Cassell's dictionary of cookery

When the exact quantity is coloured, pour it into the shape, and let it set quite firm before any more is poured into the mould. If possible, set the mould in some chopped ice, which will cause such a small quantity to set almost immediately. When the shape is quite set, add the remainder of the blancmange — only be careful how you fill the mould. If, for instance, you simply pour the blancmange in, especially if it is lukewarm, the fresh quantity will partially re-dissolve what has been set in the shape, and the white and red or white and green, as the case may be, will run into one another, and the effect will be quite spoilt. The best method of filling up the moulds is first to wait till the blancmange is nearly cold — of course avoiding waiting too long, as it would then set in the basin. Then take a spoon, and pour the first part into the mould a spoonful at a time ; this will settle gently down over the coloured part, but will not mix. After the mould has been filled by this means, say an inch deep, the whole may be gently poured in, taking care to pour very slowly, and to keep the vessel from which the blancmange is poured as Ixvi cassell's dictionary of cookery. close as possible to the mould, for if it be poured in a manner corresponding to frothing beer up in a glass it will probably break the coloured shape. There is a great art in turning out jellies from moulds. Of course, a very stiff jelly is easily turned out, but then stiff jelly is never good. The best moulds for jellies are copper ones tinned inside. The mould, after being taken out of the ice, should be placed for a few seconds in lukewarm water ; the dish into which the jelly is going to be turned should be placed upside down, so that the bottom of the mould comes exactly in the centre of the dish ; the two should be quickly turned over together, and very often the jelly will at once slip of its own accord. When the mould is first raised it should be only lifted an eighth of an inch ; should the jelly have slipped all round, the mould can be slowly raised ; should, however, the jelly have slipped only on one side, instantly put the mould close on to the dish again. One very good way of causing the jelly to slip is to take the dish and mould in both hands, keeping the mould firmly touching the dish, and raise the hands high in the air, the mould being' upright. Then suddenly bring the dish downwards with a jerk, and stojD dead short when the hands are lowered. The jelly itself, having of course acquired a momentum downwards, will have a tendency to go lower, and will often by this means slip from the mould into the plate. Indeed, turning out jellies requires a certain amount of pluck : a nervous cook is far more apt to fail than a strong-minded one. Some persons think that shaking and patting the mould assists ; very often, however, this patting results in breaking. "When earthenware moulds are used it is no use plunging them into warm water. Earthenware conveys heat so slowly that the result would be either to convey so little heat that no effect at all is produced, or so much that all the outside of the mould Avill run. In turning anything out of an earthenware mould the only way is to jerk it out as we have described.