Squeeze the juice of the lemons through a strainer, and mix it with the remaining sugar. Then add that sugar, gradually, to the other ingredients, and stir the whole very hard. Have ready a pudding-cloth dipped in boiling water, shaken out, spread open over a pan, and then dredged with flour. Put in the pudding-mixture, and tie it firmly, leaving room for it to swell, and not forgetting to stop up the little aperture at the tying-place with a bit of flour-and-water dough. Put the pudding into a large pot of boiling water, and keep it boiling steadily for two hours or more, turning it several times in the pot. Serve it up hot, accompanied by a cold sauce of equal portions of powdered white sugar and fresh b.u.t.ter, beaten together to a cream, and flavoured with lemon-juice and nutmeg.
You may boil it in a pudding-mould, with a hole or cavity in the centre.
After turning it out on the dish, fill up the hole with the above-mentioned sauce, heaping high in the middle. For this purpose the sauce should be made rather stiff, allowing more sugar and less b.u.t.ter.
A boiled orange pudding may be made in the same manner.
POTATOE-FLOUR PUDDING.--Boil a quart of rich milk; and while boiling, stir in gradually a quarter of a pound of potatoe-flour well pulverized; add a quarter of a pound of sugar, three ounces of b.u.t.ter, and a tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and cinnamon. When it has thoroughly boiled, set it to cool. When cold, stir in, by degrees, four eggs well beaten. Put it into a deep dish, and bake it half an hour. Send it to table cold with white sugar sifted over the top.
GREEN CUSTARD.--Pound in a marble or white-ware mortar a sufficient quant.i.ty of fresh spinach, till you have extracted as much green juice as will half fill a half-pint tumbler, or two common-sized wine-gla.s.ses.
Mix this quant.i.ty of spinach juice with a quart of rich unskimmed milk, and a quarter of a pound of loaf-sugar, broken very small. Flavour it with a wine-gla.s.s of peach water, or with the yellow rind of two large lemons grated off on some of the largest lumps of the sugar. Or, for the flavouring, you may use a vanilla bean, or a handful of bitter almonds or peach-kernels, boiled a long time in half a pint of milk, which must then be strained, and mixed with the other milk. Beat very light eight eggs, or the yolks only of sixteen; mix them with the milk, &c., (having first strained the beaten eggs,) and having stirred the whole very hard, pour it into a white-ware pitcher, and set it into a pot rather more than half-full of boiling water. Place it on a stove or a bed of hot coals on the hearth, and stir it to the bottom, and watch it continually till it has almost come to a boil. When very near boiling, take it off the fire immediately; for if it _quite_ boils, it will curdle. Set it away to get cold. When lukewarm it will be an improvement to stir into it two table-spoonfuls or more of rose-water. Cover the bottom of a large gla.s.s-bowl or a deep dish, with slices of sponge-cake or Naples biscuit. Then put on green sweetmeats, such as preserved goose-berries, green gages, green grapes, or green citron melon. When the custard is quite cold pour it on, and fill up the bowl with it. If made as above, this will be found both delicious and ornamental for a dessert, or supper table.
It may be served up in gla.s.s cups; putting into the bottom of each cup a portion of sponge-cake, then a portion of green sweetmeats, and then filling up with the green custard after it has become cold.
Pistachio-nuts pounded in a mortar will give a fine green colour.
RED CUSTARD--May be made according to the foregoing receipt, only colouring it red by adding a teacup-full of milk, in which has been steeped a small thin muslin bag filled with alkanet. Instead of _green_ sweet-meats, use preserved cherries, strawberries, or raspberries.
Alkanet is to be bought at the druggists, is very cheap, perfectly innoxious, and is now much used for colouring confectionary. The colour it imparts is more beautiful than any other red.
You may obtain a good red colouring by pounding boiled beets in a mortar. Pounded beet-leaves will also furnish a juice for colouring red.
GELATINE CUSTARD.--Soak half an ounce of gelatine for three or four hours in a pan of cold water. Have ready a quart of milk. Boil in half a pint of it a bunch of peach-leaves, or a handful of bitter almonds broken up; also, a stick of cinnamon broken in pieces. When it is highly flavoured, strain this milk into the pan that contains the rest. Beat four eggs very light, and mix them gradually with the milk, adding, by degrees, the gelatine, (well drained,) and four heaping table-spoonfuls of sugar. Set it over a slow fire and boil it, stirring it frequently.
