Part 17

Blanch and beat four ounces of almonds fine, with a spoonful of water; beat a pint of cream with two spoonfuls of rose water, add them to the yolks of four eggs and as much sugar as will make it pretty sweet; stir it over a slow fire till it is of a proper thickness, but do not boil. Pour it into custard glasses.

SPONGE CAKE PUDDING

Stale sponge or other plain cake may be made into a nice pudding by crumbling it into a little more than a pint of milk and two or three beaten eggs, and baking it. Sauce--sugar and butter beaten together.

GERMAN LADIES’ FINGERS

Beat one hour the yolks of five eggs with half a pound of sugar; add half a pound of blanched almonds pounded fine, the yellow part of one lemon grated. Mix well; add half a pound of flour very gradually. Roll out the paste, and cut it into strips the length and size of the forefinger; beat lightly the whites of two eggs, and wet the fingers.

DIMPLES

Beat the whites of three eggs very stiff, add gradually three quarters of a pound of sugar, and beat till it is well mixed. Blanch almonds, and cut them into pieces--as small as peas, and stir them into the egg and sugar--three quarters of a pound of almonds for three eggs. Drop the mixture in spots as large as a half penny on white paper upon a tin, and bake in a cool oven.

DELICATE RUSKS FOR CONVALESCENTS

Half a pint of new milk, and one cup of hop yeast; add flour to make a batter, and set the sponge at night. In the morning add half a pint of milk, one cup of sugar, one of butter, one egg, one nutmeg, and flour to make it sufficiently stiff. Let it rise, then roll it, and cut it out; let it rise again, and then bake.

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS

Half a pound of chocolate, three pounds of dark brown sugar, one-eighth pound of butter, a small teacup of milk; season with vanilla, or grated lemon or orange-peel. Boil it very quickly over a hot fire, stirring constantly. When it becomes hard on being dropped into water, take it off the fire and stir for a few moments before pouring into buttered dishes. Before it is quite cool, cut into little squares. Those who like the caramel very hard need not stir it, as this makes it “sugary.” The grated peel should not be put in till the caramel is taken from the fire.

COFFEE, TEA, CHOCOLATE, ETC.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE

Scrape the best chocolate; allow for each square, or large spoonful of ground chocolate, half a pint of milk or milk and water; let it boil a few moments, then put it on the back part of the stove, and it is ready when wanted.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE ANOTHER WAY

Scrape or grate the chocolate, take a heaping tablespoonful for each cup to be served; allow half a pint of milk or milk and water to each heaping spoonful of chocolate. Make the milk hot, rub the chocolate to a smooth paste with the cold milk, then stir it in the boiling milk. Let it boil up once; cover it and set it back in a place where it will keep warm. It is now ready to serve. Toasted biscuit or rolls should be served with it. Sweeten the chocolate unless you use the prepared chocolate.

TEA--GREEN AND BLACK

Scald your tea-pot _always_ before putting in the tea; throw out the scalding water and allow a teaspoonful of tea to each person expected to drink it; turn on half a pint of boiling water at first, and let it steep--green tea requires about five minutes, black tea ten minutes. After this, pour on more boiling water, according to the number of persons. Mixed black and green tea is considered a more healthful drink than green tea alone.

COFFEE CREAM

Take three cups of good clear coffee, sweeten it well and boil with it a pint of cream until reduced one-third.

COFFEE

Old Java and Mocha are the best coffees. A coffee roaster is the best thing to roast coffee in, but an iron pot is very good; coffee should be dried gradually before being roasted. “Dripped” coffee is the French mode, but many make it in the old-time way by boiling. It is a matter of personal taste, not to be interfered with in this “land of the free.” To make dripped coffee we grind a cupful for four persons, put this ground coffee in the top of the dripper and pour on half a pint of boiling water. It is served with boiling milk at breakfast.

CANDIES AND CREAM DROPS

CREAM CANDY

To make cream candy take two pounds of light brown sugar, one teacup of water, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one of vinegar, and two of flavoring extract. Dissolve the sugar in the water, but do not stir it. Set it on to boil, let it boil briskly for twenty minutes, then try it by dropping a spoonful in a glass of cold water. If cooked enough to pull, butter some dishes and pour it into them; when cool enough to handle, pull it until it becomes as white as cream.

