Brioche

“ Cook a brioche in a mould of the required size. When it is quite cold, remove all the crumb from its inside, leaving a thickness of three-quarters of an inch on the bottom and sides. Coat all round, by means of a brush, with apricot jam cooked to the small-thread [743] stage, and decorate with pieces of puff-paste in the shape of crescents, lozenges, roundels, etc., colourlessly baked in a moderate oven. When about to serve, pour in a garnish of stoned cherries, cooked in a thin syrup, thickened with raspberry-flavoured red-currant jelly. ”

“ Fill muffin pans about 1/2 full with the brioche mixture. Allow it to rise nearly to the top, bake in a slow oven, remove when sufficiently baked, and cool. Remove the center from each mold, leaving a shell. The centers may be toasted and served separately. Put a teaspoonful or two of any desirable preserves or marmalade into the shells, fill with sweetened and flavored whipped cream, and over the top sprinkle chopped nuts. This dessert should be prepared just before serving.
BRIOCHE PUDDING
Take enough of the brioche sponge to fill a good-sized mold two-thirds full. ”

“ Take half the quantity of the foregoing paste, roll it out half an inch thick, on top of which place a layer of peach marmalade, and send to the oven for about ten minutes; then sprinkle on top of the marmalade an ounce of currants, previously washed and dried, about twenty blanched almonds cut in small pieces, and a little citron, also cut in small pieces. Then divide your brioche in pieces three inches long and an inch wide. Serve cold. ”

“ Then lay the mold on a baking-sheet; glaze the top lightly with beaten egg, and put it in a moderate oven. After it has been in fifteen minutes, cover it with a buttered paper, close the oven door, and bake for one hour more; test it by thrusting in a larding-needle, and if no dough adheres to this the brioche [346] is thoroughly cooked: if not, leave it in ten minutes longer. Remove from the oven, unmold, and let it cool. Dress on a dessert-dish with a folded napkin, and serve. ”

“ On this morning there was brioche and red raspberry preserve and the eggs were boiled and there was a pat of butter that melted as they stirred them and salted them lightly and ground pepper over them in the cups. ”

“ The peaches and apricots should be merely skinned, halved, and stoned before they are drawn through the batter, unless they should not be fully ripe, when they must first be stewed tender in a thin syrup.
8 to 12 minutes
BRIOCHE FRITTERS. The brioche-paste, [134] when good, makes very superior cannelons and fritters: it is, we should say, better in this form than in that of the bun or cake, in which it is seen so commonly abroad. Make it, for the fritters, into very small balls ”

“ Into three cupfuls of brioche paste mix one cupful of currants, raisins, and chopped citron, which have soaked for an hour in maraschino. Half fill buttered baba-molds (which are cups holding about one half pint) ; let it rise to top of mold, which will take about three quarters of an hour. It must not rise in too warm a place, or the butter will separate. Bake them in a moderate oven one half hour. Let them absorb hot syrup at 30°, flavored with kirsch or sherry. ”

“ Cut the crust from the outside, taking as little as possible. Spread each slice with apricot jam, and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Butter the mold well, and replace the slices, using on the bottom one which has not had a hole cut in the center. When all but the last slice are in, fill the well in the center with mixed canned fruits well drained, using pineapple, apricots, a few candied cherries, and chopped almonds; then pour in a custard mixture made of one pint of milk, four yolks of eggs, two and a half tablespoonfuls of sugar. Let the brioche absorb the liquid ”

“ When nearly done stir in 1 gill rich cream, and a large piece of butter into which some flour has been rubbed. Put in the meat and a few minced truffles; stir slowly until it boils. When the sauce has well thickened pour it into the paste. Garnish, and serve at once. Make some brioche paste into shapes by putting a piece of bread into the centre of a mould; [347] also cut out a few flowers, leaves, &c., for ornament. Bake and take out the bread or mould. Some persons make a few little balls of the paste as well, boil, and serve them with the sauce. ”

