Process Flour” will give you entire satisfaction.
=Currant-Jelly.=—Make a good crust and cover your plates with it. Pare,
core, and cut up the apples in small pieces; put them on to stew in just
water enough to cover them; quarter a lemon and stew with the apples.
When soft mash the apples, remove the seeds if any, sweeten to taste,
and flavor with nutmeg or ground cinnamon.
=Sliced Apple Pie.=—Make a good, light crust; wet the edge of the
pie-plate and lay a thin strip all round. Pare, core, and slice the
apples; lay them on the paste with a little sugar, the juice of half a
lemon; flavor with nutmeg. Lay a top crust over the fruit, and bake
nearly three-quarters of an hour.
=Apple Meringue Pie.=—Prepare the pie as in the foregoing receipt,
omitting the upper crust, and while the pie is baking prepare a méringue
by beating up the whites of three eggs with three ounces of powdered
sugar to a stiff broth; spread two-thirds of the mixture over the fire,
and put the other third into a paper funnel or cornucopia, and by
squeezing it decorate the pie according to fancy; dust sugar over it.
Return it to the oven to set the méringue.
=Apple-Custard Pie.=—Beat up six eggs with a cupful of sugar; add them
to three cupfuls of stewed apples (cold), and add gradually a quart of
milk to the mixture; season with nutmeg; cover the pie-plate with a good
crust, with the edge neatly arranged; fill the pie with the custard, and
bake.
=Mince-meat for Pie.=—Shred and chop very fine two pounds of beef suet;
by dredging the suet occasionally with flour it chops more easily and
does not clog; boil slowly, but thoroughly, two pounds of lean round of
beef and chop fine (mix all the ingredients as they are prepared); stone
and cut fine two pounds of raisins; wash and pick two pounds of
currants; cut fine half a pound of citron; chop two pounds of apples,
weighing them after they have been peeled and cored; a tablespoonful of
salt, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, a salt-spoonful
of allspice, half as much cloves, half an ounce of essence of almonds, a
pint of brandy, and a pint of cider. This may be kept in a cool place
all winter. If too dry add more cider.
Manufacturers are competing with each other in the preparation of
mince-meat to such an extent that it is no longer economy to prepare
your mince-meat at home. Most of our first-class hotels use the
“Thanksgiving Brand,” a genuine New England preparation. It is put up in
five or ten pound buckets, and I consider it a great saving to families,
both in time and materials, to secure their meat all ready prepared,
when they know they can get a reliable article.
When you are about to make mince-pies moisten the meat with cider, port,
brandy, or water.
=Pumpkin Pie.=—Cut the pumpkin into strips, and stew them in water
enough to cover them nicely; when done pour off the water and press the
pumpkin through a sieve; add to the pulp two quarts of milk, and nine
eggs to every quart of pulp; sweeten with sugar (beat the sugar and eggs
together), and season liberally with ginger and nutmeg; prepare the
pie-plates with a crust as for custard pies; fill the plate with the
mixture, and bake in a hot oven. Serve the pies when cold. After drawing
off the water from the pumpkin cover the pot with a towel and let it
stand half an hour on the back part of the range to dry out the
moisture.
=Fruit Pies.=—The under-paste for fruit pies may be made of flour and
lard, but the top is generally made of good puff paste; it may cover the
pie entirely or only in strips, according to fancy. Should the fruit
require longer cooking than the paste, prepare it by stewing or
simmering before filling the pies with it.
=Custard Pies.=—Line a well-buttered pie-plate with a good paste;
arrange a thick pie rim round the edge of the plate; beat up four eggs
with one cupful of sugar, and gradually add a pint and a half of milk;
fill the pies while in the oven; grate a little nutmeg over them and
bake about twenty minutes.
=Lemon Cream Pie.=—Boil a pint and a half of milk, and add three
tablespoonfuls corn-starch dissolved in a little cold milk. Return the
milk to the fire; take the juice of two lemons, four eggs, one cupful
sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of butter. Beat these ingredients
together, and add to the milk; flavor with a teaspoonful of extract of
lemon and grated nutmeg; pour the mixture into the pies (prepared as for
custard pies) and bake. When done remove from the oven and set it aside.
Whip up the whites of four eggs to a froth, and gradually add a cupful
of powdered sugar; spread two-thirds of the mixture on the pie, and put
the other one-third into a cornucopia, and by squeezing it decorate the
pie according to fancy. Return it to the oven a few minutes to set the
méringue.
