Harper's cook book encyclopædia

cherries into the boiling mixture, sweeten to taste, add half a teaspoonful of salt, and set away to get very cold. Serve with sugar and cream. Cherry Cheese. — Take some sound, ripe cherries, stoned or not, as preferred ; put them into a stone jar, cover it closely, and place this in a saucepan of boiling water, and let it simmer gently until the fruit is quite soft. When the cherries are sufficiently tender, take them from the fire, skin and stone them, and add 1 lb. of finely sifted sugar to every pound of fruit. Add a few of the kernels, blanched. Put the mixture into a preserving-pan and boil it gently, stirring it all the time, until the fruit is so dry that it will not adhere to the finger when touched, and is quite clear. Press it quickly into shallow jars which have been damped with brandy. Cover closely, and keep in a dry place. Time, two hours. Chestnut Mountain a la Niege. — Take off the skins of 2 lbs. of chestnuts. Boil till perfectly tender. When cool, rub through a fine wire sieve with a wooden spoon. To this add one table - spoonful of castor sugar, a little vanilla, a wineglassful of brandy. Mix well together, and rub through the sieve on to a dish. Pile up lightly and cover half-way down with the whipped cream, to give the appearance of snow. Half a pint of cream is required for whipping, to which a little castor sugar and vanilla have been added. Chestnuts, Compote of. — Boil the chestnuts for eight minutes, remove the husks and skins, place in a saucepan 3/4 lb. of granulated sugar and a gill of water. When it comes to a boil, drop in the chestnuts and let them remain until they have absorbed all the syrup ; take them out, arrange high on a glass dish, squeeze over them the juice of half a lemon, and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Serve when cold. Cranberry and Ground-Rice Jelly. — Draw out a pint of cranberryjuice by putting the fruit and two or three cloves into a closely covered jar, placing the jar in a saucepan of cold water on a moderate fire, and simmering gently for about half an hour. Mix the juice with three tablespoonfuls of ground rice and two of sugar, boil it gently until it thickens, and pour it into a mould which has been immersed in cold water. When cold, turn it out, and eat it with a little cream. A quarter of an hour to boil with the rice. Cranberry Gruel (invalid cookery). — A few cranberries boiled in a little thin gruel, sweetened and flavored with grated nutmeg, is a pleasant change for an invalid. Time, ten minutes. Sufficient, half a cupful of cranberries with their juice for half a pint of gruel. Currants. — Wash and stem one quart of currants. Put them in a dish and sprinkle over them five tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, a teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, and then add a gill of brandy or wine. Stir gently and let the dish stand in a cold place an hour before serving. Currants, Compote of. — Pick a quart of ripe red and white currants quite free from dust. Put lb. of loaf sugar and a breakfast-cupful of cold water into a saucepan. Simmer the syrup gently for a quarter of an hour, then put in the currants and simmer them for ten minutes longer. Put the fruit into a dish, pour the syrup over it, and serve cold. Currants prepared thus are excellent served with blanc-mange or a rice mould.