Various Preparations for Entremets
[2403—PREPARATIONS FOR PANCAKES AND PANNEQUETS]
Preparation A.—Put into a basin one lb. of sifted flour, six oz. of powdered sugar, and a pinch of table-salt. Dilute with ten eggs and one quart of milk, added by degrees. Flavour with one heaped tablespoonful of orange, lemon or vanilla sugar, which should form part of the total weight of sugar prescribed; or with one-eighth pint of some liqueur such as brandy, kirsch, rum, &c., which should form part of the total moistening.
Preparation B.—Dilute one lb. of flour, three and one-half oz. of powdered sugar and a pinch of salt, with nine eggs and a half-pint of cream. Add one-eighth pint of brandy, two and a half-oz. of melted butter and one and a half-pints of milk. Pass the whole through a fine strainer, and finish it with one-eighth pint of [orgeat] syrup (or almond milk) and three oz. of finely-crushed macaroons.
Preparation C.—Dilute one lb. of flour, three and a half oz. of powdered sugar and a pinch of table salt in nine eggs. Stir the [712] ]mixture well; add to it a half-pint of raw cream and one pint of milk. Finish with a half-pint of whipped cream, and flavour as fancy may suggest.
Preparation D.—Dilute one lb. of flour, three and a half oz. of powdered sugar and a pinch of salt, in five eggs and the yolks of three. Add one and three-quarter pints of milk and five egg-whites whisked to a stiff froth.
Flavour according to fancy.
[2404—RICE PREPARATION FOR ENTREMETS]
Wash one lb. of Carolina or Patna rice; cover it with plenty of cold water; boil, and drain it the moment it has boiled. Wash it once more in lukewarm water; drain it, and set it to cook with two pints of boiled milk, two-thirds lb. of sugar, a pinch of salt and three oz. of butter.
Flavour with a stick of vanilla or a few strips of orange or lemon rind, strung together with cotton. When the liquor begins to boil, cover the saucepan; place it in the oven, and let it cook gently for twenty or twenty-five minutes, without once touching the rice the while.
On withdrawing it from the oven, thicken it with the yolks of sixteen eggs, which should be mixed with it by means of a fork in such wise as not to break the rice grains, which ought to remain whole.
N.B.—In some cases, the milk and the sugar may be replaced (for the cooking process) by an equal amount of syrup at 12° (Saccharometer).
[2405—SOUFFLÉ PREPARATIONS]
[Soufflé] preparations are of two kinds:—
(1) Those prepared with cream, which if necessary may serve for all [soufflés]; (2) those with a fruit-purée base, which allow of a more pronounced flavour for fruit [soufflés] than if these were prepared with cream.
Cream-soufflé Preparation for Four People.—Boil one-sixth pint of milk with one oz. of sugar; add a tablespoonful of flour diluted in a little cold milk; cook for two minutes, and finish, away from the fire, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and two egg-yolks with three whites whisked to a stiff froth.
Soufflé Preparation for a Big Party.—Thoroughly mix half-lb. of flour, half-lb. of sugar, four eggs and the yolks of three, in a saucepan. Dilute with one quart of boiling milk; add a stick of vanilla; boil, and cook for two minutes, stirring incessantly the while.
[713]
]Finish, away from the fire, with four oz. of butter, five egg-yolks, and twelve whites, whisked to a very stiff froth.
Soufflé Preparation with a Fruit Base.—Take one lb. of sugar cooked to the [small-crack] stage; add thereto one lb. of the pulp or purée of the fruit under treatment, and ten egg-whites, beaten to a stiff froth.
Proceed thus: Having cooked the sugar to the extent stated above, add to it the fruit pulp. If the latter reduces the sugar a stage or two, cook it afresh in order to return it to the [small-crack] stage; and, when this is reached, pour it over the whites.
Dishing and Cooking of Soufflés.—Whatever the [soufflés] may consist of, dish them in a timbale, or in a special false-bottomed dish, buttered and sugared inside. Cook in a somewhat moderate oven, that the heat may reach the centre of the [soufflé] by degrees.
Two minutes before withdrawing the [soufflé] from the oven, sprinkle it with icing sugar, which, when it becomes caramel upon the surface of the [soufflé], constitutes the glazing.
The decoration of [soufflés] is optional, and, in any case, should not be overdone.