FoodNetArchive

Cooking for profit

1886

Page 338

Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
A few cooks will carry a small assortment of moulds along with them when they travel and if they remain for years in the same city may acquire a large collection ; this is not the rule, however, and when a party is to be provided for on short notice the cook must either pick up some such orna- mental objects as plaster images or toy birds and animals and make his own moulds in plaster of paris, or else make designs that do not require moulded figures, as can well be done according to the following showing. The following is the outline of a piece that was put up with a large pat- tern of ornamentation, suitable for the purpose of these instructions. It is a wooden stand in the first place covered first with a smooth coating of stearine, then bordered and deco- rated with wax flowers and leaves. On top of the stand is a large platter containing a decorated galantine of turkey. To obtain the wooden stands apply to a cabinet maker, and have them made of a size to hold the dishes you intend to use. There should be a rim of wooden hooping around the edge both to hold the dish and to give room for the ornaments. These stands will very likely cost about one dollar each. They may be of differ- ent sizes, the stems measuring froir six to twelve inches in height. 186 COOKING FOR PROFIT. Fig. 2. Galantine de Dinde siir Socle, (Boned Turkey in Jelly on Wax Stand, Magnolia Pattern). By "Jessiip Whitehead. Served at a terrapin supper given by Mrs. Robt. J. Lowry (Miss Markham), at Atlanta, Ga. the stand, melt either wax, or parrafine, or To cover some w^hite stearine, or mutton tallow, or a mix ture of wax and tallow. White wax can be and is used in that way and is cleanly, but it is expensive and hard to make a smooth surface with, on account of the high degree of heat required to keep it in a melted state. Mutton fat mixed with wax is a good material, but better still is the same stearine that candles are made of; it does not grease the lingers and has no smell. Wax costs from fifty cents to a dollar a pound while candles can be bougt at eight pounds for a dollar. Melt in a tin pan and pour it over the stand with a spoon. When the wood is everywhere covered hold the stand in front of a fire, turning it about while the surplus fat drips off and leaves a smooth, even surface; then, when the stand has become cold and white take a hot knife and smooth off the edges and ridges that remain. COOKING FOR PROFIT. 187 Fig. 3. Tree Designs for Game Pieces. But if the design is to be a tree select a natural bough from a tree or bush, something that branches hand- somely like a deer's horns with room in the forks to place a piece of wood as large as a plate or dish. Set the butt of it in a wooden bottom like that shown for the other kind of stand and fasten the upper shelf in the forks where the boar's head is to be, then proceed to coat over the entire stand and branches with stear- ine as in the other case. Coral branches and sea-weed designs can be prepared in a similar manner. When the stand is thus far prepared proceed to cover it with wax leaves, fruit, berries, flowers or any orna- mental shapes that may suit the sub- ject; the tree stand may be decorated with leaves and fruit on every twig. Wax Leaves and Flowers.