The Century Cook Book Part 104

Cook a cupful of rice until very soft. Have the juice of a lemon in the water in which the rice is boiled. When the rice is steamed dry, cover it with a thick sugar syrup and let it stand for an hour or more. Drain off the syrup, add a half pint of cream, whipped (this may be omitted if preferred); stir this into vanilla cream No. 1 or 3, or with angel ice-cream after it is well frozen. Mold and pack in ice and salt for one or two hours.

=PISTACHIO ICE-CREAM=

Blanch two ounces of pistachio nuts; this is done by pouring over them boiling water: after a few minutes the skins can be easily removed.

Pound the nuts in a mortar to a smooth paste, using a little cream to prevent their oiling. Add this quant.i.ty of nuts to one quart of vanilla cream mixture No. 3; color it green, the shade of green peas; flavor with a little orange-flower water, then freeze. When nuts are not obtainable, the flavor of pistachio can be produced with orange-flower water and a very little bitter almond.

=NEAPOLITAN ICE-CREAM=

This cream is molded in brick form in three layers of different flavors and colors. Make a cream after the receipt for vanilla cream No. 3, using eight or ten yolks, as it should be solid and of fine grain; omit the vanilla flavoring. Have a pail packed in ice; when the cream is frozen, remove one third of it to the pail and stir in quickly a little vanilla, using the vanilla powder if convenient; put this into the brick-shaped mold, also packed in ice, and smooth it down to an even layer. Take from the freezer one half of the cream remaining in it and put it into the pail; stir into it one ounce of melted chocolate diluted and made smooth with a little cream or milk. Place the chocolate cream in an even layer on the layer of vanilla cream. To the cream remaining in the freezer add an ounce of pistachio nuts, prepared as directed in receipt for pistachio cream; color it green and add it to the mold for the third layer. Seal the joints of the mold with b.u.t.ter to make it very tight, as directed for molding, page 491. Pack in ice and salt for several hours. The molding of this cream must be done quickly, but with care to have the layers even. Strawberry ice is often used for one of the layers instead of chocolate cream.

=NESSELRODE PUDDING=

1 cupful of French chestnuts.

1 cupful of granulated sugar.

Yolks of 3 eggs.

1/2 pint of cream.

1/4 pound of mixed candied fruits.

1 cupful of almonds.

1/2 can of pineapple (drained).

1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of maraschino, or 2 tablespoonfuls of sherry.

1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla sugar, or 1/4 teaspoonful of vanilla extract.

1. Remove the sh.e.l.ls from the chestnuts; put them in boiling water for three minutes, then into cold water, and take off the skins. Boil the blanched chestnuts until tender. Take one half of them and press them through a sieve. They will go through more easily while hot.

2. Blanch the almonds; chop them fine and pound them.

3. Cut the candied fruits and the chestnuts into dice; pour over them the maraschino and let them stand until ready to use.

4. Put into a saucepan on the fire a cupful of granulated sugar and one quarter cupful of boiling water; stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let it cook slowly for five minutes, making a sugar syrup.

5. Beat the yolks of three eggs until light. Pour onto them slowly, stirring all the time, the sugar syrup; place them on the fire and stir constantly until the mixture is enough thickened to coat the spoon and has the consistency of thick cream. Remove it from the fire, turn it into a bowl, and beat it until it is cold. When it is cold add a half pint of cream, the mashed chestnuts, the pounded almonds, and the vanilla flavoring, and freeze it. When it is frozen remove the lid of the freezer, add the fruits, replace the lid, and turn the freezer for another five minutes. Put the cream into a fancy mold and pack in ice and salt until ready to use. Serve with it whipped cream, or the sauce given below for plum pudding glace flavored with maraschino. This makes a quart of cream, and, being very rich, is enough to serve to ten persons.

Gouffe gives the receipt for this pudding, which he says he obtained from the chef of Count Nesselrode. He omits the grated almonds, and uses stoned raisins and currants instead of candied fruits. When the cream is half frozen he adds a half pint of whipped cream. The raisins and currants are boiled until plump and added after the cream is frozen, but before it is packed.

=PLUM PUDDING GLACe=

Make a chocolate ice-cream as directed on page 496, using the French ice-cream mixture. Have a scant three quarters of a pound of mixed fruit, composed of seeded raisins and currants boiled until plump, thin slices of citron, a few candied cherries and apricots if convenient.

Pour over them a little sherry and let them stand long enough to be a little softened. When the cream is frozen, drain the fruit and mix it into the cream, turning the dasher for a few minutes to get it well mixed and again hardened. Place it in a melon mold and pack in ice and salt. This will make about two quarts of cream. Serve with a sauce placed around it on the same dish. The sauce may be whipped cream flavored with a little kirsch or brandy, or a sauce made as follows.

