 Section 70 of the Book of Household Management. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Anna Simon. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Recipes. Chapter 29, Part 4. To make a plain omelet. 1,456 ingredients, six eggs, one salt spoon full of salt, one third salt spoon full of pepper, one quarter pound of butter. Mode. Break the eggs into a basin, omitting the whites of three, and beat them up with their salt and pepper until extremely light. Then add two ounces of the butter broken into small pieces and stir this into the mixture. Put the other two ounces of butter into a frying pan, make it quite hot, and as soon as it begins to bubble, whisk the eggs, etc., very briskly for a minute or two, and pour them into the pan. Stir the omelet with a spoon one way until the mixture thickens and becomes firm, and when the whole is set, fold the edges over so that the omelet assumes an oval form, and when it is nicely brown on one side and quite firm, it is done. To take off the rawness on the upper side, hold the pan before the fire for a minute or two, and brown it with a salamander or hot shovel. Serve very expeditiously on a very hot dish, and never cook it until it is just wanted. The flavour of this omelet may be very much enhanced by adding minced parsley, minced onion or escalot, or grated cheese, allowing one tablespoon full of the formme, and half the quantity of the letter to the above proportion of eggs. Oven or oysters may also be added. The letter should be scolded in their liquor, and then be added and cut into small pieces. In making an omelet, be particularly careful that it is not too thin, and to avoid this, do not make it in too large a frying pan, as the mixture would then spread too much, and taste of the outside. It should also not be greasy, burnt, or too much done, and should be cooked over a gentle fire that the whole of the substance may be heated without drying up the outside. Omelettes are sometimes served with gravy, but this should never be poured over them, but served in a terrine, as the liquid causes the omelet to become heavy and flat, instead of eating light and soft. In making the gravy, the flavour should not overpower that of the omelet, and should be thickened with arrowroot or rice flour. Time? With six eggs in a frying pan 18 or 20 inches round, 4 to 6 minutes. Average cost? 9 pence. Sufficient for four persons, seasonable at any time. Ham omelet. A delicious breakfast dish. 1457. Ingredients. Six eggs, four ounces of butter, a half-salt spoonful of pepper, two tablespoons of minced ham. Mode. Mince the ham very finely, without any fat, and fry it for two minutes in a little butter. Then make the batter for the omelet, stir in the ham, and proceed as directed in recipe number 1046. Do not add any salt to the batter, as the ham is usually sufficiently salt to impart a flavour to the omelet. Good lean bacon or tong answers equally well for this dish, but they must also be slightly cooked previously to mixing them with the batter. Serve very hot and quickly, without gravy. Time? From four to six minutes. Average cost? One chilling. Sufficient for four persons, seasonable at any time. Ham omelet. A favourite French dish. 1458. Ingredients. Six eggs, one salt spoonful of salt, a half-salt spoonful of pepper, two sheep's kidneys or two tablespoons of minced veal kidney, five ounces of butter. Mode. Skin the kidneys, cut them into small dice, and toss them in a frying pan in one ounce of butter over the fire for two or three minutes. Mix the ingredients for the omelet the same as in recipe number 1456. When the eggs are well whisked, stir in the pieces of kidney. Make the butter hot in the frying pan, and when it bubbles, pour in the omelet, and fry it over a gentle fire for four to six minutes. When the eggs are set, fold the edges over so that the omelet assumes an oval form, and be careful that it is not too much done. To brown the top, hold the pan for the fire for a minute or two, or use a salamander until the desired colour is obtained, but never turn an omelet in the pan. Slip it carefully onto a very hot dish, or what is a much safer method, put a dish on the omelet and turn the pan quickly over. It should be served the instant it comes from the fire. Time four to six minutes. Average cost one shilling, sufficient for four persons, seasonable at any time. To make a plain sweet omelet, 1459, ingredients, six eggs, four ounces of butter, two ounces of sifted sugar. Mode, break the eggs into a basin, omitting the whites of three, whisk them well, adding the sugar and two ounces of the butter, which should be broken into small pieces, and stir all these ingredients well together. Make the remainder of the butter quite hot in a small frying pan, and when it commences to bubble, pour in the eggs, etc. Keep stirring them until they begin to set. Then turn the edges of the omelet over to make it an oval shape, and finish cooking it. To brown the top, hold the pan before the fire, or use a salamander, and turn it carefully onto a very hot dish. Sprinkle sifted sugar over and serve. Time from four to six minutes. Average cost ten pence, sufficient for four persons, seasonable at any time. Omelet au couture, or jam omelet, 1460, ingredients, six eggs, four ounces of butter, three tablespoon fulls of apricot, strawberry, or any jam that may be preferred. Mode, make the omelet by recipe number 1459, only instead of doubling it over, leave it flat in the pan. When quite firm, and nicely brown on one side, turn it carefully onto a hot dish. Spread over the middle of it the jam, and fold the omelet over on each side. Sprinkle sifted sugar over, and serve very quickly. A pretty dish of small omelets may be made by dividing the batter into three or four portions, and frying them separately. They should then be spread each one with a different kind of preserve, and the omelets rolled over. Always sprinkle sweet omelets with sifted sugar before being sent to table. Time four to six minutes. Average cost one shilling tuppence. Preparation for four persons, seasonable at any time. Omelet souffle, 1461, ingredients, six eggs, five ounces of pounded sugar, flavouring of vanilla, orange flower water, or lemon rind, three ounces of butter, one dessert spoon full of rice flour. Mode, separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs, add to the form of the sugar, the rice flour, and either of the above flavourings that may be preferred, and stir these ingredients well together. Whip the whites of the eggs, mix them lightly with the batter, and put the butter into a small frying pan. As soon as it begins to bubble, pour the batter into it, and set the pan over a bright but gentle fire. And when the omelet is set, turn the edges over to make it an oval shape, and slip it onto a silver dish, which has been previously well buttered. Put it in the oven, and bake from 12 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle finely powdered sugar over the souffle, and serve it immediately. Time about four minutes in a pan, to bake from 12 to 15 minutes. Average cost, one chilling, sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable at any time. Bachelors omelet, 1,462, ingredients, two or three eggs, two ounces of butter, one teaspoon full of flour, a half-team cup full of milk. Mode, make a thin cream of the flour and milk, then beat up the eggs, mix all together, and add a pinch of salt, and a few grains of cayenne. Melt the butter in a small frying pan, and, when very hot, pour in the batter. Let the pan remain for a few minutes over a clear fire. Then sprinkle upon the omelet some chopped herbs, and a few struts of onion. Double the omelet dexterously, and shake it out of the pan onto a hot dish. A simple sweet omelet can be made by the same process, substituting sugar or preserve for the chopped herbs. One, two minutes, average cost, six pints, sufficient for two persons, seasonable at any time. Orange cream, 1,463, ingredients, one ounce of icing glass, six large oranges, one lemon, sugar to taste, water, half a pint of good cream. Mode, squeeze the juice from the oranges and the lemon, strain it, and put it into a saucepan with the icing glass, and sufficient water to make an all one and a half pint. Rub the sugar on the orange and lemon rind, add it to the other ingredients, and boil all together for about ten minutes. Strain through a muslin bag, and, when cold, beat up with it a half pint of thick cream. Wet a mold, or soak it in cold water. Pour in the cream, and put it in a cool place to set. If the weather is very cold, one ounce of icing glass will be found sufficient for the above proportion of ingredients. Time ten minutes to boil the juice and water, average cost, with the best icing glass, three shillings, sufficient to fill a quart mold, seasonable from November to May. Orange creams, 1,464, ingredients, one severe orange, one tablespoon full of brandy, a quarter pound of low sugar, the yolks of four eggs, one pint of cream. Mode, boil the rind of the severe orange until tender, and beat it in the mortar to a pulp. Add to it the brandy, the strained juice of the orange, and the sugar, and beat all together for about ten minutes, adding the well beaten yolks of eggs. Bring the cream to the boiling point, and pour it very gradually to the other ingredients, and beat the mixture till nearly cold. Put it into custard cups, place the cups in a deep dish of boiling water, where let them remain till quite cold. Take the cups out of the water, wipe them, and garnish the tops of the creams with candied orange peel or preserved chips. Time altogether three quarters of an hour, average cost, with cream at one shillings per pint, one shilling seven pence, sufficient to make seven or eight creams, seasonable from November to May. Mode, to render this dish more economical, substitute milk for the cream, but add a small pinch of icing glass to make the creams firm. Seville orange, citrus vulgaris. This variety, called also bitter orange, is of the same species as the sweet orange, and grows in great abundance on the banks of the Guadalquiva in Andalusia, whence this fruit is chiefly obtained. In that part of Spain, there are very extensive orchards of these oranges which form the chief wealth of the monasteries. The pulp of the bitter orange is not eaten raw. In the yellow rind, separated from the white spongy substance immediately below it, is contained an essential oil, which is an agreeable warm aromatic, much superior for many purposes to that of the common orange. The best marmalade and the richest wine are made from this orange, and from its flowers the best orange flower water is distilled. Sivi oranges are also preserved whole as a sweetmeat. Orange fritters, 1,465 ingredients, for the batter, a half pound of flour, a half ounce of butter, a half salt spoonful of salt, two eggs, milk, oranges, hot lard or clarified dripping. Mode, make a nice light batter with the above proportion of flour, butter, salt, eggs and sufficient milk to make it the proper consistency. Peel the oranges, remove as much of the white skin as possible and divide each orange into eight pieces without breaking the thin skin, unless it be to remove the pips. Dip each piece of orange in the batter. Have ready a pan of boiling lard or clarified dripping. Drop in the oranges and fry them a delicate brown from 8 to 10 minutes. When done, lay them on a piece of blotting paper before the fire to drain away the greasy moisture and dish them on a white doily. Sprinkle over them plenty of pounded sugar and serve quickly. Time 8 to 10 minutes to fry the fritters, 5 minutes to drain them. Average cost 9 pence, sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable from November to May. A pretty dish of oranges, 1,466 ingredients, 6 large oranges, a half pound of loaf sugar, a quarter pound of water, a half pound of cream, 2 tablespoonfuls of any kind of liqueur, sugar to taste. Mode, put the sugar and water into a saucepan and boil them until the sugar becomes brittle, which may be a certain by taking up a small quantity in a spoon and dipping it in cold water. If the sugar is sufficiently boiled it will easily snap. Peel the oranges, remove as much of the white pith as possible and divide them into nice sized slices without breaking the thin white skin which surrounds the juicy pulp. Place