Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Put the cask in a cool cellar, and let it remain until the end of December. Pack it from its lees into a fresh cask, and in a month itwill, in all probability, be clear enough for bottling. If necessary, it may be fined, by adding an ounco of isinglass, dissolved in a bottle of the wine. It should be bottled when the gooseberrybushes begin to blossom, and its briskness depends very much upon its being bottled at the right time. Taste the wine before racking it into a fresh cask, and if it be too sweet, renew the fermentation, either by stirring up the lees or roUing the cask. Wine should be bottled in clear, settled weather, and the sooner it is bottled after fining, the brighter it will be. Time, twenty-four hours to stand before straining ; ten or twelve days to ferment. Sufficient for ten gallons. Probable cost. Is. 8d. per gallon. Gooseberry Charlotte.— Pick the tops and stalks from a pound and a half of gooseberries; wash and diain them, and boil them with a pound and a half of loaf sugar, until reduced to a pulp. Press them through a coarse sieve. Take half a dozen sponge-biscuits, cut them into thin slices, and line a plain round mould with them. Pour in the fruit, cover it with slices of spongecake, place a cover and a weight on the top, and let it remain until well set. Turn it out before serving, and pour some good custard or nicely-flavoured cream round it. Thin slices of bread may be used instead of sponge-biscuit. Time, ten or twelve hours to set properly. Sufficient for five or six persons. Probable cost. Is. 3d. Gooseberry Cheese.— Pick the tops and stalks from some rough red gooseberries, fully ripe. Bake them in a moderate oven till soft, then pulp them through a fine sieve. Let them boil very gently, and add, a little at a time, a quarter of a pound of loaf-sugar to every pound of fruit-pulp. Boil, skim, and stir it for half an hour ; then pour it on small plates, and dry it before the fire, or in a cool oven. When diy, keep the cheese between folds of -white paper. Time, half an hour to boil. Probable cost of gooseberries, 3d. per pound. Gooseberry Cream.— Pick the stalks and tops from about two pounds of green GOO { 266 ) GOO gooseberries. Wash, drain, and boil them until soft and broken, in a pint and a half of water. Press them through a sieve, and to every pint of juice add a pound of loaf sugar and the rind and juice of half a lemon. Lot these boil all together for fifteen or twenty minutes, and, when cold, mix with them half a pint of milk, in which an ounce of isinglass or gelatine has been dissolved. Pour into a mould, and put it in a cool place until firm. This Cream should be made the day before it is wanted. Sufficient for two quarts of cream. Probable cost, 2s. 6d., with best isinglass. Gooseberry Custard. — Boil a quart of gooseberries in half a pint of water. Add a piece of butter the size of a walnut. Boil the gooseberries quickly, and, when soft, pulp them through a sieve. Add three-quarter-s of a pound of sugar and the yolks of four eggs. Stir over the fire until thick, but the berries must not boil. Serve in a glass dish, or in custard-glasses. Time, boil till soft — about fifteen minutes. Probable cost. Is. Sufficient for seven or eight glasses.