=Lemon Cream Pie, No. 2.=—One tablespoonful of corn-starch dissolved in
cold water, one cupful of boiling hot water, one tablespoonful of
butter, one egg, juice and rind of one lemon. Sweeten to taste, and set
aside to get cold. Fill crust with this cream, and bake in a hot oven.
M. G. H.
=Orange Pie.=—Work a teacupful of powdered sugar and a tablespoonful of
butter to a cream. Mix a tablespoonful of corn-starch with a little cold
water, and add a teacupful of boiling water; let it cook long enough to
thicken, stirring constantly; then pour the mixture on to the butter and
sugar. Grate the peel from half an orange, and chop the other half
fine—first removing all the inner white skin. Add this to the former
ingredients, also a beaten egg and the juice of an orange. Peel another
orange, and slice it in little thin bits, being careful to remove all
the seeds and the tough white skin. Line a pie-plate with nice paste and
bake it until just done; then fill with the custard and orange slices,
and bake long enough to cook the egg. A méringue made with the whites of
two eggs, a pinch of salt, and two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar,
beaten to a stiff froth, will be an improvement. Spread it over the pie;
sift powdered sugar on the top, and set it again in the oven until
slightly colored.
=English Plum Pudding.=—Take six ounces of finely grated bread, and mix
with them a pound of flour, a pound of beef suet floured and chopped
fine, a teaspoonful salt, half a pound of granulated sugar,
three-fourths of a pound of raisins stoned and chopped, three-fourths of
a pound of washed currants, two ounces each of candied lemon and orange
peel, two ounces of citron shredded, a quarter of a pound apple chopped
fine, half an ounce of mixed spice, consisting of ground cloves,
cinnamon, and grated nutmeg, and half a teaspoonful of fresh grated
lemon-peel. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and work the mixture into
a stiff batter by adding to it five eggs beaten up with half a pint of
rich milk and a gill of brandy; turn the mixture into a floured towel;
shape it nicely; tie it up not too tightly, but leave room enough for it
to swell. Put it into a saucepan of boiling water, and keep it boiling
for five hours uninterruptedly. Have a kettle of boiling water ready to
add to your saucepan as fast as the water evaporates. When done sift
powdered sugar over it; pour a little brandy or Jamaica rum round it;
set a match to the liquor, and send it to the table with a hard or
brandy sauce.
=Plum-Pudding Sauce.=—Four ounces sugar and two ounces butter, well
creamed together; then beat an egg well into it, with two ounces of
brandy.
=New England Plum Pudding.=—Two pounds bread, four quarts milk, three
pounds raisins, two grated nutmegs, three teaspoonfuls each of cinnamon
and allspice, eight eggs, one cup sugar, and one cup molasses. Bake
three hours.
M. G. H.
=Plain Plum Pudding.=—Flour six ounces of suet, and chop it fine; add a
quarter of a pound of currants, the same quantity of raisins, half a
teaspoonful salt, and a teaspoonful Royal Baking Powder; sift a pound of
flour into the mixture; mix the dry ingredients thoroughly, and stir
into them nearly a pint of milk with three tablespoonfuls of molasses;
add a little mixed spice; shape the pudding nicely; tie it up in a
floured towel, allowing room for it to swell, and boil three hours.
=Boiled Pudding.=—Take a cupful of chopped suet, a cupful of grated
bread, and a cupful of washed currants; mix with two tablespoonfuls
sugar, a teaspoonful of grated lemon-peel, a salt-spoonful salt, and
grated nutmeg; beat up two eggs with half a cupful of milk, and work the
mixture to a light paste; wring some small cloths out of boiling water,
flour them, and tie in each a small portion of the mixture; plunge them
into boiling water, let them boil quickly half an hour, turn them out on
a hot dish, dash sugar over them, and serve with a sauce made of
sweetened melted butter, with a teaspoonful of grated lemon-peel, nutmeg
to taste; a few spoonfuls of brandy will improve it.
=Batter Pudding.=—Beat the yolks and whites of four eggs separately, and
mix them with six or eight ounces of flour and a salt-spoonful of salt.
Make the batter of the proper consistency by adding a little more than a
pint of milk; mix carefully; butter a baking-tin, pour the mixture into
it, and bake three-quarters of an hour. Serve with vanilla sauce.
=Vanilla Sauce.=—Put half a pint of milk in a small saucepan over the
fire; when scalding hot add the yolks of three eggs, and stir until it
is as thick as boiled custard; remove the saucepan from the fire, and
when cool add a tablespoonful of Thurber’s double extract of vanilla and
the beaten whites of two eggs.
