Principles of food preparation

Halves of shelled walnuts are dipped into sugar melted as for peanut brittle, but the nuts should be dipped before the sugar browns, or at farthest when it is barely beginning to turn. The dipped nuts are placed one by one on a very lightly greased slab or plate, until the sugar coating is hard. This confection should be made in dry, clear weather. It should be used within two or three days at the utmost, since it is easily affected by the atmosphere. Vanilla Fudge Ingredients. Sugar and milk, in the proportions of three to one. A small amount of butter, perhaps one teaspoonful to every cup of sugar. Vanilla extract, or a bit of vanilla bean. Method. Melt the butter in the bottom of the saucepan. Add the milk and sugar, stir until the mixture boils, then cook for about 15 m. without stirring. Remove from fire, add flavoring extract, beat until creamy, pour into lightly greased pans, and cut into squares with a greased knife as soon as it is hard enough. If vanilla bean is used for flavoring it should first be boiled in the milk for a few minutes. Chopped nuts can be added just before beating, if desired. Save a portion for a test to be made later. Compare with cane sugar as to sweetness, flavor, texture. Basis for class work : one-half to one cup of milk. Less time should be allowed for cooking a small quantity. Why? Velvet Molasses Candy Ingredients. Molasses and water in equal parts. Three times as much sugar as water, and one-fourth as much vinegar as water. About a tablespoonful of butter to every cup of sugar. Method. First melt the butter in the saucepan, then add all the other ingredients, and boil until a spoonful of the mixture will form a firm ball when dropped into cold water. Pour into a greased pan, and when cool enough to handle pull until white and firm. Save a portion for a test to be made later. Compare with cane sugar as to sweetness, flavor, texture. Basis for class work: one-half to one cup of sugar. Fondants Ingredients. Sugar, water, and cream of tartar or some acid substance. About twice as much sugar as water is a good proportion. Allow one-eighth of a teaspoonful of cream of tartar for two cups of sugar. Method. Mix the sugar, water, and cream of tartar and let them stand for half an hour, if time permits. Put on to boil in an agate or other smooth-lined saucepan, and stir gently until the sugar is dissolved. Then cease the stirring, and from time to time wipe off with a damp cloth any crystals of sugar that have been thrown up against the sides of saucepan. A strip of cheesecloth, folded around the tines of a fork, will do this very nicely. Let the mixture boil for 10 m.; then try whether a spoonful dropped into cold water will form a soft ball. Continue to cook until the syrup has reached this stage; then pour it out on a shallow dish to cool quickly. In cooling it will harden so that the pressure of a finger-tip on the surface will make a dent, and when this stage is reached the mass should be worked from the edges to the center with a spatula until it is a white, glossy, creamy paste. As it hardens it can be kneaded like dough until firm. This can be used as a filling for bonbons, for chocolate creams, for creamed walnuts, nut bars, etc.