Dessert

“ A dessert always consists of sweet food of some kind, and in the usual meal it is served as the last course. Sometimes, especially in more elaborate meals, another course, such as cheese and coffee, may follow, but ordinarily the dessert is the last food that is served. ”

“ The beauty of the dessert services at the tables of the wealthy tends to enhance the splendour of the plate. The general mode of putting a dessert on table, now the elegant tazzas are fashionable, is, to place them down the middle of the table, a tall and short dish alternately; the fresh fruits being arranged on the tall dishes, and dried fruits, bon-bons, &c., on small round or oval glass plates. The garnishing needs especial attention, as the contrast of the brilliant-coloured fruits with nicely-arranged foliage is very charming. The garnish par excellence for dessert is the ice-plant ”

“ No part of a dinner is governed more by individual tastes and circumstances than the dessert; it may consist of one or more dishes of choice fruits; or a varied display may be provided at a comparatively trifling cost, when the dessert is composed principally of fruits in season and homemade sweets. Pines, melons, grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, strawberries, cherries, apples, pears, oranges, figs, raisins, walnuts, filberts, crystallized fruits, fancy ices, fancy cakes and biscuits, make up the dessert, together with dainty sweets and bon-bons, with which the present chapter deals. ”

“ The simplest of all desserts are the various nuts and delicious fruits with which nature has so abundantly supplied us, at no greater cost than their harmful substitutes, and which require no expenditure of time or strength in their preparation. If, however, other forms of dessert are desired, a large variety may be prepared in a simple manner, so as to be both pleasing and appetizing. ”

“ For dessert they have the most excellent fruits, the odour and colour and taste of which are pleasing to all the senses. Cleanliness is noticeable in all their dishes. The tables and crockery as well as they themselves are perfumed. ”

“ The number of cold desserts is legion, and ranges all the way from ices and frozen creams through charlottes, jellies, and the like, to the simple blanc-manges and custards, to say nothing of preserved or brandied fruit. Pies of countless kinds there are which can [Pg 187] readily be heated, if a hot dessert is wished, and there are delicious cakes which are almost a dessert in themselves. Besides all these, in this favored period, there is scarcely a day in the year when an attractive dish of fresh fruit is beyond the reach of people of moderate means. ”

“ When it is to be used as a thickening agent in dessert making, it is ground and sold in this form, or it is mixed with sugar, flavoring, and acid, when all that is necessary to make it an appetizing dessert is that it be dissolved in hot water. ”

“ Attention should be paid to the composition and food value of desserts in order that the meals in which they are served may be properly balanced. For instance, when a housewife understands the value of the ingredients used in the preparation of a dessert, she will be able to determine the kind of dessert necessary to supply what is lacking in the meal. ”

“ They are without doubt the daintiest dessert that can be served and are popular with almost every one. A very ordinary meal becomes much more attractive when a frozen dessert is served with it, and a dainty luncheon or an elaborate dinner seems incomplete without a dessert of this nature. In reality, it is quite impossible to serve, in either hot or cold weather, any dessert that is as pleasing as an ice or an ice cream of some kind. ”

“ She invariably repented her hastiness by the time she reached the deck, for dessert was the part of the meal which she most enjoyed, so that when the major followed ten minutes later on, bearing a plate of carefully selected fruit as a peace-offering, he was sure of a gracious welcome. ”

“ They may be cooked by steaming, dry steaming, or baking.
19. In true custards there must be a sufficient number of eggs to thicken the desired amount of milk, for nothing else produces thickening. To these two ingredients may be added sweetening in the form of sugar, sirup, honey, etc. and flavoring of any desirable kind. The plain custard thus produced makes an excellent dessert and one that is easily digested. In fact, it can be digested with such ease that it is used perhaps more frequently in the diets of children and invalids than any other single dessert. ”

“ The truth is, however, that the dessert after a good London or Parisian dinner is a superfluity, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred does more harm than good. This was the opinion of Brillat Savarin in his “Physiologie du Goût.” A little bit of cheese, says this great epicure, may be permitted, and some preserve or a sweetmeat. “Un beau diner,” he adds, “sans vieux fromage, est un joli femme à qui il manque un œil.”
The word dessert was introduced into the French language at the end of the sixteenth century. In an ordonnance of the 21st January, 1563, the word occurs. ”

