The flavour of
the stick vanilla will be found to be far superior to the essence of vanilla sold in
bottles ; indeed, the latter varies so much in quality that it is impossible to say
how much should be added to any given quantity of custard.
A little niitme✪ Custardg should always be grated over the surface of the custard before
it is sent to table.
PRINCIPLES — COLOURING SWEETS. Ixv
In all departments of cooking probably that one comprised under the general
name of " sweets " gives the greatest range wherein the real artist can exercise his
skill. We will not now enter into the unpractical subject of describing how to build
those magnificent but useless temples of barley sugar, &c., that figure at wedding
breakfasts and gi-eat suppers, but will enter into the far more practical details of the
general principles of making sweets look nice. As a rule, sweets are so ornamental
. in themselves that they do not require what may be genei^ally called garnish. For
instance, a jelly or a mould of blancmange is so pretty in itself that, provided it be
bright, and put into either an equally bright mit glass dish or a silver one, it requires
nothing beyond. Occasionally, indeed, little pieces of cut lemon may be placed
round the edge of the dish ; but this is not necessary, unless the disli be rather too
large for the mould, in which case the cut lemon will cause it to look less bare.
The great secret of making jellies bright is taking pains in the clearing.
Patience and cleanliness are indispensable ; also bear in mind that jelly-bags should
never be washed in soap and water. They should, after being used, be simply rinsed
and re-rinsed in boiling water and wrung out.
One important point in making sweets look nice is to exercise some little taste
in colouring. "We will suppose, for instance, that there are two moulds in the
house : the top of one is in the very common shape of a bunch of grapes, and the
other the almost equally common shape of a cucumber. Now it is at once obvious
that the cucumber should be coloui-ed gi'een and the grapes red. Suppose, therefore,
two moulds are being made of, say, blancmange. The green cucumber and the red
grapes on the white base will form two very pretty dishes. Unless, however,
the tops are done carefully, the dish will present a very poor apjjearance — indeed, in
all ornamenting, unless the decollation be done neatly, it had far better not be done
at all. Slovenly ornament in dishes corresjDonds to dirty finery in ordinaiy dress.
We w^ill suppose, therefore, the blancmange ready made and in a liquid state
ready to be poured into the moulds. First pour just sufiicient water into each
mould to fill up the shape of the bunch of grapes and the cucumber. Pour this back
again into two glasses — claret glasses are best — and notice the exact quantity required
for eacli. Then fill the glass with the warm blancmange to exactly the same spot.
Pour in the colouring matter, which will of course be cochineal for the grapes and
spinach-juice for the cucumber. As only a few drops of cochineal are required, it
will not matter adding such a small quantity, but whenever colouring matter is used
in which more than a few drops are required allowance should be made, or too much
will be poured into the shape.
Page 79 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The flavour of the stick vanilla will be found to be far superior to the essence of vanilla sold in bottles ; indeed, the latter varies so much in quality that it is impossible to say how much should be added to any given quantity of custard.
A little niitmeg should always be grated over the surface of the custard before it is sent to table.
PRINCIPLES — COLOURING SWEETS. Ixv
In all departments of cooking probably that one comprised under the general name of " sweets " gives the greatest range wherein the real artist can exercise his skill. We will not now enter into the unpractical subject of describing how to build those magnificent but useless temples of barley sugar, &c., that figure at wedding breakfasts and great suppers, but will enter into the far more practical details of the general principles of making sweets look nice. As a rule, sweets are so ornamental . in themselves that they do not require what may be generally called garnish. For instance, a jelly or a mould of blancmange is so pretty in itself that, provided it be bright, and put into either an equally bright met glass dish or a silver one, it requires nothing beyond. Occasionally, indeed, little pieces of cut lemon may be placed round the edge of the dish ; but this is not necessary, unless the disli be rather too large for the mould, in which case the cut lemon will cause it to look less bare.
The great secret of making jellies bright is taking pains in the clearing. Patience and cleanliness are indispensable ; also bear in mind that jelly-bags should never be washed in soap and water. They should, after being used, be simply rinsed and re-rinsed in boiling water and wrung out.
One important point in making sweets look nice is to exercise some little taste in colouring. "We will suppose, for instance, that there are two moulds in the house : the top of one is in the very common shape of a bunch of grapes, and the other the almost equally common shape of a cucumber. Now it is at once obvious that the cucumber should be coloured gi'een and the grapes red. Suppose, therefore, two moulds are being made of, say, blancmange. The green cucumber and the red grapes on the white base will form two very pretty dishes. Unless, however, the tops are done carefully, the dish will present a very poor appearance — indeed, in all ornamenting, unless the decoration be done neatly, it had far better not be done at all. Slovenly ornament in dishes corresponds to dirty finery in ordinaiy dress.
We w^ill suppose, therefore, the blancmange ready made and in a liquid state ready to be poured into the moulds. First pour just sufiicient water into each mould to fill up the shape of the bunch of grapes and the cucumber. Pour this back again into two glasses — claret glasses are best — and notice the exact quantity required for eacli. Then fill the glass with the warm blancmange to exactly the same spot. Pour in the colouring matter, which will of course be cochineal for the grapes and spinach-juice for the cucumber. As only a few drops of cochineal are required, it will not matter adding such a small quantity, but whenever colouring matter is used in which more than a few drops are required allowance should be made, or too much will be poured into the shape.
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Custard