When this is used, only the best quality should be chosen, as only in this way can the disagreeable gluey flavour, so noticeable in inferior gelatines, be avoided. All the recipes in this book have been given on the supposition that Mrs. A. B. Marshall's leaf gelatine is used, as this, in addition to its undoubted and guaranteed strength and purity, needs no previous soaking, dissolving very readily in a very little hot liquid. Where other gelatines are used a previous soaking in cold water is always necessary, and nearly half as much again in quantity should be used. Whenever gelatine is used the utmost care should be taken to have it thoroughly dissolved, for if not, it will coagulate and form gluey lumps through the mixture, giving a disagreeable, raw, and gluey flavour to the whole thing; a flavour, moreover, generally laid to the account of the gelatine, whereas it is most usually the result of carelessness on the cook's part.