Dip the mold quickly into warm (not hot) water; wipe it dry, place the dish over the top of the mold, and turn them over together. If the jelly fails to slip out, rub the mold with a cloth wrung out of hot water. It takes only a low degree of heat to melt jelly, and if too much is used the fine points and edges will be destroyed. Do not unmold jelly until it is time to serve it. Do not shake the mold in trying to get it free, or the jelly is liable to break.
TO ORNAMENT MOLDS
Lay whatever fancy pieces are used for the decoration carefully in place on the bottom of the mold. With a spoon add only enough jelly to moisten them; if too much is used, the pieces will float out of place. Let the jelly harden and fix the decoration; then add as much as will make a layer one half inch thick; let that set; then place the material which is to fill the center. If it is a bird, or anything in one piece, add a little jelly to fix it in place; then fill up the mold. If the material is a soft substance, set in the double mold (see [below]); or, if one is not at hand, add a few spoonfuls at a time of the filling, leaving a space of one half an inch around the sides, and fill this with jelly. Proceed in this way until the mold is full, having the top covered with jelly, so that when unmolded it will form a complete case. If ornament is used on the sides of the mold, arrange the decoration when the mold is filled to the right height, dip the pieces in jelly to make them adhere, and cover them very slowly at first, so they will not float off. When the filling is to be in alternate layers with jelly, proceed in the same way, adding one layer at a time, and letting each one harden before the next is placed. The mold should not be moved while being filled; one layer should not become too hard before the next one is added, and no dampness must settle on them. Any of these causes will make the jelly liable to separate when unmolded. If the mold is placed on ice, as directed, the jelly hardens quickly, and the filling is soon accomplished.
DOUBLE MOLDS
For salads, and also in many cases for sweet jellies, it is easier to use a double mold. If one is not at hand two Charlotte Russe molds may be substituted, or any two molds or tins of the same shape, one of which is an inch smaller than the other. Place the larger one on ice, and pour into it enough jelly to make a layer on the bottom the same thickness as the width of space between the two molds. When it is set, place the smaller mold, filled with ice, on it; and fill the space between the two with jelly. When that has set, remove with a spoon the ice from the small mold, and pour in carefully a little warm water. It can then be easily lifted out. Be careful not to have the water too warm. Fill the space left by the small mold with the material to be used, leaving a space on top to cover with jelly—to encase it. Another way of molding jellies double, besides using the double mold and the method given above in ornamenting molds, is to fill the mold entirely with jelly, and when it has hardened, scoop out with a teaspoon, heated in hot water and wiped dry, enough of the center to give the space desired. This has to be done very carefully, as there is danger of the sides falling in. (See page [386].)
DECORATIONS FOR MEAT JELLY
DAISY DESIGN
Cut a hard-boiled egg into slices one eighth of an inch thick. With a pastry-bag tube or a small round vegetable-cutter stamp circles from the yolk. Cut the white strips diagonally, so they form diamond-shaped pieces. Lay a round piece of yolk in the mold, and the white pieces around it to simulate a daisy; place small pieces of parsley beside it, and use the stem of parsley for the stem of the daisy. This decoration fits very well in a Charlotte Russe mold, or in individual molds. Make two or three daisies on the large mold, only one on the small ones.
