Pour one and one-half pints of milk into a saucepan with half a vanilla bean, and boil it; then remove the saucepan from the fire, put the lid on and allow the vanilla to soak for an hour. Beat the yolks of eight eggs together with three-fourths of a pound of sugar, then stir it into the milk, and keep stirring over a clear fire until the custard thickens, but it must not be allowed to boil. Take the custard off the fire and stir it for a few minutes longer. Soak one and one-half ounces of gelatine in cold water for twenty minutes, then drain and mix it in the hot custard. When the gelatine has dissolved strain the custard through a pointed strainer into another stewpan, which place on the top of some rough ice; stir the contents till it commences to set. Whip one and one-fourth pints of cream to a stiff froth, remove the stewpan from the ice and stir it in. Fill a cylinder-mould with the cream, pack it in pounded ice, and leave till the cream is set. Dip the mould into warm water, wipe it, turn the contents out onto a dish, and serve.

Cream Versailles

Put one teacupful of sugar into a saucepan on the fire, and stir gently until it is of a light brown color. Put in two tablespoonfuls of water, stir for a minute and mix in one quart of milk. Add one-half teaspoonful of salt beaten up with seven or eight eggs and one half-teaspoonful of vanilla extract; turn the whole into a charlotte-mould after buttering it lightly, set it in a pan of warm water and bake in a moderate oven for forty minutes. Push a knife down the center to test it, and if the custard is not milky it is done. Place it in a cool place, let it remain until quite cold, turn it out onto a dish, and serve with caramel sauce poured over it.