Ingredients: Four calf’s feet boiled in a gallon of water, seven eggs, one and a half pounds of sugar, one pint of sherry wine, a stick of cinnamon, three cloves, and half a box of gelatine.
Split the calf’s feet, break the bones, and place them on the fire at the back of the range, with a gallon of cold water, to boil gently for five hours. Skim the water often, which should be reduced to rather less than two quarts; then strain the jelly into a pan, and, when perfectly firm, remove the fat and sediment.
Add to the jelly the beaten whites and crushed shells of seven eggs, one and a half pounds of sugar, a pint of sherry wine, a stick of cinnamon, three cloves, and half a box of gelatine soaked in a little water, and whip this well together; set it over the fire, and when it has just begun to boil throw in the juice of six lemons, and one or two table-spoonfuls of clear, cold water; take the kettle off the fire, let it remain at the side in rather a hot place about ten minutes, then skim off carefully all the scum from the top. Put into the jelly-bag the thin cuts from the peels of four lemons, not cutting the white or under skin, as that is bitter; then pour in the jelly, having the apparatus near the fire to prevent the jelly hardening before it has all passed through.
Whipped Jelly, with Fruits.
Prepare about two cupfuls of preserved fruits—for instance, pine-apples, peaches, greengages, and cherries; keep the cherries whole, but cut the others into dice; moisten them all with sherry.
Prepare about a quart of Champagne, sherry, or brandy jelly, and when strained pour it into a basin, which place on the ice, or on ice and salt; whip it now gently with the egg-whisk, adding the juice of two lemons; when it begins to set, and is quite frothy (not too much so, however), stir in the fruits; place all into a mold, and surround it with ice.
CAKE.
Rules for Cake.—Have every thing ready before mixing the material—i. e., the ingredients all measured and prepared, and the tins buttered. The sooner the cake is mixed (after the ingredients are ready) and put into the oven, the better. Sift the flour, and have it dry. Mix baking-powder or cream of tartar, if used, well into the flour, passing it through the sieve several times, if particular. Roll the sugar; mix sugar and butter together to a cream. The eggs must then be very, very well beaten separately. If one person makes the cake, beat the yolks first. If soda is used, dissolve it in the milk, or, if no milk is used, in a little lukewarm water; add it the last thing, unless fruit is used, when it should always be rolled in flour, and added the last thing. Cake, to be light, should be baked slowly at first, until the batter is evenly heated all through. Many leave the oven door slightly open for the first ten or fifteen minutes. The prepared flour is especially good for cake.