Calf's feet gelatine is more especially used for preparing jelly and gelatineous sweet dishes. Soak seven or eight very fresh calve's feet, split in two, having the bones all extracted, put them into a small soup-pot with water and let the liquid boil for ten minutes; then drain it off, also the feet; cool these off and return them to the clean soup-pot with two spoonfuls of sugar, the juice of four lemons, and half a bottleful of white wine. Cover with water, then heat the liquid while skimming, and at the first boil set it on the stove to obtain a regular and continuous ebullition for four to five hours, strain the liquid into a bowl and let it get very cold. When the gelatine is firm, remove all the fat from the top, then wash the surface with warm water so that not a vestige of grease remains. Lift out the jelly without disturbing the sediment at the bottom of the bowl, and put it back, either all or part into a saucepan to melt.

For one quart of gelatine, mix in three quarters of a pound of broken sugar and the juice of four lemons; when the sugar is dissolved, test the consistency so as to rectify it if necessary, by adding either more water or more gelatine, according to its strength or weakness. Beat four egg-whites without getting them frothy, put these into one gill of cold water and pour it over the dissolved gelatine, place the saucepan on a moderate fire, beat the liquid slowly till it is about reaching boiling point, then remove the saucepan to a slower fire, so that the liquid quivers, but does not boil; now add the juice of four lemons, cover the saucepan and keep it near the boiling point for thirty minutes, the gelatine should now be limpid. Filter it through a bag or strain it through a napkin fastened to the four feet of a filtering stool (Fig. 51) and pour it back into the filter until it becomes perfectly clear; this operation must be performed in a very warm place.