=SAUCE FOR PLUM PUDDING GLACe OR FOR NESSELRODE PUDDING=

Beat the yolks of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar to a cream. Stir it over the fire in a double boiler until the egg is a little thickened, but not hard. Continue to beat the egg until it is cold. It will then be light and creamy; add a tablespoonful of brandy, or of kirsch, or of rum, or of maraschino; and then mix in lightly a half pint of cream whipped to a dry, stiff froth.

=TUTTI-FRUTTI=

Make a French vanilla ice-cream, page 495. Cut into small dice four ounces each of candied cherries, apricots, and plums; and other fruits may be used if desired. Let them soak until a little softened in maraschino, or kirsch, or sherry. When the cream is frozen, stir in the salpicon of fruit, drained; replace the lid of the freezer and turn it for five minutes. Turn it into a fancy mold and pack in ice and salt until ready to use. The angel ice-cream, page 497, may be used instead of the vanilla No. 3 if preferred. Serve with the Tutti-Frutti a sauce of whipped cream flavored with kirsch, maraschino, or sherry.

=FRUIT ICE-CREAMS=

No. 1. Berries, or any kind of larger fruit cut into small pieces, may be added to any of the vanilla creams after they are frozen. Remove the paddle of the freezer, mix the fruit in well, then mold and pack in ice and salt for one or two hours. The fruit will become too solid if packed for a long time.

No. 2. Crush any fruit or berries to a pulp. Sweeten it to taste with a thick sugar syrup (32 on the syrup gauge). Freeze the same as any ice cream, and pack in ice and salt if molded. This makes a delicious ice.

Sugar may be used instead of syrup for sweetening, but the latter gives a better result.

No. 3. Using canned fruit. Strain the liquor from the fruit; sweeten it if necessary with sugar or with syrup. Mix it with an equal quant.i.ty of cream, and freeze. When it is frozen add the drained fruit. Mix it well together. Mold and pack in ice and salt for one or two hours. The fruit will become hard if it is packed too long. Preserved strawberries are a particularly good fruit to use for ice-cream.

NOTE.--Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, pineapple, bananas, and oranges are the fruits generally used for ices and creams.

=FRUIT PUDDINGS=

No. 4. Line a mold one or one and a half inches thick with vanilla ice-cream; fill the center with fresh strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, peaches, bananas, or any fruit. Cover the top with cream. Pack in ice and salt for two hours. The fruit may be mixed with whipped cream, if convenient, when it is put in the center of the mold. Whipped cream may also be served as a sauce with this cream.

=NUT ICE-CREAMS=

Vanilla ice cream No. 3, also angel ice-cream, is good with chopped nuts mixed with it after it is frozen and before it is packed. Boiled chestnuts cut into small pieces, chopped English walnuts, filberts, pecan nuts, or almonds may be used. Almonds should be blanched, chopped, and browned; and a caramel or an almond flavoring is better than vanilla for the cream when almonds are used.

PARFAITS

This cla.s.s of ice-creams is very easily made, as they are not stirred while freezing. The yolks of eggs are cooked with sugar syrup to a thick smooth cream, then flavored and beaten until cold and light, and mixed with drained whipped cream. They are then simply put into a mold and packed in ice and salt for three or four hours, according to size of mold. They are not solid like the custard ice-creams, but have a sponge-like texture. They should not be frozen too hard. It is because they have no water in them to crystallize that they do not require to be stirred while freezing.

=SUGAR SYRUP=

Put two cupfuls of sugar and a half cupful of water into a saucepan on the fire. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then let it cook slowly without touching it for about ten minutes, or until it is a clear syrup.

The syrup can be made in larger quant.i.ties and kept in preserve jars ready for use. To keep well it should be boiled to a rather thick consistency, or should register 32 on the syrup gauge. For parfaits it should be thinner or register 20. For water ices it should register 32 (see boiling sugar, page 513).

In using syrups by measure, articles may be too much sweetened if the right degree is not designated; but if one has not a syrup gauge the sweetening must be determined by taste. All cla.s.ses of ice-creams are better sweetened with syrup than with sugar. It seems to give them more smoothness and delicacy.

=VANILLA PARFAIT=

Beat the yolks of eight eggs until light; add one cupful of syrup. Place the mixture on a slow fire and stir constantly until the eggs have thickened enough to make a thick coating on the spoon. Turn it into a bowl and beat it with a whip until it is cold; it will then be very light. If a vanilla bean is used for flavoring, infuse it with the syrup; if the extract is used add a teaspoonful of it to the custard when it is taken from the fire. When the custard is cold add a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth. (If any liquid has drained from the cream do not let it go in.) Stir these lightly together; turn the mixture into a mold holding three pints. Pack in ice and salt for four hours. Make the joints of the mold very tight as directed for molding at head of chapter.

This cream can be varied by using different flavorings in place of the vanilla: a tablespoonful of curacao or of noyau, two ounces of chocolate melted and smoothed with a little cream, etc., etc.