Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Peach Jelly. — Peel, divide, and stone a dozen ripe peaches, and boil them and the bruised kernels for a quarter of an hour in a thin syrup made of io ozs. of sugar and half a pint of water. Flavor the syrup with the grated rind and strained juice of four lemons, strain it through a jellybag, and add to it I oz. of dissolved gelatine. Pour it into a mould, which should be set upon ice until the jelly is sufficiently stiff to turn out. The fruit from which this jelly is made may be served as a compote, with a little red - currant juice added to the syrup. Time, a quarter of an hour to simmer the fruit. Peach Trifle. — Two cups of milk, four table-spoonfuls of sugar, three eggs, one small, stale sponge cake, peaches peeled and sliced. Make a boiled custard of the milk, yolks of eggs, and half the sugar. Slice the Peaches, Sugared Pears, Compote of cake, lay it in the bottom of a glass dish, and heap it with the sliced peaches, strewing these plentifully with sugar. Beat the whites to a meringue with two table-spoonfuls of sugar, and cover the peaches with this. Have all the ingredients very cold before mixing them. Peaches, Sugared. — Choose ripe and firm peaches; peel, quarter, and drop for an hour into clear limewater. Rinse in clear water, weigh and pack down in a stone jar with three-quarters their own weight of granulated sugar, throwing in with the fruit a handful or two of the seed, and leave till next day. Take for each pound of fruit x/z oz. of raceginger, well bruised, and the strained juice and yellow rind of a lemon. Put the lemon-rind with the ginger. Peaches, Vol-au-vent of. — Take as much fine puff paste as is required for the size of a vol-au-vent. It should be the exact size and shape of the inside of the dish on which it is intended to be served. Roll it out to the thickness of an inch and a quarter, and stamp the cover on the top. Bake in a brisk oven. If the pastry has been properly made it will rise in the oven until it is about five inches in height ; when it has done so, and is lightly colored, take it out, remove the lid, and scoop out the inside. Have as many peaches as will be required to fill the empty space, already cut into halves and stewed in syrup until they are tender but unbroken. Put them into the vol-au-vent, boil the syrup quickly for a few minutes until it is very thick, pour it upon the peaches, and serve the vol-au-vent on a neatly folded napkin. Time to bake a moderate-sized vol-au-vent — say one made with % lb. of puff paste — about twenty-five minutes. Pears, Baked. — Pare very smoothly a dozen large baking pears. Cut them into halves, take out the cores, and put them side by side into a sauce- pan with a closely fitting cover. Pour over them as much cold water as will cover them, add the thin rind of a small lemon, a table - spoonful of strained lemon -juice, an inch of stick cinnamon, and fifteen grains of allspice. Put on the cover, place the dish in a gentle oven, and let it remain there until the pears are tender. A little white wine may be added, if liked. If a saucepan such as is described is used, no cochineal will be required for the syrup. Time to bake, six hours.