This done, pour away their juice, and return it to the basin together with two lbs. of sugar per quart. Boil; skim with great care, that the jelly may be clear, and cook over a fierce fire until the jelly has reached a stage which may be ascertained thus:—(1) When on taking the skimmer out of the basin, the jelly adhering to it seems to mass itself towards the middle of the skimmer; or:—(2) When the jelly breaks up into large drops, separated one from the other.
Then take the jelly off the fire; add some carmine to it, drop by drop, until it acquires a rosy hue; strain it again through a fine piece of linen, that it may be perfectly limpid, and finally pour it into tin receptacles to cool.
Put aside until wanted.
[2352—PRALIN]
(1) If it be for the purpose of covering certain cakes, or for forming a glaze on a fruit entremet, prepare it thus:—Put the whites of two eggs and three tablespoonfuls of icing sugar in a small basin. Mix and stir briskly with a small, wooden spoon, until the paste becomes somewhat thick. Then, subject to the [694] ]purpose for which it is intended, add a more or less large quantity of chopped almonds, according as to whether the pralin be required thick or slightly liquid for spreading. Cover it with a piece of white paper, moistened with white of egg, that it may remain moist if kept for some time.
(2) If it is to be added to a [soufflé] preparation, to a souffléd omelet, to a preparation of ice, or to a custard, it is a nougat powder which is prepared as follows:—
Gently melt one lb. of powdered sugar in a small saucepan, taking care not to let it acquire a deeper shade than old gold. Mix twenty oz. of dried almonds with it; turn the whole out on to the corner of a slightly-oiled marble slab (or on an overturned saucepan-lid), and leave to cool. When the nougat is quite cold, pound it and rub it through a sieve.
Pound and rub what remains in the sieve until the whole goes through.
Put the powder in a well-closed box, and place the latter in a dry place.