As soon as the gelatine is entirely dissolved, and thoroughly mixed, the custard will be done. Transfer it to a deep dish or to cups, and set it on ice or in a cold place till wanted.
INDIAN PUFFS.--Boil a quart of milk; and when it has come to a boil, stir into it, gradually, eight large table-spoonfuls of Indian meal; four large table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar; and a grated nutmeg. Stir it hard; letting it boil a quarter of an hour after all the Indian meal is in. Then take it up, and set it to cool. While cooling, beat eight eggs as light as possible, and stir them, gradually, into the batter when it is quite cold. b.u.t.ter some large tea-cups; nearly fill them with the mixture; set them into a moderate oven; and bake them well. Send them to table warm, and eat them with b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses; or with b.u.t.ter, sugar, lemon-juice, and nutmeg stirred to a cream. They must be turned out of the cups.
SWEETMEAT DUMPLINGS.--Make a paste of half a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, or finely minced suet, and a pound of flour, moistened with a very little cold water. Beat the lump of paste on all sides with a rolling-pin. Then roll it out into a sheet, and divide it into equal portions. Lay on the middle of each two halves (laid on each other) of preserved peaches, or quinces, or large preserved plums. Then close the paste round the sweetmeat, so as to form a dumpling. Have ready a pot of boiling water.
Throw the dumplings into it, tied up in little cloths, and let them boil twenty-five minutes or half an hour. Try one first, to see if they are done. When quite done, take them up, dip them in cold water, turn them out of the cloths, and send the dumplings to table immediately. Eat them with sugar only, or with sweetened cream.
These dumplings may be made with jam or marmalade, formed into a heap or lump, and laid in the centre of each piece of paste.
ALTONA FRITTERS.--Pare some fine pippin or bell-flower apples that are quite ripe, and of the largest size. Then extract the cores with a tin apple-corer, so as to leave the hole in the centre smooth and even.
Spread the sliced apples on a large flat dish, and squeeze on each slice some lemon-juice. Then sprinkle them thickly with powdered white sugar.
Prepare a batter, made in the proportion of eight eggs to a quart of rich milk, and a pint and a half of sifted flour. Having beaten the eggs till very light and thick, add them gradually to the milk in turn with the flour, a little at a time of each, and stir the whole very hard.
Have ready, over hot coals, a skillet with a plentiful portion of the best fresh b.u.t.ter, melted and boiling hard. Dip the slices of apple twice into the batter, and then put them into the skillet of b.u.t.ter; as many at a time as it will contain without danger of running into each other as they spread. While they are frying, keep shaking the skillet about, holding it by the handle. They will puff up very light, and must be done of a bright brown. Take them out with a perforated skimmer, that will drain off the b.u.t.ter. Have ready some powdered sugar, flavoured with nutmeg or cinnamon. Roll the fritters in this, and send them to table hot. This is a German preparation of fritters, and will be found excellent on trial. They may be made of large peaches instead of apples; paring the peaches, and cutting them in two, having removed the stones.
Allow half a peach (well sugared) to each fritter.
You may fry these fritters in lard, but they will not be so nice as if done in fresh b.u.t.ter.
WASHINGTON FRITTERS.--Boil four large potatoes; peel them; and, when cold, grate them as fine as possible. Mix well together two large table-spoonfuls of cream, two table-spoonfuls of sweet white wine, half a grated nutmeg, two table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and the juice of a lemon. Beat eight eggs very light, (omitting the whites of two,) and then mix them gradually with the cream, wine, &c., alternately with the grated potatoe, a little at a time of each. Beat the whole together at least a quarter of an hour after all the ingredients are mixed. Have ready, in a frying-pan over the fire, a large quant.i.ty of boiling lard; and when the bubbling has subsided, put in spoonfuls of the batter, so as to make well-formed fritters. Fry them a light brown, and take them up with a perforated skimmer, so as to drain them from the lard. Lay them on a hot dish, and send them immediately to table. Serve up with them, in a boat, a sauce made in the proportion of two gla.s.ses of white wine, the juice of two lemons, and a table-spoonful of peach-water, or a gla.s.s of rose-water. Make the sauce very sweet with powdered white sugar, and grate nutmeg into it.
These fritters may be made with boiled sweet potatoes, grated when cold.