“ When light, twist the ends of each piece in the opposite direction, coil, and bring the ends together on the top of the cake. Let rise in pans for 20 minutes, and bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes. Upon removing from the oven, brush with confectioner's sugar moistened with enough water to allow it to spread.
BRIOCHE BUNS
Work 1/2 cupful of raisins and 1/2 cupful of chopped nut meats into half of the brioche mixture. ”

“ Stand the saucepan in another of boiling water and return to the stove, stirring till the eggs seem done—about five minutes, if the water boils all the time. Line patty pans with puff paste, and fill with frangipané and bake. Ornament with chopped almonds and meringue, or not, as you please.
It is very difficult to make fine puff paste in warm weather, and almost impossible without ice; for this reason I think the brioche paste preferable ”

“ Mold in any form you like, but the true brioche is two pieces, one as large again as the other; form the large one into a ball, make a deep depression in the center, on which place the smaller ball, pressing it gently in ”

“ Baba Cakes To one and one-half cups Brioche dough add one-third cup each raisins seeded and cut in pieces, currants, and citron thinly sliced, previously soaked in Maraschino for one hour. Shape, let rise, and bake same as Rum Cakes. ”

“ Take a piece of brisket of beef, cover it with water, when boiling skim off the fat, add one quartern of French beans cut small, two onions cut in quarters, season with pepper and salt, and when nearly done take a dessert-spoonful of flour, one of coarse brown sugar, and a large tea-cup full of vinegar, mix them together and stir in with the beans, and continue stewing for about half an hour longer. ”

“ Bone a brisket of beef, and make holes in it with a sharp knife about an inch apart, fill them alternately with fat bacon, parsley and oysters, all chopped small and seasoned with pounded cloves and nutmeg, pepper and salt, dredge it well with flour, lay it in a pan with a pint of red wine and a large spoonful of lemon pickle ”

“ Ground into meal, the buckwheat yields the staple of our diet; the bourriol—a large, thin, soft, round crumpet, which, eaten hot with butter, or cold with clotted cream, or a nugget of cheese, or dipped in new milk, is not to be despised. Every morning, the housewife’s earliest care is to fill the pail of bourriols which stands in every kitchen; next she warms the milk until the cream clots and rises. Besides the buckwheat, we grow oats for the cattle and rye for bread and straw. ”

“ But if to be dressed without soup, boil a piece of the flank or brisket in water to cover it, with a sufficiency of cut carrot and turnip to garnish, also a head of celery and 12 or 16 button onions, browned; add a small table-spoonful of black and Jamaica peppers tied in muslin; simmer it gently; and it requires a long time to cook it enough. When it has boiled till tender, take out enough of the liquor to make sauce; thicken it with brown roux, or flour rubbed in butter, add catsup, cayenne, and made mustard. Garnish with the vegetables. Caper, walnut, or tomata sauce. ”

“ If the gravy is too thin, add browned flour and boil it up again. Some persons use red wine, but it is very good without. Half the quantity of meat and stuffing for a small family.
Stewed Brisket of Beef.
Put three or four pounds of brisket into a kettle, and cover it with water. Take off the scum as it rises. Let it boil steadily two hours. Then take it from the pot and brown it with butter in a spider. When it is browned on every side, return it to the kettle, and stew it gently five hours more. Add more water if it boils away. Put in a carrot and a turnip or two, cut small, an onion also ”

“ Oat cakes are often preferred to those made of wheat flour, as they tend to open the body, and are rather warmer, to cold and weak stomachs. Barley is not so nourishing, and requires more preparation to render it digestible, than the other kinds of grain. Cakes, biscuits, muffins, buns, crumpets, and small bread, made with eggs, butter, or sugar, seldom agree with delicate persons. Biscuits made without leaven, yeast, butter, or sugar, are more difficult of digestion, than bread when it is fermented. ”

“ Boil the heads of broccoli in salted water with a little flour. When cooked take them out and drain well. Then put them in a dish and pour the following sauce over them: Melt some butter, salt, pepper, and a tablespoonful of flour in a sauce-pan, add a glass of boiling water, pouring it in a little at a time, and stirring continually. When cooked, take it off the fire and mix the yolk of an egg beaten up with a piece of butter. ”