=Chocolate Pudding.=—One quart of milk boiled with one ounce of grated
chocolate; sweeten to taste, and flavor with vanilla. Boil thoroughly,
and stand aside to cool fifteen minutes; then stir in the yolks of six
eggs, well beaten; bake in a pudding-dish until it stiffens like
custard. Beat the whites of six eggs, with six tablespoonfuls of
powdered sugar, to a stiff froth, and spread over top of pudding; put in
oven and brown quickly.
M. G. H.
=Crullers.=—Half a pint of buttermilk, one cupful of butter, two cupfuls
sugar, and three eggs; beat up the eggs and add the sugar and milk.
Dissolve half a teaspoonful of saleratus in a little hot water; add to
the mixture, with a teaspoonful salt, half a nutmeg grated, and half a
teaspoonful of fresh ground cinnamon. Work in as much sifted flour as
will make a smooth dough; mix thoroughly; dredge the board, rolling-pin,
and dough with flour; roll it out and cut it in rings or fingers, and
fry in hot fat.
I have recommended buttermilk in the above receipt, knowing its
excellent qualities; but the majority of housekeepers consider it
utterly useless. The following from the _British Mail_ is appropriate
here: “As the butter which is taken from the milk is only the
carbonaceous or heat-producing element, there are still left in it all
the nourishing properties which make it so valuable as food. As a drink
for men at work in the hot sun buttermilk is far preferable to cider,
metheglin, switchel, or any preparation of beer whatever, as it is not
only cooling and refreshing, but also strength-giving. Of course there
are plenty of people, who are constantly dosing themselves with
blood-searchers, liver-purifiers, and stomach-invigorators, who would
laugh at the mention of buttermilk as a medicine, and yet if they could
be once persuaded to try drinking a glass of that fresh beverage every
day they would soon find a corrective of their poor appetites and
‘clogged-up’ livers. In a little book of ‘Plain Directions for the Care
of the Sick,’ written by an intelligent physician of Philadelphia, who
has under his medical supervision several charitable institutions, we
find buttermilk mentioned as being very useful, especially in fevers, as
an article of diet for the sick.”
=Baking Powder.=—I have endeavored to recommend to my many readers a few
articles used in cooking that my long experience as a caterer has taught
me are the best. A good baking powder is a very important article to
have in every household, but it is difficult to get a powder without the
presence of alum.
The Brooklyn Board of Health, on motion of President Crane, the Sanitary
Superintendent, was directed to procure samples of the various kinds of
baking powders sold in Brooklyn, have them analyzed, and make a report
thereon to the Board. Without going in detail into the constitution of
baking powders, it will only be necessary to say that they are made with
bicarbonate of soda, or carbonate of ammonia, and cream of tartar,
chemically known as the bitartrate of potassa. But the lack of skill,
resulting in lumps of soda in the product, led manufacturers to
ascertain the proper proportion of these salts and to mix them, selling
the compound as a baking powder. Some of the manufacturers, on account
of the cheapness of alum, have introduced it as an ingredient into
baking powder, and the report of the Brooklyn Board concludes as
follows: “From a careful examination we are satisfied that the weight of
evidence is against the use of alum in baking powders, and that the
risks incurred in its use are too great to be incurred for the sake of
cheapness alone. The mucous membrane of the stomach and the intestinal
canal is a delicate structure, and materials which would produce no
effect on the outside skin might irritate and inflame these organs.”
Dr. Mott, the Government Chemist, in his review of the subject, makes
special mention of having analyzed the Royal Baking Powder and found it
composed of pure and wholesome materials. He also advises the public to
avoid purchasing baking powders as sold loose or in bulk, as he has
found by analyses of many samples that the worst adulterations are
practised in this form. And I may cheerfully add that our first-class
hotels use only the best of everything, not only in baking powders but
in every article that enters their storerooms, and that Royal Baking
Powder is the only baking powder they allow used in their bakeries, it
being free from alum and other unwholesome ingredients.
=Roly-Poly Pudding.=—One quart of flour, one-half pound of suet chopped
fine; rub in a little salt with flour, wet with water, and then roll it
out and spread any kind of fruit over it. Roll up, put in cloth, and
boil one hour.
M. G. H.
=Roly-Poly Lemon Pudding.=—Take the pulp from three lemons; remove the
pith and add to it an equal weight of sugar; boil twenty minutes; then
set the mixture to cool. Chop up seven ounces of suet, and mix it with
one pound of flour, a salt-spoonful of salt, and water enough to make a
paste; roll it out nearly an inch in thickness; spread the lemon mixture
upon it, and roll it into a long pudding; pinch the ends together, tie
it in a floured cloth, put it into boiling water, and boil constantly
for two hours. Serve with wine-sauce.
