4 China oranges and 2 lemons pared thin; when cool add the juice of both, lb. of sugar, and the whites of 6 eggs beaten to a froth; let the jelly have 3 or 4 boils without stirring, and strain it through a jelly-bag.

Cranberry Jelly.-Make a very strong isinglass jelly. When cold, mix it with a double quantity of cranberry-juice. Sweeten and boil it up; then strain it into a shape.

The sugar must be good loaf, or the jelly will not be clear. Cranberry and Rice Jelly.-Boil and press the fruit, strain the juice, and by degrees mix into it as much ground rice as will, when boiled, thicken to a jelly; boil it gently, stirring it, and sweeten it to your taste. Put it in a basin or form, and serve with cream.

JELLY MOULDS.

695.-The shape of the moulds used for jellies and creams is a matter of importance in the appearance of the entremets of a handsome dinner. They should be high and nearly of the same size. If jelly or cream sinks flat on the dish, it has a poor and shabby appearance. The variety now to be got at all the large ironmongers' shops is very great, some of them very elegant. The cylindrical mould shows the transparency

of jelly beautifully, the centre being filled up with a light whipped cream after the jelly is dished, which not only sets off the jelly, but is very good eaten with it. Also one for jellies of mixed colours, which is very pretty. These are filled with the jelly, coloured, and each layer allowed to get cold before the next is added. A little cochineal or sliced beetroot, with a few drops of lemon-juice, makes a beautiful red; spinach-juice, boiled with a small quantity of water to take off the rawness, makes a dark green.

CHAPTER XXV.

CONFECTIONARY.

696.-Stove.-IN storerooms, or where there is not a charcoal stove for the purpose of preserving, the small portable French stove is found very convenient. A tin, with the

Stove for Preserving.

sides a little turned up, should be placed under it; and there should be a free ventilation of air, as the best fuel for it is charcoal. It is lighted in the same way as a charcoal stove, by putting upon the bars a piece of charcoal already ignited; and may be put out by fixing the lid closely down. The French call it un Fourneau Economique. The original price is only a few shillings.

TO CLARIFY AND BOIL SUGAR.

697.-The boiling of sugar more or less constitutes the chief art of the confectioner. Those who are not practised in this knowledge, and only preserve, in a plain way, for family use, are not aware that in 2 or 3 minutes a syrup over the fire will pass from one gradation to another, called by the confectioners degrees of boiling," of which there are 6, and those subdivided. Such minutiæ cannot, however, be attended to by private parties; and the observation is only made to guard against both underboiling, which prevents preserves from keeping, and too quick and long boiling, which brings them to a candy.

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The finest sugar should be used in confectionary, as it requires less clarifying, and consequently less is wasted, as the coarser sorts lose much in that process. Break the sugar

into large lumps, and put it into a preserving-pan. If for syrup, add a pint of cold water to each pound; if for candying, a couple of wineglassfuls to the pound will be sufficient. Beat the white of an egg, add it to the water, mix it well, and pour it over the sugar; 1 egg is enough for 12 lbs. of sugar if it is fine, or 2 if it is coarse. When the sugar is nearly melted, stir it well, and put it over a gentle fire; do not stir it after the scum begins to rise; let it boil 5 minutes, then take it off the fire, let it stand a minute or two, then take the scum carefully off; put the pan again on the fire, and when the syrup begins to boil throw in a little cold water, which should be kept back for the purpose; boil till the scum rises, draw it off the fire, and skim it as before; repeat this till quite clear; it is then fit for use. It is by long boiling that the different degrees are acquired which the confectioner requires. When it is fit for candying, it may be drawn out into threads by taking a little between the thumb and finger; but for barley-sugar or caramel, the way to prove it is by dropping a little into cold water; if it snap between the teeth without sticking to them, it should then be instantly taken off the fire. If for barley-sugar, a few drops of essence of lemon should be added, then pour it upon a broad dish, and when the edges begin to harden roll it up into sticks. If for caramel, or spun sugar, oil a mould and draw out the sugar in threads over it, let it cool, then place it over the fruit or tart it is intended to cover. The various degrees in sugar-boiling, if required to a nicety, may best be ascertained by means of a very simple saccharometer, to be had at any instrument-maker's, consisting of a tin tube, into which, when nearly filled with the syrup, a small graduated rod, having a weight at the lower end to hold it in a perpendicular position, is inserted; and according to the degree it marks on the surface of the syrup, the stage is denominated as in the following table ::

The instrument does not mark beyond 40 degrees, else it

would give caramel noir at 48 degrees.

