Take two pounds of the best raisins, seeded and chopped; the grated yellow rind and the juice of four fine lemons, and two pounds of loaf sugar, powdered. Put the sugar into a large porcelain kettle, and melt it in a gallon of water. Boil and skim it for half an hour, and while it is boiling hard, put in by degrees the raisins and lemons. Continue the boiling about ten minutes. Put the mixture into a stoneware crock, and cover it closely. Let it stand three days, stirring it down to the bottom twice every day. Then strain it through a linen bag, and bottle it, sealing the corks. It will be fit for use in a fortnight. Take it in wine-glasses, with a bit of ice in each. This is a nice temperance drink.
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL.—
Take half a pint of rich milk, and put it to boil in a porcelain kettle; scrape down a square and a half of Baker's chocolate, put it into a very clean tin cup, and set on the top of a stove till it becomes soft. Let the milk boil up twice. Then add, gradually, the chocolate, and stir both over the fire till thoroughly mixed and free from lumps. Stir in a half pint of the best white sugar powdered, and half a jill (or four large table-spoonfuls,) of molasses. Let the whole boil fast and constantly (so as to bubble,) for at least one hour or more, till it is nearly as stiff as good mush. When all is done add a small tea-spoonful of essence of vanilla, and transfer the mixture to shallow tin pans, slightly greased with very nice sweet oil. Set it on ice, or in a very cool place, and while yet soft mark it deeply in squares with a very sharp knife. When quite hard, cut the squares apart. If it does not harden well it has not been boiled long enough, or fast enough.
EGGS TO BOIL.—
The water must be boiling fast when the eggs are put in. First wipe them clean all over, with a wet cloth. It is true that the shells are never eaten, but still, if brought to table dirty and discolored, they look slovenly, disgusting, and vulgar, such as are never seen in good houses. Put them into water that is boiling fast; and if desired very soft, four minutes will be sufficient. Six or eight minutes will barely set the whites and yolks, and ten or twelve minutes (in water that is really boiling,) will render them hard enough for salad. In the egg-boilers that are set on the table no egg will ever boil hard, as the water cools too soon. A stale egg never boils hard.
Except in the spring, and late in the winter, there is often much difficulty in obtaining good eggs, unless you have fowls of your own. If an egg is really fresh, when held up against the light, the yolk looks round and compact and the white clear and transparent; you may then trust it. But if the yolk is thick, broken, and mixed among the white, and the white is cloudy and muddled, it is certainly bad, and should be thrown away. When tried in a pan of cold water the freshest will sink, and the stale ones float on the surface. It requires strong brine to bear up a good egg. Eggs may be preserved for keeping a few months, by putting every one in fast boiling water for one minute. Then grease them all over the outside with good melted fat, and wedge down close together (layer above layer,) in a box of powdered charcoal. This preserves them for a sea voyage of several weeks. The charcoal box must be kept closely covered, and closed immediately whenever opened. Pack the eggs with the small end downwards.