The greatest desideratum a person can wish to attain
in this art, is the making of good puff-paste. For
this purpose, be always careful in choosing good, firm,
and solid butter. That which is short and crumbly
when broken, is seldom of any use for puff-paste.
There are other butters, which have a soft and oily
feel, without any degree of toughness when worked
or moulded; these should not be used, as they are
generally poor and weak. In the summer season, the
softness of butter is no criterion, as the heat naturally
renders it so.
The method of making butter firm and solid in sum-
mer, not being generally known, I will give plain
directions, before entering further on the subject of
making puff-paste. Get a pail of cold spring water,
into which throw three or four pounds of pounded
ice, previously washed, and half an ounce of pow-
dered saltpetre, or a handful of salt; break your butter
into small pieces, put it in the pail of ice- and- water,
let it remain about twenty minutes or half an hour,
and it will be quite firm and solid; it should then be
well moulded on a marble slab, or paste-board, and
6
CONFECTIONARY
again immersed in the iced water, until you are ready
to use it, when it should be pressed in a clean cloth or
napkin.
If ice cannot be easily procured, the following mix-
ture may be used with advantage: one ounce of chrys-
talised muriate of ammonia, one ounce of nitrate of
potass, and two ounces of sulphate of soda: powder
each separately, and throw them into just sufficient
cold spring water for the butter to float freely. When
you take the butter out for using, wash it well in cold
spring water.
If these powders are put into a half pint of water, and
a phial bottle containing cold water be immersed in it,
ice will be produced, although it is the hottest day in
summer. The water in the phial must be below that
of the mixture.
Confectioners, in hot weather, generally steep their
butter in cold spring water, for the night before using,
and place it in the coldest part that can be found about
the premises. Others add to the water a little car-
bonate of ammonia, (volatde salt,) and common salt,
of about two ounces to a large pan of water; but this
is not a good plan, as I have seen butter spoiled by
it, especially if it is not very good. Pure sal am-
moniac should be used instead, with cold boiled water.
The Egyptians used to put water, which was previously
boiled, into earthen jars, and expose them all night
on the upper part of their houses to the air to cool, which
they removed before sunrise, and buried in the ground.
V a similar method, water is converted into ice, in
the East Indies.
The extreme coldness of the night air in these hot
countries thus enables the inhabitants to cool water for
many domestic purposes.
PUFF PASTE.
A pound and a quarter of flour, and one pound of
butter✪ Puff Paste. — Or, one pound of flour, one pound of butter.
MADE EASY.
7
Page 1 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1890. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The greatest desideratum a person can wish to attain in this art, is the making of good puff-paste. For this purpose, be always careful in choosing good, firm, and solid butter. That which is short and crumbly when broken, is seldom of any use for puff-paste. There are other butters, which have a soft and oily feel, without any degree of toughness when worked or moulded; these should not be used, as they are generally poor and weak. In the summer season, the softness of butter is no criterion, as the heat naturally renders it so.
The method of making butter firm and solid in summer, not being generally known, I will give plain directions, before entering further on the subject of making puff-paste. Get a pail of cold spring water, into which throw three or four pounds of pounded ice, previously washed, and half an ounce of powdered saltpetre, or a handful of salt; break your butter into small pieces, put it in the pail of ice- and- water, let it remain about twenty minutes or half an hour, and it will be quite firm and solid; it should then be well moulded on a marble slab, or paste-board, and
again immersed in the iced water, until you are ready to use it, when it should be pressed in a clean cloth or napkin.
If ice cannot be easily procured, the following mixture may be used with advantage: one ounce of crystallised muriate of ammonia, one ounce of nitrate of potass, and two ounces of sulphate of soda: powder each separately, and throw them into just sufficient cold spring water for the butter to float freely. When you take the butter out for using, wash it well in cold spring water.
If these powders are put into a half pint of water, and a phial bottle containing cold water be immersed in it, ice will be produced, although it is the hottest day in summer. The water in the phial must be below that of the mixture.
Confectioners, in hot weather, generally steep their butter in cold spring water, for the night before using, and place it in the coldest part that can be found about the premises. Others add to the water a little carbonate of ammonia, (volatile salt,) and common salt, of about two ounces to a large pan of water; but this is not a good plan, as I have seen butter spoiled by it, especially if it is not very good. Pure sal ammoniac should be used instead, with cold boiled water. The Egyptians used to put water, which was previously boiled, into earthen jars, and expose them all night on the upper part of their houses to the air to cool, which they removed before sunrise, and buried in the ground. By a similar method, water is converted into ice, in the East Indies.
The extreme coldness of the night air in these hot countries thus enables the inhabitants to cool water for many domestic purposes.
PUFF PASTE.
A pound and a quarter of flour, and one pound of butter. — Or, one pound of flour, one pound of butter.
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Puff Paste