fine, or better pound them in a mortar, moistening from time to time with orange flower water, of which you will use about two tablespoonfuls.

When the almonds have been reduced to a paste, dissolve the latter in one third of the water and filter the juice through a cheese cloth, squeezing hard. Put the paste, back in the grinder or in the mortar, grind or pound again, then filter again with another third of the water. Repeat the same operation for a third time, then put on the fire the liquid so obtained and just before boiling put the sugar, mix, stir and boil for about twenty minutes. Let it cool, then bottle and keep in a cool place. The orgeat does not ferment and the thick liquid may be diluted in water, half an inch for a whole tumbler of iced water.

PRESERVES

214

APRICOT MARMALADE

(Conserva di albicocche)

Use good and ripe apricots. It is a mistake to believe that jam or marmalade can be obtained with any kind of fruit. Take off the stones, put them on the fire without water and while they boil, stir with a ladle to reduce them to pulp. When they have boiled for about half an hour, rub them through a sieve to separate the pulp of the fruit from the skins that are to be thrown away, then put them back on the fire with granulated sugar in the proportion of eight tenths, that is to say eight pounds of sugar for ten pounds of apricot pulp. Stir often with the ladle until the mixture acquires the firmness of marmalade, which will be known by putting from time to time a teaspoonful in a plate and seeing that it flows slowly.

When ready, remove from the fire, let it cool, and then put in vases well covered and with a film of paraffine or tissue paper dipped in alcohol, so that the air may not pass in.

215

PRESERVE OF QUINCE

(Conserva di cotogne soda)

The ingredients are quinces, peeled and with the core removed, and granulated sugar, in the proportion of eight tenths of quinces to five tenths of sugar, or a little more than one and a half quinces for one part of sugar.

Dissolve the sugar on the fire with half a glass of water, boil a little, then remove from the fire and put aside.

Cut the quinces--peeled and coreless--in very thin slices and put them on the fire with a glass of water, supposing the quantity to be about two pounds. Keep covered, but stir once in a while with the ladle, trying to break the slices and reduce them to a paste. When the quinces are made tender through cooking, pour in the thick syrup of sugar already prepared, mix and stir and let the mixture boil with the cover removed until the preserve is ready, which will be known when it begins to fall like shreds when taken up with the ladle.

Let it cool and put in well covered jars.

ICES

(Gelati)

Although it is in America that there is a greater consumption of ice cream, it is in Italy that it was first made, and in various European capitals it is the Italian =gelatiere= who prepares the frozen delicacy. A few Italian recipes of =gelati= will then be acceptable, we believe, as a conclusion to this little work.

216

BISCUIT

(Pezzo in gelo)

Make a cream with:

Water, five ounces. Sugar, two ounces. The yolks of four eggs. A taste of vanilla.

Put it on the fire stirring continually and when it begins to stick to the ladle remove from the fire and whip to a stiff froth. Then mix about five ounces of ordinary whipped cream, put in a mold and pack in salt and ice.

Keep in ice for about three hours.

This dose will be sufficient for seven or eight persons.

217

LEMON ICE

(Gelato di limone)

Granulated sugar, 3/4 lb. Water, a pint. Lemons, three (good sized).

Boil the sugar in the water, with some little pieces of lemon peel, for about ten minutes, in an uncovered kettle. When this syrup is cold, squeeze the lemons one at the time, tasting the mixture to regulate the degree of acidity. Then strain and put in the freezer packed with salt and ice.

218

STRAWBERRY ICE

(Gelato di fragola)

Ripe strawberries, 3/4 lb. Granulated sugar, 3/4 lb. Water, one pint. A big lemon. An orange.

Boil the sugar in the water for ten minutes in an uncovered kettle. Rub through a sieve the strawberries and the juice of the lemon and the orange: add the syrup after straining, mix everything and pour the mixture in the freezer.

219

ORANGE ICE

(Gelato di aranci)

Four big oranges. One lemon. One pint of water. Sugar, 3/4 lb.

Squeeze the oranges and the lemon and strain the juice.

Boil the sugar in the water for ten minutes, put in the juice when cold, strain again and put in the freezer.

220

PISTACHE ICE CREAM

(Gelato di pistacchi)

Milk, one quart. Sugar, six ounces. Pistaches, two ounces.

Skin the pistaches in warm water and grind them very fine with a tablespoonful of the sugar, then put in a saucepan with the yolks and the sugar, mixing everything together. Add the milk and put the mixture on the fire stirring with the ladle and when it is condensed like cream, let it cool and put in the freezer.

221

TUTTI FRUTTI

To make this ice a special ice cream mold is necessary, or a tin receptacle that can be closed hermetically.

Take several varieties of fruits of the season, ripe and of good quality, that is to say, strawberries, cherries, plums, apricots, a big peach, a good sized pear, a piece of good cantaloupe. Peel, skin and remove stones and cores of all these fruits. Then cut them into very thin slices, throwing away the cores and stones.

When the fruit is prepared in this manner, weigh it, and sprinkle over one fifth of its weight of powdered sugar, squeezing also one lemon. Mix everything and let the mixture rest for half an hour.

Put a sheet of paper in the bottom of the mold that is to be filled with the fruit pressed together, close, and pack in salt and ice, keeping it for two hours or a little less.

This is not the =tutti frutti= ice cream as is known in America, but a =macédoine= of fruits, that comes very pleasant to the taste in the summer months.

INDEX