Part 10 (1/2)

”Come, Jack,” his mother said, as he stood picking out the biggest berries from the bowl and eating them, ”here's some more man's work for you! We want you to break the ice and pack these freezers for us.”

”What do I get for it?” Jack asked, pretending to grumble. ”If the girls are going to eat up all the ice-cream, I guess I won't bother freezing it.”

”No, indeed, they are not going to eat it all up,” said Mother Blair. ”I am counting on having ever so much left over for dinner to-night; and you shall have two helpings.”

”Make it three and I'll think about it,” said Jack, choosing the very biggest berry of all.

”Three then,” said Mildred, disgustedly, taking the bowl away. ”Boys do eat so much!”

”This cream is going to be so good that you will want three yourself,”

laughed Mother Blair. ”Now, Jack, this rule is for you. Some cooks think that all you have to do in packing a freezer is to put in layers of broken ice and salt, and then turn the handle; but there is a right way to do it, and if you follow this, you will find the cream will freeze ever so much more quickly than if you are careless in packing.”

PACKING A FREEZER

2 large bowlfuls of broken ice.

1 bowlful of coa.r.s.e salt.

Put the ice in a strong bag and pound with a mallet till it is evenly broken into bits the size of an egg. Put the ice in a pail till you have a quant.i.ty broken, and then measure; add the salt quickly to the ice and stir it well; then put the empty ice cream tin in the freezer with the cover on, and fasten on the top and handle. Pack the ice all around the tin tightly till it is even with the top. Then stand it away, covered with a piece of carpet or blanket, in a dark, cool place, for half an hour. There should be a thick coating of frost all over the inside when the cream is put in.

While Jack was working in the laundry, Mildred and Brownie were reading the receipt their mother gave them, and getting out the spoons and sugar and other things they would need.

”Are the berries washed?” asked Mother Blair. ”Yes, I see they are; now, Brownie, you may put half of them at a time into this big bowl, and crush them with the wooden potato-masher till they are all juicy. And, Mildred, here is the rule for making one quart of plain white ice-cream; all you have to do is to add any kind of fruit or flavoring to this, and you can change it into whatever you want.”

”Just like a fairy's receipt!” said Brownie.

”Exactly!” said their mother. ”Now, Mildred, multiply this rule by five.”

PLAIN ICE-CREAM

3 cups of milk.

1 cup of sugar.

1 cup of cream.

Flavoring.

Put the cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan on the fire, and stir till the sugar is melted and the milk steams, but does not boil.

Take it off and beat with the egg beater till it is cold; add the flavoring and freeze.

FRUIT ICE-CREAM

1 quart of fruit, or enough to make a cupful of juice.

1 small cup of sugar.

Mash the fruit, rub it through a sieve, add the sugar, and stir into the cream just before putting it into the freezer.

”You see what an easy rule this is. You can use fresh raspberries or pineapple or peaches in summer-time, and in winter you can use canned fruit. If the fruit is sour, of course you must take a little more sugar than if it is very sweet. And when juice is very sour indeed, like currant or cherry juice, do not use it for ice-cream. And when you want to make chocolate ice-cream you put in--”

”Do let me write that down, Mother, please, because I perfectly love chocolate ice-cream,” interrupted Mildred.

CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM

Make the plain ice cream as before; while still on the stove add