Put a pound of either crushed loaf sugar or brown sugar into a small preserving-pan, over a clear fire. Add a gill of water, and dissolve the sugar in it. When it is quite melted add from three to four ounces of fresh butter, and stir gently and continually over the fire for fifteen minutes, being very careful not to let the mixture burn. Drop a bit into cold TOFFEE 5°7 water, and try if it breaks crisp and clear between the teeth ; if it does, the Toffee is ready. Pour it on to well-buttered dishes, plates, or baking sheets, adding a little lemon-juice✪ Toffee to each. Before the Toffee gets cold, mark out with a sharp knife the dice or other shapes in which you wish to divide it, for it will not break easily afterwards. Shred almonds can be added before the Toffee is poured on to the plates. Or treacle can be used instead of the sugar. 5°8 CHAPTER XIX. HORS D’CEUVRES— TOASTS AND SAVOURIES— CHEESE. Hors d’CEuvres. — The custom of serving Hoi’s d’CEuvres, or small portions of cold smoked or pickled fish, raw ham or sausage, reindeer’s tongue, pickled cucumber or gherkins, is entirely foreign, although it has become fashionable in England. Hors d’CEuvres reach their highest development in Russia, where they are served whilst the guests wait for dinner in an ante-room. Russians will eat a little of several of these dishes, and will drink vodka or liqueur with them before beginning dinner at all. Hors d’CEuvres are supposed to act as a whet to appetite. But, to quote Sir Henry Thompson, “ for individuals “ endowed with fairly good appetite and digestion both pickled “ food and spirit are undesirable, especially on an empty “ stomach. And if appetite and digestion are wanting, the “ stimulant of the Hors d’CEuvres is unnatural and prejudicial. “ They have been introduced here chiefly, I think, because their “ presence, being- demanded by foreign gastronomic taste, is “ supposed to be therefore necessarily correct. But the active “ exercise and athletic habits of the Englishman, his activity of “ body and mind in commercial pursuits, all tend to bring him “ to the dinner-table wanting food rather than appetite, and in “ no mind to ask for ‘whets’ to increase it.” (Food and Feed- ing, page 148.) Sir Henry Thompson’s authority is supported by TVyvern, who doubts whether nineteen people out of twenty like their Hors d’CEuvres, or would touch them if left entirely to themselves in the matter. They only adopt the practice because others do it. Oysters, the one delicacy peculiar to England, which is served before the soup, do not form a Hors HORS D’CEUVRES 5°9 d’CEuvi-e at all. Oysters are, to use Sir Henry Thompson’s words, the first dish of dinner and not its precursor.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Put a pound of either crushed loaf sugar or brown sugar into a small preserving-pan, over a clear fire. Add a gill of water, and dissolve the sugar in it. When it is quite melted add from three to four ounces of fresh butter, and stir gently and continually over the fire for fifteen minutes, being very careful not to let the mixture burn. Drop a bit into cold TOFFEE 5°7 water, and try if it breaks crisp and clear between the teeth ; if it does, the Toffee is ready. Pour it on to well-buttered dishes, plates, or baking sheets, adding a little lemon-juice to each. Before the Toffee gets cold, mark out with a sharp knife the dice or other shapes in which you wish to divide it, for it will not break easily afterwards. Shred almonds can be added before the Toffee is poured on to the plates. Or treacle can be used instead of the sugar. 5°8 CHAPTER XIX. HORS D’CEUVRES— TOASTS AND SAVOURIES— CHEESE. Hors d’CEuvres. — The custom of serving Hoi’s d’CEuvres, or small portions of cold smoked or pickled fish, raw ham or sausage, reindeer’s tongue, pickled cucumber or gherkins, is entirely foreign, although it has become fashionable in England. Hors d’CEuvres reach their highest development in Russia, where they are served whilst the guests wait for dinner in an ante-room. Russians will eat a little of several of these dishes, and will drink vodka or liqueur with them before beginning dinner at all. Hors d’CEuvres are supposed to act as a whet to appetite. But, to quote Sir Henry Thompson, “ for individuals “ endowed with fairly good appetite and digestion both pickled “ food and spirit are undesirable, especially on an empty “ stomach. And if appetite and digestion are wanting, the “ stimulant of the Hors d’CEuvres is unnatural and prejudicial. “ They have been introduced here chiefly, I think, because their “ presence, being- demanded by foreign gastronomic taste, is “ supposed to be therefore necessarily correct. But the active “ exercise and athletic habits of the Englishman, his activity of “ body and mind in commercial pursuits, all tend to bring him “ to the dinner-table wanting food rather than appetite, and in “ no mind to ask for ‘whets’ to increase it.” (Food and Feeding, page 148.) Sir Henry Thompson’s authority is supported by TVyvern, who doubts whether nineteen people out of twenty like their Hors d’CEuvres, or would touch them if left entirely to themselves in the matter. They only adopt the practice because others do it. Oysters, the one delicacy peculiar to England, which is served before the soup, do not form a Hors HORS D’CEUVRES 5°9 d’CEuvi-e at all. Oysters are, to use Sir Henry Thompson’s words, the first dish of dinner and not its precursor.

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Toffee

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book