“ At dessert, help the ladies near you to whatever they may require. Serve strawberries with a spoon, but pass cherries, grapes, or peaches for each to help himself with his fingers. You need not volunteer to pare an apple or a peach for a lady, but should do so, of course, at her request, using her fork or some other than your own to hold it. ”

“ The effect was very pretty and the dessert delighted the eyes of the guests as well as their palates.
This dessert might be utilized for any other occasion by pouring the custard into different-shaped moulds and dotting the whipped cream with candied cherries or fresh berries.
CHILDREN'S SOUVENIRS
Souvenirs at a children's party should be very inexpensive. Candy put up in some pretty form is the most suitable thing that can be given. The dainty Japanese confections that may be purchased at any large store where Oriental goods are sold are novelties, and always please the little people. ”

“ Puddings that are prepared by boiling, steaming, and baking, and the sauces that make them appetizing, receive a goodly share of attention.
Pastries and Pies completes this volume, rounding out, as it were, the housewife's understanding of dessert making. To many persons, pastry making is an intricate matter, but with the principles thoroughly explained and each step clearly illustrated, delicious pies of every variety, as well as puff-paste dainties, may be had with very little effort. ”

“ Although a meal satisfies your hunger you should have dessert, because the educated palate craves that particular spice as a proper finish. Scientists tell us that a dinner digests better because of a tasty dessert, which, they say, gives the final stimulus necessary to dispose of the food previously received. ”

“ You would laugh to hear what we have for meals, and yet they are delicious,—mostly vegetables, a little meat, very well done, and with delicious sauce, and never anything but cheese and confitures for dessert. Although the tea-shops are all open, you can notice a slight difference in their cakes. They no longer have frosting in the real sense of the word, but are covered with cream or paste or powdered sugar. The fillings are not as sweet as they once were, but they are still delicious. Do you suppose I will want white wine with luncheon and red with dinner, when I get back? ”

“ Dessert:—10 pine-apples, 20 dishes of grapes, 26 ice creams, 5 dishes of apples, 12 ditto of pears, 7 ornamented Savoy cakes, 8 plates of walnuts, 8 ditto of dried fruit and preserves, 5 ditto of preserved ginger, 7 ditto of rout cakes and chips, 5 ditto of brandy cherries. ”

“ However good the by-gone courses may have been,—whatever may be the disposition of the host, whether “civil as an orange,” or sourer than a lemon, they sturdily maintain,—and, it must be confessed, with some propriety,—that every man should be treated according to his dessert. ”

“ Salad.—Most salads may, without serious injury, be mixed several hours before using and placed in a large bowl in the refrigerator, placing it on the lettuce [Pg 27] leaves at serving time. Cheese balls are better made early and iced.
Dessert.—Certainly for dessert nothing could be more delicious, more appetizing or more decorative than individual Charlotte Russe, more popular than ice cream with hot maple or chocolate sauce and stuffed wafers, or more soul satisfying than a tutti frutti French cream, all of which may be either ordered from the caterer or made at home early. ”

“ Again, apples and pears look well mingled with plums and grapes, hanging from the border of the dish in a négligé sort of manner, with a large bunch of the same fruit lying on the top of the apples. A dessert would not now be considered complete without candied and preserved fruits and confections. The candied fruits may be purchased at a less cost than they can be manufactured at home. ”

“ Pick out and pull apart the hearts; pile in a glass dish; sprinkle with sugar, and season to taste with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.
Raspberries, Cream, and Cake.
Since your soup and ragoût have taken more time and labor than you like to give to Monday’s dinner, make up for the loss by serving the dessert given above, sure that nobody will murmur.
Iced Coffee.
Make more coffee than usual at breakfast-time, and stronger. Add one-third as much hot milk as you have coffee, and set away. When cold, put upon ice. Serve at dessert, with cracked ice in each tumbler. [417]
Second Week. ”