the pieces of orange on small skewers, dip them into the hot sugar and arrange them in layers around the plain mould which should be well oiled with the purest salad oil. The sides of the mould only should be lined with the oranges and the centre left open for the cream. Let this sugar become firm by cooling, turn the oranges carefully out on a dish and fill the centre with whipped cream flavoured with any kind of liqueur and sweetened with pounded sugar. This is an exceedingly ornamental and nice dish for the supper table. Time, ten minutes to boil the sugar, average cost one shilling eight pence, sufficient for one mould, seasonable from November to May. To make pancakes, 1,467 ingredients, eggs, flour, milk, to every egg allow one ounce of flour, about one gill of milk, one eighth salt spoonful of salt. Mode, a certain that the eggs are fresh, break each one separately in a cup, whisk them well, put them into a basin, with the flour, salt and a few drops of milk and beat the whole to a perfectly smooth batter, then add by degrees the remainder of the milk. The proportion of this latter ingredient must be regulated by the size of the eggs, etc etc, but the batter, when ready for frying, should be of the consistency of thick cream. Place a small frying pan on the fire to get hot, let it be delicately clean or the pancakes will stick, and when quite hot, put into it a small piece of butter, allowing about a half ounce to each pancake. When it is melted, pour in the batter, about a half tea cup full to a pan five inches in diameter and fry it for about four minutes or until it is nicely brown on one side. By only pouring in a small quantity of batter and so making the pancakes thin, the necessity of turning them, an operation rather difficult to unskillful cooks, is obviated. When the pancake is done, sprinkle over it some pounded sugar, roll it up in the pan and take it out with a large slice and place it on the dish before the fire. Proceed in this manner until sufficient are cooked for a dish, then send them quickly to table and continue to send in a further quantity as pancakes are never good unless eaten almost immediately they come from the frying pan. The batter may be flavoured with a little grated lemon rind or the pancakes may have preserved rolled in them, instead of sugar. Send sifted sugar and a cut lemon to the table with them. To render the pancakes very light, the yolks and whites of the eggs should be beaten separately and the whites added the last thing to the batter before frying. Time from four to six minutes for a pancake that does not require turning, from six to eight minutes for a thicker one. Average cost for three persons sixpence, sufficient allow three eggs with the other ingredients in proportion for three persons, seasonable at any time but specially served on Shrove Tuesday. Richer pancakes, one thousand four hundred sixty eight, ingredients, six eggs, one pint of cream, a quarter pound of loaf sugar, one glass of sherry, a half teaspoon full of grated nutmeg, flour. Mode, a certain that the eggs are extremely fresh, beat them well, strain and mix with them the cream, powdered sugar, wine, nutmeg and as much flour as will make the batter nearly as thick as that for ordinary pancakes. Make the frying pan hot, wipe it with a clean cloth, pour in sufficient batter to make a thin pancake and fry it for about five minutes. Dish the pancakes piled one above the other, strew sifted sugar between each and serve. Time about five minutes, average cost with cream at one shilling per pint, two shillings threepence, sufficient to make eight pancakes, seasonable at any time but specially served on Shrove Tuesday. Peach fritters, one thousand four hundred sixty nine, ingredients for the batter, a half pound of flour, half ounce of butter, half salt spoonful of salt, two eggs, milk, peaches, hot lard or clarified dripping. Mode, make a nice smooth batter in the same manner as directed in recipe number one thousand three hundred ninety three and skin, half and stone the peaches which should be quite ripe. Dip them in the batter and fry the pieces in hot lard or clarified dripping which should be brought to the boiling point before the peaches are put in. From eight to ten minutes will be required to fry them and when done drain them before the fire and dish them on a white doily. Strew over plenty of powdered sugar and serve. Time from eight to ten minutes to fry the fritters, six minutes to drain them. Average cost one shilling, sufficient for four or five persons, seasonable in July, August and September. Peach, the peach and nectarine are amongst the most delicious of our fruits and are considered as varieties of the same species produced by cultivation. The former is characterised by a very delicate down while the latter is smooth, but as a proof of their identity as to species, trees have borne peaches in one part and nectarines in another, and even a single fruit has had down on one side and the other smooth. The trees are almost exactly alike as well as the blossoms. Pliny states that the peach was originally brought from Persia where it grows naturally, from which the name of Persica was bestowed upon it by the Romans, and some modern botanists apply this as the generic name, separating them from amygdala or almond to which Linnaeus had united them. Although they are not tropical, they require a great deal of warmth to bring them to perfection, hence they seldom ripen in this country in ordinary seasons without the use of walls or glass. Consequently they bear a high price. In a good peach, the flesh is firm, the skin thin, of a deep bright colour next to the sun and of a yellowish-green next to the wall. The pulp is yellowish, full of highly flavoured juice, the fleshy part thick and the stone small. Too much down is a sign of inferior quality. This fruit is much used at the dessert and makes a delicious preserve. PAERSALALAMALANDA 1,470 ingredients, 6-8 pears, water, sugar, 2 oz of butter, the yolk of an egg, half an oz of gelatin. Mode. Peel and cut the pears into any form that may be preferred and steep them in cold water to prevent them turning black. Put them into a saucepan with sufficient cold water to cover them and boil them with the butter and enough sugar to sweeten them nicely until tender. Then brush the pears over with the yolk of an egg, sprinkle them with sifted sugar and arrange them on a dish. Add the gelatin to the syrup, boil it up quickly for about 5 minutes, strain it over the pears and let it remain until set. The syrup may be coloured with a little prepared cochineal which would very much improve the appearance of the dish. Time? From 20 minutes to half an hour to stew the pears. 5 minutes to boil the syrup. Average cost? 1 shelling-thrippence. Sufficient for a large dish. Seasonable from August to February. Molded pears. 1,471. Ingredients. 4 large pears or 6 small ones. 8 cloves, sugar to taste, water, a small piece of cinnamon, a quarter pint of raisin wine, a strip of lemon peel, the juice of a half lemon, half an oz of gelatin. Mode. Peel and cut the pears into quarters. Put them into a jar with 3 quarter pint of water, cloves, cinnamon and sufficient sugar to sweeten the whole nicely. Cover down the top of the jar and bake the pears in a gentle oven until perfectly tender, but do not allow them to break. When done, lay the pears in a plain mould which should be well wetted and boil half pint of the liquor the pears were baked in with the wine, lemon peel, strained juice and gelatin. Let these ingredients boil quickly for 5 minutes, then strain the liquid warm over the pears, put the mould in a cool place and when the jelly is firm, turn it out on a glass dish. Time, 2 hours to bake the pears in a cool oven. Average cost, 1 shilling thribbons. Sufficient for a quart mould, seasonable from August to February. Pineapple fritters, an elegant dish, 1,472. Ingredients, a small pineapple, a small wine glass full of brandy or liqueur, 2 oz of sifted sugar, better as for apple fritter's number 1,393. Mode, this elegant dish, although it may appear extravagant, is really not so if made when pineapples are plentiful. We receive them now in such large quantities from the West Indies that at times they may be purchased at an exceedingly low rate. It would not of course be economical to use the pines which are grown in our English pinearies for the purpose of fritters. Pair the pine with as little waste as possible, cut it into rather thin slices and soak these slices in the above proportion of brandy or liqueur and pounded sugar for four hours. Then make a batter the same as for apple fritter's, substitute in cream for the milk and using a smaller quantity of flour. And when this is ready, dip in the pieces of pine and fry them in boiling lard from five to eight minutes. Turn them when sufficiently brown on one side and when done, drain them from the lard before the fire. Dish them on a white doily, strew over them sifted sugar and serve quickly. Time, five to eight minutes, average cost when cheap and plentiful, one shilling sixpence for the pine, sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable in July and August. Pineapple. The pineapple has not been known in Europe above 200 years and has not been cultivated in England much above a century. It is stated that the first pineapples raised in Europe were by Michel Lacour of Leiden about the middle of the 17th century and it is said to have been first cultivated in England by Sir Matthew Decker of Richmond. In Kensington Palace, there is a picture in which Charles II is represented as receiving a pineapple from his gardener Rose who is presenting it on his knees. Plain fritters. 1,473. Ingredients, three ounces of flour, three eggs, a third pint of milk. Mode, mix the flour to a smooth batter with a small quantity of the milk, stir in the eggs which should be well whisked and then the remainder of the milk. Boat the whole to a perfectly smooth batter and should it be found not quite thin enough add two or three tablespoons more milk. Have ready a frying pan with plenty of boiling lard in it. Drop in rather more than a tablespoon full at a time of the batter and fry the fritters a nice brown turning them when sufficiently cooked on one side. Drain them well from the greasy moisture by placing them upon a piece of blotting paper over the fire. Dish them on a wide doily, sprinkle over them sifted sugar and center table with them a cut lemon and plenty of powdered sugar. Time from six to eight minutes, average cost four pence sufficient for three or four persons seasonable at any time. Potato fritters. 1,474. Ingredients. Two large potatoes, four eggs, two tablespoonfuls of cream, two ditto of raisin or sweet wine, one dessert spoonful of lemon juice, four teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, hot lard. Mode. Boil the potatoes and beat them up lightly with a fork but do not use a spoon as that would make them heavy. Beat the eggs well, leaving out one of the whites. Add the other ingredients and beat all together for at least 20 minutes or until the batter is extremely light. Put plenty of good lard into a frying pan and drop a tablespoonful of the batter at a time into it and fry the fritters a nice brown. Serve them with the following sauce. A glass of sherry mixed with the strained juice of a lemon and sufficient white sugar to sweeten the whole nicely. Warm these ingredients and serve the sauce separately in a terrine. The fritters should be neatly dished on a wide doily and pounded sugar sprinkled over them and they should be well drained on a piece of blotting paper before the fire previously to being dished. Time from six to eight minutes, average cost nine pence, sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable at any time. Raspberry cream, 1,475. Ingredients, three quarter pint of milk, three quarter pint of cream, one and a half ounce of icing glass, raspberry jelly, sugar to taste, two tablespoonfuls of brandy. Mode, boil the milk, cream and icing glass together for a quarter hour or until the later is melted and strain it through a hair sieve into a basin. Let it cool a little, then add to it sufficient raspberry jelly, which when melted would make a third pint and stir well till the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. If not sufficiently sweet, add a little pounded sugar with the brandy. Whisk the mixture well until nearly cold. Put it into a well-oiled mold and set it in a cool place till perfectly set. Raspberry jam may be substituted for the jelly, but must be melted and rubbed through a sieve to free it from the seeds. In summer, the juice of the fresh fruit may be used by slightly mashing it with a wooden spoon and sprinkling sugar over it. The juice that flows from the fruit should then be used for mixing with the cream. If the color should not be very good, a few drops of prepared cochineal may be added to improve its appearance. Time, a quarter hour to boil the cream and icing glass. Average cost with cream at one shilling per pint and the best icing glass, three shillings. Sufficient to fill a quart mold. Seasonable with jelly at any time. Note, strawberry cream may be made in precisely the same manner substituting strawberry jam or jelly for the raspberry. End of section 70. Section 71 of the Book of Household Management. