The following is a receipt for making an Omelette soufflée, taken from a French cookery book. Break six eggs; separate the whites from the yolks, and beat up the latter with four ounces of grated lump-sugar, and a little orange-flower water, or the rind of a lemon cut very fine, or grated. Then beat the whites of the eggs into a froth, and mix them quickly with the yolks, and pour them into a dish in which two ounces of butter have been melted, and which is quite hot; hold a salamander over the eggs for about five minutes, when they will rise in blisters; then, sprinkling a little powdered sugar over the dish, serve it quite hot, without losing a moment, as, if it be allowed to cool, the puffed up part will fall, and the appearance of the dish will be spoiled. When this dish is made in England, the butter is generally melted in a frying-pan, into which the eggs are poured, and suffered to fry for a minute or two, after which the omelette is put into a hot dish, and set in the oven to rise. A little grated sugar is then sprinkled over it, and it is served immediately.
Apples and apricots cut in slices and dipped in a light batter make a very agreeable addition to a small dinner; and the flowers of the Judas tree, and vine leaves, sugared and steeped in brandy, and the young shoots of the vegetable marrow, all make nice dishes when dipped in batter and fried.
Frangipane is made by beating up two or three eggs, and then adding to them two spoonfuls of flour, mixed quite smooth with a little milk. Put the whole into a casserole, and set it on the fire for a quarter of an hour, shaking it continually that the frangipane may not burn. The dish may be flavoured with sugar, orange-flower water, or crushed macaroons; and it is eaten with tarts or preserved fruit.
Fromage à la crème is a very elegant addition to the dessert. It is made by taking a pint of new milk, and adding to it a spoonful of rennet, and keeping it warm till the curd rises; the curd is then carefully taken up without breaking it, and laid in a wicker basket, or on a sieve, to drain. When nearly all the whey has run off, it is served with cream poured round it, and sugar grated on the top.
For Syllabubs, to one quart of cream put the rinds and juice of two lemons, a teacupful of white wine, two table-spoonfuls of brandy, a little nutmeg, and sugar to the taste; and then whip them to a froth with a whisk.
A Devonshire syllabub, or junket, is made by putting a pint of cider, with two table-spoonfuls of brandy, and sugar to the taste, into a large bowl, and milking upon it till the bowl is nearly full. In twenty minutes some clotted cream is heaped up in the middle of the dish, and powdered cinnamon, grated nutmeg, and Harlequin comfits strewed over the top. When cider cannot be procured, half a pint of port is used instead, omitting the brandy; and when a cow is not accessible, lukewarm milk poured from a coffee-pot spout, held up as high as possible, will do almost as well.
For impromptu Cheesecakes. Take a quarter of a pound of butter, and the same quantity of pounded lump-sugar, two eggs well beaten, and the juice of a lemon, with the grated rind. Beat the butter into a cream, and mix the whole well together. Then put some light puff paste in pattypans, and drop a little of the mixture into each. Another way of making impromptu cheesecakes is with butter, sugar, and sweet almonds, taking of each a quarter of a pound, and adding the yolks of four eggs, with the white of two, and the grated rind of a lemon.
Common Cheesecakes made with curd take more time to prepare, but are, I think, better; they are made by turning some milk with rennet into curd, as if for making cheese, and then beating three quarters of a pound of the curd, which should be quite dry so as to crumble, with five ounces of butter till the mixture is quite smooth. Two ounces of sweet almonds and five or six bitter ones, pounded in a mortar, and mixed with four ounces of lump-sugar, crushed and sifted, should be added; and the whole should be moistened with the yolks of four, and the whites of two eggs beaten up with three spoonfuls of cream, two of brandy, and a little nutmeg. The pattypans should be rather large, and rubbed with butter before the paste is put into them, and the space left for the curd should be filled quite full. These cheesecakes should be baked about twenty minutes, and they are excellent. As I have said you are to line your pattypans with puff paste, you will probably now ask how it is to be made. There are numerous receipts given in the cookery books, and I really don't know which is the best; but I will tell you how I have seen most excellent paste made when I was a girl, by one of the best plain cooks I ever met with.