WINE FRITTERS.--Beat six eggs till very thick and smooth; and when they are quite light, beat into them, gradually, six table-spoonfuls of sweet malaga or muscadel wine, and six table-spoonfuls of powdered white sugar. Have ready a sufficient number of large fresh milk biscuits, split in two, soaked in a bowl of sweet wine about five minutes, and drained on a sieve. Put some fresh lard into a frying-pan, and when it boils, and has been skimmed, dip each piece of the split biscuit into the batter of wine, eggs, and sugar, and fry them a light brown. When done, take them up with a perforated skimmer, and drain them well from the lard. Strew powdered white sugar over them.
SWEETMEAT FRITTERS.--Having boiled a large beet till it is tender all through, and sc.r.a.ped off the outside, cut the beet into pieces, and pound them in a marble mortar till you have extracted the juice. Then stir into a quart of milk enough of the beet-juice to give it a deep red colour. Beat seven eggs till very smooth and light, and stir them gradually into the milk; alternately with a pint and a half of sifted flour. The red colour will look paler after the egg is mixed with the milk. If you find it too pale, add more beet-juice. Have ready some boiling lard in a frying-pan over the fire; and when it has ceased to bubble, and the surface has become smooth, put in the mixture by spoonfuls, so as to form round or oval cakes of an equal size, and fry them a light brown. If you find the batter too thin, stir in a very little more flour. As the fritters are done, take them out, on a perforated skimmer, draining the lard back into the frying-pan. Dredge the fritters thickly with powdered sugar, and lay on each some preserved peach, plum, or other sweetmeat. You may heap on every one a table-spoonful or more of marmalade. Send them to table hot.
GREEN FRITTERS.--Are made as above; but coloured with the juice of spinach, extracted by pounding in a mortar.
BREAD FRITTERS.--Pick, wash, and dry half a pound of Zante currants, and having spread them out on a flat dish, dredge them well with flour.
Grate some bread into a pan, till you have a pint of crumbs. Pour over the grated bread a pint of boiling milk, into which you have stirred, as soon as taken from the fire, a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, the size of an egg. Cover the pan, and let it stand an hour. Then beat it hard, and add nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar, stirred in gradually, and two table-spoonfuls of the best brandy. Beat six eggs till very light, and then stir them, by degrees, into the mixture.
Lastly, add the currants, a few at a time; and beat the whole very hard.
It should be a thick batter. If you find it too thin, add a little flour. Have ready over the fire a hot frying-pan with boiling lard. Put in the batter in large spoonfuls, (so as not to touch,) and fry the fritters a light brown. Drain them on a perforated skimmer, or an inverted sieve placed in a deep pan, and send them to table hot. Eat them with wine, and powdered sugar.
Instead of currants, you may use sultana raisins, cut in half and well floured.
INDIAN FRITTERS.--Having beaten eight eggs very light, stir them gradually into a quart of rich milk, in turn with twelve large table-spoonfuls of yellow Indian meal, adding a salt-spoon of salt. When all is in, stir the whole very hard. Have ready over a clear fire, in a pot or a large frying-pan, a pound of fresh lard, boiling fast. Drop the batter into it, a ladleful at a time. If you find the batter too thin, stir into it a little more Indian meal. As the lard boils away, replenish it with more. As fast as they are done, take out each fritter with a perforated skimmer; through the holes of which let the lard drip back into the pot. The fritters must all be well drained. Send them to table hot, and eat them with wine and sugar, or with mola.s.ses.
In cooking these fritters, you may drop in three or four, one immediately after another; and they will not run, if the lard is boiling fast, and the batter thick enough, and made with the proper number of eggs.
VERY FINE MINCE-MEAT.--Boil two beef"s tongues, (perfectly fresh,) and, when cold, skin and mince them; including the fat about the roots.
Mince, also, one pound of beef-suet, and mix it with the chopped tongues. Add four nutmegs powdered; two ounces of powdered cinnamon; and an ounce of powdered mace, with a table-spoonful of powdered cloves.
Pick clean, wash, and dry three pounds of Zante currants. Seed and chop three pounds of the _best_ raisins. Mix the fruit with the other ingredients, adding a pound of citron sliced, and the grated yellow rind, and the juice of three large lemons or oranges. Sweeten the mixture with two pounds of sugar, and moisten it with a quart of excellent brandy, and a quart of sherry or Madeira wine. Having thoroughly mixed the whole, pack it down, hard, into small stone jars, covering them closely, and pasting strong white paper over the lids. Do not add the apples till you take out the mince-meat for use, as it keeps better without them. Then take a sufficient number of pippins or bell-flowers, pare, core and chop them, and mix them with the mince-meat, allowing three large apples to a pint of mince-meat. Their freshness will improve the flavour.
