Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume IV Part 9

11. ECONOMICAL USE OF INGREDIENTS.--The ingredients required for dessert making are usually expensive ones, although there are some marked exceptions to this rule. In view of this fact, the housewife should strive to use economically the various ingredients she purchases. For instance, the first strawberries, which, because of their scarcity, are much more expensive than the later ones, may be made to go much further if they are used in shortcake than if they are served as plain fruit. In making a fruit gelatine, apples and bananas, while they may not be so attractive as canned pineapple and maraschino cherries, are much cheaper and may be used for a considerable portion of the fruit that is put into the gelatine. Then, too, it is well to remember that cream goes much further with desserts when it is whipped than when it is served plain.

12. APPLYING COOKERY RULES TO DESSERTS.--If the best results in dessert making are to be obtained, the rules that govern the cooking of various ingredients in other dishes should be observed. For instance, eggs should not be cooked at a higher temperature in making desserts than when they are being poached. Then, again, starchy materials that are used to thicken desserts or that form a basis for these dishes must be thoroughly cooked in order to be agreeable and digestible. Therefore, to put both starchy materials and eggs into a dessert at the same time and give them the same amount of cooking at the same temperature, is, as the woman who understands cookery knows, not only a very poor plan, but a possible means of ruining good material. Another waste of good material results when a custard is so prepared that it is half water or when a rice or a bread pudding floats in liquid that was never intended to be served with it. Again, nothing is less tasty than a corn-starch pudding or a blanc mange in which the starch has not been thoroughly cooked or a tapioca pudding in which the centers of the tapioca are hard and uncooked. Such mistakes as these, however, can be avoided if the housewife will apply to desserts the principles she has learned in other parts of cookery, for knowledge coupled with care in preparation is the keynote of successful dessert making.

The cookery methods usually applied in the preparation of desserts are boiling, steaming, dry steaming, and baking. As these methods are explained in _Essentials of Cookery_, Part 1, and are used constantly in the preparation of the majority of dishes served in a meal, they should by this time be so well understood that practically no difficulty will be experienced in applying them to desserts.

COLD DESSERTS AND THEIR PREPARATION

SAUCES AND WHIPPED CREAM

13. SAUCES.--Many cold desserts may be served without any accompaniments, but very often they are much improved by the addition of a sauce of some kind. For instance, when a custard or a blanc mange is very thick and heavy, it can be made more agreeable to the taste if it is served with a sauce of some description. Several recipes for sauces that may be used with any cold dessert in need of an accompaniment are here given, so that the housewife will not be at a loss when she desires to serve a sauce with a dessert she has made.

14. The sauce to use depends on the dessert that it is to accompany. The custard sauce here given could be used, for example, with plain corn-starch mixtures that do not contain eggs or with other desserts of this nature. It is also very satisfactory with chocolate or rather highly flavored desserts. On the other hand, the chocolate sauce may be served with custard mixtures or desserts that require additional flavor.

The fruit sauce, in which may be utilized any left-over juice from canned or stewed fruit, may be served with any dessert with which it seems to blend well.

CUSTARD SAUCE

1 c. milk 2 Tb. sugar 1/2 Tb. corn starch Few grains of salt 1 egg 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat the milk in a double boiler, reserving enough to moisten the corn starch. Mix the sugar, corn starch, and salt, and moisten with the cold milk. Add this to the hot milk. Stir until thick and cook for about 15 minutes. Beat the egg, add this to the mixture, and continue cooking until the egg has thickened. Add the vanilla, cool, and serve.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

1 sq. chocolate 1 c. milk 4 Tb. sugar Few grains of salt 3/4 Tb. corn starch 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Melt the chocolate over the fire, add half the milk, and cook together for a minute or two. Add the sugar and salt to the corn starch, and moisten with the remainder of the milk. Pour this into the chocolate and milk and cook until thickened. Place in a double boiler and cook for 10 or 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and serve.

