Fruit Creams.—Dissolve 1 oz. gelatine in 1½ pint good milk, and then let it come very gently to the boil, having sweetened it to taste, and then strain through a hair sieve. When quite cool, add ½ pint of the juice of any fresh fruit (carefully excluding the pulp) to the milk, remembering that the brighter the fruit the better the effect. Stir until well mixed, and add 1 glass brandy, which must be thoroughly incorporated with the milk and gelatine. Beat with an egg whisk until quite stiff, then put in a mould, and when cold turn out. In the very hot weather, sometimes more than 1 oz. gelatine is necessary to make the cream quite firm. If no fruit juice is handy, some of the raspberry or strawberry acid, made in the summer from fresh fruit, makes a very good substitute, only it must be diluted and sweetened to make the proper quantity of liquid, otherwise the mould would not be full. Fresh orange or lemon juice also answers very well. In the hot weather this cream is much improved if imbedded in ice before serving. It is necessary to whip this mixture a very long time, in order to give it the proper honeycomb appearance.
Fruit in Jelly.—Prepare a very clear transparent jelly, and flavour it very delicately with maraschino. Place a mould upon ice, and put into it a layer about 1 in. thick of the jelly; when set arrange some fruit of different kinds, and in some sort of order or grouping put spoonfuls of the jelly between, and at the sides of the fruit, to keep it in position. It must be done slowly, allowing the jelly to set before adding more fruit. Lastly, add another layer of the jelly, and leave it to get quite firm. It is an improvement to steep the fruit in maraschino or brandy (according to the flavouring of the jelly) before putting it into the jelly.
Fruit Macédoine.—Use preserved fruits, as peaches, plums, greengages, cherries, apricots, pineapples, &c. Let them be nicely cut and arranged in a glass dish, pour the juice or liquor in which each has been preserved together into a very clean stewpan, add sugar until sweet enough, and a few drops of brandy or liqueur; let this boil gently until sufficiently thick, stirring it during the time, and skimming if necessary; the syrup must be quite clear. When done, pour it over the fruit, and let it remain until cold, when it is ready to serve. Macédoines, properly so called, are made in a mould with clear jelly; for making in this way, apples may be used, cut into different shapes, and dyed with different colours. To do this, the pieces of apple must be boiled in a very light syrup, some coloured with a little cochineal, some with saffron. When the fruit has well taken the colour, drain it well before putting it into the mould, as the least drop of syrup would prevent the jelly being clear. Some pieces of the apples should be white; a few bits of greengages, angelica, or brandy cherries may also be used with these and the coloured apples, and will improve the flavour. To place these or any other fruits for the macédoine, first pour into the mould a little of the jelly, which must be good, clear wine jelly, and set it to freeze; then arrange symmetrically any variety of fruits you wish to use, pour in some more jelly, again set it to freeze, and so proceed till the mould is filled to the top. Let it freeze till wanted, then dip a cloth in hot water, and rub the mould all over, turning it into the dish in which it is to be served. The greater the variety of fruits the better the macédoine will be, whether made with jelly or in syrup.
Fruit Pudding.—May be made of fruit of all kinds, fresh or bottled. If fresh fruit is used, it must be stewed with water and sugar until it is about as much cooked as it would be in a fruit pie. If bottled fruit is used, the syrup only should be boiled with sugar, and the fruit simmered in it for a minute or two. Take some stale bread, cut a round piece the size of half a crown, and lay it at the bottom of a basin, and arrange around it strips or fingers of bread about ½ in. wide, remembering to leave a space the width of the finger between the strips. When the fruit is ready, and while it is still hot, put it in, a spoonful at a time, so as not to displace the bread, and, as a further means to this end, put the heavier part of the fruit (the pulp and skin and stones, if there are any) at the bottom of the mould, and the juice last of all. Cover the top entirely with stale bread, cut into very small dice; lay a plate on the pudding, put a weight on the plate, preserving the juice that rises above the plate, and set the pudding in a cool place till wanted. If it is well pressed down it will turn out in a shape, and will be found an excellent pudding. This dish is served at the hydropathic establishments as a substitute for fruit pies and tarts, as pastry is not considered wholesome. In cold weather it will turn out if it is made 3-4 hours before it is wanted; but in warm weather it will need to be made overnight.
