Calf’s-Foot Jelly.
- 4 calf’s feet, cleaned carefully.
- 4 quarts of water.
- 1 pint of wine.
- 3 cups of sugar—or sweeten to taste.
- Whites of 3 eggs, well beaten.
- 2 teaspoonfuls of nutmeg.
- Juice of 1 lemon, and half the grated peel.
Boil the calf’s feet in the water until it is reduced one half; strain the liquor, and let it stand ten or twelve hours. Skim off every particle of the fat, and remove the dregs; melt slowly in a porcelain or bell-metal kettle, add the seasoning, sugar, and the whipped whites of the eggs, and boil fast about twelve minutes, skimming well. Strain through a double flannel bag suspended between the four legs of an upturned high stool or backless chair, the bowl set beneath. Do not squeeze or shake it, until the jelly ceases to run freely; then slip out the bowl, and put under another, into which you may gently press what remains. The first will be the clearer jelly, although the second dripping will taste quite as well. Wet your moulds, put in the jelly, and set in a cool place.
There are still some housekeepers who insist that the jellies made from the modern gelatine are not comparable in beauty and flavor to those prepared from the genuine feet. Seeing means taste as well as belief with them, and when they handle and behold the beloved feet, they know what they are about. Gelatine, they will darkly and disgustfully assert, is made of horn-shavings and hoofs and the like, and no more fit to be used for cooking purposes than so much glue.
Nevertheless, while gelatine is so clean, bright, and convenient, housewives who find the days now but half as long as did their mothers, despite labor-saving machines, will turn a deaf ear to these alarmists, and escape the tedious process above-described by using the valuable substitute.
Wine Jelly. ✠
- 3 cups of sugar.
- 1 pint of wine—pale Sherry or White.
- 1 cup of cold water.
- 1 package Coxe’s gelatine.
- Juice of two lemons and grated peel of one.
- 1 quart of boiling water.
- 1 good pinch of cinnamon.
Soak the gelatine in the cold water one hour. Add to this the sugar, lemons, and cinnamon; pour over all a quart of boiling water, and stir until the gelatine is thoroughly dissolved. Put in the wine, strain through a double flannel bag, without squeezing, wet your moulds with cold water, and set the jelly away in them to cool.
Cider Jelly. ✠
May be made by the receipt just given, substituting a pint of clear, sweet cider for the wine.