FRUIT SAUCE

1 Tb. corn starch Sugar Few grains of salt 1 c. fruit juice

Moisten the corn starch, sugar, and salt with the fruit juice, and cook together until the corn starch has thickened the mixture. Place in a double boiler and cook for 10 or 15 minutes. The amount of sugar must be gauged by the kind of fruit juice used. If it is very sour, a greater quant.i.ty of sugar will be needed. Cool and serve.

b.u.t.tERSCOTCH SAUCE

1-1/2 c. brown sugar 2/3 c. corn sirup 4 Tb. b.u.t.ter 3/4 c. cream

Boil sugar, sirup, and b.u.t.ter until the mixture reaches 230 degrees F.

or until it will form a very soft ball when tested in cold water. Remove from the fire and allow it to cool a little; then beat the cream into it.

FUDGE SAUCE

1 c. sugar 1/2 c. water 1 sq. chocolate 1 Tb. b.u.t.ter 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together the sugar, water, and melted chocolate. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes. Cool it slightly, then add the b.u.t.ter and vanilla.

15. WHIPPED CREAM.--Whipped cream is frequently served with cold desserts in place of a sauce or as a garnish. If cream is too thin to whip, it will have to be served plain, but it is an economy to whip it, for whipped cream goes much further. To make whipping possible, the cream must have a comparatively high percentage of fat. The higher the percentage of fat, however, the more expensive will be the cream.

16. One of the requirements of successfully whipped cream, especially in summer, is that it be as cold as possible. Warm cream does not whip nearly so readily as cold. If it is necessary to whip cream in warm weather or in a warm place, the bowl containing the cream may be packed in a larger one containing ice and salt and allowed to stand for some time before the whipping is begun.

17. A bowl-shaped utensil with a round bottom is the best to use for whipping cream. Either an egg whip or a rotary beater may be used to do the beating, which should be done rapidly. If the cream does not show signs of whipping within a reasonable time, the result is likely to be the formation of little globules of b.u.t.ter. Cream that whips properly will become stiff and light in a short time. After cream has been whipped till stiff, it should be sweetened slightly with sugar and flavored with vanilla or any other desirable flavoring.

CUSTARD DESSERTS

PRINCIPLES OF CUSTARD MAKING

18. Many of the desserts that are served cold come under the head of custards. These are dishes high in protein and consist of two varieties: those thickened entirely by eggs and known as _true custards_ and those in which a starchy material is used for part of the thickening. They may be cooked by steaming, dry steaming, or baking.

19. In true custards there must be a sufficient number of eggs to thicken the desired amount of milk, for nothing else produces thickening. To these two ingredients may be added sweetening in the form of sugar, sirup, honey, etc. and flavoring of any desirable kind. The plain custard thus produced makes an excellent dessert and one that is easily digested. In fact, it can be digested with such ease that it is used perhaps more frequently in the diets of children and invalids than any other single dessert. For instance, when it is necessary that eggs and milk be taken in the diet, they usually become monotonous after a time, but a little variety may be added to the diet by serving them in the form of custard. While this is an expensive dessert when eggs are high in price, its value is such that it should be prepared frequently for children in spite of its cost.

20. Although custards are considered to decrease in quality as fewer eggs are used and starch in some form is added for thickening, many excellent custard desserts are made in this way. Then, too, plain custard is often utilized in the making of desserts, such as tapioca, rice, and bread puddings. In such an event, fewer eggs are used and the starchy material is depended on for a certain amount of the thickening.

Because the starchy foods used are generally cheaper than eggs, custard desserts that rely partly on starch for their thickening are more economical than those thickened entirely by eggs. They are also different in composition and texture, being lower in protein because of a smaller proportion of eggs and higher in carbohydrate because of additional starch; nevertheless, they are delicious desserts and find much favor.

