Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts
John Stuart Mill · en
Extract the flavor from a vanilla-bean, by boiling it in half a pint
of milk. The milk must then be strained; and, when cold, mix with
it a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar. Beat the yolks of four eggs
very light, and stir them into the mixture. Heat it over the fire for
five minutes, until it becomes a custard, but take great care that it
does not boil. Boil an ounce of isinglass with a pint of water. The
isinglass must be thoroughly dissolved before it is fit for use, and
one-half of the water boiled away. The custard being cold, drain the
isinglass into it, and stir them hard together. Leave them to cool,
while you prepare the rest of the mixture. Whip a quart of cream to
a froth, (the cream should be rich,) and mix it with the custard;
in whipping the cream, great care should be taken to make it quite
light; the safest way is, to remove the froth as fast as it gathers,
with a strainer, until the whole is whipped.
Take two round slices of almond sponge-cake; glaze them with the
beaten white of egg mixed with sugar. Lay one on the bottom of a
circular mould, and reserve the other for the top.
Cut some more sponge-cake into long pieces; glaze them carefully
with the egg, and line the sides of the mould with them. Each piece
should lap a little over the other, or the form will not be perfect.
The custard will by this time be just beginning to congeal; pour
it gently into the mould, and cover the top with the piece of cake
which has already been prepared. The cake around the sides must be
trimmed evenly, so that the upper piece will fit without leaving any
vacancies.
Pound some ice, and throw it into a tub, covering it well with coarse
salt. The mould should then be set into the midst of this ice, and
must remain there an hour. Prepare an icing with powdered sugar and
the beaten white of egg, flavoring it with lemon-juice, or essence of
lemon, orange, or rose-water, according to the taste. The Charlotte
Russe is then turned out upon a handsome dish, and iced over. It
should be moved about as little as possible; and, to ensure success
in preparing it, the utmost care must be taken to follow the above
directions.
At large parties, a Charlotte Russe is as indispensable on the
supper-table as ice-cream.
1209. _Batter Pudding._--Take six ounces of fine flour, a little
salt, and three eggs; beat it up well with a little milk, added by
degrees till the batter is quite smooth: make it the thickness of
cream: put it into a buttered pie-dish, and bake three-quarters of
an hour; or, in a buttered and floured basin, tied over tight with a
cloth: boil one hour and a half or two hours.
Any kind of ripe fruit that you like may be added to the batter--only
you must make the batter a little stiffer. Blueberries, or
finely-chopped apple, are most usually liked.