The Century Cook Book Part 106

These ices are served in gla.s.ses after the joint or last entree, and before the game. A quart is enough for twelve portions.

[Sidenote: Liquors.]

Punches differ from sherbets only in having a little Italian meringue added to them just before serving. They are simply water-ices with liquors added. Roman Punch has a cupful or two gills of rum added to a quart of lemon-ice. Punches having other names are made in the same way, but have other liquors or mixtures of liquors. These may be kirsch, kirsch and rum, kirsch and maraschino, rum and sherry, or any other combination desired. When champagne is used it is generally added to orange-ice.

Strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, or orange-ices are generally used for sherbets with liqueurs such as curacao, maraschino, noyau, etc., combined with kirsch, rum, or champagne.

[Sidenote: Mixing in the liquors.]

The liquors can be added to the ice mixture before it is frozen, in which case it takes them longer to freeze; (in fact, spirits will not freeze at all, and hence these ices are always soft, and have to be eaten with a spoon); or the liquors may be poured over the frozen mixture and stirred in with the paddle. Sometimes the water-ice is placed in the gla.s.ses and a teaspoonful of the liquor or mixture of liquors is poured over each gla.s.sful at the moment of serving.

=COFFEE PUNCH=

Mix together a quart of black coffee, a cupful of cream, three quarters cupful of sugar; freeze, and then mix in a half cupful of brandy or rum, and a half pint of cream, whipped, and let it stand half an hour. Stir it well before serving.

=CAFe FRAPPe=

Mix a quart of black coffee with a quart of cream and a cupful of sugar, or, better, sweeten with syrup. Freeze the same as ice-cream, and serve in gla.s.ses. A little brandy may be mixed in just before serving, if desired.

=LALLA ROOKH=

Make a vanilla cream No. 3. When it is frozen add a cupful of Jamaica rum. Turn the dasher until it is well mixed.

Allow a cupful of rum to each quart of cream. Serve in gla.s.ses the same as punch.

CHAPTER XXIII

SUGAR AND ITS USES

=BOILING SUGAR AND MAKING CANDIES=

BOILING SUGAR

To boil sugar is one of the niceties of cooking, but as the uses of boiled sugar in fancy cooking are so various, it is worth some practice to acquire the requisite skill. With the ordinary ways of testing, it requires much experience to tell the exact point at which to arrest the cooking, and on this the success depends. The stages named "thread,"

"blow," "ball," etc., give the different degrees required for different purposes. It pa.s.ses quickly from one to the other and needs careful watching and close attention. The professional cook's method of testing it by dipping in the fingers is not practicable for ordinary use. It is also difficult to judge by dropping it in water unless experienced, but with a sugar thermometer it can easily be determined with perfect exactness and much less trouble. A sugar thermometer costs $1.75 or $2.00, a syrup gauge costs fifty cents, and both should be considered as necessary cooking utensils as are molds, mortars, and other articles used in fancy cooking. For measuring syrups, the syrup gauge is used as explained below.

Ice-creams and frozen fruits are much nicer when sweetened with syrup instead of sugar. Water-ices and compotes to be right must measure a certain density, and for this the syrup gauge is employed. Fondant, one of the very useful articles, candies, and spun sugar are easily made with the aid of the thermometer. Eleven stages of sugar are explained below, but it is not essential to learn exactly more than the four which are most used, namely: the "thread" for boiled icing, the "soft-ball" for fondant, the "crack" for glace fruit, and the "caramel."

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUGAR THERMOMETER AND SYRUP GAUGE. (SEE PAGE 510.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: UTENSILS FOR BOILING SUGAR.

1. Thermometer standing in saucepan of sugar on gas-stove.

2. Cup of water and brush for washing crystals from side of saucepan.

3. Wooden spatula for working sugar on marble slab to make fondant.

4. Wooden skewer for testing sugar when thermometer is not used.

5. Candy wire for dipping nuts or other things to be coated.]

GRANULATION

The tendency of sugar, when the water which holds it in solution is evaporated, is to resume its original form of crystals; to prevent this is the chief care: the liquid must not be jarred or stirred after the sugar is dissolved. The grains which form on the sides of the pan as the boiling proceeds must be wiped away; this is done by dipping a cloth or brush into water and pa.s.sing it around the pan above the sugar. If these crystals are allowed to remain, the whole ma.s.s will become granular. Also the sugar has a great affinity for water, and care must be used to have a dry atmosphere. No steam from boiling kettles, etc., must be in the room, and it is useless to attempt confections requiring the ball or crack stages on a rainy or damp day. When the right degree is reached, place the sugar pan in one containing cold water, to prevent the cooking from proceeding any farther. The different stages follow very quickly after the thread; it is therefore well to have a moderate heat and give it undivided attention.

A very little cream of tartar (a scant half saltspoonful to a pound of sugar) added at the beginning makes the sugar less liable to grain. If cream of tartar is not used, a few drops of lemon-juice should be added at the crack stage. If the sugar pa.s.ses the degree desired, add a spoonful of water and continue the boiling. No sugar need ever be wasted unless it becomes burned. In working the sugar, if it begins to grain there is nothing to do but to add a little water and boil it again.

DEGREES OF BOILING SUGAR

[Sidenote: First and second degrees.]

Small Thread, 215.

Large Thread, 217.

Press a little of the syrup between the thumb and finger. A ring will form and a fine thread be drawn out which breaks at once and returns to the drop; for the second stage the thread draws a little farther than the first.

[Sidenote: Third and fourth.]

Little Pearl, 220.

Large Pearl, 222.

The sugar forms a thread between the fingers which stretches long, but breaks. For the fourth it stretches without breaking.

The first four degrees are syrups.

[Sidenote: Fifth and sixth.]

The Blow, 230. } The Feather, 232. } crystallization.

Dip in a broom-straw twisted to form a small loop at the end.

A film will fill the loop, which will blow into a bubble.

At the sixth stage fine threads will fly from the bubble.

The candy stages follow:

[Sidenote: Seventh and eighth.]

Small Ball, 236-238.

Large Ball, 246-248.

Drop a little into cold water; for the 7th a soft ball can be rolled between the fingers; for the 8th a hard ball.

[Sidenote: Ninth and Tenth.]

Small Crack, 290.

Crack, 310.