“ Next a wheaten loaf made her dodge nimbly, and then a broad ham fell flat-footed at her toes. A sack of flour burst in the middle of the street; a side of bacon impaled itself on an iron hitching-post. Pretty soon a chain of sausages fell in a circle around her, flattening out as if a road-roller had passed over them. Then there was a lull—nothing came down but dried fish, cold puddings and flannel under-clothing; but presently her wishes began to take effect again, and a quarter of beef descended with terrific momentum upon the top of the little orphan's head. ”

“ When your rump or brisket of beef has been well boiled in plain water, about an hour before you serve it up take it out of the water, and put it in a pot just large enough to contain it. There let it stew, with a little of its own liquor, salt, basil, and laurel; and, having drained, put it into the dish on which it is to be served for table, and pour over it a sauce, which you must have previously ready, made with gravy, salt, whole pepper, and a dash of vinegar, thickened over the stove with the yolks of three eggs or more, according to the size of the beef and the quantity of sauce wanted. ”

“ When properly cared for, bread need never sour. Toss on board slightly floured, knead, shape into loaves or biscuits, place in greased pans, having pans nearly half full. Cover, let rise again to double its bulk, and bake in hot oven. (See Baking of Bread and Time-Table for Baking.) This recipe will make a double loaf of bread and pan of biscuit. Cottolene, crisco, or beef drippings may be used for shortening, one-third less being required. Bread shortened with butter has a good flavor, but is not as white as when lard is used. ”

“ Biscuit sandwiches are generally more palatable to a child than plain bread ones. Besides those made of cold meat, there should be at least one cheese or one salad-and-nut sandwich, and one jelly sandwich. A hard-boiled egg, preferably one that has been cooked for some time in water kept under boiling point, will vary this diet. Of course fruit, such as an apple, an orange, or a banana, forms the best dessert. Occasionally cake, gingerbread, sweet biscuit, or a piece of milk chocolate may be put in the basket for a pleasant surprise. ”

“ Beat one egg until light, add to it a half cup of milk, then add this to the flour; there should be just enough to moisten and make a dough. Take this out on the board, knead lightly, roll out and cut into biscuits. Put these biscuits over the top of the fruit; cover the kettle and cook slowly for fifteen minutes; do not lift the lid during the cooking. Serve hot with plain milk or cream, or with a hard sauce made from sugar and butter.
Fruit Soufflé
Beat the whites of six eggs until light, but not dry; add three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar; mix quickly ”

“ Grease and sauce blend the flavors of food mixtures into a greasy and saucy harmony and, since the taste of fat is agreeable to the hungry stomach, often make the mess taste good. This is one of the secrets of economical cooking, which is so extensively cultivated abroad. The mixtures, although not attractive to the pampered American palate, are much more healthful than mince and pumpkin pie, doughnuts, baked beans, gingerbread, boiled corn beef and cabbage, devil cake and other devil dishes of Yankee invention. ”

“ The aitch-bone and the brisket are considered the best pieces for boiling. If you buy them in the market already corned, they will be fit to put over the fire without a previous soaking in water. If you corn them in the brine in which you keep your beef through the winter, they must be soaked in cold water over night. ”

“ When the dough has been thoroughly kneaded the last time, divide into small, equal-sized pieces. A quantity of dough sufficient for one loaf of bread should be divided into twelve or sixteen such portions. Shape into smooth, round biscuits, fit closely into a shallow pan, and let them rise until very light. Biscuit should be allowed to become lighter than bread before putting in the oven, since, being so much smaller, fermentation is arrested much sooner, and they do not rise as much in the oven as does bread. ”

“ To Marinade is to steep meat or fish, in a mixture of wine, vinegar, herbs and spices.
Onions, small silver ones, are blanched, peeled and boiled in good broth to serve as garnish to bouilli and many other made dishes; or not blanched, but stewed with butter, if to be brown. When very strong you may parboil them with a turnip, for a stew, or forcemeat.
Some persons use brandy in made dishes. Wine in the proportion of a wine-glassful to a pint of gravy; the quantity of brandy small in proportion.
Truffles and Morells are a valuable addition to gravy and soup. ”