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Cocoa (Scald three cups of milk)
Scald three cups of milk in a double boiler. Mix three tablespoonfuls of cocoa with four tablespoonfuls of sugar, and add slowly one cupful of boiling water, stirring constantly. Boil five minutes, then add the hot milk, and beat until foamy.
A straightforward hot cocoa built the old way: a cooked cocoa syrup first, scalded milk second. The two-stage method is the whole point and worth keeping.
- Why boil the pasteCocoa powder contains some starch, and the five-minute boil in water swells it, so the drink thickens slightly and loses the raw, chalky edge. Dumping dry cocoa straight into hot milk tends to give a grittier drink that settles in the cup.
- Cocoa, not drinking chocolate"Cocoa" here means unsweetened cocoa powder. Both natural and Dutch-process (alkalized) cocoa were sold in tins; either will work. Natural cocoa tastes sharper and more acidic, so add a pinch more sugar if you use it.
- Scalding milkBring it to about 180F, just to the point where a skin forms and bubbles ring the edge, not a rolling boil. The double boiler exists because milk on direct heat scorches on the bottom of the pan; a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low and a bit of attention does the same job.
- Watch the syrupOne cup of water with three tablespoons of cocoa boiled five minutes will reduce noticeably and can catch at the bottom. Keep it at a bare simmer and stir, or thin it back with a splash of water before the milk goes in.
- The foamBeat it with whatever comes to hand: a whisk, a rotary egg beater, an immersion blender or a milk frother all work.
- Salt and vanillaThe recipe has neither. A small pinch of salt in the cocoa-sugar mixture sharpens the chocolate considerably, and half a teaspoon of vanilla off the heat is period-appropriate.
- YieldThree cups of milk plus a cup of water gives roughly four modest cups, or three generous mugs.
Cocoa earned its place in a temperance collection by being the respectable hot drink: stimulating enough to serve at a meeting or a supper, nourishing because of the milk, and free of alcohol. By the time this book was written, cocoa powder was a cheap, shelf-stable pantry staple rather than a luxury, the result of nineteenth-century press technology that removed most of the cocoa butter from ground beans and of the Dutch alkalizing process that made the remaining powder mix readily with liquid. The two-stage method here, boiling a syrup before adding scalded milk, is the standard American domestic-science formula of the era.