Mincemeat will taste more fresh and pleasant if the apples are not added till the day the pies are made. It should be kept well-secured from air and damp, in stone jars closely covered. Whenever a jar is opened to take out some for immediate use, pour in a large glass or two of brandy, and stir it about. It is not true that mincemeat will keep all winter, even by this preservative. It is sure to become musty (or worse,) before two months. It is best to make fresh mincemeat at least three times during the season. When the cold weather is over, do not attempt it, unless a little for immediate use.
Mincemeat, with a double portion of excellent raisins, (cut in half,) will do very well without currants, which are very troublesome to prepare; and those imported of late years are rarely of good quality.
We have heard of West India mincemeat made with cold roast turkey; chopped pine-apple; grated cocoa-nut; preserved ginger chopped, and moistened with its own syrup; and seasoned with nutmeg and noyau.
The above mince pies are for company.
CALF'S FEET JELLY.—
Select the largest and best calf's feet. Four is called a set. Choose those that, after the hair has been well scalded and scraped off, are prepared with the skins left on. There is much glutinous substance in the skin itself, therefore it adds to the strength and firmness of the jelly. The feet being made perfectly clean, split them upwards as far as you can, and put them to boil in a gallon of very clear soft water. Boil them till they have all gone to pieces, and the flesh is reduced to rags, and the liquid to one half. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a white-ware pan, and set it away to cool. When quite cold, it should be a cake of firm jelly. Take it out, and scrape from it all the fat at the top and sediment at the bottom. Press on the surface, some clean blotting paper, to remove any grease that may yet remain about it. Cut the cake of jelly into pieces, and put it into a very clean porcelain kettle, with a large pint of sherry, (inferior wine will spoil it,) a pound of the best loaf sugar, broken small; the yellow rind of six lemons, pared so thin as to be transparent, and their juice squeezed over the sugar through a strainer; the whites of six or seven eggs, with their shells mashed small. If the jelly is to be moulded, add a quarter ounce of the best Russia isinglass. Boil together all these ingredients for near twenty minutes. Then take it off the fire, and let it stand undisturbed for about five minutes, to settle. Next, have ready a pointed jelly bag, made of clean white flannel. Spread it open, suspended by strings to a table edge. Set a large tureen or white-ware pan beneath it, and let the jelly drip as long as it will; but on no account squeeze or press the bag, as that will spoil all, rendering the whole jelly cloudy or streaked. If it is not quite clear at the first straining, empty the contents of the bag into a basin, wash the bag clean, hang it up again, pour the jelly back, wash the tureen or pan, and let the jelly pass into it again. Repeat this straining if necessary. When quite clear, shape the jelly in white-ware moulds, which have been setting two hours in cold water. When the jelly is wanted, wrap round the moulds for a moment, a cloth dipped in warm water, and turn it out on glass dishes. The ingredients that are left in the bag may be boiled and strained over again for children. If the jelly is not to be moulded, you may omit the isinglass. In that case break it up, and serve it in a glass bowl. It is now the general opinion that jellies have a more lively taste when broken up, from the numerous acute angles they present to the tongue and palate. We think this opinion correct; and also they look brighter and more glittering, and go farther.
Apple Jelly—Is far less expensive than that of calf's feet, and if well made looks beautifully. It requires the very best and most juicy apples, (for instance, two dozen large pippins or bell-flowers.) Wash and wipe them well, (removing all blemishes,) pare, core, and slice or quarter them. Put them into a bain-marie or double kettle, with the water outside, and let them boil till broken and dissolved, putting in with them the grated yellow rind of four large lemons. Press and mash the stewed apples through a very clean sieve, till you have extracted all the juice. Measure it while warm, and allow to each quart a pound of the finest powdered and sifted loaf sugar well mixed in, and the juice of the lemons. Transfer it to a clean white flannel jelly bag, and let it drip into a large white-ware pan. When quite clear, put it into moulds, and set it on ice to congeal. When wanted, turn it out of the moulds, (loosened by wrapping round their outsides cloths dipped a minute in warm water) and serve it up in glass dishes.
Siberian Jelly.—A fine pink-colored jelly may be made in the above manner, of the red Siberian crab-apple, but it requires an additional quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Instead of lemon you may flavor it, (after all the juice has done dripping) by mixing with extract of rose, or strong rose-water, allowing a wine-glassful to each quart of jelly. Rose-water, or extract of rose, evaporates so speedily when over the fire, that it should never be added till the very last.
Orange Jelly—Is made in the proportion of a pint of strained orange juice to a pound of loaf sugar, boiled with an ounce of isinglass, that has first been melted over the fire by itself in a very little water. Add the yellow rind of the oranges pared from the white as thin as possible. Give it one boil up, and strain it into the jelly-bag. When clear, transfer it to moulds. Twelve large oranges will generally yield a pint of juice. Lemon jelly is made in the same manner, but with more sugar.