Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Strawberry Foam. — Sprinkle a pint of capped strawberries with sugar, and set them aside in this for an hour, when the juice will be found to run freely. Press the berries in a sieve and extract all the juice. Have ready Yz oz. of gelatine soaked in cold water for half an hour ; add to this three table- spoonfuls of sugar, and heat to the boiling-point. When the gelatine is thoroughly dissolved, stir in the strawberry-juice and the juice of one lemon ; strain, and when it is cool and begins to thicken beat into it a half-pint of whipped cream. Set on the ice until thoroughly chilled. Strawberry Floating Island FRUITS Strawberry Sponge Strawberry Floating Island. — Make a custard of a quart of milk, the yolks of four eggs, and a cupful of sugar. Cook until smooth, and when it is cool flavor it with lemonjuice. Beat the whites of the eggs stiff with three table - spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and into this whip the sweetened juice from a pint of crushed strawberries. Serve the custard when ice-cold in a glass dish with spoonfuls of the strawberry meringue floating on top. The meringue should not be made until just before it is to be eaten. Strawberry Glaces. — Take a sponge cake two or three days old, and cut it into squares, rounds, and diamonds. Boil I lb. of sugar with a pint of water to a clear syrup. Boil and skim this, and keep trying whether it is done enough by dropping a small portion of it at a time into a basin of cold water placed by the side of the stove for the purpose. If the sugar snaps when dropped into the water, and then remains hard, it is ready for the strawberry-juice, which should be added. Take the syrup from the fire, let it cool, and beat it with a wooden spoon till it is quite smooth. Stick the pieces of sponge biscuit one by one on the point of a skewer, dip them into the icing, and place them on a sieve to drain. When all are done, put them in a cool oven for a minute or two to dry. Let them cool and they will be ready for use. Strawberries in Jelly. — Half a cupful of gelatine, one and one-half cupfuls of sugar, one lemon, one cupful of cold water, two cupfuls of boiling water, one pint of capped strawberries. Make a lemon-jelly, and when it begins to form, arrange the berries in regular order in the bottom of a mould wet with cold water. Pour the jelly in upon them, and put all on the ice until the jelly is cold and hard. Turn out on a platter and garnish with whipped cream. Strawberry Meringue. — Cover the bottom of a baking-dish with slices of stale cake dipped in milk. Stem a quart of strawberries and put over ; sprinkle freely with sugar and set in the stove until a syrup is formed. Take out and spread with meringue made of the beaten whites of three eggs and three table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Set back in the oven one minute. Serve very cold with whipped cream. Strawberries and Rice. — Have some rice boiled dry so that each kernel stands apart ; keep ready to serve hot. Make a rich hard sauce, and beat into it all the strawberries that you can get in. The dessert can be served in two ways — with the rice in the centre and the sauce round it, or the rice in a dish by itself and the sauce in another one. It is just a matter of taste. The result is the same. It can be made with preserved strawberries, and is very good.