It is best to make mince-meat two or three times during the winter; as it will not continue very good longer than five or six weeks. Whenever you take any out of the jars, put some additional brandy to the remainder.
For mince-meat, and all other purposes, use none but the _best_ raisins.
What are called _cooking_ raisins, (like _cooking_ b.u.t.ter and _cooking_ wine,) injure instead of improving the articles with which they are mixed. All things of bad quality are unwholesome as well as unpalatable.
It is better to do without mince-pies, plum-puddings and plum-cakes, than to spoil them with hard, dried up, indigestible raisins; to say nothing of the trouble of stoning and stemming them, when they are nearly all seeds and stems.
TEMPERANCE MINCE-MEAT.--Take three pounds of the lean of a round of fresh beef, that has been boiled the day before. It must be thoroughly boiled, and very tender. Mince it, as finely as possible, with a chopping-knife; and add to it two pounds of beef-suet, cleared from the skin and filaments, and minced very small. Mix the suet and the lean beef well together; and add a pound of brown sugar. Pick, wash, and dry before the fire, two pounds of Zante currants. Seed and chop two pounds of the best raisins. Sultana raisins have no seeds, and are therefore the most convenient for all cookery purposes. Grate the yellow rind of three large lemons or oranges into a saucer, and squeeze upon it their juice, through a strainer. Mix this with the currants and raisins.
Prepare a heaped-up table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; the same quant.i.ty of powdered ginger; a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg; the same of powdered cloves; and the same of powdered mace. Mix all these spices into a quart of the best _West India_ mola.s.ses. Then mix well together the meat and the fruit; and wet the whole with the spiced mola.s.ses; of which you must have enough to make the mixture very moist, but not too thin. If you want the mince-meat for immediate use, add to it four pounds of minced apple. The apples for this purpose should be pippins or bell-flowers, pared, cored, quartered, and chopped fine. Add, also, half a pound of citron, not minced, but cut into long slips.
If you intend the mince-meat for keeping, do not add the apple and citron until you are about to make the pies, as it will keep better without them. Mix all the other articles thoroughly, and pack down the mince-meat, hard, in small stone jars. Lay upon the top of it, a round of thin white paper, dipped in mola.s.ses, and cut exactly to fit the inside circ.u.mference of the jar. Secure the jars closely with flat, tight-fitting corks, and then with a lid; and paste paper down over the top on the outside.
West India mola.s.ses will be found a good subst.i.tute for the wine and brandy generally used to moisten mince-meat.
TRANSPARENT PASTE.--Take twelve ounces (or a pint and a half) of the best fresh b.u.t.ter. Wash and squeeze it through several cold waters, and press out whatever milk may remain about it. Then set it over the fire to soften all through; but do not allow it to melt, so as to become liquid or oily. Beat two eggs till very light and smooth; and when the b.u.t.ter is cool, stir the eggs into it, adding, very gradually, a pound of sifted flour that has been dried before the fire. Mix the whole into a lump of soft dough, and beat it well on all sides with the rolling-pin. Then transfer it to a paste-board, and roll it out thin. As quickly as possible b.u.t.ter some tart-pans, and line them with the paste; then brush it lightly with a little cold water, and sift on, thickly, some powdered sugar. They must be baked empty. Set them immediately in a rather brisk oven, and bake them a light brown. When cool, turn them out, and fill them with marmalade, jam, or any very nice sweetmeats. If properly made and baked, this paste looks very handsome. It may be baked in large patty-pans the size of soup-plates.
LIGHT PASTE.--Sift into a pan three quarters of a pound of flour, and another quarter on a plate. Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, and mix them with a wine-gla.s.s or more of cold water. With this wet the flour to a stiff paste; and when it is formed into a lump, beat it on all sides with the rolling-pin. Then lay it on the paste-board, and roll it out into a thin sheet. Use the extra quarter of flour for sprinkling and rolling. Have ready three quarters of a pound of the best fresh b.u.t.ter, divided into three portions. Cover the sheet with one portion of the b.u.t.ter, placed all over it in bits of equal size, and laid on at equal distances. Then sprinkle on a little flour; fold up the sheet of paste; flour it slightly when folded; roll it out again; and put on in the same manner another portion of the b.u.t.ter; then flour it slightly; fold it up; roll it out again; and add the third division of b.u.t.ter. Then fold it, flour it, and give it a hard final rolling, always moving the rolling-pin _from_ you instead of _towards_ you. The paste will then be ready for any nice purpose.