—Put six egg whites into a copper basin, with a light half saltspoonful of salt, and with a wire whip begin beating slowly, but gradually increase until a stiff froth is obtained. Should it become grainy, beat briskly again, adding half an ounce of powdered sugar. (Eight minutes should suffice to have a proper froth.) Remove the whip. Have on a plate one pound of powdered sugar, and with a spatula drop the sugar slowly and carefully over the froth, mixing it in meanwhile with the spatula. This should take about two minutes. Flavor it with any desired flavoring, and it will be ready for use.
1248. Apples, Méringuées.
—Have six fine apples cooked as for [No. 1169]; dress them on a dessert-dish, filling the cavities with currant jelly ([No. 1326]); then decorate all round and the tops with méringue, prepared as for [No. 1247], half the quantity being sufficient. Sprinkle them moderately with powdered sugar; lay the dish on a baking-pan, and put it in the oven for five minutes. When a light brown color, remove, and serve either hot or cold.
1249. Small Fancy Méringues à la Ch. C. Delmonico.
—Put into a sugar-pan one pound of granulated sugar with half a pint of cold water, and place on the hot stove. Have two quarts of ice-water in a vessel, and when the sugar comes to a boil, dip the fingers of the right hand into the ice-water and pass them quickly around the inside of the pan, and let boil for five minutes. Dip a wooden stick, similar to a pen-holder, in the ice-water, then quickly into the boiling sugar, and again in the ice-water, lifting up the stick to feel the sugar that adheres. Should it not be sufficiently consistent to form into a ball, let boil a little longer; then try once more; and should it be a proper thickness, remove from the fire and set it on the corner of the stove, so that it no longer boils. While the sugar is cooking, beat the whites of five eggs in a copper basin until they are a firm froth; and while beating, have an assistant pour very gradually the prepared sugar into the egg-froth; and When all is added, lay the basin containing the preparation into a vessel half filled with ice-water. Remove the whip, and using a wooden spatula, mix gently for five minutes, adding a teaspoonful of vanilla flavoring. Cover the basin with a napkin, letting it rest for ten minutes. Butter and flour a baking-sheet; slide down a fancy tube (No. 3) into a pastry-bag ([No. 1079]), fill it with the preparation, press down onto the baking-sheet, giving a C-shape, two inches long by one wide, to forty of them; and then forming twenty more, shaped like the letter D. Sprinkle them lightly with powdered sugar; place in a very slow oven, and let bake for fifteen minutes. When baked, these cakes should be perfectly white. Remove them from the oven, let get thoroughly cold; dress on a glass stand, and send to the table.
1250. Méringue-shells.
—Prepare a méringue as for [No. 1247]. Slide a tube (No. 4) down a pastry-bag ([No. 1079]); lay a piece of paper over a baking-sheet, and after putting the méringue into the bag, press it out onto the paper, giving it an egg-shape, two and a half inches long by one inch high. There will be enough to make eighteen equal-sized shells. Be careful to keep them one inch apart. Sprinkle over liberally with powdered sugar, and place in a very slow oven to bake thirty minutes. Remove, and set to cool for twenty-five minutes. Then turn the paper containing the shells upside down on the table; and with a wet cloth or brush moisten well the paper; turn them over again, and let rest for two minutes, when the shells will detach easily. With the finger press them gently, one by one, in the bottom, into a perfect shell-shape. Return them to the baking-sheet, laying them upside down, and put them in the oven to dry thoroughly for ten minutes; then leave them to cool for thirty minutes more. Keep them in a dry place, either in a tin or paper box, and use when required. Méringue-shells prepared this way will keep nicely for at least twenty-five days.
1251. Swiss Méringues à l’Helvétienne.
—Have a méringue preparation as for [No. 1247]; slide down in a pastry-bag ([No. 1079]) a tube (No. 4). Butter and flour a baking-sheet; make on it one design eight inches in diameter; another exactly the same shape, only six inches, and another of the same, only four inches. Put the méringue into the bag, and press it down gently over and around the first design, making the paste three-quarters of an inch thick; repeat the same for the second and third forms. Press down in the pan some more méringue, making a little cone four inches high, two inches in diameter at the base, and tapering gradually to a point at the top. Sprinkle the whole lightly with powdered sugar, and place the pan in a very moderate oven to bake for twenty-five minutes. Take it out, and let it thoroughly cool for half an hour. Have a quart of whipped crême à la vanille ([No. 1254]), add to it half a gill of Swiss kirsch and half a gill of maraschino, and with a pastry-whip beat the whole together for three minutes. Have ready a round dessert-dish with a fancy paper over, detach carefully the largest form from the pan, lay it on the dish, detach the second, lay it over the first, and fill the hollow space with half of the cream; now detach the third and smallest piece and lay it over the others, filling it entirely with part of the cream, and finally detach the cover, and arrange it nicely on the top. Pour the remaining cream into the pastry-bag containing the fancy tube, and with it decorate the places where the rings are joined. Then send to the table.