21. For its thickness, or solidity, a custard depends largely on the thickening property of the protein material in the eggs. Here, again, as in the preparation of other foods, only a certain proportion of milk and eggs will thicken, or solidify, upon being cooked. In general, the correct proportion for a plain custard is _1 egg to 1 cupful of milk_.

So important is this proportion that it should be memorized. Before the eggs are added to the milk, they are, of course, beaten, but their beating is a matter of little consequence, for they are used merely to supply thickening and give richness and not to produce lightness.

Therefore, they need only be mixed well and beaten slightly, as any increase in the amount of the beating adds nothing.

The sweetening and flavoring used in custards should be in sufficient quant.i.ty to suit the tastes of those who are to eat the dessert.

However, the usual proportion of sugar is _1 tablespoonful to 1 egg and 1 cupful of milk_. A tiny pinch of salt added to a mixture of this kind always improves its flavor and should never be omitted.

Because of the various ways of making custards, they differ somewhat when they are done. They may be thin enough to pour or they may be set and so thick that they can be cut. The consistency of the finished product depends, of course, on the proportion of the ingredients used and the method of cookery adopted.

RECIPES FOR CUSTARDS AND RELATED DESSERTS

22. BAKED CUSTARD.--Practically no skill is required in the preparation of baked custard, but care must be taken during the baking in order that the right temperature be applied for the proper length of time. Custard of this kind is quickly made and finds favor with most persons. It may be baked in individual baking dishes and then served in these or it may be cooked in a large baking dish and served either before or after it is placed on the table. Individual baking dishes are perhaps more satisfactory, for, as there is a smaller amount of material, the heat can penetrate more quickly and evenly to the center. Whatever kind of dish is used, however, should be placed in a pan of warm water, so that the custard will bake evenly. The water in the pan should not boil, as this tends to make the custard whey, or separate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1, Testing doneness of custard with knife.]

23. Several tests can be applied to custard to determine whether it is sufficiently baked. As the heat penetrates to the center last, this part is the last to cook and it is therefore the place where the testing should be done. One test consists in touching the center with the tip of the finger to find out whether it is firm or not. A more common test, however, is shown in Fig. 1. To perform this test, the blade of a silver knife is inserted in the center, as ill.u.s.trated. If the blade comes out clean, it may be known that the custard is sufficiently baked, but if the mixture sticks to the knife, the custard requires more baking.

Before the knife blade is inserted, however, the skin that covers the custard must be broken; if this is not done, the skin is sure to cling to the knife.

24. The chief requirement of a successful custard is that its texture be right, and the temperature at which the baking is done is largely responsible for this point. Too high a temperature or too long cooking will cause the custard to curdle and leave the edges full of holes. A smoother texture may be obtained if egg yolks alone instead of the yolks and whites are used to thicken the custard. The proportions given in the accompanying recipe make a custard of very good texture, but if a greater proportion of eggs is used, the result will be a firmer, harder custard.

BAKED CUSTARD (Sufficient to Serve Four)

2 eggs 2 Tb. sugar Pinch of salt 2 c. milk 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat the eggs slightly, add the sugar and salt, and continue beating while adding the milk. Add the vanilla. Pour into a b.u.t.tered baking dish or individual baking dishes, place in a moderately hot oven in a pan of warm water, and bake until the custard is set, testing with the finger or a silver knife. Remove from the heat, cool at once, and serve cold.

25. CARAMEL CUSTARD.--Caramel is nothing more nor less than browned sugar, but if the process of caramelizing the sugar is performed carefully, the result will be a delicious flavoring material that may be used for desserts of any kind or for making sauces to serve with desserts. When the sugar is browned to make caramel, a certain amount of sweetness is lost, so that more sugar must be used than would ordinarily be needed to sweeten the same amount of custard.

To make the caramel required in the accompanying recipe, place 1/2 cupful of sugar in a small saucepan over the fire. Allow the sugar to melt slowly, stirring it as little as possible. When it has completely melted and no more of it remains white, add 1/2 cupful of boiling water.