“ Dessert will consist of bananas, Dutch cheese, and guava, potato, or other sweets. All help themselves with their own knives and forks, when they have such things, sometimes the guest only being supplied with them, because he is a foreigner. ”

“ In the French kitchen, a numerous class of culinary preparations, called entrées de dessert, or made-dishes of left things, are served even at grand entertainments.
At dinners of any pretension the first course consists of soups and fish, removed by boiled poultry, ham, or tongue, roasts, stews, &c.; and of vegetables, with a few made-dishes, as ragouts, curries, hashes, [95] cutlets, patties, fricandeaux, &c., in as great variety as the number of dishes permits. ”

“ See that your husband makes the salad dressing if he is well disposed to do his part, at the table. A woman has enough to look after of such details. Dispense with the dessert on Monday, but let fresh fruit never be absent from your table if you can afford it. ”

“ Next the well-roasted bird—of game or poultry—accompanied or followed by salad, and a dish of choice vegetables. Then one light simple sweet, for those who take it, and a slight savory biscuit or morsel of cheese completes the repast. Such a meal contains within its limits all that can be desired for daily enjoyment and use. If well and liberally served, it is complete in every sense of the word. Dessert and its extent is a matter of individual taste ”

“ In addition to being delicious and finding favor with most persons, frozen desserts occur in unlimited variety. They include ice creams of various kinds, frozen custards and punches, sherbets, ices, frappés, mousses, parfaits, and biscuits. Recipes for several varieties of each of these kinds are given in this Section, and it will therefore not be a difficult matter to select a frozen dessert that will be suitable for any meal in which it may be served. ”

“ Furnish the children with apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes, filberts, and almonds in place of rich pie and cake. They are just as cheap as the material used for making the less wholesome sweets, and far easier of digestion. An occasional plain fruit or grain pudding, cup custard, or molded dessert may be substituted for variety. Fruit sandwiches, or a slice of Stewed Fruit Pudding prepared as directed on page 308 are also suitable for this purpose. ”

“ And the meal should be a generous one, beginning with soup, and fish if possible, well cooked meats and plenty of vegetables, followed by light puddings and stewed fruit. But a delicate person should not touch dessert, be it fresh or dried fruits. ”

“ Likewise, a bunch of grapes served on grape leaves never fails to attract.
A mixture of a number of fruits, such as peaches, pears, and plums, or, in winter, oranges, bananas, and apples, piled in a large bowl and passed after salad plates have been distributed, not only makes an excellent dessert, but permits the persons served to take their choice.
Fresh berries, sliced peaches, bananas, oranges, etc. may be served in sauce dishes, which should be placed on a service plate. They may be passed or served from a bowl by the hostess. Canned or stewed fruits may be served in the same way. ”

“ Desserts.—Desserts are very important for they add to the attractiveness of most people’s meals, and if wisely chosen and properly 129made, may supply a good deal of easily digested nourishment. They may include, in addition to fresh and cooked fruits and preserves, ice-cream, a wide variety of custards, creams and puddings made largely of milk, eggs, and some ingredient to give substance and firmness, such as gelatine, cornstarch, rice, tapioca, farina, arrow-root and similar materials. ”

“ The pleasures of taste to be derived from a dinner of potatoes, beans, peas, turnips, lettuces, with a dessert of apples, gooseberries, strawberries, currants, raspberries, and in [Pg 25] winter, oranges, apples, and pears, is far greater than is supposed. ”

“ Fruit in season, quick-frozen fruit, or canned fruit, well chilled, always makes a tempting dessert. Strawberry shortcake is an all season quick dessert, with frozen strawberries and individual sponge cakes made especially for this purpose by professional bakers. ”

“ Rinse out the kettle well with boiling water, and put in, successively, those portions flavored with the tea and the coffee, scalding the vessel between each. Wet several small cups or glasses with cold water. Pour the chocolate into some, the tea into others, and the coffee blanc-mange into the rest. When cold, turn out upon a flat dish, and eat with sugar and sweet cream. It will “form” in about six hours. This is a dessert by no means tedious or difficult of preparation, and is worth trying, being both dainty and wholesome. [86] ”