Take large bunches of ripe currants, wash and drain them dry, then dip them into the whites of eggs, previously beaten to a stiff froth. Lay them on a sieve, at such a distance from each other as not to touch--sift double refined sugar over them thick, and set them in a warm place to dry.

227. _Apple Snow._

Put a dozen good tart apples into cold water, set them over a slow fire.

When soft, drain off the water, pull the skins from the apples, take out the cores, and lay the apples in a deep dish. Beat the whites of twelve eggs to a strong froth--put half a pound of powdered white sugar on the apples, beat them to a strong froth, then add the beaten eggs. Beat the whole to a stiff snow, then turn it into a dessert dish, and ornament it with myrtle or box.

228. _Comfits._

Mix a pound of white sugar with just sufficient water to make a thick syrup. When the sugar has dissolved, drop in a pound of coriander seed, then drain off the syrup, and put the seeds in a sieve, with two or three ounces of flour--shake them well in it, then set them where they will dry. When dry, put them in the syrup again, repeat the above process till they are of the size you wish.

229. _Isingla.s.s Blanc Mange._

Pull an ounce of mild white isingla.s.s into small pieces--rinse them, and put to them a quart of milk if the weather is hot, and three pints if it is cold weather. Set it on a few coals, stir it constantly till the isingla.s.s dissolves, then sweeten it to the taste with double refined loaf sugar, put in a small stick of cinnamon, a vanilla bean, or blade of mace. Set it where it will boil five or six minutes, stirring it constantly. Strain it, and fill the moulds with it--let it remain in them till cold. The same bean will do to use several times.

230. _Calf's Feet Blanc Mange._

Boil four feet in five quarts of water, without any salt. When the liquor is reduced to one quart, strain and mix it with one quart of milk, several sticks of cinnamon, or a vanilla bean. Boil the whole ten minutes, sweeten it to the taste with white sugar, strain it, and fill your moulds with it.

231. _Rice Flour Blanc Mange._

Mix four table-spoonsful of ground rice, smoothly, with half a pint of cold milk, then stir it into a quart of boiling milk. Put in the grated rind of a lemon, and half the juice, a blade of mace--sweeten to the taste with white sugar. Boil the whole seven or eight minutes, stirring it frequently. Take it from the fire--when cool, put in the beaten whites of three eggs, put it back on the fire, stir it constantly till nearly boiling hot, then turn it into moulds, or deep cups, and let it remain till cold. This is nice food for invalids.

232. _Rice Blanc Mange._

Boil a tea-cup of rice in a pint of water, with a blade of mace, and a tea-spoonful of salt. When it swells out and becomes dry, add sufficient milk to prevent its burning. Let it boil till quite soft, stirring it constantly to keep it from burning--sweeten it with white sugar. Dip your moulds in cold water, then turn in the rice, without drying the moulds. Let the rice remain in the moulds till it becomes quite cold.

Turn it into dessert dishes, ornament it with marmalade cut in slices, and box and serve it up with cream or preserved strawberries. It should be made the day before it is to be eaten, in order to have it become firm.

233. _Snow Cream._

Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth--then stir in two table-spoonsful of powdered white sugar, a table-spoonful of sweet wine, a tea-spoonful of rosewater. Beat the whole together, then add a pint of thick cream. This is a nice accompaniment to a dessert of sweetmeats.

234. _Orange Cream._

Beat the yelks of eight eggs, and the whites of two, to a froth, then stir in half a pound of powdered white sugar--add half a pint of wine, and the juice of six fresh oranges, and the juice of one lemon. Flavor it with orange-flower water--strain it, and set it on a few coals--stir it till it thickens, then add a piece of b.u.t.ter, of the size of a nutmeg. When the b.u.t.ter has melted, take it from the fire, continue to stir it till cool, then fill your gla.s.ses with it. Beat up the whites of the eggs to a froth, and lay the froth on top of the gla.s.ses of cream.

235. _Lemon Cream._

Pare four fresh lemons very thin, so as to get none of the white part.

Soak the rinds twelve hours in half a pint of cold water, then add the juice of the lemons, and half a pint more of cold water. Beat to a froth the whites of eight eggs, and the yelks of three--strain the lemon-juice and water, mix it with the eggs--set the whole on a few coals, sweeten it with double refined sugar, stir it till it grows thick, then take it from the fire, stir it till cold--serve it up in gla.s.ses.