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Victoria Slanowski. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Recipes, chapter 29, part five. Rice, blanc mange. 1476, ingredients. One quarter pound of ground rice, three ounces of loaf sugar, one ounce of fresh butter, one quarter of milk, flavoring of lemon peel, essence of almonds or vanilla or laurel leaves. Mote. Mix the rice to a smooth batter with about half a pint of the milk and the remainder put into a saucepan with the sugar, butter, and whichever of the above flavorings may be preferred. Bring the milk to the boiling point, quickly stir in the rice and let it boil for about 10 minutes or until it comes easily away from the saucepan, keeping it well stirred the whole time. Grease a mold with pure salad oil, pour in the rice and let it get perfectly set when it should turn out quite easily. Garnish it with jam or pour around a compote of any kind of fruit just before it is sent to table. This blanc mange is better for being made the day before it is wanted as it then has time to be confirmed. If laurel leaves are used for flavoring, steep three of them in the milk and take them out before the rice is added. About eight drops of essence of almonds or from 12 to 16 drops of essence of vanilla would be required to flavor the above proportion of milk. Time from 10 to 15 minutes to boil the rice. Average cost nine pence, sufficient to fill a quart mold, seasonable at any time. Rice croquettes, 1477. Ingredients, half a pound of rice, one quart of milk, six ounces of pounded sugar, flavoring of vanilla, lemon peel or bitter almonds, egg and breadcrumbs, hot lard. Mode. Put the rice, milk and sugar into a saucepan and let the former gradually swell over a gentle fire until all the milk is dried up. And just before the rice is done, stir in a few drops of essence of any of the above flavorings. Let the rice get cold, then form it into small round balls, dip them into yolk of egg, sprinkle them with breadcrumbs and fry them in boiling lard for about 10 minutes, turning them about, that they may get equally browned. Drain the greasy moisture from them by placing them on a cloth in front of the fire for a minute or two. Pile them on a white doily and send them quickly to table. A small piece of jam is sometimes introduced into the middle of each croquette, which adds very much to the flavor of this favorite dish. Time from three quarters to one hour to swell the rice, about 10 minutes to fry the croquettes. Average cost, 10 pence. Sufficient to make seven or eight croquettes, seasonable at any time. Rice fritters, 14.78, ingredients. Six ounces of rice, one quart of milk, three ounces of sugar, one ounce of fresh butter, six ounces of marmalade, four eggs. Mode. Swell the rice in the milk with the sugar and butter over a slow fire until it is perfectly tender, which will be in about three quarters of an hour. When the rice is done, strain away the milk should there be any left and mix it with the marmalade and well beaten eggs. Stir the whole over the fire until the eggs are set, then spread the mixture on a dish to the thickness of about half an inch or rather thicker. When it is perfectly cold, cut it into long strips, dip them in a batter the same as for apple fritters and fry them a nice brown. Dish them on a white doily, strew sifted sugar over and serve quickly. Time about three quarters of an hour to swell the rice from seven to 10 minutes to fry the fritters. Average cost, one shilling, six pence. Sufficient to make seven or eight fritters, seasonable at any time. Rice snowballs, a pretty dish for juvenile suppers. 1479, ingredients, six ounces of rice, one quart of milk, flavoring of essence of almonds, sugar to taste, one pint of custard made by recipe number 1423. Mode, put the rice in the milk, the sugar and a flavoring of essence of almonds until the former is tender, adding, if necessary, a little more milk should it dry away too much. When the rice is quite soft, put it into teacups or small round jars and let it remain until cold. Then turn the rice out on a deep glass dish, pour over a custard made by recipe number 1423 and on the top of each bowl, place a small piece of bright colored preserve or jelly. Lemon peel or vanilla may be boiled with the rice instead of the essence of almonds when either of these is preferred, but the flavoring of the custard must correspond with that of the rice. Time, about three quarters of an hour to swell the rice in the milk. Average cost with a custard, one shilling in six pence, sufficient for five or six children, seasonable at any time. Rice souffle, 1480, ingredients, three tablespoons full of ground rice, one pint of milk, five eggs, pounded sugar to taste, flavoring of lemon rind, vanilla, coffee, chocolate, or anything that may be preferred, a piece of butter the size of a walnut. Mode, mix the ground rice with six tablespoons full of milk quite smoothly and put it into a saucepan with the remainder of the milk and butter and keep stirring it over the fire for about a quarter of an hour or until the mixture thickens. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs, beat the former in a basin and stir to them the rice and sufficient pounded sugar to sweeten the souffle, but add this later ingredient as sparingly as possible as the less sugar there is used, the lighter will be the souffle. Now whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff broth or snow. Mix them with the other preparation and pour the whole into a souffle dish and put it instantly into the oven. Bake it about half an hour in a moderate oven, take it out, hold a salamander or hot shovel over the top, sprinkle sifted sugar over it and send the souffle to table and the dish it was baked in, either with a napkin pinned round or enclosed in a more ornamental dish. The excellence of this fashionable dish entirely depends on the proper whisking of the whites of the eggs, the manner of baking and the expedition with which it is sent to table. Souffle should be served instantly from the oven or they will sink and be nothing more than an ordinary pudding. Time, about half an hour. Average cost, one shilling. Sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable at any time. To make a souffle, 1481. Ingredients. Three hate tablespoons full of potato flour, rice flour, arrowroot or tapioca. One pint of milk, five eggs, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, sifted sugar to taste, one quarter of a salt spoonful of salt flavoring. Mote, mix the potato flour or whichever one of the above ingredients is used with a little of the milk, put it into a saucepan and with the remainder of the milk, the butter, salt and sufficient pounded sugar to sweeten the whole nicely. Stir these ingredients over the fire until the mixture thickens, then take it off the fire and let it cool a little. Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs, beat the latter and stir them into the souffle batter. Now whisk the whites of the eggs to the firmest possible frock, for on this depends the excellence of the dish. Stir them to the other ingredients and add a few drops of essence of any flavoring that may be preferred such as vanilla, lemon, orange, ginger, et cetera. Pour the batter into a souffle dish, put it immediately into the oven and bake for about half an hour. Then take it out, put the dish into another more ornamental one, such as is made for the purpose, hold a salamander or hot shovel over the souffle, stir it with sifted sugar and send it instantly to table. The secret of making a souffle well is to have the eggs well whisked, but particularly the whites, the oven not too hot and to send it to table the moment it comes from the oven. If the souffle be ever so well made and is allowed to stand before being sent to table, its appearance and goodness will be entirely spoiled. Souffle's may be flavored in various ways, but must be named accordingly. Vanilla is one of the most delicate and ruchache flavorings that can be used for this very fashionable dish. Time, about a half an hour in the oven, two or three minutes to hold the salamander over. Average cost one shilling, sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable at any time. Snow egg, or oeuf à la neige, a very pretty supper dish. 1482, ingredients. Four eggs, three quarters of a pint of milk, pounded sugar to taste, flavoring of vanilla, lemon rind or orange flower water. Mode. Put the milk into a saucepan with sufficient sugar to sweeten it nicely and the rind of half a lemon. Let this steep by the side of the fire for half an hour, when take out the peel. Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs and whisk the former to a perfectly stiff froth, or until there is no liquid remaining. Bring the milk to the boiling point and drop in the snow a tablespoon full at a time and keep turning the eggs until sufficiently cooked. Then place them on a glass dish. Beat up the yolks of the eggs, stir them to the milk, add a little more sugar and strain this mixture into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water and stir it one way until the mixture thickens, but do not allow it to boil or it will curdle. Pour this custard over the eggs when they should rise to the surface. They make an exceedingly pretty addition to a supper and should be put in a cold place after being made. When they are flavored with vanilla or orange flower water, it is not necessary to steep the milk. A few drops of the essence of either may be poured in the milk just before the whites are poached. In making the custard, a little more flavoring and sugar should always be added. Time, about two minutes to poach the whites, eight minutes to stir the custard, average cost, eight pence, sufficient for four or five persons, seasonable at any time. Stone cream of Toulimois, 1483, ingredients, half a pound of preserve, one pint of milk, two ounces of lump sugar, one heaped tablespoonful of Toulimois, three drops of essence of cloves, three drops of almond flavoring. Mode, place the preserve at the bottom of a glass dish, put the milk into a lined saucepan with the sugar and make it boil. Mix to a smooth batter the Toulimois with a very little cold milk. Stir it briskly into the boiling milk, add the flavoring and simmer for two minutes. When rather cool but before turning solid, pour the cream over the jam and ornament it with strips of red current jelly or preserved fruit. Time, two minutes, average cost, 10 pence, sufficient for four or five persons, seasonable at any time. Strawberry jelly, 1484, ingredients, strawberries, pounded sugar. To every pint of juice, allow one and a quarter ounces of isn't glass. Mode, pick the strawberries, put them into a pan, squeeze them well with a wooden spoon, add sufficient pounded sugar to sweeten them nicely and let them remain for one hour that the juice may be extracted. Then add half a pint of water to every pint of juice. Strain the strawberry juice and water through a bag, measure it, into every pint allow one and a quarter ounce of isn't glass, melted and clarified in a quarter pint of water. Mix this with the juice, put the jelly into a mold and set the mold in ice. A little lemon juice added to the strawberry juice improves the flavor of the jelly if the fruit is very ripe, but it must be well strained before it is put to the other ingredients