Classic Culinary Arts:

Birds Nest Pudding Recipe

Half a package of Cox's sparkling gelatine, six oranges, three cupfuls and a half of sugar, one pint of blanc-mange. Take the peel from the oranges in quarters. Put it in two quarts of water, and let it stand over night. In the morning drain off the water. Cut the peel in thin strips with the scissors. Put it in cold water and boil until tender. Make a syrup of half a cupful of sugar and a pint of water. Drain the straws of orange peel on a sieve. Put them in this syrup and simmer half an hour. Turn into a bowl, and let stand until next day. Put one pint of sugar and one pint of water on to boil. Cook rapidly for twenty minutes; the syrup will then fall from the spoon in threads. Put the straws in this and boil half an hour. Take out, and drain on a sieve. As they dry, put them in a dish, which place in the warm oven. These are for the nests. For the jelly, soak the gelatine two hours in half a cupful of cold water; then pour on it enough boiling water to make, with the juice of the oranges, two cupfuls and a half. Add one small cupful of sugar and the orange juice. Stir well, and strain through a napkin into a shallow dish. In one end of each of six eggs make a hole, about the size of a cent Break the yolks with a skewer, and pour the eggs into a bowl. (They may be used for puddings and custards.) Wash and drain the shells. Fill them with the blanc-mange. Have a pan filled with meal, in which to stand the shells. Set away to cool. Break the jelly in pieces with a fork, and put in a flat glass dish. Arrange the straws in the form of nests, six in number, and arrange them on the jelly. Place the eggs in these, and serve.