½ cup pounded macaroons
Make custard of milk, one-half the sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Caramelize the remaining sugar and add. Strain, cool, add remaining ingredients, freeze, and mould. If a baked ice cream is desired, use whites of eggs for meringue, Baked Alaska (see p. [448]).
Frozen Charlotte Glacé
Mould ice cream in brick form or one-half pound baking-powder boxes. Remove from mould or moulds, and surround with lady fingers, trimmed to come to top of cream. Cover top with whipped cream, sweetened and flavored, and pipe cream between lady fingers. Baking-powder boxes are used when individual service is desired, the cream being cut in halves crosswise.
CHAPTER XXVII
PASTRY
Pastry cannot be easily excluded from the menu of the New Englander. Who can dream of a Thanksgiving dinner without a pie! The last decade has done much to remove pies from the daily bill of fare, and in their place are found delicate puddings and seasonable fruits.
If pastry is to be served, have it of the best,—light, flaky, and tender.
To pastry belongs, 1st, Puff Paste; 2d, Plain Paste.
Puff paste, which to many seems so difficult of preparation, is rarely attempted by any except professionals. As a matter of fact, one who has never handled a rolling-pin is less liable to fail, under the guidance of a good teacher, than an old cook, who finds it difficult to overcome the bad habit of using too much force in rolling. It is necessary to work rapidly and with a light touch. A cold room is of great advantage.
For making pastry, pastry flour and the best shortenings, thoroughly chilled, are essential. Its lightness depends on the amount of air enclosed and expansion of that air in baking. The flakiness depends upon kind and amount of shortening used. Lard makes more tender crust than butter, but lacks flavor which butter gives. Puff paste is usually shortened with butter, though some chefs prefer beef suet. Eggs and ice were formerly used, but are not essentials.