or it will make the jelly muddy. Time, one hour to draw the juice. Average cost with the best isn't glass, three shillings. Sufficient, allow one and a quarter pint of jelly for five or six persons, seasonable in June, July and August. Swiss cream, 1485, ingredients, a quarter pound of macaroons or six small sponge cakes, sherry, one pint of cream, five ounces of lump sugar, two large tablespoons full of arrowroot, the rind of one lemon, the juice of half a lemon, three tablespoons full of milk. Mode, lay the macaroons or sponge cakes in a glass dish and pour over them as much sherry as will cover them or sufficient to soak them well. Put the cream into a lined saucepan with a sugar and lemon rind and let it remain by the side of the fire until the cream is well-flavored. One take out the lemon rind. Mix the arrowroot smoothly with the cold milk. Add this to the cream and let it boil gently for about three minutes, keeping it well stirred. Take it off the fire, stir till nearly cold when add the lemon juice and pour the whole over the cakes. Garnish the cream with strips of angelica or candied citron, cut thin or bright-colored jelly or preserve. This cream is exceedingly delicious, flavored with vanilla instead of lemon. When this flavoring is used, the sherry may be omitted and the mixture poured over the dry cakes. Time, about half an hour to infuse the lemon rind, five minutes to boil the cream. Average cost with cream at one shilling per pint, three shillings, sufficient for five or six persons, seasonable at any time. To make syllabub, 1486. Ingredients, one pint of sherry or white wine, half a grated nutmeg, sugar to taste, one and a half pint of milk. Mode, put the wine into a bowl with a grated nutmeg and plenty of pounded sugar and mix into it the above proportion of milk frothed up. Clouded cream may be laid on the top with pounded cinnamon or nutmeg and sugar and a little brandy may be added to the wine before the milk is put in. In some counties, cider is substituted for the wine. When this is used, brandy must always be added. Warm milk may be poured on from a spouted jug or teapot, but it must be held very high. Average cost two shillings, sufficient for five or six persons, seasonable at any time. Tipsy cake, 1487. Ingredients, one molded sponge or savoy cake, sufficient sweet wine or sherry to soak it, six tablespoons full of brandy, two ounces of sweet almonds, one pint of rich custard. Mode, procure a cake that is three or four days old, either sponge, savoy or rice, answering for the purpose of a tipsy cake. Cut the bottom of the cake level to make it stand firm in the dish. Make a small hole in the center and pour in an over-the-cake sufficient sweet wine or sherry mixed with the above proportion of brandy to soak it nicely. When the cake is well soaked, blanch and cut the almonds into strips, stick them all over the cake and pour around it a good custard, made by recipe number 1423, allowing eight eggs instead of five to the pint of milk. The cakes are sometimes crumbled and soaked and a whipped cream heaped over them, the same as for trifles. Time, about two hours to soak the cake. Average cost four shillings, six persons, sufficient for one dish, seasonable at any time. Almond. The almond tree is a native of warmer climates than Britain and is indigenous to the northern parts of Africa and Asia, but it is now commonly cultivated in Italy, Spain and the South of France. It is not usually grown in Britain and the fruit seldom ripens in this country. It is much admired for the beauty of its blossoms. In the form of its leaves and blossoms, it strongly resembles the peach tree and is included in the same genus by botanists, but the fruit, instead of presenting a delicious pulp like the peach, shrivels up as it ripens and becomes only a tough, courageous covering to the stone enclosing the edible kernel, which is surrounded by a thin, bitter skin. It flowers early in the spring and produces fruit in August. There are two sorts of almonds, sweet and bitter, but they are considered to be only varieties of the species and that the qualities of the kernel are very different. They are not distinguishable by their appearance. An easy way of making a tipsy cake, 1488, ingredients. 12 stale, small sponge cakes, raisin wine, half a pound of jam, one pint of custard number 1423. Mode. Soak the sponge cakes, which should be stale, on this account they should be cheaper, and a little raisin wine. Arrange them on a deep glass dish in four layers, putting a layer of jam between each and pour around them a pint of custard, made by Recipe 1423, decorating the top with cut preserved fruit. Time. Two hours to soak the cakes. Average cost, two shillings, six pence. Sufficient for one dish, seasonable at any time. To make a trifle, 1489, ingredients. For the whip, one pint of cream, three ounces of powdered sugar, the whites of two eggs, a small glass of sherry or raisin wine. The trifle, one pint of custard, made with eight eggs to a pint of milk, six small sponge cakes, or six slices of sponge cake, 12 macaroons, two dozen ratifias, two ounces of sweet almonds, the grated rind of one lemon, a layer of raspberry or strawberry jam, half a pint of sherry or sweet wine, six tablespoons full of brandy. Mode. The whip to lay over the top of the trifle should be made the day before it is required for table, as the flavor is better and it is much more solid than when prepared the same day. Put into a large bowl the pounded sugar, the whites of the eggs, which should be beaten to a stiff froth, a glass of sherry or sweet wine, and the cream. Whisk these ingredients well in a cool place and take off the froth with a skimmer as fast as it rises and put it on the sieve to drain. Continue the whisking till there is sufficient of the whip, which must be put away in a cool place to drain. The next day, place the sponge cakes, macaroons and ratifias at the bottom of a trifle dish. Pour over them half a pint of sherry or sweet wine, mixed with six tablespoons full of brandy. And should this proportion of wine not be found quite sufficient, add a little more, as the cake should be well soaked. Over the cakes, put the grated lemon rind, the sweet almonds, blanched and cut into strips and a layer of raspberry or strawberry jam. Make a good custard by recipe number 1423, using eight eggs instead of five to the pint of milk and let this cool a little. Then pour it over the cakes, et cetera. The whip being made the day previously and the trifle prepared, there remains nothing to do now but heat the whip lightly over the top. This should stand as high as possible and it may be garnished with strips of bright current jelly, crystallized sweet meats or flowers. The small colored comfits are sometimes used for the purpose of garnishing a trifle but they are now considered rather old fashioned. Average cost with cream at one shilling per pint, five shilling six pence, sufficient for one trifle, seasonable at any time. Vanilla cream, 1490, ingredients, one pint of milk, the yolks of eight eggs, six ounces of sugar, one ounce of easing glass, flavoring to taste of essence of vanilla. Mode. Put the milk and sugar into a saucepan and let it get hot over a slow fire. Beat up the yolks of the eggs to which add gradually the sweetened milk. Flavor the whole with essence of vanilla. Put the mixture into a jug and place this jug in a saucepan of boiling water. Stir the contents with a wooden spoon one way until the mixture thickens but do not allow it to boil or it will be full of lumps. Take it off the fire, stir in the easing glass which should be previously dissolved in about one quarter pint of water and boiled for two or three minutes. Pour the cream into an oiled mold, put it in a cool place to set and turn it out carefully on a dish. Instead of using the essence of vanilla, a pod may be boiled in the milk instead until the flavor is well extracted. A pod or a pod and a half will be found sufficient for the above proportion of ingredients. Time. About 10 minutes to stir the mixture. Average cost with the best easing glass, two shillings, six pints. Sufficient to fill a quart mold, seasonable at any time. Vanilla or vanilla is the fruit of the vanillie, a parasitical herbaceous plant which flourishes in Brazil, Mexico and Peru. The fruit is a long capsule, thick and fleshy. Certain species of this fruit contain a pulp with delicious perfume and flavor. Vanilla is principally imported from Mexico. The capsules for export are always picked at perfect maturity. The essence is the form in which it is used generally and most conveniently. Its properties are stimulating and exciting. It is in daily use for ices, chocolates and flavoring confections generally. Victoria sandwiches. 1491. Ingredients. Four eggs, their weight in pounded sugar, butter and flour. One quarter salt spoonful of salt, a layer of any kind of jam or marmalade. Mote. Beat the butter to a cream, dredge in the flour and pounded sugar. Stir these ingredients well together and add the eggs, which should be previously thoroughly whisked. When the mixture has been well beaten for about 10 minutes, butter a Yorkshire pudding tin, pour in the batter and bake it in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Let it cool, spread one half of the cake with a layer of nice preserve. Place over at the other half of the cake. Press the pieces slightly together and then cut it into long finger pieces. Pile them in crossbars on a glass dish and serve. Time, 20 minutes. Average cost, one shilling, three pence. Sufficient for five or six persons. Seasonable at any time. Whipped cream for putting on trifles, serving in glasses, et cetera. 1492. Ingredients. To every pint of cream, allow three ounces of pounded sugar, one glass of sherry or any kind of sweet white wine, the rind of one half lemon, the white of one egg. Mote. Rub the sugar on the lemon rind and pound it in a mortar until quite fine and beat up the white of the egg until quite stiff. Put the cream into a large bowl with the sugar, wine and beaten egg and whip it to a froth. As fast as the froth rises, take it off with a skimmer and put it on a sieve to drain in a cool place. This should be made the day before it is wanted as the whip is then so much firmer. The cream should be whipped in a cool place and in summer over ice if it is obtainable. A plain whipped cream may be served on a glass dish and garnished with strips of angelica or pastry leaves or pieces of bright-colored jelly. It makes a very pretty addition to the supper table. Time, about one hour to whip the cream. Average cost with cream at one shilling per pint, one shilling nine pence. Sufficient for one dish or one trifle, seasonable at any time. Whipped syllabumps, 14.93. Ingredients, half a pint of cream, a quarter pint of sherry, half that quantity of brandy, the juice of half a lemon, a little grated nutmeg, three ounces of pounded sugar, whipped cream the same as for trifle, number 14.89. Mode, mix all the ingredients together, put the syllabub into glasses and over the top of them heap a little whipped cream made in the same manner as for trifle, number 14.89. Solid syllabub is made by whisking or milling the mixture to a stiff froth and putting it in the glasses without the whipped cream at the top. Average cost, one shilling eight pence. Sufficient to fill eight or nine glasses, seasonable at any time. The curaise omelette. Everyone knows, says Brilette Savarin in his Physiology of Taste, that for 20 years Madame Raikamiye was the most beautiful woman in Paris. It is also well known that she was exceedingly charitable and took a great interest in every benevolent work. Wishing to consult the curaise of Daesh, respecting the working of an institution, she went to his house at five o'clock in the afternoon and was much astonished at finding him already at his dinner table. Madame Raikamiye wished to retire, but the curaise would not hear of it. A neat white cloth covered the table, some good old wine sparkled in a crystal decanter, the porcelain was of the best, the plates had heaters of boiling water beneath them and neatly costumed maid servant was in attendance. The rapaste was a compromise between frugality and luxury. The crawfish soup had just been removed and there was on the table a salmon trout, an omelette and a salad. My dinner will tell you, said