236. _Ice Creams._

Sweeten thick rich cream with powdered white sugar--it should be made very sweet, as the process of freezing extracts a great deal of the saccharine matter. Essence of lemon, the juice of strawberries or pine-apples, are nice to flavor the cream with--the juice should be sweetened before being mixed with the cream. Where cream cannot be procured, a custard, made in the following manner, may be subst.i.tuted: To a quart of milk put the beaten yelks of four eggs, the rind of a lemon, or a vanilla bean--set it on a few coals, make it extremely sweet, with white sugar--stir it constantly till scalding hot--care must be taken that it does not boil. Take it from the fire, take out the bean, or lemon peel--when perfectly cold, put it in an ice cream form--if one cannot be procured, a milk kettle, with a tight cover, may be subst.i.tuted. Set the form into the centre of a tub that is large enough to leave a s.p.a.ce of five inches from the form to the outside of the tub. Fill the s.p.a.ce round the form with alternate layers of finely cracked ice and rock salt, having a layer of ice last, and the whole should be just as high as the form. Care should be taken to keep the salt from the cream. The tub should be covered with a woollen cloth while the cream is freezing, and the form should be constantly shaken.

If you wish to shape the cream, turn it into moulds as soon as it freezes, set them in the tub, let them remain till just before they are to be eaten, then dip them in warm water, and take them out instantly, and turn them into dessert dishes.

237. _Pastry._

For a good common pie-crust allow half a pound of shortening to a pound of flour. If liked quite short, allow three-quarters of a pound of shortening to a pound of the flour. Pie crust looks the nicest made entirely of lard, but it does not taste so good as it does to have some b.u.t.ter used in making it. In winter, beef shortening, mixed with b.u.t.ter, makes good plain pie crust. Rub half of the shortening with two-thirds of the flour--to each pound of flour put a tea-spoonful of salt. When the shortening is thoroughly mixed with the flour, add just sufficient cold water to render it moist enough to roll out easily. Divide the crust into two equal portions--lay one of them one side for the upper crust, take the other, roll it out quite thin, flouring your rolling-board and pin, so that the crust will not stick to them, and line your pie plates, which should be previously b.u.t.tered--fill your plates with your fruit, then roll out the upper crust as thin as possible, spread on the reserved shortening, sprinkle over the flour, roll it up, and cut it into as many pieces as you have pies to cover.

Roll each one out about half an inch thick, and cover the pies--trim the edges off neatly with a knife, and press the crust down, round the edge of the plate, with a jagging iron, so that the juices of the fruit may not run out while baking. Pastry, to be nice, should be baked in a quick oven. In cold weather it is necessary to warm the shortening before using it for pie crust, but it must not be melted, or the crust will not be flaky.

238. _Puff Paste, or Confectioner's Pastry._

Weigh out a pound and a quarter of sifted flour, and a pound of b.u.t.ter.

Rub about one-third of the b.u.t.ter with two-thirds of the flour, a tea-spoonful of salt. When the b.u.t.ter is thoroughly mixed with the flour, add one beaten egg, and cold water to moisten it sufficiently to roll out. Sprinkle part of the reserved flour on a board, cut the b.u.t.ter into small pieces, and roll them out as thin as possible. In order to do so, it will be necessary to rub a great deal of the flour on the moulding-board and rolling-pin. Lay the b.u.t.ter, as fast as rolled out, on to a floured plate, each piece by itself--roll out the pastry as thin as it can be rolled, cover it with the rolled b.u.t.ter, sprinkle on part of the reserved flour, and roll the crust up. Continue to roll out the crust, and put on the reserved b.u.t.ter and flour, till the whole is used.

Roll it out lightly, about half an inch thick, for the upper crust, or rim to your pies--plain pie crust should be used for the under crust to the pies. Puff pastry, to be nice, should be baked in a quick oven till of a light brown color. If it browns before the fruit in the pie is sufficiently baked, cover it with thick paper.