=Marlborough Pudding.=—Grate apples enough to make eight ounces; add to
this eight ounces of fine white sugar which has been well rubbed on the
rind of a large lemon, six well-beaten eggs, three tablespoonfuls of
cream, the strained juice of three lemons, eight ounces of butter; add
quantity at pleasure of orange-flower water, and the grated peel of an
orange and a lemon; line the pie-dish with rich puff paste, put in the
mixture, and let it bake in a quick oven.
=Macaroni Pudding.=—Butter a pie-dish, and cover the bottom with two and
one-half ounces uncooked macaroni; pour over it one quart of cold milk,
add two tablespoonfuls of sugar, stir in two well-beaten eggs, and
flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla (double extract) or any flavoring
desired. Put bits of butter over top, dust a little grated nutmeg over
top, and bake slowly two hours and a half.
=Steamed Arrowroot Pudding.=—Mix two tablespoonfuls of Beatty’s Bermuda
arrowroot with one cupful of milk; flavor one pint and a half of milk
with any desired flavoring, put it on the fire, and when it boils pour
it upon the arrowroot; stir well, and when it is cool add three
well-beaten eggs, one tablespoonful each of sugar and brandy; put it
into a well-buttered mould, cover, and steam it one hour and a half;
then turn it out on a dish, and arrange some preserves or jam neatly
around it, and serve.
=Almond Pudding.=—Blanch and pound, with a little water, three ounces of
sweet and four ounces of bitter almonds; add one pint of milk, three
tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little grated nutmeg, one tablespoonful of
flour mixed smoothly in a little cold milk, one tablespoonful of grated
bread, two eggs well beaten, and the whites of two eggs whisked to a
froth; pour the mixture into a buttered mould, cover, and boil quickly
three-quarters of an hour; let it stand a few minutes before turning out
of mould. Serve with vanilla sauce.
=Bachelor’s Pudding.=—Beat up three eggs, flavor with essence of lemon
and grated nutmeg, and add them to four ounces each of finely-minced
apples, currants, grated bread-crumbs, and two ounces of sugar; mix
thoroughly and boil in a buttered mould nearly three hours. Serve with
following sauce.
=Wine-Sauce.=—Boil the thin rind of half a lemon in one wineglassful of
water till the flavor is extracted; then take it out and thicken the
sauce by stirring into it one salt-spoonful of rice, flour, or arrowroot
which has been mixed in water or milk, a walnut of butter; boil a
moment, then add half a tumblerful of good wine; let the sauce get quite
hot without boiling, sweeten a little, and serve with the pudding.
=Bird’s-Nest Pudding.=—Make the foundation of nest of blanc-mange or
corn-starch; grate the rinds of three lemons, and arrange around the
blanc-mange to represent straw; extract the contents of four eggs
through a small hole and fill the egg-shells with hot blanc-mange or
corn-starch; when cold break off the shells and lay the moulded eggs in
nest. Serve with jam or preserves.
=Harlan’s Pudding.=—Take three ounces each of butter, sugar, and flour;
whisk two eggs thoroughly, and gradually mix with them the loaf-sugar,
which must be rubbed well on the rind of a lemon before it is pounded;
then add the flour and the butter partially melted, a salt-spoonful of
salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Butter insides of several cups; put a
little jam at the bottom of each, and fill them nearly full with the
mixture; bake half an hour; turn them out and serve with wine-sauce.
=Cocoanut Pudding.=—Beat two eggs with one cupful of new milk; add
one-quarter of a pound of grated cocoanut; mix with it three
tablespoonfuls each of grated bread and powdered sugar, two ounces of
melted butter, five ounces of raisins, and one teaspoonful of grated
lemon-peel; beat the whole well together; pour the mixture into a
buttered dish, and bake in a slow oven; then turn it out, dust sugar
over it, and serve. This pudding may be either boiled or baked.
=Citron Pudding.=—Sift two tablespoonfuls of flour and mix with the
beaten yolks of six eggs; add gradually one pint of sweet cream, a
quarter of a pound of citron cut in small strips, and two tablespoonfuls
of sugar; mix thoroughly, pour the batter into buttered tins, and bake
twenty-five minutes. Serve with wine or vanilla sauce.
=Eve’s Pudding.=—Beat six ounces of butter to a cream; add six ounces of
sifted flour and six of sugar; separate the yolks from the whites of
four eggs; beat them till they are light, then add the beaten yolks and
afterwards the whites to the batter; mix, and add half a dozen pounded
almonds and the grated rind of one lemon. Fill small tins about half
full; set them before the fire for a few minutes, and when they have
risen place them in the oven and bake for half an hour. Serve with a
sweet fruit sauce.
