The encyclopædia of practical cookery

(12) Take some large and perfectly ripe Cherries, cut half the stalk off, leaving about lin. to each. Put them into very cold water, let them remain in it for about half-an-hour, take out and lay on a sieve to drain. Allow to every lib. of fruit 4oz. of sugar, clarify it, boil it to large pearl, or to that degree of heat at which little raised balls form on the surface of the sugar (see Sugar-boiling) ; when it gets to that state, put the Cherries into this syrup, and let them boil for a minute or two, stirring them gently. Then take the pan from the fire, and when the syrup cools a little take the Cherries out very carefully with a skimmer, and put them into bottles. Let the syrup in the pan get almost cold, and mix with it 1 j pints of brandy to each lib. of fruit. Put into each bottle twelve cloves and ½oz. of stick cinnamon tied in a muslin bag, and fill up with the mixed syrup and brandy. Cork the bottles well. Let them stand for two months ; at the end of that time uncork the bottles and taste the Cherries, and if they are sufficiently flavoured with the spice take out the cinnamon and cloves. (13) Put 2qts. of syrup into a saucepan with lib. of Morello Cherries, scald them without cooking, put them into a jar with lqt. each of common rough gin and concentrated essence of Cherries, mix well, and the brandy is ready for immediate use. (14) Wholesale. — Mix 7jgalls. of Cherry-juice with lOgalls. of pure rectified spirit, 2jgalls. of syrup, and j drachm of oil of bitter almonds. For the rectified spirit, whisky that has been deodorised by filtering through charcoal is generally used. The whisky should contain at least 50 per cent, of alcohol. Cherry Bread. — Take about ljlb. of Cherries (Kentish preferred) and pound them in a mortar so as to break the stones. Put the pulp into a preserving-pan witli nearly 1 pint of claret or port, and Jib. of sugar. Allow this to boil upon the stove for fifteen minutes, then rub it through a sieve and pour into a souffle-case. Next, shape out a dozen pieces of crumb of bread into the shape of eggs, and fry to a light brown in clarified butter ; drain well, and place them in rows in the puree of Cherries. Shake some fine sugar over the top, put the dish upon a baking-sheet in the oven, and let it simmer for half-an-hour ; when done, drop the case on to the souffle-dish, and send to table. Cherry Bread Pudding. — Take lqt. of milk, put it into a 3-pint jug, and stir into it £ saltspoonful of bicarbonate of Sauces, dec., referred to, see under their special heads. Cherries — continued. soda. Beat four eggs with 1 teacupful of sugar, and stir them into the milk in the jug. Cut some thin slices of bread-and-butter, trim them neatly, put a layer in the bottom of a pudding-dish, and pour in a little of the mixture of milk, soda, eggs, and sugar ; strew over this a layer of stoned Cherries, then more bread-and-butter, then pour in more of the milk and eggs, then add a layer of Cherries, and so on till the dish is full ; let the last layer be bread-and-butter, thickly buttered. Cover it with a dish turned upside down and let it soak for one hour, then set it in a pan of hot water in the oven, still keeping it covered, and bake it for an hour; uncover it and let the top ( brown. Serve hot with sugar.