Page:Domestic French Cookery.djvu/106

Put them into a pan, and scald them with boiling water. Cover them, and let them rest for a few minutes. This is to make them white. You may repeat the scalding two or three times. Then take them out to drain and dry.

Allow a pound of the best loaf-sugar to a dozen large peaches. Put the sugar into a preserving-kettle (lined with enamel or porcelain), and melt it, allowing to each pound a gill of water, and half the white of an egg. Boil the sugar, and skim it till perfectly clear. Then put in the peaches, and give them a boil. Take them off the fire, and let them set in the syrup till next day.

The following morning take out the peaches, set the syrup over the fire, and when it has boiled a few minutes put in the peaches, and give them a short boil. Then take them out, and let them get cold. Boil down the syrup to half its original quantity, but take care that it does not boil long enough to congeal or become thick. Put the peaches into a glass jar, and pour the syrup over them. Fill up the jar with brandy, and cover it closely.

Apricots may be done in the same manner. Also pears. The stems must be left on the pears.

Stew two quarts of fine large gooseberries in just sufficient water to cover them. When quite soft and broken, mash them with the back of a spoon, make them very sweet with sugar, and set them away to get cold. Take three pints of rich milk; stir into it a pounded nutmeg and the yolks of four eggs. Then set it over a bed of hot coals, and let it simmer, stirring it gently all the time. Before it comes to a boil, take it off the fire and gradually stir in the gooseberries. It must be quite