Part 12 (2/2)

The hostess brightens, the host coruscates. The young lady on your right suddenly develops into a charming girl, with becoming appreciation of your pet topics and an astounding aptness for repartee. The Gorgon thaws, and implores Mr. Snapshot, whose jests are popping as briskly as the corks, not to be so dreadfully funny, or he will positively kill her. Belle Breloques can always talk, and now her tongue rattles faster than ever, till the languid one arouses himself like a giant refreshed, and gives her as good as he gets. The City men expatiate in cabalistic language on the merits of some mysterious speculation, the prospective returns from which increase with each fresh bottle. One of their wives is discussing the E.C.U. and the S.S.C. with a hitherto silent curate, and the other is jabbering botany to a red-faced warrior. The juniors are in full swing, and ripples of silvery laughter rise in accompaniment to the beaded bubbles all round the table. And all this is due to champagne, that great unloosener not merely of tongues but of purse-strings, as is well known to the secretaries of those charitable inst.i.tutions which set the wine flowing earliest at their anniversary dinners.

A few recipes for sparkling wine cups gathered from various sources will conclude our work. Not having personally tested these we leave the responsibility of them to their respective authors--Soyer, Tovey, Terrington (”Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks”), &c.--premising that it is the merest folly to use a high-cla.s.s champagne or a fine sparkling hock for a beverage of this description. Sparkling saumur, or the newly-introduced sparkling sauternes, and the cheaper hocks and moselles, will do equally well at a greatly reduced cost. In all cases, too, the kind of liqueur, the amount of sugar, and the flavouring with borage, verbena, pine-apple, or cuc.u.mber, may be varied to suit individual tastes. For soda or seltzer water we have invariably subst.i.tuted Apollinaris, which is far better adapted for effervescent drinks of this description by reason of its purity and softness, its freedom from any distinct flavour, and above all its powerful natural effervescence.

Soyer's elaborate recipe for champagne cup for a large party is as follows:--

Prepare three ounces of oleo-saccharine by rubbing some lumps of sugar against the outside of a lemon or Seville orange and sc.r.a.ping away the sugar as it absorbs the essential oil contained in the rind of the fruit. Put the oleo-saccharine with the juice of four lemons in a vessel, add a quart bottle of Apollinaris water (Soyer says soda-water, but Apollinaris is certainly preferable), and stir well together until the sugar is dissolved. Then pour in one quart of syrup of orgeat and whip the mixture up well with an egg whisk in order to whiten it. Next add a pint of cognac brandy, a quarter of a pint of Jamaica rum and half a pint of maraschino; strain the whole into a bowl, adding plenty of pounded ice if the weather is warm, and pour in three bottles of champagne, stirring the mixture well with the ladle while doing so in order to render the cup creamy and mellow.

A less potent and pretentious beverage, and better suited for a summer drink, is the subjoined:--

Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar in a quart of Apollinaris water. Add a winegla.s.s of curacoa, a sprig of green borage or a couple of slices of cuc.u.mber with the juice and fine shavings of the outside peel of a lemon, and a pound of bruised ice.

After the whole has been well stirred pour in the champagne and serve.

Other recipes are as follows:--

Prepare an ounce of oleo-saccharine, add to it a large winegla.s.s of maraschino, a liqueur gla.s.s of cognac, and the juice of half a lemon. Mix well together, and add several slices of pine-apple, and a large lump or two of ice. On to this pour first a large bottle of Apollinaris water, and next a bottle of sparkling wine.

Mix with the contents of a bottle of chablis or sauternes a liqueur gla.s.s of chartreuse and a tablespoonful or two of powdered loaf sugar. When the latter is dissolved throw in a pound and a half of pounded ice and a sprig of borage. Pour over these a quart of Apollinaris water and a bottle of sparkling saumur. For the chablis or sauternes half a bottle of light claret may be subst.i.tuted.

To a gill of good pale sherry add a liqueur gla.s.s of maraschino and a few lumps of sugar which have been well rubbed over the rind of a Seville orange, the juice of which is also to be added to the mixture. After the sugar is dissolved throw in a sprig of borage or a slice or two of cuc.u.mber and some pounded ice. Then add a quart bottle of Apollinaris water and a bottle of champagne or some other sparkling wine.

The following cup for a party of twenty is said to be of Russian inspiration:--

Pour on to some sprigs of borage or a few slices of cuc.u.mber a pint of sherry and half a pint of brandy, then rub off the fine outside peel of a lemon with a few lumps of sugar, and add these with the strained juice of the lemon and of three oranges. Pour into the mixture half a pint of curacoa, a winegla.s.s of noyau, a couple of bottles of German seltzer-water, three bottles of soda-water, and three bottles of champagne. Sweeten and ice to taste.

Here is a recipe for a cup made with chablis and sparkling red burgundy:--

With a bottle of chablis mix a liqueur-gla.s.s of chartreuse and then dissolve in it some powdered sugar. Add two pounds of ice in largish lumps, a slice or two of cuc.u.mber, and a sprig of lemon-scented verbena, or subst.i.tute for these a few slices of pine-apple. Pour in a quart bottle of Apollinaris water, mix well together, and add a bottle of sparkling burgundy just before serving.

The following refer to sparkling hock and moselle cups:--

To a bottle of sparkling hock add a quarter of a pint of lemon water ice and a liqueur gla.s.s of pine-apple syrup. After mixing them add a slice of cuc.u.mber, a lump or two of ice, and a bottle of Apollinaris water.

Add to the strained juice of a couple of lemons an ounce and a half or more of powdered loaf sugar and a winegla.s.s of maraschino. Mix well, and pour in a couple of bottles of iced sparkling hock and a large bottle of iced Apollinaris water.

Dissolve a couple of ounces of sugar in a gill of dry sherry, add the thin peel of half an orange, a few slices of pine-apple, peaches, or apricots, with some pounded ice, and then pour in a bottle of sparkling moselle and a bottle of Apollinaris water.

With half a pint of lemon water ice mix a bottle of iced sparkling moselle, add a few drops of elder-flower water and a bottle of iced Apollinaris water. Instead of the lemon ice half the quant.i.ty of pine-apple ice may be used with the juice of half a lemon, and the elder-flower water may be dispensed with.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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