Boiled Rice With Apricots

Wash well a scant teacupful of rice, place it in a saucepan with as much milk as it will absorb and loaf-sugar to taste, and boil the whole gently until tender. When cooked, flavor slightly with essence of vanilla, move the rice away from the fire, and let it cool. Place the beaten yolks of four eggs in a stewpan with one teacupful of milk, stir them over the fire until thickened but not boiling, and leave until cold. When the custard and rice are both cold, mix them well together. Whip one-fourth pint of cream to a firm froth, having previously sweetened it with powdered sugar, and mix with it one-half ounce of isinglass that has been dissolved in a small quantity of warm water. Stir the cream in lightly with the rice, put the mixture into a mould, and pack it in ice. Cut up some apricots (canned ones will answer), into halves, remove the stones, put them in a stewpan, cover them with syrup, and allow them to simmer gently until tender. Drain the apricots and keep them in a cool place. When ready to serve, dip the mould quickly into hot water, wipe it, turn the rice onto a glass dish, and arrange the apricots round it.

Lemon Snow

Put one ounce of gelatine in a saucepan with a little water, and place it over the fire until it has dissolved, then add one-half pound of sugar and the juice of six lemons. Stir the mixture and boil it for ten minutes, then strain through a jelly-bag into a basin. Whip the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth, and when the jelly is cold and is commencing to thicken, mix them in and whisk until light. Leave the pudding to get cold, garnish with ratafias, and serve.

Orange Snow

Soak one ounce of gelatine in three gills of cold water for four hours, then add to it the grated rind of half a lemon, the grated rind of an orange, the strained juice of one lemon and four oranges, and eight ounces of powdered white sugar, stir well together, and let the mixture stand for an hour. Add a pint of boiling water and continue stirring till clear; then strain it through a coarse cloth and wring it thoroughly. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth, and when the liquid is quite cool whisk them into it by degrees, and continue whisking till quite thick and white. Wet the inside of a mould with cold water, and pour the snow into it. Let it stand in a cool place for eight hours at least before turning it out, then pile it up on a glass dish, and garnish it round with sweet biscuits.

Lemon Sponge

Soak one ounce of gelatine in one teacupful of water for two hours. Pour the juice of four lemons on one breakfast cupful of powdered sugar; beat the yolks of four eggs, and mix them with the remains of one pint of water allowing for the quantity used to soak the gelatine, add to this the sugar and lemon, and cook in a double boiler until it begins to thicken, then put in the gelatine. Strain all through a fine hair-sieve into a basin, stand the basin in a larger one containing iced-water, and whisk now and then until the sponge has cooled but not hardened. Beat in the whites of the eggs not previously beaten, and continue beating until the mixture is so thick that it is difficult to stir it, then turn it into a mould and set it away to harden. When ready to serve, dip the mould in tepid water, wipe it, and turn the contents onto a dish. Serve with powdered sugar and cream.