The Toronto Cook Book

The best after-dinner coffee is made with a filter. If really black coffee is desired, use two heaping tablespoons of finely ground coffee to each large coffee-cup of freshly boiled water. Wet the strainer in cold water before adding the coffee; pour the boiling water slowly upon the coffee, and leave the pot over the heat while the water is finding its way through the fine grains and absorbing their flavor. When all the liquid has dripped through, the coffee is done and should be served at once. Chocolate Chocolate is produced chiefly from the seeds of the cocoa palm ground to a fine powder, mixed with sugar, and reduced by great pressure to thin cakes. Cocoa nibs are the seeds roughly broken, and may be boiled; but they are not as soluble as the prepared chocolate. Scrape fine an ounce of chocolate and add an ounce of sugar; throw these into a pint of perfectly boiling milk and water, of each one half, and immediately mill and stir them well for two or three minutes until the chocolate and sugar are quite dissolved. Some think that ten or twelve minutes' boiling improves it. Chocolate should never be made unless to be used immediately. If it becomes cold or boiled again the flavor is injured. The Toronto Cook Book REFRESHING DRINKS Fruit Beverage Take one gallon of boiling water, separate in half twelve figs then cut four apples into eight slices each, boil all together thirty minutes; pour liquor into crock to cool and put through a sieve, will then be ready for use in twenty-four hours. The above beverage can be made from any kind of fruit. Old Fashioned Fruit Beer Take one and a half ounces of hops and four level teaspoons of ginger to six quarts of water, when boiled, strain and put in three half pints molasses (New Orleans the best) one half ounce essence of spruce; set away and allow to cool one hour, add one and one half cup yeast; then put in a tightly sealed crock allowing it to ferment for about four days. Then bottle it and it is ready for use. Lemonade Boil one cup of sugar and one pint of water ten minutes; add thin shavings of the yellow peel of one lemon, and pour it hot over the juice of three lemons. When cold, strain it and add chipped ice and water as desired. Fruit Punch Boil two cups of sugar and one quart of water twenty minutes. Pour it boiling hot over the following mixture: half a cup each of lemon and orange juice, one cup of strawberry juice, half a cup of canned cherry syrup, and one cup of chopped pineapple. When ready to serve, strain it, dilute with ice water, and add one cup of fresh strawberries quartered, one banana sliced, and half a cup stoned cherries. Dilute with Apollinaris if desired. Raspberry Vinegar • To four quarts red raspberries, put enough vinegar to cover, and let stand twenty-four hours; scald and strain it; add a pound of sugar to one pint of juice; boil it twenty minutes, and bottle; it is then ready for use and will keep for years. To one glass of water add a great spoonful. This makes a very refreshing drink. Beverages Egg Nogg Whip the whites and yolks of six eggs into a stiff cream, adding a half cup of sugar. Pour into a quart of rich milk, adding a half pint of good brandy and a little flavoring of nutmeg. Stir and thoroughly mix up the ingredients, and add the whites of three additional eggs well whipped. Cream Nectar