All moulds, large and small, should be buttered so as to ensure the easy turning-out of cakes cooked in them. Clarified butter, owing to its purity, is the best for the purpose. It may be applied with a brush, care being taken that all the inside surfaces get uniformly covered with it. One unbuttered spot is sufficient to make a moulding stick, or to completely spoil a cake. For certain cakes, chopped or splintered almonds are sprinkled in the mould. For others, especially biscuits, the moulds are flour-dusted—that is to say, a veil of very dry flour or fecula is allowed to settle on the layer of butter, which, at the turning out, appears like a glazed crust upon the cake. 2342—HOW TO BEAT THE WHITES OF EGGS The best utensil for the purpose is a copper or nickel basin in which the whisk may act at all points owing to the spherical shape of the receptacle. Tinned or enamelled utensils set up a kind of greasiness which does not allow of one’s bringing the whites to the stiffness necessary for some purposes. Begin whisking the whites gently, and draw them up with the whisk until all their molecules have disaggregated and they begin to stiffen. They may then be whisked until they are sufficiently stiff to be taken up bodily by the whisk. Preventive Means.—To facilitate the beating of whites of eggs, there may be added to them at the start a pinch either of salt or alum per ten whites. When, towards the close of the operation, the whites begin to granulate, owing to any one of the various causes, add immediately one tablespoonful of powdered sugar per ten whites, and then whisk briskly, to restore them to their normal state. 2343—VEGETABLE COLOURING MATTERS Every pastry-cook’s stock should include a series of vege- table colouring matters, comprising carmine, liquid spinach green, yellow, &c. When required, the blending of these colours yields the intermediate tones. The colours may be bought. Vv 690 GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY 2344—THE COOKING OF SUGAR From the state of syrup to the most highly-concentrated state in which it is used in pastry sugar passes through various stages of cooking, which are :—The small thread (215° F.) and the large thread (222° F.), the small ball (236° F.) and the large ball (248° F.), the small crack (285° F.) and the large crack (315° F.). When the last state is overreached, the sugar has become caramel (360° F.). Put the necessary quantity of loaf sugar in a small, copper saucepan; moisten with enough water to melt it, and boil. Carefully remove the scum which forms, and which might cause the sugar to granulate. As soon as the sugar begins to move stiffly in boiling, it is a sign that the water has almost entirely evaporated, and that the real cooking of the sugar has begun. From this moment, with moistened fingers or a little piece of moistened linen, take care to remove the crystallised sugar from the sides of the utensil, lest it makes the remaining portion turn. The cooking of the sugar then progresses very rapidly, and the states of its various stages, coming one upon the other in quick succession at intervals of a few minutes, may be ascer- tained as follows :— It has reached the small-thread stage, when a drop of it held between the thumb and the first finger forms small resistless strings when the thumb and finger are drawn apart. It has reached the large-thread stage, when, proceeding in the same way, the strings formed between the parted finger and thumb are more numerous and stronger. From this moment recourse must be had to cold water in order to ascertain the states of the sugar.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

All moulds, large and small, should be buttered so as to ensure the easy turning-out of cakes cooked in them. Clarified butter, owing to its purity, is the best for the purpose. It may be applied with a brush, care being taken that all the inside surfaces get uniformly covered with it. One unbuttered spot is sufficient to make a moulding stick, or to completely spoil a cake. For certain cakes, chopped or splintered almonds are sprinkled in the mould. For others, especially biscuits, the moulds are flour-dusted—that is to say, a veil of very dry flour or fecula is allowed to settle on the layer of butter, which, at the turning out, appears like a glazed crust upon the cake. 2342—HOW TO BEAT THE WHITES OF EGGS The best utensil for the purpose is a copper or nickel basin in which the whisk may act at all points owing to the spherical shape of the receptacle. Tinned or enamelled utensils set up a kind of greasiness which does not allow of one’s bringing the whites to the stiffness necessary for some purposes. Begin whisking the whites gently, and draw them up with the whisk until all their molecules have disaggregated and they begin to stiffen. They may then be whisked until they are sufficiently stiff to be taken up bodily by the whisk. Preventive Means.—To facilitate the beating of whites of eggs, there may be added to them at the start a pinch either of salt or alum per ten whites. When, towards the close of the operation, the whites begin to granulate, owing to any one of the various causes, add immediately one tablespoonful of powdered sugar per ten whites, and then whisk briskly, to restore them to their normal state. 2343—VEGETABLE COLOURING MATTERS Every pastry-cook’s stock should include a series of vegetable colouring matters, comprising carmine, liquid spinach green, yellow, &c. When required, the blending of these colours yields the intermediate tones. The colours may be bought. 2344—THE COOKING OF SUGAR From the state of syrup to the most highly-concentrated state in which it is used in pastry sugar passes through various stages of cooking, which are :—The small thread (215° F.) and the large thread (222° F.), the small ball (236° F.) and the large ball (248° F.), the small crack (285° F.) and the large crack (315° F.). When the last state is overreached, the sugar has become caramel (360° F.). Put the necessary quantity of loaf sugar in a small, copper saucepan; moisten with enough water to melt it, and boil. Carefully remove the scum which forms, and which might cause the sugar to granulate. As soon as the sugar begins to move stiffly in boiling, it is a sign that the water has almost entirely evaporated, and that the real cooking of the sugar has begun. From this moment, with moistened fingers or a little piece of moistened linen, take care to remove the crystallised sugar from the sides of the utensil, lest it makes the remaining portion turn. The cooking of the sugar then progresses very rapidly, and the states of its various stages, coming one upon the other in quick succession at intervals of a few minutes, may be ascertained as follows :— It has reached the small-thread stage, when a drop of it held between the thumb and the first finger forms small resistless strings when the thumb and finger are drawn apart. It has reached the large-thread stage, when, proceeding in the same way, the strings formed between the parted finger and thumb are more numerous and stronger. From this moment recourse must be had to cold water in order to ascertain the states of the sugar.

A guide to modern cookery