Cream 1 quart Strawberries 1 box Sugar 1 cup Granulated gelatin 1-1/4 tablespoonfuls Cold water 2 tablespoonfuls Hot water 3 tablespoonfuls _Method._ Wash and hull berries, sprinkle with sugar, and let stand one hour; mash and rub through a fine sieve, add the gelatin soaked in cold water and dissolved in hot water. Set in a pan of ice water and stir until it begins to thicken; then fold in the whipped cream, put into a mold, cover, pack in two parts ice to one of salt, and let stand four hours. Use a mold with a tight cover and seal the crack with a strip of cloth dipped in melted butter and bound around the mold while still wet. EXERCISES 1. Explain the value of salads and desserts in the dietary. 2. What are the important points in a good salad? 3. Give a number of agreeable combinations of material in a salad. 4. What are the substitutes for olive oil? 5. Why should mayonnaise dressing be kept cold in the mixing? 6. Make a classification of the different types of dessert. 7. What is gelatin, and why is it useful in desserts? 8. What are the underlying principles of custard making? 9. Why is it important that the can in a freezer should not be filled to the top? 10. Why does chopped ice and salt freeze the mixture? 11. Estimate the cost of the following dishes for five people: Potato salad with boiled dressing; a baked custard; a Brown Betty; French ice cream; raspberry or lemon ice. 12. Explain what is meant by garnishing. CHAPTER XVI PREPARATION OF MEALS AND TABLE SERVICE The preparation of a number of dishes assembled for a meal requires a skill quite different from that necessary for the making of a single dish. A menu being decided upon, it needs an accurate sense of time, forethought, and promptness, to have a number of dishes ready at the same time, or in proper sequence if several courses are served. Such questions as the following must be answered: _Technique of preparation._ 1. What steps in preparation can be taken ahead of time, as washing, paring, cutting, etc.? 2. What dishes take the longest to cook? 3. Which must be served the moment they are done? 4. Which can be kept hot for some time without injury? 5. Which can be finished and cooled perhaps several hours before? 6. Do the dishes selected require the same utensils at the same time? (If so, the menus must be changed.) 7. What is the order of serving? To understand the bearing of these questions you will need to select some menu and make a plan for preparing it. (See exercises at the end of this chapter.)