the worthy curée with a smile, that it is fast day according to our church's regulations. Madame Raikamiye and her host attacked the trout, the sauce served with which betrayed a skillful hand, the countenance of the curée, the while showing satisfaction. And now they fell upon the omelette, which was round, sufficiently thick and cooked, so to speak, to a hair's breadth. As a spoon entered the omelette, a thick, rich juice issued from it, pleasant to the eye as well as to the smell. The dish became full of it and our fair friend owns that, between the perfume and the sight, it made her mouth water. It is an omelette au sang, that is to say a tonneau omelette, said the curée, noticing, with the greatest delight, the emotion of Madame Raikamiye and few people taste it without lavishing praises on it. It surprises me not at all, returned the beauty, never has so enticing an omelette met my gaze at any of our lay tables. My cook understands them well, I think. Yes, added Madame, I never ate anything so delightful. Then came the salad, which Savareia recommends to all who place confidence in him. It refreshes without exciting and he has a theory that it makes people younger. Amidst pleasant converse, the dessert arrived. It consisted of three apples, cheese and a plate of preserves and then upon a little round table was served the mocha coffee, for which France has been and is so justly famous. I never, said the curée, take spirits. I always offer liqueurs to my guests, but reserve the use of them myself to my old age, if it should please Providence to grant me that. Finally, the charming Madame Raikamiye took her leave and told all her friends of the delicious omelette, which she had seen and partaken of. And Priya Savarein, in his capacity as a layered of the concealed treasures of gastronomia, has succeeded in withdrawing from obscurity the details of the preparation of which so much has been said and which he imagines to be as wholesome as it was agreeable. Here follows the recipe, omelette au ton. 1494, take for six persons the rose of two carp. Footnote, an American writer says he has followed this recipe substituting pike, shad, et cetera in the place of carp and can recommend all these also with a quiet conscience. Any fish indeed may be used with success. Bleach them by putting them for five minutes and boiling water, slightly salted. Take a piece of fresh Tony about the size of a hen's egg to which add a small shallot already chopped. Hash up together the bro and the Tony so as to mix them well and throw the whole into a saucepan with a sufficient quantity of very good butter. Whip it up until the butter is melted. This constitutes the specialty of the omelette. Take a second piece of butter, a discussion, mix it with parsley and herbs, place it in a long-shaped dish designed to receive the omelette. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over it and place it on hot embers. Beat up 12 eggs, the fresher the better. Throw up the sautee of roe and Tony stirring it so as to mix all well together. Then make your omelette in the usual manner endeavoring to turn it out long, thick and soft. Spread it carefully on the dish prepared for it and serve at once. This dish ought to be reserved for recharché des journées or for assemblies where amateurs meet who know how to eat well. Wash down with a good old wine. It will work wonders. Note, the roe and the Tony must be beaten up sautee without allowing them to boil to prevent their hardening, which would prevent them mixing well with the eggs. Your dish should be hauled towards the center to allow the gravy to concentrate, that it may be helped with a spoon. The dish ought to be slightly heated, otherwise the cold china will extract all the heat from the omelette. End of section 71, recording by Victoria Slinovsky, St. Lambert, Quebec. Section 72 of the Book of Household Management. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Windeland. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Chapter 30, general observations on preserves, confectionery, ices and dessert dishes. Preserves, 1495. From the nature of vegetable substances, and chiefly from their not passing so rapidly into the putrescent state as animal bodies, the mode of preserving them is somewhat different, although the general principles are the same. All the means of preservation are put in practice occasionally for fruits and various parts of vegetables, according to the nature of the species, the climate, the uses to which they are applied, et cetera. Some are dried as nuts, raisins, sweet herbs, et cetera. Others are preserved by means of sugar, such as many fruits whose delicate juices would be lost by drying. Some are preserved by means of vinegar and chiefly uses condiments or pickles, a few also by salting as French beans, while others are preserved in spirits. We have, however, in this place to treat one of the best modes of preserving fruits. Fruit is an important item in the economy of health. The Epicurean can scarcely be said to have any luxuries without it. Therefore, as it is so invaluable, when we cannot have it fresh, we must have it preserved. It has long been a desert autumn to preserve fruits by some cheat method, yet by such as would keep them fit for the various culinary purposes as making tarts and other similar dishes. The expense of preserving them with sugar is a serious objection for, except the sugar is used in considerable qualities, the success is very uncertain. Sugar also overpowers and destroys the sub-acid taste so desirable in many fruits. These which are preserved in this manner are chiefly intended for the dessert. First intended for preservation should be gathered in the morning in dry weather with the morning sun upon them if possible. They will then have their fullest flavor and keep in good condition longer than they were gathered in any other time. Until fruit can be used, it should be placed in the dairy, an ice house or a refrigerator. In an ice house, it will remain fresh and clump for several days. Fruit gathered in wet or foggy weather will soon be mildewed and be of no service for preserves. 1496. Having secured the first and most important contribution to the manufacture of preserves, the fruit, the next incineration is the preparation of the syrup in which the fruit is to be suspended. This requires much care. In the confectioner's art, there is a great nicety in proportioning the degree of concentration of the syrup very exactly to each particular case. And they know this by sign and it expresses by certain technical terms. But to distinguish these properly requires very great attention and considerable experience. The principal thing to be acquainted with is the fact that in proportion, as the syrup is longer boiled, its water will become evaporated and its consistency will be thicker. Great care must be taken in the management of the fire that the syrup does not boil over and that the boiling is not carried to such an extent as to burn the sugar. 1497. The first degree of consistency is called the thread, which is subdivided into the little and great thread. If you dip the finger into the syrup and apply it to the thumb, the tenacity of the syrup will, on separating the finger and thumb, afford a thread which it shortly breaks. This is the little thread. If the thread from the greater tenacity and consequently greater strength of the syrup admits a greater extension of the finger and thumb, it is called the great thread. There are half a dozen other terms and experiments for testing the various thickness of the boiling sugar towards the consistency called caramel. But that degree of sugar boiling belongs to the confectioner. A solution of sugar prepared by dissolving two parts of double refined sugar, the best sugar is the most economical for preserves, in one of water. And boiling this a little affords a syrup of the right degree of strength, which neither firmens nor crystallizes. This appears to be the degree called smooth by confectioners, and is probably used for the purposes of preserves. The syrup employed should sometimes be clarified, which is done in the following manner. Dissolve two pounds of low sugar in a pint of water. Add to this solution the white of an egg and beat it well. Put the preserving pan upon the fire with the solution. Stir it with a wooden spatula and when it begins to swell and boil up, throw in some cold water or a little oil to damp the boiling. For as it rises suddenly, if it should boil over, it would take fire being of a very inflammable nature. Let it boil up again, then take it off and remove carefully the scum that has risen. Boil the solution again, throw in a little more cold water, remove the scum and so on for three or four times successively, then strain it. It is considered to be sufficiently boiled when some taken up in a spoon pours out like oil. 1498. Although sugar passes so easily into the state of fermentation and is in fact, the only substance capable of undergoing the venous stage of that process, yet it will not ferment at all if the quantity be sufficient to constitute a very strong syrup. Hence, syrups are used to preserve fruits and other vegetable substances from the changes they would undergo if left to themselves. Before sugar was in use, honey was employed to preserve many vegetable productions, though this substance is now given way to the juice of the sugarcane. 1499. The fruits that are most fit for preservation in syrup are apricots, peaches, nectarines, apples, green gauges, plums of all kinds, and pears. As an example, take some apricots, not too ripe, make a small slit at the stem end and push out the stone, simmer them in water till they're softened and about half done. Afterwards, throw them into cold water. When they've cooled, take them out and drain them, put the apricots into the pie serving pan with sufficient syrup to cover them. Let them boil up three or four times and then skim them. Remove them from the fire, pour them into an earthen pan and let them cool till the next day. Boil them up three days successively, skimming each time, and they will then be finished and in a state fit to be put into pots for use. After each bailing, it is proper to examine into the state of the syrup when cold. If too thin, it will bear additional boiling. If too thick, it may be lowered with more syrup of the usual standard. The reason why the fruit is emptied out of the preserving pan into an earthen pan is that the acid of the fruit acts upon the copper, of which the preserving pans are usually made. From this example, the process of preserving fruits by syrup would be easily comprehended. The first object is to soften the fruit by blanching or boiling it in water in order that the syrup by which it is preserved may penetrate through its substance, 1500. Many fruits when preserved by boiling lose much of their peculiar and delicate flavor as, for instance, pineapples. This inconvenience may, in some instances, be remedied by preserving them without heat. Cut the fruit in slices about one-fifth of an inch thick. Strew powdered loaf sugar in an eighth of an inch thick on the bottom of a jar and put the slices on it. Put more sugar on this and then another layer of the slices and so on until the jar is full. Place the jar with the fruit up to the neck in boiling water and keep it there until the sugar is completely dissolved, which may take half an hour, removing the scum as it rises. Lastly, tie a wet bladder over the mouth of the jar or cork and wax it. 1501. Any of the fruits that have been preserved in syrup may be converted into dry preserves by first draining them from the syrup and then drying them in a stove or very moderate oven, adding to them a quantity of powdered loaf sugar, which will then gradually penetrate the fruit while the fluid parts of the syrup gently evaporate. They should be dried in the stove or oven on a sieve and turned every six or eight hours, fresh powdered sugar being sifted over them every time they're returned. Afterwards, they're to be kept in a dry situation in drawers or boxes. Currents and cherries preserved whole in this manner in bunches are extremely elegant and have a fine flavor. In this way, it is also that orange and lemon chips are preserved. 