This will be found a delicious article for a dessert, or an evening party, provided the receipt is exactly followed. We highly recommend it, and know that if fairly tried, precisely according to the above directions, there can be no failure. It is superior to any of the usual preparations of blanc-mange. The wine (which must be of excellent quality) gives it a delicate and beautiful colour, and a fine flavour.
VANILLA BLANC-MANGE.—Chip fine an ounce of the best isinglass, and put it into a small sauce-pan, with a jill of cold water, and boil it till entirely dissolved. In another sauce-pan boil half a pint of rich milk and a vanilla bean. Boil it, (with the lid on,) till the flavour of the vanilla is well extracted. Whip a quart of rich cream to a stiff froth. Separate the whites and yolks of four eggs. Beat the whites till they stand alone. Then, in another pan, beat the yolks, and when they are very light and smooth, add to them, gradually, a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, beaten in very hard. Then (having strained out the bean) mix with the cream the milk in which it was boiled. Then beat in, by degrees, the yolk of egg and sugar; then the white of egg; and, lastly, the melted isinglass. When all the ingredients are united, beat and stir the whole very hard. Rinse your moulds in cold water. Then put in the mixture, and set it on ice, for two hours or more, to congeal. When quite firm, (and just before it is wanted,) dip each mould down, into a pan of lukewarm water, (taking care that the water does not reach the top,) and turn out the blanc-mange on glass or china dishes. Keep it on ice, till the minute before it is served up. It will be found very fine.
MACCAROON BLANC-MANGE.—Chip small an ounce of the best Russia isinglass; put it into a small sauce-pan; pour on it a jill of cold water; and boil it till the isinglass is entirely melted, stirring and skimming it well. Then strain it; cover it; and set it away. Have ready a quart of cream, or very rich milk, boiling hot. Crush half a pound or more of bitter-almond maccaroons; mix them well with the boiling cream; cover the vessel, and let it stand (stirring it occasionally) till the maccaroons are all dissolved. Next add the lukewarm isinglass; stir the whole very hard, and then transfer it to blanc-mange moulds, that have been slightly rubbed on the inside with a little sweet oil. Set it on ice, (or in a very cold place,) and stir it occasionally till it begins to congeal; then let it rest. When quite firm all through, loosen it in the moulds, by slipping a knife beneath the edge of the blanc-mange, and warm a clean cloth, and lay it a minute over the top. This will render it easy to turn out. Or you may loosen the blanc-mange by setting the mould in a pan of lukewarm water. Turn it out into a glass dish. Lay on the top of the blanc-mange a sufficient number of whole maccaroons, handsomely arranged in a large star, or in a circle, and place another circle on the dish, round the bottom.
CHOCOLATE BLANC-MANGE.—The day before you want the blanc-mange, take four calves’ feet, (singed but not skinned,) or eight or ten pigs’ feet. Boil them slowly, (with frequent skimming,) in four quarts of water, till all the meat drops from the bones. Then strain the liquid, through a sieve, into a broad tin pan, cover it, and set it away in a cold, dry place. Next day it should be a solid cake of clear jelly. Then scrape off all the fat and sediment; cut the jelly into small bits; and put it into a porcelain kettle or preserving pan, and melt it over the fire. Have ready six ounces, or more, of cocoa or chocolate, that has been scraped fine, and melted, over the fire, in a pint of boiling cream, with six ounces of powdered loaf-sugar. When the chocolate, cream, and sugar have boiled together five minutes after coming to a boil, mix them with the melted jelly, and let the whole come to a boil again; and then boil them together five minutes more, stirring it occasionally. Next put it into moulds that have set all night in cold water. Do not wipe the moulds, but leave them damp. Stir their contents well; and when the blanc-mange is thickening, so that it is hard to stir, set the moulds on ice, or place them in the cellar, in pans of cold water. When the blanc-mange has quite congealed, and is very firm, turn it out of the moulds, first setting them in lukewarm water, and serve it up on china dishes.
Instead of calves’ or pigs’ feet, you may substitute an ounce of the best Russia isinglass, or an ounce and a half of the common sort. The isinglass must be previously dissolved, by boiling it in as much water as will cover it, taking care not to let it burn. It must be melted quite smooth. Mix it, while warm, with the chocolate, cream, and sugar.
COFFEE BLANC-MANGE may be made as above, substituting, for the chocolate, six ounces of the best coffee, freshly roasted and ground, and boiled in a pint of rich, unskimmed milk; or of cream, into which there has been stirred an ounce or an ounce and a half of isinglass, previously melted by boiling in water; and, also, six ounces of powdered sugar. Boil all together, and then strain the liquid into moulds, and set them on ice.