Part 38

SOFT CUSTARD

(BOILED)

Soft custard is a nutritious dish made of yolk of egg and milk. It is frequently used as a sauce for puddings, but is very good, eaten by itself, for one who is confined to light or liquid diet.

1 Pint of milk. Yolks of two eggs. 2 Tablespoons of sugar. 1 Saltspoon of salt.

Put the milk into a saucepan, and set it on the stove to boil. Beat together the yolks of the eggs, the salt, and the sugar, in a bowl, and when the milk just reaches the boiling-point, pour it in slowly, stirring until all is mixed. Return it to the saucepan without delay, and cook for three minutes, meanwhile stirring it slowly. Carefully endeavor not to either overcook or undercook the custard, for if it is not cooked enough, it will have a raw, unpleasant, "eggy" taste, and if it is cooked too much, it will have the appearance of being curdled. If there is no unnecessary delay in pouring the milk into the egg so that not much of its heat is lost, and if it is returned immediately to the fire, three minutes' exposure to the heat will usually be long enough, but of course the time will vary according to the condition of the fire and the kind of pan used. When done, strain it at once into a cool dish, and flavor it with a teaspoon of vanilla. Soft custard may also be flavored with sherry wine, almond extract, cinnamon-bark, caramel, and nutmeg. It should be of a smooth and even consistency, and as thick as rich cream.

BAKED CUSTARD

(IN CUPS)

1 Pint of milk. 2 Eggs. 1 Saltspoon of salt. 2 Tablespoons of sugar. ½ Square inch of cinnamon-bark.

Put the cinnamon and milk together in a saucepan, and set on the stove to heat. Break the eggs into a bowl, add the salt and sugar, and beat them until well mixed, but not light. When the milk boils, pour it on the beaten egg, stir slowly for a minute to dissolve the sugar, and then strain it into custard-cups. Place the cups in a deep iron baking-pan, and pour boiling water around, until it reaches almost to their tops. Bake in a hot oven twenty minutes.

The blue baking-cups which are small at the bottom and widen toward the top are good ones to use. They bear the fire well, and are pretty enough to serve.

By baking the custards in a dish of boiling water, the temperature cannot rise higher than 212° Fahr., and there is less danger of hardening the albumen in the more exposed portions before the middle is cooked enough, than if water is not used. The top is sacrificed--somewhat overcooked--for the sake of the pretty brown color which they should always have. Custards, when done, should be of a perfectly smooth, even, velvety consistence throughout, not curdled or wheyey.

To test them after they have been cooking twenty minutes, dip a pointed knife into water, and plunge it into the middle of the custard. If it comes out clean, the custard is done; if milky, it is not cooked enough, and should be put into the oven for five minutes longer. Do not try every one unless the cups are of different sizes, and make a small, narrow slit, so that their appearance will not be too much injured. This mixture may also be baked in a pudding-dish. Baked custards may be flavored with a variety of substances, among the best of which are grated nutmeg, almond extract, vanilla, and caramel.

=To Make Caramel.= Boil together one cup of sugar and one third of a cup of water until the color is a rich reddish brown, then add one cup of water, and bottle for use. Two tablespoons of this syrup will be required to flavor a pint of custard.

FRENCH CUSTARD

Make a custard mixture according to the above rule, omitting the cinnamon. Put into the bottom of the custard-cups in which it is to be baked, a teaspoon of raspberry jam. Then with a tunnel pour the custard in slowly. Bake twenty minutes. The jam, if firm, will not mix with the custard. It imparts a nice flavor to the whole, and is an interesting dish to many, who wonder how the jam can be kept from dissolving.

RENNET CUSTARD OR SLIP

Put into a glass pudding-dish a pint of milk, a tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of rennet. Stir to dissolve the sugar, cover it and place it on the stove-hearth, or any warm place, to heat sufficiently for the rennet to act upon the casein of the milk--that is, to about 98° Fahr. As soon as it is "set," or becomes solid, remove to a cool place, so that the separation of the casein shall not go too far and whey appear. When it is cool, serve it in glass dishes. Rennet custard may be flavored with nutmeg grated over the surface, or by stirring in with the rennet a teaspoon of vanilla, or of rose-water, or a tablespoon of wine. When brandy is added, it is called junket.

Liquid rennet is an extract of the inner lining of the stomach of the calf. It has the power of freeing the albuminous part of milk from its solution,--in other words, of coagulating it. Rennet custard is not of course strictly a custard; it is also called slip, and in Cape Cod it bears the graphic name of "Gap-and-swallow."

EGG CREAM

2 Eggs. 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Juice and grated rind of half a lemon.

Separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites, and beat them with the sugar in a bowl until both are well mixed. Then put in the lemon-juice and rind, and place the bowl in a dish of boiling water on the fire. Stir slowly until the mixture begins to thicken; then add the beaten whites of the eggs and stir for two minutes, or until the whole resembles very thick cream; then remove it from the fire, pour into a small pudding-dish, and set it away to cool. Serve in small pretty china cups, or small glass dishes, for a mid-afternoon lunch or for tea.

VELVET CREAM

¼ Box of gelatine. ¼ Cup of cold water. ¼ Cup of sherry wine. 1 Teaspoon of lemon-juice. ½ Cup of sugar. 1¼ Cups of creamy milk, or 1½ Cups of sweet cream.

Soak the gelatine in the cold water in a bowl for half an hour; then pour in the wine, and set the bowl in a dish of boiling water on the fire. When the gelatine is dissolved, put in the lemon-juice and sugar, stir for a minute to dissolve the sugar, and then strain it through a fine wire strainer into a granite or other metal pan. Set the pan in a dish of ice and water to cool. As soon as it begins to thicken, or is about the consistency of molasses on a warm day, turn in the cream and stir regularly and constantly until it begins to thicken. Before it is quite as hard as it will become, turn it into a glass or pretty china dish, in which it may be served, and set it away in the refrigerator or back in the dish of ice and water until perfectly firm. Serve it in small glass or china dishes, with sweet cream poured over. This cream should be of a perfectly smooth, even consistency, hence the name "velvet cream."

COFFEE CREAM

¼ Box of gelatine. ¼ Cup of cold water. ½ Cup of strong coffee. ½ Cup of sugar. 1½ Cups of sweet cream, or 1¼ Cups of creamy milk.

Soak the gelatine in the cold water for half an hour. Then pour on the coffee, boiling hot, to dissolve it; add the sugar, stir until it is dissolved, and strain the liquid into a granite pan. Set it in iced water to cool; when it has become so, and is beginning to thicken, or is about the consistency of syrup or a little thinner, pour in the cream; stir regularly and evenly for about ten minutes, or until it is thick, but not hard; then turn it into a glass dish while it is still slightly soft, and it will settle into a smooth, even mass. It may be returned to the iced water, or put into a refrigerator, to stiffen.

Coffee cream is similar to velvet cream and the process is exactly the same for both. They are delicious creams, very nutritious, and to be recommended for their excellent nourishing properties and flavors.