ANOTHER CREAM CANDY

Three cups of sugar, half a cup of vinegar, and one-third of a cup of water. Boil together until it is thick and will harden when dropped into a cup of water. Butter some dishes, and just before filling them, add to the candy some flavoring essence; if you put this in earlier it will boil out. Pour the candy on the buttered dishes, and when a little cool prepare to pull it until it is white and light, which it will be if made by these directions.

POP-CORN CANDY

Take a cup of molasses, one and a half cups of brown sugar, a tablespoonful of vinegar and a lump of butter the size of an egg. Boil until thick. Chop two cups of popped corn rather fine, put it into the boiling candy, and pour it all on the buttered plates. Cut in squares to be eaten without pulling.

CHOCOLATE PASTE FOR CAKE

Boil one-half a cup of chocolate in one-half cup of milk, add a cup of sugar, and boil, until it is a thick paste.

LOUISIANA ORANGE FLOWER MACAROONS

Take a coffee cup of the freshly gathered petals of the orange, cut them with a pair of scissors into two pounds of dry, sifted white sugar; this keeps their color fresh. Beat the whites of seven eggs to a stiff froth, and add to the orange flowers and sugar. Drop this mixture on white paper in small cakes, and bake in a slow oven; do not let them brown.

MOLASSES CANDY

Take two quarts of molasses and one pound of brown sugar, and the juice of two lemons. Let the molasses and sugar boil moderately, without stirring it, for two hours; if not thick enough to pull then, let it boil a little longer; then put in your extract, for if this is put in earlier the flavor will boil away. When the candy is cool enough to handle, put into the pot a pint of parched pinders, or pecan meats, or almonds cut up. Butter two large dishes and pour out the candy.

MOLASSES CANDY OF OUR GRANDFATHERS’ TIME

One quart of molasses, and butter the size of an egg. Stew over a brisk fire till it will harden on being dropped into cold water. A teaspoonful of essence of wintergreen should be added when it is almost done. Pull it while warm, with buttered hands, and cut in sticks.

SUGAR CANDY

Six cups of sugar, one of vinegar, one of water, one spoonful of butter, and one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water. Boil all together without stirring, for half an hour. Flavor with lemon or vanilla. This is very good when “pulled” like the old-fashioned molasses candy, or it may be cooled on a buttered plate.

TO BLANCH ALMONDS

Pour boiling water on them and let them remain in it a few minutes. Remove the skins, throw the almonds into cold water, drain them from the water, but do not wipe them.

EVERTON TOFFY

In a shallow vessel, melt together one pound of brown sugar and one-quarter of a pound of butter. Stir well together for fifteen minutes, or until the mixture becomes brittle when dropped in water. Lemon or vanilla flavoring should be added before the cooking is complete. Butter a flat plate, pour the toffy on it to cool, and when partly cold, mark it off in squares with a knife; it can then be easily broken.

LEMON DROPS

Upon half a pound of finely powdered sugar pour just enough lemon juice to dissolve it, and boil to the consistency of thick syrup. Drop this in plates, and put in a warm place to harden. Or pour four ounces of lemon juice on one pound of loaf sugar, with four ounces of rose water. Boil to a syrup, add grated lemon peel and proceed as in the first recipe. By adding raspberry syrup, instead of lemon juice, you have raspberry drops.

POP-CORN BALLS

To six quarts of pop corn boil one pint of molasses about fifteen minutes; then put the corn into a large pan, pour the boiled molasses over it, and stir it briskly until thoroughly mixed. Then with clean hands make into balls of the desired size.

COCOANUT CANDY

Four cups of water, two and a half cups fine white sugar, four spoonfuls of vinegar, and a piece of butter as large as an egg; boil till thick, or about three quarters of an hour. Just before removing, stir in one cup of desiccated cocoanut, and lay in small, flat cakes on buttered plates, to cool and harden.

