The encyclopaedia of practical cookery

For details respecting Culinary Processes, Utensils, Sauces, <ic., referred to, see under their special heads. Meringues — continued . the butter has dissolved, put in, one at a time, the yolks of four eggs, and beat them well. Butter a round pie-dish, put in 1 pint of tinned peaches, and pour the cornflour over them. Place the pudding in a brisk oven, and bake for about twenty-five minutes. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth together with 2 heaped table-spoonfuls of caster sugar. When the pudding is cooked, spread over the egg mixture, raising to a point in the centre (see Fig. 1161), and put it back into the oven for three or four minutes to set the Meringue. When cooked, take the pudding out of the oven and set it away until quite cold. Then decorate it with candied fruits and angelica, serve on a flat plate, and surround it with a coloured paper frill. Meringues in Pyramid. — Put 8oz. of caster sugar into a basin, and mix in 2 table-spoonfuls of water and loz. of gum arabic, stirring well until dissolved. Put the basin over a slow fire and continue to stir until the mixture has the appearance of glue. Rub over the outside of a tin mould with butter to prevent the candy sticking, put it upside-down firmly on a dish or board, and commencing from the bottom put a row of Meringues round it, sticking them well together with the hot prepared sugar; and when this row is cold and quite firm, continue in the same way until the pyramid is formed. When done, take out the mould, fill the centre with whipped cream or fruit, and serve. Meringues with Rice. — Put 1 teacupful of rice into a saucepan, pour over 1 breakfast-cupful of milk, and simmer gently at the side of the fire until the rice is quite soft. Add the well-beaten yolks of three eggs, and stir in 1 teaspoonful of moist sugar. Pour the mixture into a mould or tin, piling it up in the form of a pyramid, and mask it with apricot or other jam. Whisk the whites of the three eggs to a stiff froth, adding 1 teaspoonful of well-dried caster sugar, pour it over the jam, spreading it with a knife, dust over with a little more sugar, and decorate it with small drops of the white-of-egg mixture. Put it into a moderate oven with the door open, let it bake for twenty minutes, and serve it in the mould or tin in which it was cooked. Meringue Shells. — Prepare a Meringue mixture. Slide a tube down a pastry-bag, lay a piece of paper over a bakingsheet, and after putting the Meringue into the bag, press it out into the paper, giving an egg shape 2¼in. long by lin. high. There should be enough to make eighteen equal-sized shells. Be careful to keep them about lin. apart. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar, and place in a very slow oven to bake for thirty minutes. Remove, set to cool for twenty-five minutes, turn the paper containing the shells upside-down on the table, and with a wet cloth or brush well moisten the paper ; turn it over again, and leave for two minutes, when the shells can be easily detached. With the finger press them gently, one by one at the bottom, into a perfect shell shape. Return to the baking-sheet, laying them upside-down, put into the oven to dry thoroughly for ten minutes, and leave to cool for thirty minutes longer. Keep them in a dry place either in a tin or paper box, and use when required.