1502. Marmalades, jams, and fruit packs serve the same nature and are now in very general quest. They're prepared without difficulty by attending to a few directions. They're somewhat expensive, but may be kept without spoiling for a considerable time. Marmalades and jams differ a little from each other. They're preserves of half liquid consistency made by boiling the pulp of fruits and sometimes part of the rinds with sugar. The appellation of marmalade is applied to those confitures which are composed of the firmer fruits as pineapples or the rinds of oranges, whereas jams are made for more juicy berries such as strawberries, raspberries, currants, mulberries, et cetera. Fruit paste are kind of marmalade consisting of the pulp of fruits first evaporated to a proper consistency and afterwards boiled with sugar. The mixture is then poured into a mold or spread on sheets of tin and subsequently dried in the oven or stove to acquire the state of a paste. From a sheet of this paste, strips may be cut and formed into any shape that may be desired as knots, rings, et cetera. Jams require the same care and attention in the boiling as marmalade. The slightest degree of burning communicates a disagreeable, imprimatic taste and if they're not boiled sufficiently, they will not keep. That they may keep it as necessary not to be sparing of sugar. 1503. In all the operations for preserve making, when the preserving pan is used, it should not be placed on the fire but on a trivet unless the jam is made on a hot plate when this is not necessary. If the pan is placed close onto the fire, the preserve is very liable to burn and the color and flavor be consequently spoiled. 1504. Fruit jellies are compounds of the juices of fruits combined with sugar concentrated by boiling to such a consistency that the liquid upon cooling assumes the form of a tremulous jelly. 1505. Before fruits are candied, they must first be boiled in syrup after which they are taken out and dried on a stove or before the fire. The syrup is then to be concentrated or boiled to a candy height and the fruit dipped in it and again laid on the stove to dry in candy. They're then to be put into boxes and kept dry. 1506. Conserves consist of fresh vegetable matters beat into a uniform mass with refined sugar and they're intended to preserve the virtues and properties of recent flowers, leaves, roots, peels or fruits, unadulterated and as near as possible to what they were when they were fresh gathered and to give them an agreeable taste. 1507. The last mention but not the least important preparation of fruit is the compote. A confiture made at the moment of need and with much less sugar than would be ordinarily put into preserves. They're most wholesome things suitable to most stomachs which cannot accommodate themselves to raw fruit or a large portion of sugar. They're the happy medium and far better than ordinarily stewed fruit. Confectionery. 1508. In speaking of confectionery it should be remarked that all the various preparations above named come strictly speaking under that head. For the various fruits, flowers, herbs, roots and juices which when boiled with sugar were formally employed in pharmacy as well as for sweet meats were called confections from the Latin word confirse to make up. But the term confectionery embraces a very large class indeed of sweet food, many kinds of which should not be attempted in the ordinary cuisine. The thousand and one ornamental dishes that adorn the tables of the wealthy should be purchased from the confectioner. They cannot profitably be made at home. Apart from these cakes, biscuits and tarts, et cetera the class of sweet meats called confections may be thus classified. One, liquid confects or fruit either whole or in pieces preserved by being immersed in a fluid transparent syrup as the liquid confects of apricots, green citrons and many foreign fruits. Two, dry confects which are those after having been boiled in the syrup are taken out and put to dry in an oven as citron and orange peel, et cetera. Three, marmalade, jams and paste, a kind of soft compounds made for the pulp of fruits and other vegetable substances beat up with sugar or honey such as orange, apricots, pears, et cetera. Four, jellies are the juices of fruits boiled with sugar to a pretty thick consistency so as upon cooling to form a trembling jelly as current gooseberry, apple jelly, et cetera. Five, conserves are a kind of dry confect made by beating up flowers, fruits, et cetera with sugar not dissolved. Six, candies are fruits candied over with sugar after having been boiled in the syrup. Dessert dishes, 1509. With moderns, the dessert is not so profuse nor does it hold the same relationship to the dinner that it held with the Asians, the Romans most especially. On ivory tables they would spread hundreds of different kinds of raw cooked and preserved fruits, tarts and cakes as substitutes for the most substantial commestibles with which the guests were satiated. However, as late as the reign of our two last Georges fabulous sums were often expended upon fanciful desserts. The dessert certainly repays in its general effect the expenditure upon it of much pains and it may be said that if there were any poetry at all in meals or the process of feeding there's poetry in the dessert. The materials for which should be selected with taste and of course must depend in great measure upon the season. Pines, melons, grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, strawberries, apples, oranges, pears, almonds, raisins, figs, walnuts, philberts, medlers, cherries, et cetera, et cetera. All kinds of dried fruit and choice and delicately flavored cakes and biscuits make up the dessert together with the most costly and brush-ray wines. The shape of the dishes varies at different periods. The prevailing fashion at present being oval and circular dishes on stems. The patterns and colors are also subject to changes of fashion. Some persons selecting China, chased in pattern and color. Others elegantly shaped glass dishes on stems with gilt edges. The beauty of the dessert service at the tables of the wealthy tends to enhance the splendor of the plate. The general mode of putting a dessert on table now the elegant tosses are fashionable is to place them down the middle of the table, a tall and short dish alternately. The fresh fruits being arranged on the tall dishes and dried fruits, bonbons, et cetera, on small round or oval glass plates. The garnishing needs a special attention as the contrast of the brilliant colored fruits with nicely arranged foliage is very charming. The garnish par excellence for dessert is the ice plant. It's crystallized due to producing a marvelous effect in the height of summer, giving a most inviting sense of coolness to the fruited encircles. The double edged mallow, strawberry and vine leaves have pleasing effect and for winter desserts, the bay, Cuba and Laurel are sometimes used. In town, the expense and difficulty of obtaining natural foliage is great, but paper and composite leaves are to be purchased at an almost nominal price. Mixed fruits of the larger sorter now frequently served in one dish. This mode admits of the display of much taste in the arrangement of the fruit. For instance, a pine in the center of the dish surrounded with large plums of various sorts and colors, mixed with pears, rosy-cheeked apples, all arranged with due regard to color, have a very good effect. Again, apples and pears look well mingled with plums and grapes hanging from the border of the dish in a negligee sort of manner, with a large bunch from the same fruit lying on top of the apples. A dessert would not now be considered complete without candied and preserved fruits and convictions. The candied fruits may be purchased at less net cost than they can be manufactured at home. They're preserved abroad in the most ornamental and elegant forms, and since from the facilities of travel, we become so familiar with the tables of the French. Chocolate in different forms is indispensable to our desserts. Isis, 1510. Isis are composed, it is scarcely necessary to say, of congealed cream or water combined sometimes with liquors or other flavoring ingredients, or more generally with the juices of fruits. At desserts or at some evening parties, Isis are scarcely to be dispensed with. The principal utensils required for making ice creams are ice tubs, freezing pots, spattle, and a cellaret. The tub must be large enough to contain about a bushel of ice, pounded small when brought out of the ice house, and mixed very carefully with either salt, nitrate, or soda. The freezing pot is best made of pewter. If it be of tin, as is sometimes the case, the conglulation goes on too rapidly in it for the thorough intermingling of its contents, on which the excellence of the ice greatly depends. The spattle is generally made of copper, kept bright and clean. The cellaret is a tin vessel in which Isis are kept for a short time from dissolving. The method to be pursued in the freezing process must be attended to. When the ice tub is prepared with fresh pounded ice and salt, the freezing pot is put into it up to its cover. The articles to be congealed are then poured into it and covered over. But to prevent the ingredients from separating and the heaviest of them falling to the bottom of the mold, it is requisite to turn the freezing pot round and round by the handle so as to keep its contents moving until the conglulation commences. As soon as this is perceived, the cover of the pot being occasionally taken off for the purpose of noticing when freezing takes place, the cover is immediately closed over, Isis put upon it, and it is left in this state till it is served. The use of this spattle is to stir up and remove from the sides of the freezing pot the cream, which in the shaking may have washed against it, and by stirring it in with the rest to prevent waste of it occurring. Any negligence in stirring the contents of the freezing pot before conglulation takes place will destroy the whole. Either the sugar sinks to the bottom and leaves the ice insufficiently sweetened or lumps are formed, which disfigure and discover it. 115. The aged, the delicate and children should abstain from Isis or ice beverages. Even the strong and healthy should partake of them in moderation. They should be taken immediately after they're passed or some hours after because the taking of these substances during the process of digestion is apt to provoke indisposition. It is necessary then that this function should have scarcely commenced or that it should be completely finished before partaking of Isis. It is also necessary to abstain from them when persons are very warm or immediately after taking violent exercise. As in some cases, they've produced illnesses which have ended fatally. Do ladies know to whom they are indebted for the introduction of Isis to which all the fair sex are passionately fond of? To Catherine de Medici. So will not this fact cover a multitude of sins committed by the instigator of St. Bartholomew? End of section 72, recording by Wendellin. February 6th, 2009. Section 73 of the Book of Household Management. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Recipes, chapter 31, part one. To make syrup for compotes, et cetera. 1512, ingredients. To every pound of sugar, allow one and a half pint of water. Mode. Boil the sugar and water together for one quarter hour, carefully removing the scum as it rises. The syrup is then ready for the fruit. The articles boiled in this syrup will not keep for any length of time. It being suitable only for dishes intended to be eaten immediately. A larger proportion of sugar must be added for a syrup intended to keep. Time, one quarter hour. To clarify sugar or syrup. 1513, ingredients. To every pound of sugar, allow one half pint of water and one half the white of an egg. Mode. Put the sugar, water and the white of the egg, which should be well beaten, into a preserving pan or lined saucepan and do not put it on the fire till the sugar is dissolved. Then place it on the fire and when it boils, throw in a tea cup full of cold water and do not stir the sugar after this is added. Bring it to the boiling point again and then place the pan by the side of the fire for the preparation to settle. Remove all the scum and the sugar will be ready for use. The scum should be placed in the sieve so that what syrup runs from it may be boiled up again. This must also be well skimmed. Time, 20 minutes for the sugar to dissolve, five minutes to boil. Note, the above two recipes are those used in the preparation of dishes usually made at home. There are many degrees of boiling sugar which process requires great care, attention and experience. Caramel sugar, which makes an elegant cover for sweet meats, is difficult to prepare and is best left to an experienced confectioner. We give the recipe for those of our readers who care to attempt the operation. To boil sugar to caramel. 