Melt half a pound of butter, and stir it into the same weight of double refined loaf sugar, add half a tea spoonful of essence of lemon, eight eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, and a couple of table spoonsful of cream. Set the whole on a few coals, stir it constantly till it thickens, take it off before it gets to boiling, and stir it till nearly cold, then turn it into a dish lined with pastry, put a rim of puff paste round the edge, and bake it half an hour. It will cut light and clear.
[230.] Lemon Syrup.
Mix a pint of lemon juice with a pound and three quarters of lump sugar. Dissolve it by a gentle heat, skim it until clear, then add one ounce of thin cut lemon peel, and simmer if gently for a few moments. Strain it through a flannel bag; when cold, bottle, cork, and seal it tight, keep it in a cool place. Another method of making it which is cheaper, and very good, is to dissolve half an ounce of citric acid, in a pint of clarified syrup, by a gentle heat; when cool, put in a few drops of oil or a little essence of lemon.
[231.] Orange Syrup.
Take nice fresh oranges, squeeze out the juice, and strain it; to a pint of juice put a pound and a half of while sugar. Dissolve it over a moderate fire, put in the peel of the oranges, and let the whole boil eight or ten minutes. Strain it till clear, through a flannel bag, bottle and cork it tight. This is nice to flavor puddings and pies, or sherbet.
[232.] Blackberry Syrup.
Pick over blackberries that are perfectly ripe, boil them in their juice till they break to pieces, then strain them through a flannel cloth, and to each pint of juice put a pound of sugar. Boil it again for ten minutes, then strain it and add a wine glass of brandy to each pint of syrup. When cool, bottle and cork it tight, and set it in a cool place. This mixed with cold water in the proportion of a wine glass of it to two thirds of a tumbler of water is a very agreeable summer beverage, it also possesses fine medicinal properties.
[233.] Clarified Syrup for Sweet Meats.
For most kinds of fruit, one pound of sugar, to one of the fruit, is sufficient to preserve them; some kinds of fruit will do with less. Put your sugar into your preserving kettle, and turn in as much cold water as you think will cover your fruit, when put in, add the white of an egg to every three pounds of sugar, then put it over a slow fire; when the sugar has dissolved, put it where it will boil, let it boil several minutes, then take it from the fire, and skim it till clear, put it back on the fire, when the scum rises again, take the kettle off and skim it again, this operation repeat till it is perfectly clear, then put in the fruit. If you have not syrup enough to cover the fruit, take the fruit out and put in more cold water, and let it get to boiling before you put in the fruit, if you have too much syrup, it should boil away before you boil your fruit in it. White sugar is better than brown for preserving, but brown sugar answers very well for common sweet meats. Every kind of ware but iron, will do to preserve in, but earthen ware is the best on account of its not imparting an unpleasant taste, to the sweet meats.