The father of cooks, the great Careme, divides syrup, or the "cooking of sugar," as he calls it, and as every practitioner has called it since, into six degrees; each one corresponding to the six different states into which the sugar passes, while on the fire, from the time it begins to boil to that when it begins to turn caramel or burned.
A copper pan is the best and handiest of all; it can be done in another, but it is more difficult; the sugar turns brown before being thoroughly cooked or reduced. Always use good loaf sugar. If it be necessary to clarify it, do it in the following way: for five pounds of sugar, put the white of an egg in a bowl with half a pint of water, and beat well with an egg-beater; then turn into it nearly three pints of water, stir, put away half a pint of it to be used afterward. Then add to the rest five pounds of sugar, in lumps, set on a rather slow fire, and as soon as it comes to a boil, mix with it the half pint put away, little by little, skimming off carefully the while, and when no more scum gathers on the surface, strain through a towel and commence the working. If the sugar does not require to be clarified, that is, when it is good white sugar, set five pounds of it on the fire, in a copper pan, with nearly two quarts of water, and skim off carefully as soon as the scum gathers. It may be stirred a little to cause the sugar to melt evenly, but as soon as it commences to boil, stop stirring, else it will turn white and stringy. It passes from one state or degree to another in a very short time, and must be watched closely. It is at the first degree when, by dipping a piece of wood into it so as to retain a drop of it at the end, and which you touch with another piece of wood—if, by pulling them apart, slowly and immediately, instead of separating it at once, it forms a thread, but that soon breaks. It marks then 34 at the hydrometer. It is at the second degree when, by repeating the same process, the kind of thread formed does not break as easily as the first. It marks then 36. It is at the third degree when, by dipping a skimmer in it, holding it horizontally and striking it on the pan, then blowing on it, it forms small bubbles. It marks 39 at the hydrometer. It is at the fourth degree by trying again with the skimmer after a short time, and when, instead of forming bubbles, it will fly away like threads. It marks then 41. The fifth degree is when, by dipping a piece of wood in the sugar and quickly dipping it also in a bowl of cold water, shaking it at the same time and then biting it; if it breaks easily between the teeth, but at the same time is sticky, it has attained the fifth degree, and marks 44. A few boilings more and it is at the sixth degree, and by trying in the same way as the preceding one, it will break under the teeth, but will not stick to them. Above 44 the mark is uncertain, the syrup being too thick; it passes from that state to that of caramel; is colored, and would burn immediately. When that happens, make burnt sugar with it according to direction.
Apples au Beurre.—Peel and core the apples with a fruit-corer. Cut slices of stale bread about one-quarter of an inch in thickness, and then cut them again of a round shape with a paste-cutter and of the size of the apples. Spread some butter on each slice and place an apple on each also. Butter a bakepan, place the apples and bread in, fill the hole made in the middle of the apple to core it with sugar; place on the top of the sugar and on each a piece of butter the size of a hazel-nut, and set in a warm, but not quick oven. When about half done, fill the hole again with sugar and a pinch of cinnamon, place butter on top as before, and finish the cooking, serve warm. When done, they may be glazed with apple-jelly and put back in the oven for two minutes; the dish is more sightly.
Flambantes.—Lay apples in a saucepan, after being peeled and cored, add sugar to taste, and water enough just to cover them, also a stick of cinnamon, and set on a rather slow fire, and leave till done. Take them from the pan carefully and without breaking them; place them on a tin or silver dish, forming a kind of pyramid or mound; turn the juice over them, dust with sugar, pour good rum all over, set it on fire, and serve immediately and warm. As soon as on fire it is placed on the table, and the host must baste with the rum so as to keep it burning till all the alcohol is exhausted, then serve.
The following cut represents either a dish of apples flambantes before being in flames, or apples with rice.
In Fritters.—Peel, core, and cut apples in slices, and then proceed as directed for fritters. Serve hot.
With Wine.—Proceed as for apples flambantes in every particular except that you slice the apples, and instead of pouring rum over, you pour Madeira wine, and do not set it on fire.
Meringués.—Peel, quarter, and core half a dozen apples; set them on the fire in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of water; stir occasionally till done, then mix with them two or three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and when cold put them on a tin or silver dish; arrange them as a mound on the middle of the dish. Beat three whites of eggs to a stiff froth, and mix three ounces of pulverized sugar with them; spread two thirds of that mixture all over and around the apples, smooth it with a knife; then put the other third in a paper funnel, and by squeezing it out, decorate the dish according to fancy. You may squeeze some small heaps of the mixture here and there, over and around the dish, or squeeze it out all around, giving it a rope-like shape. Dust with sugar, and put in an oven at 250 degrees for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Serve warm in the dish in which it has been baked.