MARSH-MALLOW PASTE

Dissolve one-half pound of gum arabic in one pint of water; strain it, add half a pound of fine sugar and place over the fire, stirring constantly till the sugar is dissolved and all is the consistency of honey, then add gradually the whites of four eggs, well beaten; stir the mixture till it becomes somewhat thin and does not adhere to the finger; pour all into a pan slightly dusted with powdered starch, and when cool divide into small squares. Flavor to the taste, just before pouring out to cool.

CHOCOLATE CREAM DROPS

Mix one-half a cup of cream with two of white sugar, boil and stir fully five minutes; set the dish into another of cold water, and stir until it becomes hard; then make into small balls about the size of marbles, and with a fork roll each one separately in the chocolate, which has in the meantime been put in a bowl over the boiling teakettle and melted. Put on brown paper to cool. Flavor with vanilla, if desired. This amount makes about fifty drops.

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS

Two cups of sugar, one of molasses, one of milk, one spoonful of butter, one of flour, and half a pound of bakers’ chocolate. Butter your saucepan, put in the sugar, molasses and milk, boil fifteen minutes; add butter and flour, stirred to a cream, and boil five minutes longer; then add the chocolate grated, and boil until quite thick. Butter tin flat pans, and pour in the mixture half an inch thick, and mark it in squares before it gets hard.

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS

One pint of new milk, quarter of a pound of grated chocolate, and one cup and a half of white sugar. Boil all these together until it will pull like candy; try a little, and if stiff enough to pull, pour it on a buttered dish, and mark it off in squares with a knife as it cools. It will break easily when cold.

CHOCOLATE KISSES

One-half pound of sugar, one ounce of finely-powdered chocolate. Mix the sugar and chocolate together, and then mix it with the whites of four eggs well beaten. Drop on buttered paper, and bake.

BOSTON CARAMELS

One pint bowl of bakers’ chocolate grated, two bowls of yellow sugar, one bowl of New Orleans molasses, one half a cup of milk, a piece of butter the size of a small egg and vanilla flavoring; boil about twenty-five minutes. It should not be so brittle as other candies. Pour in buttered tins, and mark deeply with a knife.

KISSES, OR SUGAR DROPS

Rub to a cream half a cup of butter, with one cup of sugar. Add three well-beaten eggs, half a pound of sifted flour, and half a grated nutmeg. Drop this mixture on buttered tins, by the spoonful; let them be two or three inches apart; sprinkle sugar over them and bake quickly.

SUGAR KISSES

Beat the whites of three eggs to a froth, then stir in powdered white sugar, a little at a time, till you have formed a very thick batter. Add two or three drops of essence of lemon. Wet a sheet of white paper, lay it on a tin and drop this mixture upon it in lumps about the size and shape of a walnut. Set them in a cool oven, and as soon as their surface is hardened, take them out and remove them from the paper with a broad-bladed knife. Let the oven cool still more, then place these little cakes, laying the flat part of two together, on a sieve and return them to the oven, where they must remain for fifteen minutes before they are done.

CHEFS D’OEUVRE

THE SERVICE OF WINES

Cosmopolite Louisiana is undoubtedly the wine drinking section of the Union, and a word as to the manner of serving the wines which play no small part in the discussion of “La Cuisine Creole,” will not be out of place.

The inherited French taste of the greater portion of the population, and the education by contact of the American element, makes claret the universal table wine. The climate, too, renders this wine particularly palatable, and during the long heated term it is seldom absent from the table of even the most economical. At the restaurant it is the exception to see a person dining without a bottle of _vin ordinaire_, while for breakfast, during hot weather, white wines of the lighter kinds are much used.

As to the manner of serving wines at dinner the following menu will convey the most adequate idea:

With Soup, Sherry “ Fish, White Wine “ Entrees, } Claret, vin Ordinaire “ Entremets, } “ Roast, } Champagne “ Salad, } “ Dessert, Fine Claret or Burgundy “ Cafe Noir, Cognac

At large dinners in New Orleans a great deal of wine is served, and you will be expected to drink with your raw oysters, a light white wine; with soup and hors d’œuvre, sherry or Madeira; with fish and entrees, a heavy white wine; with releves and entremets, a good claret followed by a _Ponche Romaine_, which is the turning point of the feast, or rest; after which will be served with the roast, champagne; game and salad, fine claret or burgundy, and with dessert cafe noir and liqueurs.

