Yellow Pectoral Lozenges.—Sugar one pound, Florence orris-root powder twelve drachms, licorice-root six drachms, almonds one ounce, saffron in powder four scruples, dissolved gum sufficient to make a paste. Make a decoction of the licorice to moisten the gum with.
Bath Pipe.—Eight pounds of sugar, twelve ounces of licorice. Warm the licorice, and cut it in thin slices, dissolve it in one quart of boiling water, stir it well to assist the solution; let it settle, when dissolved, to allow any impurities or bits of copper which are often found in it to fall down; pour it off free from the sediment; dissolve the gum in the clear part, and mix it into a paste as for lozenges. Roll out a piece with your hand in a round form; finish rolling it with a long flat piece of wood, until it is about the size of the largest end of the stem of a tobacco-pipe. Dry them in the stove as lozenges. These may be also flavored with anise-seed by adding a few drops of the oil, or with catechu or violets by adding the powders of orris-root or catechu.
Peppermint or other Pipes.—Any of the pastes for lozenges may be formed into pipes by rolling it out as directed for Bath pipes. They are occasionally striped with blue, green, and yellow, by making strips with liquid color on the paste and twisting before you roll it out with the board.
MERINGUES AND ICING.
Dry Meringues in the form of Eggs.—Ten whites of eggs, twelve ounces of sugar.
Obtain the newest laid eggs, and separate the white from the yolk very carefully; put the whites into a pan, which must be quite free from grease; whisk them to a very strong froth, so as it will support an egg, or even a greater weight; have the sugar pounded and sifted through a lawn sieve, and mix it as lightly as possible; spread some pieces of board about an inch thick, then with a table or dessert spoon drop them on the paper about two inches asunder, dust them with fine powdered loaf sugar, blow off all that does not adhere, and put them into a cool oven to bake until they are a nice light brown; if the oven should be too warm, when the surface gets dry or hardened cover them with paper; as soon as they are done take them off with a knife; press the inside or soft part down with the top or the back of a spoon, place them on sieves, and put them into the stove to dry; when they are required to be served, fill them with any kind of preserved fruit or cream, if it is rather acid the better, and put two together.
The quality of the meringues will depend on the eggs being well whipped to a very strong froth, and also on the quantity of sugar, for if there is not enough they will eat tough.
Icing for Wedding or Twelfth Cakes, Etc.—Pound and sift some treble-refined sugar through a lawn sieve, and put it into an earthen pan, which must be quite free from grease; to each pound of sifted sugar add the whites of three eggs, or sufficient to make it into a paste of a moderate consistence, then with a wooden spoon or spatula beat it well, using a little lemon-juice occasionally, and more white of egg if you find that it will bear it without making it too thin, until you have a nice light icing, which will hang to the sides of the pan and spoon; or, if it is dropped from the spoon, it should remain on the top without speedily losing the form it assumed. A pan of icing, when well beat and finished, should contain as much again in bulk as it was at the commencement; use sufficient lemon-juice to give the icing a slight acid, or it will scale off the cake in large pieces when it is cut. Many prefer the pyroligneous acid to the lemon-juice, but the flavor is not so delicate, and it always retains a smell of the acid; neither did I ever find, as some assert, that it improves the quality and appearance of the icing; the only advantage derived from it is that of economy.
Italian Meringues.—One pound of sugar, the whites of six eggs. Clarify the sugar and boil it to the blow; in the meantime whip up the whites as for the last, take the sugar from the fire and rub it a little against the sides of the pan to grain it; as soon as it begins to turn white mix in the whipped eggs, stirring the sugar well from the pan with the whisk or spatula; lay them off, and bake as dry meringues: these may be colored by adding the liquid color to the syrup so as to give the desired tint; and either of them maybe flavored by rubbing off the peel of oranges, lemons, or cedrats on sugar, and scraping it off as it imbibes the oil; or it may be flavored with vanilla, by cutting it in small pieces and pounding it with some sugar, or with any liquor by adding a spoonful or two when you mix the eggs or sugar. They may also be varied in form, and baked on tin or iron plates instead of wood, that the bottoms may be quite firm. The tops may be covered with almonds or pistachios, blanched and cut small or in fillets, or with currants, or colored sugars; the whole depending on the taste and ingenuity of the artist.