Blancmange Recipe
BLANCMANGE.
Four calf's-feet A pint and a half of thick cream. Half a pound of loaf-sugar, broken up. A glass of wine. Half a glass of rose-water. A tea-spoonful of mace, beaten and sifted.
Get four calf's-feet; if possible some that have been singed, and not skinned. Scrape, and clean them well, and boil them in three quarts of water till all the meat drops off the bone. Drain the liquid through a colander or sieve, and skim it well. Let it stand till next morning to congeal. Then clean it well from the sediment, and put it into a tin or bell-
metal kettle. Stir into it, the cream, sugar, and mace. Boil it hard for ?ve minutes, stirring it several times. Then strain it through a linen cloth or napkin into a large bowl, and add the wine and rose-water.
Set it in a cool place for three or four hours, stirring it very frequently with a spoon, to, prevent the cream from separating from the jelly. The more it is stirred the better. Stir it till it is cool.
Wash your moulds, wipe them dry, and then wet them with cold water. When the blancmange becomes very thick, (that is, in three or four hours, if the weather is not too damp) put it into your moulds.
When it has set in them till it is quite ?rm, loosen it carefully all round with a knife, and turn it out on glass or china plates.
If you wish to make it with almonds, take an ounce of blanched bitter almonds, and two ounces of sweet. Beat them in a mortar to a ?ne paste, pouring in occasionally a little rose-water. When the mixture is ready to boil, add the almonds to it gradually, stirring them well in. Or you may stir them in, while it is cooling in the bowl.
If it inclines to stick to the moulds, set them an instant in hot water. It will then turn out easily.
If you choose to make it without calf's feet, you can substitute an ounce of the best and dearest isinglass (or, if in summer, an ounce and a quarter) boiled with the other
ingredients. If made with isinglass, you must use two ounces of sweet, and an ounce of bitter almonds, with the addition of the grated rind of a large lemon, and a large stick of cinnamon, broken up, a glass of wine, and half a glass of rose-water. Those ingredients must be all mixed together, with a quart of cream, and boiled hard for ?ve minutes. The mixture must then be strained through a napkin, into a large bowl. Set it in a cool place, and stir it frequently till nearly cold. It must then be put into the moulds.
You may substitute for the almonds, half a gill of noyau, in which case, omit the wine.