The most acceptable distribution of wines at a plain dinner--which we think should never be over five, or six courses at most--is given below. It is one which has the endorsement of the best authorities:

With Oysters, White Wine “ Soup, Sherry or Madeira “ Fish, Heavy White Wine (not absolutely necessary) “ Entrees, Champagne “ Salad, } Fine Claret “ Roast or Game, }

with the usual after-dinner wines as preferred.

GRAND BRULE A LA BOULANGER

(_From a Gourmet._)

The crowning of a grand dinner is a brule. It is the _piece de resistance_, the grandest _pousse cafe_ of all. After the coffee has been served, the lights are turned down or extinguished, brule is brought in and placed in the centre of the table upon a pedestal surrounded by flowers. A match is lighted, and after allowing the sulphur to burn entirely off is applied to the brandy, and as it burns it sheds its weird light upon the faces of the company, making them appear like ghouls in striking contrast to the gay surroundings. The stillness that follows gives an opportunity for thoughts that break out in ripples of laughter which pave the way for the exhilaration that ensues.

Pour into a large silver bowl two wineglasses of best French brandy, one half wineglass of kirsh, the same of maraschino, and a small quantity of cinnamon and allspice. Put in about ten cubes of white sugar; do not crush them, but let them become saturated with the liquor. Remove the lumps of sugar, place in a ladle and cover with brandy. Ignite it as before directed, then lift it with the contents from the bowl, but do not mix. After it has burned about fifteen minutes serve in wine glasses. The above is for five persons, and should the company be larger add in proportion. Green tea and champagne are sometimes added.

PETIT BRULE

Take an ordinary-sized, thick-skinned orange; cut through the peel entirely around the orange like the line of the equator, then force off the peel by passing the handle of a spoon between it and the pulp. Into the cup thus formed put two lumps of sugar and some cinnamon, and fill with fine French brandy (cognac), and ignite it the same as the above and pour into glasses. The brule will be found to have a pleasant flavor given to it by the orange.

GIN FIZ--NO. 1

One-half tablespoonful of sugar, a little lemon juice, two wineglassfuls of seltzwater, one wineglassful “Tom”, or Holland gin, teaspoonful of white of an egg, and ice; shake well and strain into fancy glass.

GIN FIZ--NO. 2

Use celestine vichy instead of seltzerwater, and the yolk instead of the white of an egg.

JAMAICA RUM PUNCH

Make same as whiskey or brandy punch. Santa Cruz, same.

PONCHE ROMAINE

Two wineglassfuls of water, one wineglassful of whiskey, half wineglassful of Jamaica rum; sugar and lemon to taste. Shake, and use plenty of ice. Strain and serve in fancy glass.

PARLOR PUNCH (MORAN’S)

One tablespoonful of white sugar, a little lemon juice, two wineglassfuls of English black tea, one wineglassful of whiskey, one-half wineglassful of Jamaica rum, a little raspberry syrup, plenty of small ice. Shake well, and strain in fancy glass.

ROYAL COCKTAIL (MORAN’S OWN)

One lump sugar; two dashes of Boker’s bitters, or Angostura bitters, two tablespoonfuls of Belfast ginger ale; one wineglassful of whiskey, or brandy; one lemon peel; plenty of ice. Shake well, and strain in fancy glass.

NEW ORLEANS TODDY

One lump of sugar, one tablespoonful of water, one wineglassful of whiskey or brandy, one lump of ice. Use small bar glass.

VIRGINIA TODDY

Two lumps of sugar, two sherry or wineglassfuls of water, same of whiskey, plenty of ice; shake well and strain into small bar glass, with grated nutmeg on top.

