The table

and dress on a dessert-dish, with a folded napkin, before sending to the table. 1247. Meringues. — Put six egg whites into a copper basin, with a light half saltspoonful of salt, and with a wire whip begin beating slowly, but gradually increase until a stiff froth is obtained. Should it become grainy, beat briskly again, adding half an ounce of powdered sugar. (Eight minutes should suffice to have a proper froth.) Remove the whip. Have on a plate one pound of powdered sugar, and with a spatula drop the sugar slowly and carefully over the froth, mixing, it in meanwhile with the spatula. This should take about two minutes. Flavor it with any desired flavoring, and it will be ready for use. 1248. Apples Meringuées. — Have six fine apples cooked as for No. 1169; dress them on a dessert-dish, filling the cavities with currant jelly (No. 1326); then decorate all round and the tops with meringue, prepared as for No. 1247, half the quantity being sufficient. Sprinkle them moderately with powdered sugar; lay the dish on a baking-pan, and put it in the oven for five minutes. When a light brown color, remove, and serve either hot or cold. 1249. Small Fancy Meringues a la Ch. C. Delmonico.— Put into a sugar-pan one pound of granulated sugar with half a pint of cold water, and place on the hot stove. Have two quarts of ice-water in a vessel, and when the sugar comes to a boil, dip the fingers of the right hand into the ice-water and pass them quickly around the inside of the pan, and let boil for five minutes. Dip a wooden stick, similar to a pen-holder, in the ice-water, then quickly into the boiling sugar, and again in the ice-water, lifting up the stick to feel the sugar that adheres. Should it not be sufficiently consistent to form into a ball, let boil a little longer; then try once more; and should it be a proper thickness, remove from the fire and set it on the corner of the stove, so that it no longer boils. While the sugar is cooking, beat the whites of five eggs in a copper basin until they are a firm froth; and while beating, have an assistant pour very gradually the prepared sugar into the egg-froth; and when all is added, lay the basin containing the preparation into a vessel half filled with ice- water. Remove the whip, and using a wooden spatula, mix gently for five minutes, adding a teaspoonful of vanilla flavoring. Cover the basin with a napkin, letting it rest for ten minutes. Butter and flour a baking-sheet; slide down a fancy tube (No. 3) into a pastry-bag (No. 1079), fill it with the preparation, press down onto the baking-sheet, giving a C-shape, two inches long by one wide, to forty of them; and then forming twenty more, shaped like the letter D. Sprinkle them lightly with powdered sugar; place in a very slow oven, and let bake for fifteen minutes. When baked, these cakes should be perfectly white. Remove them from the oven, let get thoroughly cold; dress on a glass stand, and send to the table. 1250. Meringue-shells. — Prepare a meringue as for No. 1247. Slide a tube (No. 4) down a pastry-bag (No. 1079); lay a piece of paper over a baking-sheet, and after putting the meringue into the bag, press it out onto the paper, giving it an egg-shape, two and a half inches long by one inch