The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

stuck into the tongue. Three or four bay-leaves, which should previously be washed and rubbed over with a little oil, should be added to the flower. Oiling a bay-leaf produces a striking resemblance to the leaf of a camellia. Glaze is also used for ham. On “great occasions, ” such as that of a child’s birthday, a very pretty device can be formed on the ham by means of a little melted clarified butter, such as “ Many happy returns of the day.” Housekeepers would themselves do well to try this very simple inexpensive form of ornament. It is so easy, as I have said, to practice on a tea-tray without lvaste, and there is a satisfaction in sending a dish to table that looks really nice. Sometimes at Christmas hams are ornamented with the usual devices, such as “ A Happy Christmas,” or later on, “A Happy New Year.” A pretty addition to the piping is to colour a small quantity of clarified butter pink with a little cochineal. Say, for instance, we have got a ham which has been glazed. The edges are surrounded with a border of white piping like the outside edge of a piece of lace. Colour a very little clarified butter pink, place it in a paper funnel, and drop little pink dots on each point of the border. This has a very pretty effect. Sets of tins are sold for the purpose of piping and icing. A complete set, however, is rather expensive. In glazing chickens and turkeys, when the glaze has got cold, a great improvement to the appearance of the dish will be found by filling in the hollow parts, such as by the wings and the spaces between the legs and breast, with deep dark-coloured green double parsley, and some stars of aspic jelly can be placed on the breast, and the base of the dish surrounded with aspic jelly, parsley, cut lemons, etc. A still higher-class ornamental base for cold fowl, cold game, etc., can be made by the addition of plovers’ eggs, some crayfish and truffles. Of course a garnish of tins kind is very expensive. GOLD-WATER, DANTZIC. — This liqueur is famed not only for its delicious flavour, but also for its elegant appearance. The little tiny pieces of gold-leaf floating in it always have a very pretty effect. Gold-water can of course be drunk as an ordinary liqueur, but it will also make a very pretty mould of jelly. In making a mould of jelly from goldwater, the cook must first have a small quantity of jelly that will bear the addition of an equal bulk of liqueur, but the jelly must be perfectly bright. The essential feature of the mould of jelly is that the little pieces of gold-leaf should show in the jelly. The goldwater should not be added till the jelly itself is on the point of setting. The liqueur and the jelly should be well mixed, and poured into the mould when it is embedded in ice. It would be as well in making this pretty dish to take the precaution to turn out the mould of jelly as we recommended under the heading “Chartreuse, Yellow” (see Chartreuse, Yellow). In ornamenting a mould of jelly made from goldwater a very pretty border can be placed round the dish in which the jelly is placed as follows : Get a few artificial gilt flowers, rather small, and place them round the mould of jelly alternately with some crystallised greengages. The gilt flowers match well with the gold-leaf in the jelly, and the dark green will set both off to great advantage.