239. _Apple Pie._

When apples are very small and green, they are nice stewed whole, with the skins on, and strained when soft, and sweetened. Pare, quarter, and take out the cores of the apples, when of a large size. If they are not ripe, stew them with just water enough to prevent their burning. When soft, sweeten and season them to the taste. When apples are ripe, they make better pies not to be stewed before baking. Fill your pie plates, cover them with a thick crust, and bake them from half to three-quarters of an hour. When baked sufficiently, cut the upper crust through the centre, remove it carefully with a broad knife, put a piece of b.u.t.ter, of the size of a walnut, into a pie, sweeten it to your taste, and if the apples are not tart enough, squeeze in the juice of part of a lemon--flavor the pie with either nutmeg, rosewater, or grated lemon peel. Apples cut into quarters, without paring, and stewed soft in new cider and mola.s.ses, make good plain pies. The apples should be strained after stewing, and seasoned with cinnamon or nutmeg. If made quite sweet, it will keep good several months. Dried apples should have boiling water turned on to cover them, and stewed till very soft. If they are not tart enough, turn in sour cider, when they are partly stewed. A little orange peel stewed with the apples, gives them a fine flavor. Season them, when soft, with sugar and nutmeg, and strain them if you like.

240. _Mince Pie._

The best kind of meat for mince pies is neat's tongue and feet--the shank of beef makes very good pies. Boil the meat till perfectly tender--then take it up, clear it from the bones and gristle, chop it fine enough to strain through a sieve, mix it with an equal weight of tart apples, chopped very fine. If the meat is not fat, put in a little suet, or melted b.u.t.ter. Moisten the whole with cider--sweeten it to the taste with sugar, and very little mola.s.ses--add mace, cinnamon, cloves, and salt, to the taste. If you wish to make your pies rich, put in wine or brandy to the taste, and raisins, citron, and Zante currants. The grated rind and juice of lemons improve the pie. Make the pies on shallow plates, with apertures in the upper crust, and bake them from half to three-quarters of an hour, according to the heat of the oven.

Meat prepared for pies in the following manner, will keep good several months, if kept in a cool dry place: To a pound of finely chopped meat, a quarter of a pound of suet, put half an ounce of mace, one ounce of cinnamon, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, two tea-spoonsful of salt.

Add if you like the following fruits: half a pound of seeded raisins, half a pound of Zante currants, a quarter of a pound of citron. Put in half a pint of French brandy or wine, three table-spoonsful of mola.s.ses, and sugar sufficient to make it quite sweet. Put the whole in a stone pot--cover it with a paper wet in brandy. When you wish to use any of it for pies, put to what meat you use an equal weight of apples, pared and chopped fine. If not seasoned high enough, add more spice and sugar. If the apples are not tart, put in lemon-juice or sour cider.

241. _Rice Pie._

To a quart of boiling water, put a small tea-cup of rice. Boil it till very soft, then take it from the fire, and add a quart of cold milk. Put in a tea-spoonful of salt, a grated nutmeg, five eggs beaten to a froth--add sugar to the taste, and strain it through a sieve. Bake it in deep pie plates, with an under crust and rim of pastry--add if you like a few raisins.

242. _Peach Pie._

Take mellow, juicy peaches--wash and put them in a deep pie plate, lined with pie crust. Sprinkle a thick layer of sugar on each layer of peaches, put in about a table-spoonful of water, and sprinkle a little flour over the top--cover it with a thick crust, and bake the pie from fifty to sixty minutes. Pies made in this manner are much better than with the stones taken out, as the prussic acid of the stone gives the pie a fine flavor. If the peaches are not mellow, they will require stewing before being made into a pie. Dried peaches should be stewed soft, and sweetened, before they are made into a pie--they do not require any spice.

243. _Tart Pie._

Sour apples, cranberries, and peaches, all make nice tarts. Stew, and strain them when soft. Peach tarts require a little lemon-juice, without they are sour. Grate in lemon peel, add brown sugar to the taste. Put in each pie one beaten egg, to make it cut smooth. Bake the pies on shallow plates, with an under crust and rim of pastry--ornament the pie with very small strips of pastry. When the crust is done, remove the pies from the oven.

244. _Rhubarb Pies._

Take the tender stalks of the rhubarb, strip off the skin, and cut the stalks into thin slices. Line deep plates with pie crust, then put in the rhubarb, with a thick layer of sugar to each layer of rhubarb--a little grated lemon peel improves the pie. Cover the pies with a thick crust--press it down tight round the edge of the plate, and p.r.i.c.k the crust with a fork, so that the crust will not burst while baking, and let out the juices of the pie. Rhubarb pies should be baked about an hour, in a slow oven--it will not do to bake them quick. Some cooks stew the rhubarb before making it into pies, but it is not so good as when used without stewing.