The addition of starch, fecula, arrow-root, flour, meal, etc., spoils it. The proportions are, to a quart of milk or cream: from four to six eggs; from eight to fourteen ounces of pulverized sugar; essence, or chocolate, or fruit-jelly to flavor and color. Our receipt is for six eggs and fourteen ounces of sugar to a quart of milk.
Set the milk on the fire, and when it comes to a boil, mix well half the sugar and the essence with six yolks and three whites of eggs; beat the three other whites separately to a stiff froth. As soon as the milk rises, take it from the fire, put half the sugar in it and stir to melt it, then turn the mixture into it also, little by little, beating the while with an egg-beater; set on the fire, and take off at the first boiling. While on the fire it must be beaten gently, as, if it is allowed to boil, the eggs may curdle. As soon as off the fire, mix the three whites with the rest, beating with an egg-beater, just enough to mix the whole well; put in cold, salt water to cool, and then freeze.
The smaller the ice is broken and mixed with plenty of rock-salt, the quicker it freezes.
Custard.—Put four yolks of eggs in a bowl, then sprinkle flour on them, little by little, stirring and mixing well the while with a wooden spoon, and when the mixture is rather thick, stop sprinkling flour, but sprinkle milk, and mix again in the same way till the mixture is liquid; add sugar and essence to taste, beat the four whites to a stiff froth, mix them gently with the rest; butter a mould well, fill it about two-thirds full with the mixture, and set in a warm but not quick oven. Serve as soon as out of the oven. If intended to be served cold, omit the whites of eggs.
Fritters.—These are made with every kind of fruit, when ripe, peeled and stoned, or cored when necessary, and according to the kind. The fruit is used whole, such as strawberries and the like; or in slices, such as apples, pears, etc.; or in halves, like peaches, plums, etc. It may be used as soon as prepared; or may be soaked a few hours in a mixture of sugar, brandy, or rum, and lemon-rind.
Have batter for fritters made in advance, and while you are preparing the fruit heat the fat (see Frying), dip each fruit or each slice in batter, drop it in the fat, stir and turn over, and when done, turn into a colander, dust well with fine white or pulverized sugar, and serve as warm (or rather as hot) as possible. Even the best fritters served cold make a very poor dish. Besides fruit, the blossoms of the acacia and those of the violet make the most delicate fritters.
With Bread or Pain perdu.—Set one pint of milk on the fire with two ounces of sugar, and the rind of half a lemon, stir now and then, and when it rises add a few drops of essence to flavor, then take off and soak in it slices of bread, cut with a paste-cutter and about half an inch thick. When well soaked, drain; dip them in beaten egg, roll in bread-crumbs, and fry and serve as fritters.
Glazed Fruit—Oranges glazed.—Oranges or any other fruit glazed, when mounted in a pyramid, is called croque en bouche.
Peel the oranges; then divide the carpels and free them from the pith, and put them away in a warm place for a few hours; they may be left over night. Cut very fine wire in pieces about eight inches long, bend each piece at both ends, forming a hook; then run one end or hook through the carpel of orange, and hang it on a stick placed on something horizontally. In order not to spill any of the juice, hook the orange near the edge of that part that was the centre of the orange before being divided, and as the other end of the wire forms a hook also, it is easy to hang it.
Prepare syrup of sugar, and when at the sixth degree take it from the fire, dip each carpel of orange into it and hang it again, and so on for the whole. As soon as dry enough to handle them, which takes hardly half a minute, pull off the wire and serve when perfectly cold.