Paul Richards' book of breads, cakes, pastries, ices and sweetmeats

COLORS. 68.— COCHINEAL. Take one ounce of cochineal; Half ounce of alum; Half ounce of salts of tartar; Two ounces of cream of tartar. Powder all well together and add three pints of water. Let come to a boil in a granite or copper vessel. Add eight ounces sugar and stir till cool. Mix with half a gill of alcohol, strain and put in bottles; cork and put away for use. 69.— CARMINE. Powder one ounce of carmine; dilute with half a gill of water and half a gill alcohol and put in bottles. 70.— YELLOW. One ounce of powdered Turmeric and half a pint of water and alcohol. Put in bottle, let stand in a warm place for three days or more and filter for use. 71.— SAFFRON YELLOW. Safiron has a pronounced flavor of its own, and is not suitable for all purposes. Boil one ounce of Spanish saffron slowly in one pint of water, till it is reduced to half a pint. Mix with half a gill alcohol, strain and bottle. 72.— GREEN. Green color can be made from the juice of spinach, by chopping and pressing the juice in a towel, and mixing with some syrup and a pinch of alum. But it is better and more practical to buy it from responsible dealers. 73.— COLORED SUGAR. Colored sugar in the best form. Nonpareil Sugar, can be made only by the practical candy maker with machinery. But plain colored sugar may be made from coarse granulated sugar. Sift the sugar to remove the fine grains, put in a shallow pan and add some desired color, mix well together, set in a warm place and stir till the sugar is dry. Put in bottles for use. Dessicated cocoanut, which is cut rather fne, can be shaded into the various colors, and dried like the sugar. Almonds may be blanched, cut, or chopped fine, and colored green and flavored with pistachio ex' tract, to represent pistachio nuts. END OF first part. PART 3. . PASTRY CREAMS, PATTV ICINOS. PASTRY AND PIE MAKING, PASTES AND FILLINGS CASES, TARTS AND TARTLETS . 74— PASTRY AND PIE MAKING, PASTES To obtain a nice deep baked crust, roll out the AND FILLINGS. bottom a little thicker than usual, trim the sides, The flour should be a good winter wheat or and prick the paste all over with a fork to prevent pastry flour. The bread flours made from bard spring wheat are not suitable for pastry. The butter should be firm and tough. Butter which contains cheese and is curdly makes only poor puff paste. For pie paste the lard should be fresh and firm, and the pastes should be mixed with cold water, and worked up in a cold place till they are ready to be baked. To prevent the shrinking of puS paste, it should rest after it is made ready for the oven, and be kept in a cold place from fifteen to thirty minutes. The baking of pastry requires a brisk heat, Pufi Paste from 400 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and Pie Paste from 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Puff paste should not be baked with other goods which make steam, because this prevents rising; and when the goods (patties or pies) are baked up, the heat may be decreased by opening the damper to prevent taking too much color. To bake patties and other pu& paste goods, the pans should be wetted with water and not greased. For pie paste the tins and tart forms require greasing. The pie fillings should be cold when used. A warm filling would cause the shrinking of the top crust and spoil the paste. blistering; dust with a little flour and place an empty pie tin with a clean bottom on top of the paste (the bottom of the tin may be greased lightly to prevent adhering to the paste). Put the bottoms in the oven and bake. When the paste which shows between the two tins begins to color, the top tin may be removed and the baking finished in one tin.