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Virginia Caramel Custard

To make a baked custard, separate the whites and yolks of five eggs, beat the yolks well with a quarter of a pound of sugar, add the well-beaten whites and mix well with a quart of milk. Flavor and then pour into a buttered mold. Set immediately into a pan of boiling hot water, in a moderately hot oven. About half an hour will be required to set it firmly. When nicely browned and puffed up, touch the middle with a knife blade; if it cuts as smooth as around the sides it is done; take care not to overdo. Let custard stand until perfectly cold, turn out gently on a plate and dust thickly with sugar, place in upper part of a hot oven; the sugar soon melts and browns. Another way is to butter the mold carefully, sprinkle sugar over bottom and set on stove to brown (great care is necessary to prevent sticking), pour in custard and bake; when turned out the caramel will be on top.

A thinner custard may be made with a less number of eggs, but it can not be carameled unless baked in individual cups. Less eggs may also be used by substituting a portion of corn starch, boiled rice, gelatine or something else to give firmness, but the quality of custard will be impaired. And if more than one or two additional eggs are used the custard is spoiled. Baking too rapidly, or too long, injures custard, hence do not scald milk and eggs before setting in oven, as many recommend. By baking in boiling water the temperature is regular, and scorching prevented.

There are very few modern kitchens in which some cooking utensil may not be found convenient for making candy. A sauce-pan of tinned iron, with a handle and flaring sides, and a lip to facilitate the pouring of the contents, will be found best adapted to such use; or a small iron or brass kettle will do if kept quite clean. Instead

Dissolve four pounds white sugar in one quart water; place this in a porcelain kettle over a slow fire for half an hour, pour into it a small quantity of gelatine and gum-arabic dissolved together; all the impurities which rise to the surface skim off at once. of gelatine and gum-arabic, the white of an egg may be used as a substitute with good results. To make the clarifying process still more perfect, strain through a flannel bag. To make rock candy, boil this syrup a few moments, allow to cool, and crystallization takes place on the sides of the vessel. To make other candies, bring the syrup very carefully to such a degree of heat that the "threads," which drop from the spoon when raised into the colder air, will snap like glass. When this stage is reached, add a teaspoon of vinegar or cream tartar to prevent "graining," and pour into pans as directed in the recipes which follow. To make round stick candies, pull, and roll into shape with well-floured hands as soon as cool enough to be handled. In pulling candy, some grease the hands, others flour them slightly. Colored candies are often injurious, and sometimes even poisonous, and should be avoided.

In baking macaroons and kisses, use washed butter for greasing the tins, as lard or salt butter gives an unpleasant taste. Bake in (113) a moderate oven, or let dry in a cool oven for two hours. After buttering, sprinkling lightly with flour and then shaking it off, is an excellent way to prepare the pan. When powdered almonds are to be used, they should be thoroughly dried in an open oven, after blanching, and they will pulverize more easily. In making macaroons or drops, or pulling butter-scotch or taffy, grease hands lightly with butter to prevent sticking. Flouring the hands is apt to give an unpleasant taste to candy.