15, 14, ingredients. To every pound of lump sugar, allow one gill of spring water. Mode, boil the sugar and water together very quickly over a clear fire, skimming it very carefully as soon as it boils. Keep it boiling until the sugar snaps when a little of it is dropped in a pan of cold water. If it remains hard, the sugar has attained the right degree. Then squeeze in a little lemon juice and let it remain an instant on the fire. Set the pan into another of cold water and the caramel is then ready for use. The insides of well-oiled molds are often ornamented with this sugar with which a fork should be spread over them in fine threads or network. A dish of light pastry, tastefully arranged, looks very prettily with this sugar spun lightly over it. The sugar must be carefully watched and taken up the instant it is done. Unless the cook is very experienced and thoroughly understands her business, it is scarcely worthwhile to attempt to make this elaborate ornament as it may be purchased quite as economically at a confectioner's if the failures in the preparation are taken into consideration. Compote of apples. Sawyer's recipe, a dessert dish. 1515 ingredients. Six ripe apples, one lemon, one half pound of lump sugar, one half pint of water. Illustration, compote of apples. Mode. Select the apples of a moderate size, peel them, cut them in halves, remove the cores and rub each piece over with a little lemon. Put the sugar and water together into a lined saucepan and let them boil until forming a thickish syrup when lay in the apples with the rind of the lemon cut thin and the juice of the same. Let the apples simmer till tender. Then take them out very carefully, drain them on a sieve and reduce the syrup by boiling it quickly for a few minutes. When both are cold, arrange the apples neatly on a glass dish, pour over the syrup and garnish with strips of green angelica or candied citron. Smaller apples may be dressed in the same manner. They should not be divided in half, but peeled and the cores pushed out with a vegetable cutter. Time, 10 minutes to boil the sugar and water together from 15 to 25 minutes to simmer the apples. Average cost, six pence. Sufficient for four or five persons, seasonable from July to March. Apple ginger, a dessert dish. 15, 16 ingredients. Two pounds of any kind of hard apples, two pounds of low sugar, one and a half pint of water, one ounce of tincture of ginger. Mold. Boil the sugar and water until they form a rich syrup, adding the ginger when it boils up. Pear, core and cut the apples into pieces. Dip them in cold water to preserve the color and boil them in the syrup until transparent, but be careful not to let them break. Put the pieces of apple into jars, pour over the syrup and carefully exclude the air by well covering them. It will remain good some time if kept in a dry place. Time, from five to 10 minutes to boil the syrup about one half hour to simmer the apples. Average cost, two shillings, sufficient for seven or eight persons. Seasonable, make this in September, October or November. Apple jam, 15, 17 ingredients. To every pound of fruit, wait after being paired, core and sliced, allow three quarter pound of preserving sugar, the grated rind of one lemon, the juice of one half lemon. Mold. Peel the apples, core and slice them very thin and be particular that they are all the same sort. Put them into a jar, stand this in a saucepan of boiling water and let the apples stew until quite tender. Previously to putting the fruit into the jar, wait to ascertain the proportion of sugar that may be required. Put the apples into a preserving pan, crush the sugar to small lumps and add it with the grated lemon rind and juice to the apples. Simmer these over the fire for one half hour, reckoning from the time the jam begins to simmer properly. Remove the scum as it rises and when the jam is done, put it into pots for use. Place a piece of oiled paper over the jam and to exclude the air, cover the pots with tissue paper dipped in the white of an egg and stretched over the top. This jam will keep good for a long time. Time, about two hours to stew in the jar, one half hour to boil after the jam begins to simmer. Average cost for this quantity, six shillings. Sufficient, seven or eight pounds of apples for six pots of jam. Seasonable, make this in September, October or November. Apple jelly, one. 1518, ingredients. To six pounds of apples, allow three pints of water. To every quart of juice, allow two pounds of loaf sugar, the juice of one half lemon. Mold, pear, core and cut the apples into slices and put them into a jar with water in the above proportion. Place them in a cool oven with the jar well covered and when the juice is thoroughly drawn and the apples are quite soft, strain them through a jelly bag. To every quart of juice, allow two pounds of loaf sugar which should be crushed to small lumps and put into a preserving pan with the juice. Boil these together for rather more than one half hour. Remove the scum as it rises. Add the lemon juice just before it is done and put the jelly into pots for use. This preparation is useful for garnishing sweet dishes and may be turned out for dessert. Time, the apples to be put in the oven overnight and left till morning, rather more than one half hour to boil the jelly. Average cost for this quantity, three shillings. Sufficient for six small pots of jelly. This should be made in September, October, or November. Two, 1519, ingredients. Apples, water. To every pint of syrup, allow three quarter pound of loaf sugar. Mode. Pair and cut the apples into pieces, remove the cores and put them into a preserving pan with sufficient cold water to cover them. Let them boil for an hour. Then drain the syrup from them through a hair sieve or jelly bag and measure the juice. To every pint, allow three quarter pound of loaf sugar and boil these together for three quarter hour, removing every particle of scum as it rises and keeping the jelly well stirred that it may not burn. A little lemon rind may be boiled with the apples and a small quantity of strained lemon juice may be put in the jelly just before it is done when the flavor is liked. This jelly may be ornamented with preserved green gauges or any other preserved fruit and will turn out very prettily for dessert. It should be stored away in small pots. Time. One hour to boil the fruit in water, three quarter hour to boil the juice with the sugar. Average cost for six pounds of apples with the other ingredients in proportion, three shillings. Sufficient for six small pots of jelly. Seasonable. Make this in September, October, or November. To preserve apples in quarters in imitation of ginger. 15, 20 ingredients. To every pound of apples, allow three quarter pound of sugar, one and a half ounces of the best white ginger, one ounce of ginger to every one half pint of water. Mode. Peel, core, and quarter the apples and put the fruit, sugar, and ginger in layers into a wide-mouthed jar and let them remain for two days. Then infuse one ounce of ginger in one half pint of boiling water and cover it closely and let it remain for one day. This quantity of ginger and water is for three pounds of apples with the other ingredients in proportion. Put the apples, et cetera, into a preserving pan with the water strained from the ginger and boil till the apples look clear and the syrup is rich, which will be in about an hour. The rind of a lemon may be added just before the apples have finished boiling and great care must be taken not to break the pieces of apple in putting them into the jars. Serve on glass dishes for dessert. Time. Two days for the apples to remain in the jar with sugar, et cetera, one day to infuse the ginger, about one hour to boil the apples. Average cost for three pounds of apples with the other ingredients in proportion, two shillings, three pence. Sufficient. Three pounds should fill three moderate-sized jars. Seasonable. This should be made in September, October, or November. Compote of apricots, an elegant dish. 1521, ingredients. One half pint of syrup, number 1512, 12 green apricots. Mode. Make the syrup by recipe number 1512 and when it is ready, put in the apricots whilst the syrup is boiling. Simmer them very gently until tender, taking care not to let them break. Take them out carefully, arrange them on a glass dish, let the syrup cool a little, pour it over the apricots, and when cold, serve. Time. From 15 to 20 minutes to simmer the apricots. Average cost, nine pence. Sufficient for four or five persons. Seasonable in June and July with green apricots. Apricot jam or marmalade, 1522, ingredients. To every pound of ripe apricots, weighed after being skinned and stoned, allow one pound of sugar. Mode. Pair the apricots, which should be ripe, as thinly as possible, break them in half and remove the stones. Weigh the fruit, and to every pound, allow the same proportion of loaf sugar. Pound the sugar very finely in a mortar, screw it over the apricots, which should be placed on dishes, and let them remain for 12 hours. Break the stones, blanch the kernels, and put them with the sugar and fruit into the preserving pan. Let these simmer very gently until clear. Take out the pieces of apricots singly as they become so, and as fast as the scum rises, carefully remove it. Put the apricots into small jars, pour over them the syrup and kernels, cover the jam with pieces of paper dipped in the purest salad oil, and stretch over the top of the jar's tissue paper, cut about two inches larger and brushed over with the white of an egg. When dry, it will be perfectly hard and air tight. Time. 12 hours sprinkled with sugar, about three-quarter hour to boil the jam. Average cost. When cheap, apricots may be purchased for preserving at about one shilling six pence per gallon. Sufficient. 10 pounds of fruit for 12 pots of jam. Seasonable. Make this in August or September. Barberries in Bunches. 1523, ingredients. One pint of syrup, number 1513, Barberries. Mode. Prepare some small pieces of clean white wood, three inches long and one-quarter inch wide, and tie the fruit onto these in nice bunches. Have ready some clear syrup made by recipe number 1513. Put in the Barberries and simmer them in it for two successive days, boiling them for nearly one-half hour each day and covering them each time with the syrup when cold. When the fruit looks perfectly clear, it is sufficiently done and should be stored away in pots with the syrup poured over or the fruit may be candied. Time, one-half hour to simmer each day. Seasonable in autumn. Note, the berries in their natural state make a very pretty garnishing for dishes and may even be used for the same purpose, preserved as above and look exceedingly nice on sweet dishes. To make barley sugar, 1524, ingredients. To every pound of sugar, allow one-half pint of water, one-half the white of an egg. Put the sugar into a well-tinned saucepan with the water and, when the former is dissolved, set it over a moderate fire, adding the well-beaten egg before the mixture gets warm and stir it well together. When it boils, remove the scum as it rises and keep it boiling until no more appears and the syrup looks perfectly clear. Then strain it through a fine sieve or muslin bag and put it back into the saucepan. Boil it again like caramel until it is brittle when a little is dropped in a basin of cold water. It is then sufficiently boiled. Add a little lemon juice and a few drops of essence of lemon and let it stand for a minute or two. Have ready a marble slab or large dish rubbed over with salad oil. Pour on it the sugar and cut it into strips with a pair of scissors. These strips should then be twisted and the barley sugar is stored away in a very dry place. It may be formed into lozenges or drops by dropping the sugar in a very small quantity at a time onto the oiled slab or dish. Time one quarter hour. Average cost seven pence, sufficient for five or six sticks. Carrot jam to imitate apricot preserve. 