Very rich or very poor cream will not whip well. When too rich it turns to butter, and when too poor the froth becomes liquid almost as soon as it has been skimmed. Thick cream, that will hardly pour, should have an equal quantity of milk added to it before whipping. Such cream as one gets from the milkman will rarely be found too rich for whipping. It is more likely to be the other way; and one is often disappointed in finding it too poor to froth. The cream should be ice cold.
Have a large bowl or tin pail, rather narrow at the bottom. Place this in a pan of ice water. Have a bright tin pan in another of ice water. Put the cream in the bowl and put the whip churn in this. Hold the churn with the left hand, tipping it slightly, that the cream may flow out at the bottom. With the right hand draw the dasher lightly about half way up the cylinder; then press down hard. It must not be forgotten that the up stroke is light and the down stroke is hard. When the bowl is full, skim the froth into a tin pan. Continue this until nearly all the cream has been whipped. Draw the froth in the pan to one side, and turn the liquid cream at the bottom of the pan back into the bowl. Whip it again. A little of the cream will always become liquid again.
When the cream is for whips, or for a garnish for frozen pudding or Bavarian creams, sweeten it, and flavor with anything you please, before whipping. If the cream is very rich a Dover beater will whip it, but there is nothing that will whip cream so quickly and so well as the whip churn described in the chapter on Kitchen Furnishing.
To Boil Sugar.
The degrees of boiling sugar are variously divided by different cooks. Some give six and others as high as eight. The Stench boil sugar for nearly all their desserts. For all practical purposes a cook need understand only three stages. Put one cupful of granulated or loaf sugar and half a cupful of water on to boil. When the mixture has boiled fifteen minutes, dip the fore-finger and thumb in cold water and take up a little of the syrup between them. If, upon drawing them apart, the syrup forms a thread, it is at the second degree. This is the best stage for frozen fruits, sherbets, and preserves.
If, a little later, when some syrup is taken up with a spoon and blown hard, it flies off in tiny bubbles, it is at the fourth degree, called the soufflé. It takes about twenty minutes' boiling for this. The syrup is then used for biscuit glacé and various kinds of creams. At this stage it also gives sherbets and fruits a much richer flavor than when used at the second degree.
If, when a little syrup is taken up on the point of a stick or skewer, and dipped in cold water, it breaks off brittle, the sixth degree has been reached. This is the stage where it is used for icing fruit and cake, the dish being called fruit glacé or gâteau glacé. The syrup must never be stirred, as this will cause it to grain. Great care must be taken that it does not boil after coming to the sixth degree, as it burns quickly after that point is reached.
To Make and Use a Pastry Bag.
Fold a piece of strong cotton cloth (perhaps a foot square) from the opposite corners, so as to give it a triangular shape. On one side sew together the two edges, thus making a bag shaped like a "dunce's cap." Cut the cloth at the apex just enough to permit a short tin tube, somewhat like a tailor's thimble, to be pushed through. The tube for éclairs measures about three-fourths of an inch at the smallest opening; that for lady-fingers is three-eighths of an inch, and that for meringues and kisses, half an inch. The tubes for decorating with frosting are very small.
Fill the bag with the mixture to be forced through, and gather the cloth together at the top with the left hand. Hold the point of the tube close to the pan on which the mixture is to be spread. Press the mixture out with the right hand. If the cakes are to be large use a good deal of pressure, but if to be small, very little will do. At first, it will be hard to get the shapes, but with a little practice it will seem comparatively easy.