OBSERVATIONS ON PRESERVING.

698.-Attention, with practice, will enable a person to make any of the following sorts of preserves, &c., and they are as much as is wanted in a private family. The higher articles of preserved fruits may be bought at less expense than they can be made.

Preserves should be kept carefully from the air, and in a very dry place. Unless they have a very small proportion of sugar, a warm one does not hurt; but when not properly boiled (that is, long enough, but not quickly), heat makes them ferment, and damp causes them to grow mouldy. They should be looked at 2 or 3 times in the first 2 months, that they may be gently boiled again if not likely to keep. Paste the edge of the outer paper, as it keeps out the air better than a string; put plain writing-paper over the fruit; brandy will give them a tendency to ferment.

Dried sweetmeats, cakes, &c., should be kept in tin boxes, between layers of white paper, in a very dry but not hot

room.

When any sweetmeats are directed to be dried in the sun or in a stove, it will be best, in private families, where there is not a regular stove for the purpose, to put them in the sun on flag-stones, which reflect the heat, and place a garden glass over them to keep insects off; or if put into an oven, take care not to let it be too warm, and watch that they do properly and slowly.

All fruits for preserving should be gathered in dry weather; but as this is not always practicable, much inconvenience may be obviated by boiling the fruit for jellies and jams long before the sugar is added. By so doing, the watery particles will evaporate, and the preserve will be better flavoured, by the sugar not being too long on the fire.

The common sort of preserves are cheaper, if not better, when made in the house than when purchased from the confectioner; with this observation, that if there be children in the family, the plan will then probably be found anything but economical.

Pans of copper or bell-metal are the proper utensils for preserving fruit: when used, they must be scoured bright with sand. Tinned pans turn and destroy the colour of the fruit that is put into them. There is now a new sort of stewpan to

be got at most of the large ironmongers': it is of iron, coated with earthenware. Omelette-pans should be of the same material. Sieves and horn spoons should be kept for sweet things only.

TO CANDY.—E. R.

699.-Almonds.-Blanch any quantity of almonds, then fry them in butter till they are of a light-brown colour; wipe them nicely with a napkin, and put them into a pan. Make a syrup of white sugar, and boil it to a thread-that is, until on your taking a drop of the sugar between the finger and thumb it will produce a thread; care must be taken to boil it to the exact candying-point; pour it boiling hot upon the almonds, and stir them till they are quite cold. This is an excellent method of preparing almonds for dessert, and much approved of in London by the guests of his highness the Nawaub of Oude, from whose cook it has been obtained.

Bon-bons.-Clear off the sugar from fresh candied citron or orange rind, cut it into squares 1 inch thick, stick them singly on a bit of thin wire, and dip them into liquid barley-sugar; rub a dish with a few drops of pure salad oil, and lay the fruit upon this to cool. They should be kept in tin canisters in a very dry place.

Toffie.-Melt in a stewpan 3 oz. of fresh butter, add 1 lb. of good moist sugar, stir it well over a gentle fire, and let it boil about of an hour, or till it cracks short between the teeth like barley-sugar; then pour it upon buttered dishes, and when nearly cold mark it across in squares that it may easily divide, or roll it into sticks. When half-boiled, the grated rind of a lemon or a teaspoonful of ground ginger may be added. A few sliced almonds may be added after it is poured upon the dishes.

To candy any sort of Fruit.-When finished in the syrup, put a layer into a new sieve, and dip it suddenly into hot water, to take off the syrup that hangs about it; put it on a napkin before the fire to drain, and then do some more in the sieve. Have ready sifted double-refined sugar, which sift over the fruit on all sides till quite white; set it on the shallow end of sieves in a lightly warm oven, and turn it 2 or 3 times. It must not be cold till dry. Watch it carefully, and it will be beautiful.