The encyclopædia of practical cookery

Cocoa-nut Salad. — Peel the Cocoa-nut as evenly as possible, cut it into small slips, put these into a glass dish, pour a sufficient quantity of brandy over to cover them, and soak them for twenty-four hours. A large plate or dish should be placed over the glass dish to keep in the goodness of the brandy. At the end of the twenty-four hours dust a small quantity of caster sugar over the Cocoa-nut, and serve it. Cocoa-nut Snow. — Pare a Cocoa-nut, let it steep in cold water for a time, and then grate it. Peel nine or ten good-sized ripe and sweet oranges, scrape off carefully all the inner white rind, divide the oranges into natural sections (do not cut them, pull them apart), then with a spoon tear or cut each of these into three, and remove the pips. Put a layer of these little pieces at the bottom of a glass bowl, pour two or three dessert-spoonfuls of sherry over them and dredge with plenty of powdered white sugar. Add a layer of grated Cocoa-nut, Cocoa-nuts — continued. and a layer of slices of red bananas, laid close together ; continue those layers alternately till the bowl is full, always adding wine and sugar to the layers of oranges. The ten oranges will require about two glasses of sherry. When the bowl is filled, heap it high with grated Cocoa-nut, sprinkle sugar on top, and ornament with slices of bananas cut crosswise. Serve at once, or the fruit, especially the oranges, will spoil. Cocoa-nut Sponge Cakes. — Put Jib. of sugar and the yolks of six eggs into a basin, beat them well, and add 4oz. of dried flour, 1 teaspoonful each of essence of lemon and salt, and the half of a nutmeg grated ; then beat in the whites of the six eggs whipped to a froth, and the grated white part of a Cocoa-nut. Have ready some square tins lined with buttered paper, put the mixture in these to about lin. in depth, put them into a sharp oven, and bake for half-an-hour. Take them out when done, cut them up into squares or shapes, and they are ready for use. They may be iced over, or not, as desired. Cocoa-nut Sponge Pudding. — Put 2 teacupfuls of milk into a saucepan, boil it, and pour it while hot over 1 teacupful of grated Cocoa-nut and 2 teacupfuls of stale breadcrumbs in a basin, and let it stand for several minutes ; then add a flavouring of nutmeg and 1 teacupful of crushed loaf sugar, stir well, add the yolks of three eggs and 1 tablespoonful of rose-water, and lastly the whites of the three eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Pour the mixture into a dish with a thin coating of puff paste round the edge, and bake in a moderate oven for forty-five minutes, covering it over with greased paper if it should be browning too quickly. Take it out, dust the surface with powdered sugar, and serve hot or cold, as required. Cocoa-nut Stickjaw.— Put 71b. of sugar and Joz. of cream of tartar into a sugar boiler, and boil it to the crack degree (see Sugar-boiling) ; then remove the boiler from the fire, and stir in a small Cocoa-nut cut into thin slices. Hold the boiler in front of the fire for a few minutes until the Cocoa-nut is well mixed in. Turn the mixture out on to a slab divided into squares with small tins, let the sugar get cold, and it is ready for use. The Cocoa-nuts should be slightly dried before being mixed in.