FoodNet

The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

1898

Page 219 · 3 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
B. Prune Shape. — Eight units (solid) of prunes soaked in 20 units of hot water for three hours, or stewed for one. Remove and stone. Oil a mould, decorate with sliced almonds, and lav the prunes in neatly. Put the water in which the prunes were soaked on the fire with 2 units of sugar and 2 units of chip or 1 of ground gelatine. Dissolve, add 2 units brandy, and a few drops of peach kernel e.ssence. Pour over the prunes, and put a plate on the top of the mould to prevent them floating. A border mould is best. Fill the centre with whipped cream. This may require a little more gela- tine. It is very nice made with tablet jellies, using the prune water to dissolve the tablet. 9. Sultana Shape. — Clean 12 units sultanas. Boil for a minute in water that will cover them. Pour away. Add 25 units boiling water, 4 units sugar, juice of a lemon, some cinnamon. Boil half- an-hoiir ; strain, and pulp the fruit. Dissolve 3 units chip or 1^ of ground gelatine in the juice, add the pulp, and 2 of brandy or rum and 2 of sherry. Let the whole cool, then whisk till a firm sponge. A few drops of cochineal may be added. Any dried fruit may be used this way. One unit of roselle or red currant jelly im- proves it. 10. Vanilla Cream. — Put 15 units of milk into an enamelled saucepan with 4 of sugar, 2 units of chip or 1 of ground gelatine, and a vanilla pod. Let it stand for half-an-hour. Heat till the gelatine is dissolved. Strain to 6* units of beaten yolk of egg, and stir over a slow fire, preferably in a hnin-mnrie, till it gets i|uite thick, taking care it does not curdle. Set in an oiled mould. Housekeeper and Cook 315 Jelliks. 1 Calf's Foot or Gelatine Jelly.— It is an immense saviiiRof trouble to make jellies with gelatine, especially as real calves teet are seldom to be had in India, and cow-heel is always coipidered a little rank. Sheep’s head and trotters make excellent jelly, but require care. But whatever the material used, the first operation is to boil whatever is used in water, until, when cold, it sets as a firm jelly, h'orty units of water for each foot, boiled for four hours and reduced to half, will be found correct (or, as has been said several times, 2 units of chip or 1 of ground gelatine to 20 units of ^yhen the former is set firm, remove every bit of fat (a cloth dipped in hot water is the best way), and put the jelly in a scrupu- lously clean saucepan with 6 units of sugar, the rind of 1 lemon, 1 unit 'of juice, and quarter a stick of cinnamon. Let the jelly dis- solve, but not get warm, and then stir in 1 unit white of egg and the shell. Crush the shell and beat with the white to a froth before mi.xing. Put over a clear fire, and boil fiercely for about two minutes, and set aside to settle. The whites of eggs only clear the jelly mechanically, that is, by imprisoning the atoms which give the cloudy look in a coating of albumen, which, setting firm with the heat (as white of egg always does), leaves the liquid clear. The yolks of eggs are oily, not albuminous, therefore they spoil jellies, though Indian cooks often put them in. The secret of clear jelly is to mix the whites of eggs so thoroughly with the liquid that when the boiling hardens them they act on every drop of it.Claret Jelly