Part 107 (1/2)

At the 9th a little, dropped into water, will break when cooled. At 300 it begins to a.s.sume a light color, and a few drops of lemon-juice should be added (four drops to a pound of sugar). At 310 it breaks off sharp and crisp, and crackles when chewed.

[Sidenote: Eleventh.]

The Caramel, 345-350

It now a.s.sumes a yellow color, and great care must be used or it will burn. The cooking must be arrested as soon as it is taken from the fire by holding the pan in cold water for a minute or so. A skewer or stick is the best thing to use for testing, as the little sugar that adheres to it will cool quickly. Dip the stick first into water, then into the sugar, and again into water.

SYRUPS

[Sidenote: Syrup kept in stock.]

To use a syrup gauge have a gla.s.s deep enough to allow the gauge to float. A small cylindrical gla.s.s like the one shown in ill.u.s.tration is best, as it requires so little syrup that removing and pouring it back does not arrest the boiling.

Syrups can be prepared and kept in air-tight preserve jars until needed for use. It is well to have in stock syrup at 34 for softening fondant when used for icing cakes, eclairs, etc.

Water-ices should register 18-20 on the gauge when ready to freeze. Fruits to be frozen are better when sweetened with syrup at 32 than when sugar is used.

[Sidenote: Making syrup without a gauge.]

To prepare syrup without a gauge the following method can be employed: Put into a saucepan three and one half cupfuls of sugar and two and one half cupfuls of water. Stir it over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. After it has boiled five minutes, counting from the time it is actually boiling, it will register 28; every five minutes' additional boiling will thicken it one degree.

At the end of 15 minutes it is 30.

At the end of 25 minutes it is 32.

At the end of 35 minutes it is 34.

FONDANT

[Sidenote: The uses of fondant.]

Fondant is the basis of all French cream candies. It can be kept any length of time in air-tight preserve jars, and used as needed for the various purposes which it serves. A great variety of bonbons can be made of it by using different flavors, colors, and nuts in various forms and combinations.

Some of these are given under ”Candies,” but each one's taste may suggest something different. Fondant makes the nicest icing for small cakes; strawberries with the hulls on dipped into fondant make a delicious fruit glace. It will be found easy to make fondant if the directions given below are strictly followed.

TO MAKE FONDANT

[Sidenote: Testing.]

[Sidenote: Cooling.]

[Sidenote: Working.]

Place in a copper or a graniteware saucepan two cupfuls of granulated sugar, one cupful of water, and a scant half saltspoonful of cream of tartar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, but not a minute longer. As it boils, a thin sc.u.m of crystals will form around the edge of the pan. These must be wiped away by wetting a cloth or brush in water and pa.s.sing it around the dish without touching the boiling sugar. This must be done frequently, or as often as the crystals form, or the whole ma.s.s will become granular. When large bubbles rise it must be carefully watched and tested, as from this time it quickly pa.s.ses from one stage to another. Have a cup of ice-water and a skewer or small stick; dip it into the water, then into the sugar, and again into the water. If the sugar which adheres to it can be rolled into a soft ball, it is done. This is the stage of small-ball, and the thermometer registers 236-238 (see page 512). Have ready a marble slab, very lightly but evenly rubbed over with sweet-oil. If a slab is not at hand, a large platter will serve the purpose. The moment the sugar is done, pour it over the slab and let it cool a few minutes, or until, pressing it with the finger, it leaves a dent on the surface. If stirred while too warm it will grain. If a crust forms, every particle of it must be taken off, or else the boiling must be done again, as it shows it has cooked a little too long. When it will dent, work it with a wooden spatula, keeping the ma.s.s in the center as much as possible. Continue to stir until it becomes a very smooth, fine, white, creamy paste, which is soft and not brittle and can be worked in the hands like a thick paste. If the results are not right and the ma.s.s becomes grained, the sugar need not be wasted, but can be put in the saucepan with a spoonful of water and boiled again. In stirring the fondant do not mix in the sc.r.a.pings unless the whole is still very soft. They can be worked by themselves afterward. Confectioners use one part of glucose to ten of sugar and boil to 240.

SPUN SUGAR

[Sidenote: Three requisites.]