603. Soufflé de violettes.

Proceed exactly as before, only using violets instead of orange-blossoms.

604. Fleur d'oranger pralinée.

Have ready a pound of orange-blossoms, pluck the petals and throw them into cold water. Prepare a

syrup with a pound of sugar and a tumbler of water; let the syrup boil to the 2nd degree, or grand boulé (see page 251), drain the petals and throw them into it; mix them with syrup, and separate them from each other with the skimming-spoon; let them boil for two minutes. Remove the pan from the fire, and stir quickly the petals until the sugar adheres to each; then pour them upon a sheet of paper, detach them from each other with your hands, and put them in a moderate oven to dry. When cold, put in glass bottles.

605. Violettes pralinées.

Choose a pound of fresh violets and proceed as above.

606. Fasmin candi.

Choose a pound of fresh jessamin-flowers, and proceed as for No. 604.

607. Bouquets de violettes.

Have ready some fresh, violets, put ten or twelve flowers in every bunch and tie the stalks.

Boil some

sugar to the second degree (see page 251), grand boulé; let it become half cold. Dip the bunches of violets into the sugar, drain them upon a sieve, and lay them upon a sheet of buttered paper; let them dry in a cold place. Cut out some papers and put them round the flowers, and serve them cold; they will look like nosegays.

Bouquets de violettes cannot be kept for more than three or four days.

608. Tortillons.

Clarify two pounds of sugar (see No. 601, page 250); add to it three table-spoonfuls of apple-jelly (see Index) and half of the juice of a lemon. Let the syrup boil to the 4th degree, au cassé (see page 251), then drop it upon a piece of marble, previously oiled. Roll the syrup with your hands, previously oiled, until it becomes whitish; roll it very thin, and have ready another person to cut it in sticks and twist it. This last work should be done quickly, for if the sugar becomes cold you cannot do anything with it.

609. Caramels.

Prepare a syrup of sugar to the 2nd degree, au grand boulé (see page 251), throw into it some almonds, previously blanched and cut in slices. Stir them until the syrup arrives at the 6th degree, or caramel. Remove the pan quickly from the fire, and drop the preparation upon a sheet of paper, in portions

about as large as a crown-piece. Let the bonbons become cold, and keep them well shut up in boxes.

610. Macarons à la fleur d'oranger.

With a pound of sugar make a syrup, which you boil to the 2nd degree, or grand boulé (see page 251). Chop coarsely four ounces of orange-blossoms and mix them well with the syrup, which you just keep warm, whilst you beat three whites of eggs very stiff. Add them to the syrup, and mix the whole thoroughly. Take the preparation from the fire, and with a spoon, drop it upon a sheet of paper in portions about as large as a crown-piece. Put them in a very moderate oven, and let them remain there for an hour. When you take them out they ought to be quite hard. Rub a little water upon the paper to detach the bonbons, and put them upon plates, topsy-turvy. Set the plates in the oven, and let the bonbons become quite dry. Take them out and keep them in boxes.

Macarons so made will keep for a year.

611. Macarons à la violette.

Proceed exactly as above, only use violets instead of orange-blossoms.

612. Bonbons au café au lait.

Put over a sharp fire half-a-pound of brown sugar, with three ounces of fresh butter; let it boil for ten minutes, stirring it all the time. Add a cupful of strong coffee and a cupful of new cream, and let the

whole boil ten minutes longer. Keep stirring. When the preparation becomes frothy, it is ready. Remove the pan from the fire, but keep it warm. Take a small portion of the preparation, about the size of a walnut, and roll it in your hands, then dip it in pounded sugar. Proceed in the same manner until all the preparation is in the shape of little balls. Lay them upon a sheet of paper, and let them dry in a cold place.

If you allow the preparation to boil for five minutes longer, you may pour it upon a piece of oiled marble, and roll it to half an inch with a roller; then, with the blade of a knife, trace squares upon the surface, and when it is quite cold, divide the squares with a sharp knife.

The first bonbons are soft, and the second hard.

613. Bonbons au chocolat.

Proceed exactly as above, only use chocolate instead of coffee, and water instead of cream.

CHAPTER XXII.

PROVISIONS DE MÉNAGE-PROVISIONS.

CONFITURES-PRESERVES.

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THERE are a great many different kinds of preserves, and they afford a great resource in winter-time; they are generally easy to make and easy to keep, provided the necessary quantity of sugar be not spared. Some persons think they are economical because they put very little sugar, or sugar of an inferior quality, in their preserves; however, it is a great mistake : if use sugar of an inferior quality, your preserves will have a taste of treacle, and you will lose a great deal with the jam; besides, it is impossible to use brown sugar for jellies—it would be difficult to get them stiff, and they would never be transparent. If you use a smaller quantity of sugar than that indicated in the receipts, you will have to boil the fruit for a longer time, which will make it of a dark colour and take away the delicacy of taste.

I shall only indicate preserves that I am accustomed to make.