WHISKEY, BRANDY, OR GIN COCKTAILS--_New Orleans Style_

Two dashes of Boker’s, Angostura or Peychaud bitters--either will make a fine cocktail. One lump of sugar, one piece of lemon peel, one tablespoonful of water, one wineglassful of liquor, etc., with plenty of ice. Stir well and strain into a cocktail glass.

ANOTHER WAY--SPOON COCKTAIL

One lump of sugar, two dashes Angostura bitters, one piece of lemon peel, one lump of ice. Serve plain in small bar glass with spoon.

WHISKEY PUNCH, PLAIN--_Use Regular Bar Glass_

Two wineglassfuls of lemon or lime juice, half a tablespoonful of sugar, one-half wine glass of whiskey, and plenty of ice; shake and strain into punch glasses.

FANCY PUNCH

Half a tablespoonful of sugar, a little raspberry, a little lemon, lime and pineapple juice. Two parts of water to one of whiskey or brandy, and plenty of ice. Shake and strain in punch glass; put fruits in season when serving; use regular bar glass.

CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

One glass of wine, two dashes of Angostura bitters, and two bits of lemon peel. Put the bitters and lemon peel in the glass first, then pour in the wine, after which put in one small spoonful of sugar, and stir.

MINT JULEPS. MADE OF WHISKEY, BRANDY, GIN, ETC., ETC.

One-half tablespoonful of powdered sugar, one wineglass of water, one of whiskey, brandy or gin, etc., and one-half dozen sprigs of mint. Use plenty of fine ice, and decorate with strawberries and pineapples, or any fruit in season.

SQUIRTS--_Use Large Glasses_

Whiskey, brandy, gin, white wine, claret or catawba make good “squirts.” Fill the glass half full of fine ice, put in one tablespoonful of white sugar, a little raspberry syrup, strawberries and pineapple; pour in your liquor, and fill up with seltzer water. Stir all rapidly.

HOW TO MIX ABSINTHE IN EVERY STYLE

Plain absinthe; half a sherry glass of absinthe; plenty of fine ice, with about two wineglassfuls of water. Put in the water, drop by drop, on top of absinthe and ice; stir well, but slowly. It takes time to make it good.

ABSINTHE AND ANISETTE

To half a wineglass of absinthe put two or three dashes of anisette. Mix same as above.

ABSINTHE AND SUGAR

To half a wineglass of absinthe, put a teaspoonful of powdered sugar and mix same as above.

SUISSISSE

To half a wineglass of absinthe, put half a tablespoon of orgeat syrup, plenty of fine ice; add water, mix well. Serve in liquor glass.

POUSSE CAFE--NO. 1

Maraschino, curacao, kirsh-wasser and brandy in equal parts of each; dash with Peychaud bitters. Serve in liquor glasses.

POUSSE CAFE--NO. 2

Bernardine, brandy and curacao, in equal parts of each; dash with Angostura bitters.

POUSSE CAFE--NO. 3

Brandy, maraschino and cassis, in equal parts; dash with Boker’s bitters.

POUSSE CAFE--NO. 4

La grande chartreuse (yellow), brandy (French), and la grande chartreuse (green), in equal parts; dash with Peychaud bitters.

HOT SPICED RUM

Two lumps of sugar, two wineglasses boiling water, one wineglass Jamaica rum, a little butter--about as much as you can put on a dime; cloves and allspice. Serve in small bar glass.

SOUPE LA REINE

Boil two chickens in water with thyme, sweet-bay and parsley. When cooked (not to pieces), take them out of the water, cut up the breasts in small pieces the size of dice; fry a few pieces of onion without coloring them, add a little flour and the water that the chickens were boiled in, a little rice and the balance of the chickens, meat and bones, chopped fine. Boil all together, and when thoroughly cooked strain through a colander and put back to boil, stirring constantly. When it comes to a boil remove it from the fire and add the beaten yolks of a few eggs and a little cold milk, stirring continually. Keep the soup in “bain-marie.” When ready to serve put the small pieces of the breasts in a soup-dish and pour the soup over them.

RED SNAPPER A LA CHAMBORD