1525 ingredients. Carrots to every pound of carrot pulp allow one pound of pounded sugar, the grated rind of one lemon, the strained juice of two, six chopped bitter almonds, two tablespoonfuls of brandy. Mode, select young carrots, wash and scrape them clean, cut them into round pieces, put them into a saucepan with sufficient water to cover them and let them simmer until perfectly soft. Then beat them through a sieve. Weigh the pulp and to every pound allow the above ingredients. Put the pulp into a preserving pan with the sugar and let this boil for five minutes stirring and skimming all the time. When cold add the lemon rind and juice, almonds and brandy. Mix these well with the jam then put it into pots which must be well covered and kept in a dry place. The brandy may be omitted but the preserve will then not keep. With the brandy it will remain good for months. Time about three quarter hour to boil the carrots, five minutes to simmer the pulp. Average cost, one shilling tuppence for one pound of pulp with the other ingredients in proportion. Sufficient to fill three pots, seasonable from July to December. To make cherry brandy, 1536 ingredients. Morella cherries good brandy to every pound of cherries allow three ounces of pounded sugar. Mode, have ready some glass bottles which must be perfectly dry. Assertain that the cherries are not too ripe and are freshly gathered and cut off about half of the stalks. Put them into the bottles with the above proportion of sugar to every pound of fruit. Strew this in between the cherries and when the bottles are nearly full pour in sufficient brandy to reach just below the cork. A few peach or apricot kernels will add much to their flavor or a few blanched bitter almonds. Put corks or bungs into the bottles, tie over them a piece of bladder and store away in a dry place. The cherries will be fit to eat in two or three months and will remain good for years. They are liable to shrivel and become tough if too much sugar be added to them. Average cost, one shilling to one shilling six pence per pound. Sufficient one pound of cherries and about one quarter pint of brandy for a quart bottle, seasonable in August and September. Dried cherries, 1527. Cherries may be put on a slow oven and thoroughly dried before they begin to change color. They should then be taken out of the oven, tied in bunches and stored away in a dry place. In the winter, they may be cooked with sugar for dessert, the same as Normandy Pippins. Particular care must be taken that the oven be not too hot. Another method of drying cherries is to stone them and to put them into a preserving pan with plenty of loaf sugar strewed amongst them. They should be simmered till the fruit shrivels when they should be strained from the juice. The cherries should then be placed in an oven, cool enough to dry without baking them. About five ounces of sugar would be required for one pound of cherries and the same syrup may be used again to do another quantity of fruit. Cherry jam, 1528, ingredients. To every pound of fruit weighed before stoning, allow one half pound of sugar. To every six pounds of fruit, allow one pint of red currant juice and to every pint of juice, one pound of sugar. Mold, weigh the fruit before stoning and allow half the weight of sugar, stone the cherries and boil them in a preserving pan until nearly all the juice is dried up. Then add the sugar, which should be crushed to powder and the current juice, allowing one pint to every six pounds of cherries original weight and one pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil altogether until it jellies, which will be in from 20 minutes to one half hour. Skim the jam well, keep it well stirred and a few minutes before it is done, crack some of the stones and add the kernels. These impart a very delicious flavor to the jam. Time, according to the quality of the cherries, from three quarter to one hour to boil them, 20 minutes to one half hour with the sugar. Average cost, from seven pence to eight pence per pound pot. Sufficient, one pint of fruit for a pound pot of jam. Seasonable, make this in July or August. To preserve cherries in syrup, very delicious. 1529, ingredients, four pounds of cherries, three pounds of sugar, one pint of white current juice. Mode, let the cherries be as clear and as transparent as possible and perfectly ripe. Pick off the stalks and remove the stones, damaging the fruit as little as you can. Make a syrup with the above proportion of sugar by recipe number 1512. Mix the cherries with it and boil them for about 15 minutes, carefully skimming them. Turn them gently into a pan and let them remain till the next day. Then drain the cherries on a sieve and put the syrup and white current juice into the preserving pan again. Boil these together until the syrup is somewhat reduced and rather thick. Then put in the cherries and let them boil for about five minutes. Take them off the fire, skim the syrup, put the cherries into small pots or wide-mouthed bottles. Pour the syrup over and when quite cold, tie them down carefully so that the air is quite excluded. Time, 15 minutes to boil the cherries in the syrup, 10 minutes to boil the syrup and current juice, six minutes to boil the cherries the second time. Average cost for this quantity, three shillings, six pence. Seasonable, make this in July or August. Black Current Jam, 1530, ingredients. To every pound of fruit weighed before being stripped from the stalks, allow three quarter pound of low sugar, one gill of water. Mode, let the fruit be very ripe and gathered on a dry day. Strip it from the stalks and put it into a preserving pan with a gill of water to each pound of fruit. Boil these together for 10 minutes. Then add the sugar and boil the jam again for 30 minutes, reckoning from the time when the jam simmer is equally all over or longer should it not appear to set nicely when a little is poured onto a plate. Keep stirring it to prevent it from burning. Carefully remove all the scum and when done pour it into pots. Let it cool, cover the top of the jam with oiled paper and the top of the jars with a piece of tissue paper brushed over on all sides with the white of an egg. This when cold forms a hard stiff cover and perfectly excludes the air. Great attention must be paid to the stirring of this jam as it is very liable to burn on account of the thickness of the juice. Time, 10 minutes to boil the fruit and water, 30 minutes with the sugar or longer. Average cost, from six pence to eight pence for a pot capable of holding one pound. Sufficient, allow from six to seven quarts of currents to make one dozen pots of jam, each pot to hold one pound. Seasonable, make this in July. Black Currant Jelly, 1531, Ingredients, Black Currants. To every pint of juice allow one quarter pint of water, one pound of loaf sugar. Mode, strip the currents from the stalks which may be done in an expeditious manner by holding the bunch in one hand and passing a small silver fork down the currents. They will then readily fall from the stalks. Put them into a jar, place this jar in a saucepan of boiling water and simmer them until their juice is extracted. Then strain them and to every pint of juice allow the above proportion of sugar and water. Stir these ingredients together cold until the sugar is dissolved. Place the preserving pan on the fire and boil the jelly for about one half hour, reckoning from the time it commences to boil all over and carefully remove the scum as it rises. If the jelly becomes firm when a little is put on a plate it is done. It should then be put into small pots and covered the same as the jam in the preceding recipe. If the jelly is wanted very clear the fruit should not be squeezed dry but of course so much juice will not be obtained. If the fruit is not much squeezed it may be converted into a jam for immediate eating by boiling it with a little common sugar. This answers very well for a nursery preserve. Time, about three quarter hour to extract the juice, one half hour to boil the jelly. Average cost, from eight pence to 10 pence per one half pound pot. Sufficient from three pints to two quarts of fruit should yield a pint of juice. Seasonable, make this in July. Red current jam, 1532 ingredients to every pound of fruit allow three quarter pound of low sugar. Illustration, jam pot. Mode, let the fruit be gathered on a fine day. Weigh it and then strip the currents from the stocks. Put them into a preserving pan with sugar in the above proportion. Stir them and boil them for about three quarter hour. Carefully remove the scum as it rises. Put the jam into pots and when cold cover with oiled papers. Over these put a piece of tissue paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg. Press the paper around the top of the pot and when dry the covering will be quite hard and air tight. Time, one half to three quarter hour reckoning from the time the jam boils all over. Average cost, for a pound pot from six pence to eight pence. Sufficient, allow from six to seven quarts of currents to make 12 one pound pots of jam. Seasonable, make this in July. Red current jelly, 1533 ingredients. Red currents to every pint of juice allow three quarter pound of low sugar. Mode, have the fruit gathered in fine weather. Pick it from the stocks, put it into a jar and place this jar in a saucepan of boiling water over the fire and let it simmer gently until the juice is well drawn from the currents. Then strain them through a jelly bag or fine cloth and if the jelly is wished very clear do not squeeze them too much as the skin and pulp from the fruit will be pressed through with the juice and so make the jelly muddy. Measure the juice and to each pint allow three quarter pound of low sugar. Put these into a preserving pan set it over the fire and keep stirring the jelly until it is done carefully removing every particle of scum as it rises using a wooden or silver spoon for the purpose as metal or iron ones would spoil the color of the jelly. When it has boiled from 20 minutes to one half hour put a little of the jelly on a plate and if firm when cool it is done. Take it off the fire, pour it into small gala pots cover each of the pots with an oiled paper and then with a piece of tissue paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg. Label the pots adding the year when the jelly was made and store it away in a dry place. A jam may be made with the currants if they are not squeezed too dry by adding a few fresh raspberries and boiling all together with sufficient sugar to sweeten it nicely. As this preserve is not worth storing away but is only for immediate eating a smaller proportion of sugar than usual will be found enough. It answers very well for children's puddings or for a nursery preserve. Time from three quarter to one hour to extract the juice 20 minutes to one half hour to boil the jelly. Average cost from eight pence to 10 pence per one half pound pot. Sufficient eight quarts of currants will make from 10 to 12 pots of jelly. Seasonable make this in July. Note should the above proportion of sugar not be found sufficient for some tastes add an extra one quarter pound to every pint of juice making altogether one pound. White currant jelly, 1534 ingredients. White currants to every pint of juice allow three quarter pound of good loaf sugar. Mode, pick the currants from the stocks and put them into a jar. Place this jar in a saucepan of boiling water and simmer until the juice is well drawn from the fruit which will be in from three quarter to one hour. Then strain the currants through a fine cloth or jelly bag. Do not squeeze them too much or the jelly will not be clear and put the juice into a very clean preserving pan with the sugar. Let this simmer gently over a clear fire until it is firm and keep stirring and skimming until it is done. Then pour it into small pots cover them and store away in a dry place. Time, three quarter hour to draw the juice one half hour to boil the jelly. Average cost from eight pence to 10 pence per one half pound pot. Sufficient from three pints to two quarts of fruit should yield one pint of juice. Seasonable in July and August. End of section 73.