Fruit Tart.—Stone some cherries, greengages, or plums, and stew them for 1 hour with plenty of sugar and ½ tumblerful water. Make a short paste with the white of 1 and the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. sugar, a pinch of salt, a little water and sufficient flour. Roll it out to the thickness of a penny piece, line a mould with it, uniting the joins with white of egg, fill it with rice and bake it. When done remove the rice, put in the stewed fruit, and serve.
Fruit Trifle.—Any kind, or 2 or 3 kinds of fruit, will do for this dish. You can put at the bottom of the dish a layer of fresh raspberries, then a few slices of stale sponge cake, soaked in wine, would be an improvement, but the wine may be omitted; then a layer of stewed red currants, then a few ratafias, now a few stewed cherries, and over these a little boiled custard, and on top of this, if convenient, a whip of cream in form of a pyramid, and over this a few hundreds-and-thousands—a tiny comfit, of various colours, sold by confectioners. In country establishments it is not difficult to get variety of fruit, and cream is generally in the house, or can easily be got. It is an improvement to many dishes, but when it cannot be had the custard alone will do. The top can be ornamented with almonds, blanched and cut into spikes, or with candied peel stamped out with a tin cutter in leaves or any other design, or the hundreds-and-thousands strewed over.
Frying Batter.—Beat up together 2 tablespoonfuls brandy, the yolks of 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful olive oil, and 4 or 5 tablespoonfuls cold water. Amalgamate with this 3 tablespoonfuls of fine flour, and a good pinch of salt. Beat the mixture 5-10 minutes, adding a little more water if too thick. When ready to use it, stir into it lightly and quickly the whites of 2 eggs whisked to a froth.
Furmity.—Old housed dry wheat will not suit for this, it must be new wheat, grown and threshed that summer, and the newer the wheat the better the furmity. Take about 2 large tablespoonfuls wheat to each basinful milk, and in an iron saucepan boil the same till the wheat is tender. Mix 1 tablespoonful flour with a little cold milk, add that, together with a morsel of salt, a little sugar, and allspice, to the wheat; stir the pan till it boils again, when it is ready. The quantity of allspice, sugar, and flour, to decide the thickness of the furmity, depends on taste.
Garibaldi Cream.—Make a cream with 1 qt. milk, 9 sheets best French gelatine, sugar to taste, and the yolks of 8 eggs. Flavour it with any essence you like, strain it, and divide it into 3 basins. Colour the first a deep red with cochineal, the second green with spinach greening, and leave the third its original colour. These operations must be done while the cream is still warm, and it must be kept so in a bain-marie during the following process. Lay a shape in water or on ice, pour some of the red cream into it, to the thickness of less than ½ in. When this is set, pour in a similar layer of the plain cream, and when this is set pour in a layer of the green cream. Go on pouring in layers in the same way, until the mould is filled. When the cream is quite set turn it out and serve. Care must be taken, in pouring in each kind of cream, to get each layer the same thickness. This is best done by measuring with water how much liquid will go to make a layer of the required thickness, and then getting a cup which holds just that quantity, and using it to measure the cream.
Génoise Pastry.—Take ¼ lb. freshest butter, put it in a bowl, and warm it until it can be beaten with a spoon; add to it 4 oz. powdered loaf sugar, and beat the two together until a smooth white cream is obtained, then add one egg, and keep on beating the mixture till it is smooth again, then add 3 more eggs in the same manner. The germ of the eggs should be removed. Lastly, incorporate quickly ¼ lb. fine flour with the mixture, and as soon as it is smooth, pour it out to the thickness of ½ in. on a buttered flat tin, which must be put into the oven at once. When done (in about 10-15 minutes) turn out the slab of Génoise, and put it to cool, under side uppermost, on a sieve. There is a great knack in beating this pasting to prevent its curdling. Should this happen, it can generally be remedied by beating as quickly as possible until the mixture is smooth again. Take a slab of Génoise, spread on the top of it the thinnest possible coating of apricot jam, then a coating of chocolate icing. Put it into a very hot oven for rather less than a minute, take it out, and place it in a cold place to get cool. Then cut it up with a sharp knife in any shapes liked.