831. Brioches a uFromage-(Cheese Brioches.)

Make this paste as for other brioches, only have some Swiss cheese, which cut into dice, and throw into paste while it is still liquid. Bake it as you would any any briosh.

NOUGAT.

832. Nougat.

For a second-course dish, cut in dice or in fillets, a pound of sweet almonds, and mix with them six or eight bitter almonds. Before you cut them into dice they should be blanched, in order that the peel may come off. When they are cut equally, dry them in the oven, but keep them white; take three or four spoonsful of superfine pounded sugar, put it over a slow fire in a preserving-pan; when the sugar is melted without having used any water, throw the almonds in, but take care that they are quite dry. Stir the sugar with a clean wooden skewer. If you hear a noise when you throw them into the sugar, it is a sign that they are dry enough. Rub a mould slightly over inside with oil or butter, and lay some almonds in beds as thinly as possible; take an oiled lemon to press the almonds with: but be quick, otherwise the almonds will get cool, and then they cannot be worked so thin. The nougat requires to be light, to be made to perfection. Sometimes you may make the nougat in a mould the form of a vase, sometimes in small custard moulds, according to your choice; it is always the same thing, but you may cut the almonds of different shapes. These entremets will give you at least six or eight varieties: when cut long and square, put them in the oven to soften them again, oil a broomstick, and put it into the nougat to take the form of it; this you may call gaufre la nougat. Again, take some white almonds chopped very fine, and have a green of spinach made as directed in the sauces, then rub the almond with the green to make them appear like pistachio-nuts, which are preferable, if at hand, but almonds

are much cheaper, and will answer almost as well; dry them very well, and make some sugar au cassé, which you will find explained in No. 836. Dip the two extremities of the nougat but lightly in the sugar, and afterwards in the green almonds; put this over a clean paper in a dry place. You will find this dish have a very good appearance and an excellent flavour. It may be made sometimes with white almonds, sometimes cut in lozenges and bordered with the green and white, &c.

Sometimes make a pound of almonds into nougat, oil a baking dish, and spread it over it, oil the rolling pin, and flatten the nougat with it; if it will spread easy, put it in the oven again to make it soft; then cut it into small long squares, and keep it in a very dry place, to prevent it sticking to the fingers.

394

CHAP. XXVII.

SWEET ENTREMETS AND HOT PASTRY.

833. Dry Meringues.

MERINGUES, to be well made, require the eggs to be fresh, and that they should not be broken till the very moment you are going to use them. Have some pounded sugar that is quite dry, break the white of the eggs into a clean and very deep pan, whip them without loss of time, till they are very firm, then take as many spoonsful of sugar as you have whites, and beat them lightly with the eggs till the whole is well mixed. Observe, that you are to be very expeditious in making the meringues, to prevent the sugar from melting in the eggs. Have some boards thick enough to prevent the bottom of the meringues from getting baked in the oven. Cut slips of paper two inches broad, on which place the meringues with a spoon; give them the shape of an egg cut in half, and let them all be an equal size: sift some sugar over them, and blow off the sugar that may have fallen on the paper: next lay your slips of paper on a board, and bake them in an oven moderately hot. As soon as they begin to colour, remove them from the oven: take each slip of paper by the two ends, and turn it gently on the table; take off a little of the middle with a small spoon. Spread some clean paper on the board, turn the meringues upside down on it, and put them into the oven, that the crumb or soft part may be baked and acquire substance. When this is done, keep them in a dry place till wanted. When you send them up to table, fill them with Chantilli cream (No. 751), or with something Remember, however, that you are not to use articles that are very sweet, the meringues being sweet

acid.

themselves. Mind that the spoon is to be filled with sugar to the brim, for the sweeter the meringues are, the better and crisper they are; but if, on the contrary, you do not sugar enough, the meringues are tough. They are sometimes made pink by adding a little carmine diluted in some of the preparation, but the white ones are preferable; if a clean sheet of paper is put into a small stock-pot, and the meringues also put therein, and well covered, they will keep for one or two months as good and crisp as the first day on which account, if you have a vacancy for one dish, which is wanted in haste, it will be found very advantageous to have them made beforehand.

834. Marasquino Meringues with Sugar.

For a pound of sugar take the whites of ten eggs, and clarify the sugar as directed in its proper place. Reduce it almost au cassé (see No. 836), then let it cool, while you beat your eggs well; next put them with the sugar. When the sugar begins to get cool, mix the eggs well with it with a wooden spoon; then mix two spoonsful of marasquino with the whole; dress the meringues on some paper as above, and glaze with sugar sifted over them, before you put them into the oven, which is not to be so hot as for other meringues. As soon as the top gets a substance, take them from the paper, stick two together, and put them into the hot closet to dry. Leave the moist part in the middle. These meringues belong more particularly to confectionary, as they are sweeter than any other.

835. Gimblettes Paste.

The gimblettes are introduced next to the meringues, because this kind of paste is made with the yolk of eggs, whereas the whites only are used in making the meringues. It is by adherence to these principles of economy, that a good cook distinguishes himself. For eight yolks take two ounces of butter, half a pound of flour, a pinch of salt, one ounce of sugar, and a little milk; work the paste

with your hand on the table; add to it a little rasped lemon-peel, or a little orange-flower. Cut the paste into small pieces, which roll up the size of your little finger, and make rings with them: solder them with a little dorure (yolks of eggs well beaten). Next rub a baking sheet over with butter, and lay the gimblettes on it. Mind that they are all of an equal size. Brush them twice over with the dorure, and bake them in an oven that is but very moderately hot. This paste undergoes no change while in the oven; let it get quite dry, for gimblettes require to be made crisp. Sometimes you can twist them to vary the form. This pastry is sometimes given by the French ladies to their little dogs; it is very delicate in flavour, when perfumed with orange-flower, vanilla, lemon, or otherwise.

836. Clarified Sugar.

Break the sugar in pieces, weighing each about half a pound; put them into the stewpan, with clear water, sufficient to dissolve them; add two or three drops of the whites of eggs, (a trifle more if the sugar be very dirty,) beat the water very well till you find it turn white, then pour it over the sugar, and put the stewpan on the fire. Let the sugar boil before you skim away the dirt; pour a little more water over the syrup, then skim again, and when very clear, drain it through a clean silk sieve, and use when wanted. This sugar may be reduced so as to spin, but the surest way is to use treeble refined sugar, broken small, and put it in a small preserving-pan with a very little clear water; put it over a sharp fire, keep the pan clean all round with a dam rubber, to prevent the sugar taking any colour; when you perceive that the sugar swells in a large globe, have some cold water in a glass; dip your finger very quickly into the water, then in the sugar, and again into the water; if the sugar that has adhered to your finger breaks very crisp, it is ready to spin; let it cool a little, and with a damp cloth wipe the side of the pan to cool the sugar, and prevent its taking too much colour. If you have a little apple-jelly at hand, put a tea-spoonful of it into the sugar: it will im