Compote of Chestnuts

Remove the outer husk from fifty chestnuts, and put them to simmer gently in a quart of milk and water, until done to the degree of a floury potato; they must then be drained on a sieve, and bruised in a sugar-boiler containing 12 ounces of sugar boiled till it pearls on the surface; flavour with pounded vanilla, and after working all together vigorously, rub through a coarse wire sieve on to a dish.

To dish up this compote, first,—pile up half a pint of firmly whipped cream in the centre of the compotier, with the fingers; gently strew the vermicellied chestnuts upon this in a conical form; garnish round the base with a compote of oranges with maraschino, and serve one of the most delicious things ever imagined.