Alum

A white astringent salt, often used to whiten flour, to quickly clear gin, to improve the color of inferior red wines.

Angel Food

A light, white, kind of sponge cake.

Angelica

A green preserved stalk resembling rhubarb, used to decorate cakes, also in iced puddings, ice creams, etc.

Aniline

A chemical product of petroleum; the red is the cheapest and best for culinary purposes, besides being perfectly harmless.

Anise

An herb, from the seeds of which is extracted the oil of anise; a liqueur called anisette is made from the oil; a small proportion of oil of anise mixed with alcohol, produces essence of aniseed, used in flavoring cakes and confectionery.

Antelope

A species of deer; the young are best for culinary purposes, as the meat, besides being treated in all the same ways as venison, is light enough in color to allow of being larded, which cannot be done to venison. Red meats should never be larded, on account of their loss of blood and gravy in cooking.

Atelette

Is a skewer generally made of silver or plated metal, and is used to decorate hot and cold pieces for banquet tables; combinations on the skewer according to the dish and the fancy of the cook can be made of cockscombs, button mushrooms, crayfish, prawns, animelles (lamb-fries) carrots, turnips, green peas, parsley, truffles, sweetbreads, crystallized fruits, preserved violets, cherries, strawberries, sweet jelly, aspic jelly, etc., etc.

Attereaux

Is a skewer generally used for cooking dishes en brochette (see brochette).

Baba

A light yeast raised cake containing fruit and almonds, generally served as dessert with a rum sauce.

Baking Powder

Is better made than bought; the following receipt is cheap and effective: five pounds of tartaric acid, eight pounds of bi-carbonate of soda, sixteen pounds of potato flour, mixed and rubbed through a fine sieve. By the addition of a quarter of an ounce of turmeric to eight pounds of baking powder you produce EGG POWDER,' which saves eggs and gives richness of color.

Bacon

Is known as salted and dried. The salted is generally used as boiling bacon, and the dried, which is subsequently smoked, is generally used for frying and broiling. In selecting bacon discard any with yellow fat. Good bacon is red in the lean and the fat is white and firm. * * * Bacon fat is better than butter for many things that have to be fried, such as liver, veal chops, onions for curry, etc., is also used instead of olive oil with potato salad, lettuce salad, combination salad, etc. * * * Bacon is appropriate boiled with cabbage, kraut and string, wax and haricot beans; it is an improvement to an omelet, and is the proper thing to eat with liver, eggs and fowls.

Bain-Marie

A foreign culinary term for a hot water bath in which are kept the pots or saucepans containing sauces, garnitures, entrees, soups, etc., that require to be kept hot without reaching the boiling point.

Ballotine

Is the name given to a chaud-froid of poultry, game, foie-gras, spring lamb, etc., is made by mincing the flesh and forming it into forcemeat, then stuffing small boned birds such as larks, quails, snipe, woodcock, squabs, etc., cooking them and serving them cold. Sometimes the forcemeat is stuffed into the skin of a turkey leg, sewn up, cooked, shaped like a ham; when cold, one end is masked with a brown sauce, the other with a white sauce, imitating a ham skin; they are then ornamented with aspic jelly, atelettes, etc.