=Sliced Apple Pudding.=—Mix two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot with one
pint of cream; add two tablespoonfuls of sugar; put in stew-pan and
place over fire until it boils. Slice thinly apples enough to fill a
large-sized dish, laying them in a dish with alternate layers of apples
and sugar and small walnuts of butter; pour on a tumblerful of jam as
next layer, and over all pour mixture of arrowroot. Bake in moderate
oven twenty-five minutes.
=Astor House Pudding.=—Mix one tablespoonful of flour with two of milk;
pour over it one cupful of boiling milk flavored with one teaspoonful
extract of vanilla; add one tablespoonful of sugar, a walnut of butter,
and the yolk of an egg, beaten. Line the edge of pudding-dish with a
rich puff paste, and fill the dish two-thirds full with slices of
sponge-cake over which a good jam has been spread; pour the custard over
them and bake in a moderate oven; when done take out. Beat up the whites
of two eggs with nearly one cupful of powdered sugar; spread the
méringue over the pudding, and sprinkle a little sugar over it; return
it to the oven a few minutes until the méringue is fawn-colored, and
serve in dish with clean, white napkin neatly bound around the sides.
A good wine-sauce may be served with it if desired.
=Manhattan Pudding.=—Dissolve a walnut of saleratus in one tablespoonful
of hot water; mix one cupful of milk, three well-beaten eggs, two
tablespoonfuls of flour (mixed with cold milk), one pinch of salt, and
four ounces of chopped citron; add saleratus, and mix all thoroughly;
pour the mixture into a buttered mould, tie mould in a floured cloth,
boil one hour and a half, turn out, and serve with a fruit sauce.
=Manioca Pudding.=—Three tablespoonfuls of manioca, one quart of milk, a
little salt, one tablespoonful of butter, and two well-beaten eggs;
sugar, spice, or flavoring to the taste. Mix manioca in half the milk
cold, and, with the butter, stir on the fire until it thickens or boils;
pour it quickly into a dish, stir in the sugar and the remaining milk,
and when quite cool add the eggs, spice, and wine or other flavoring.
This pudding may be varied by omitting the eggs and substituting
currants, chopped raisins or candied lemon, orange or citron sliced.
Bake half an hour in a moderate oven.
_CAKES._
=English Christmas Cake.=—Sift five pounds of flour; mix with it one
tablespoonful of salt, one pound and a half of butter, and half a pint
of fresh brewer’s yeast or five teaspoonfuls of baking powder; if yeast
is used allow dough to rise before adding other ingredients; mix in
three pounds of washed currants, one pound and a half of “A” sugar, a
whole nutmeg grated, one-quarter of a pound of chopped candied
lemon-peel, one wineglassful of brandy, and four well-beaten eggs;
butter the tins and line them with buttered paper; bake in a moderate
oven for two hours. The quantity of brandy recommended will serve to
keep these cakes fresh for an indefinite time.
=Apple Snow.=—Reduce half a dozen apples to a pulp; press them through a
sieve; add half a cupful powdered sugar and a teaspoonful of extract of
lemon; take the whites of six eggs, whip them for several minutes, and
sprinkle two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar over them; beat the apple
pulp to a froth, and add the beaten egg; whip the mixture until it looks
like stiff snow; then pile it high in rough portions on a glass dish,
garnish with small spoonfuls of currant-jelly, and stick a sprig of
green on top.
=Almond Cake.=—Blanch and pound in a mortar thoroughly eight ounces of
sweet and one of bitter almonds; add a few drops of rosewater or white
of egg every few minutes to prevent oiling; add six tablespoonfuls of
sifted sugar and eight beaten eggs; sift in six tablespoonfuls of flour
and work it thoroughly with the mixture, gradually add a quarter of a
pound of creamed butter; beat the mixture constantly while preparing the
cake, or it will be heavy; pour the mixture into a buttered tin (place a
buttered paper between the tin and the cake), allowing room for it to
rise, and bake in a quick oven. Should the oven prove too hot for it,
and the cake be in danger of burning, cover it with paper for a few
minutes.
=Almond Sponge-Cake.=—Take half a pound of loaf-sugar, rub the rind of
lemon on a few of the lumps, and crush the whole to a powder; separate
the whites from the yolks of five eggs, beat the yolks, and add the
sugar gradually; then beat the whites to a stiff froth; add it to the
dish, and sift in flour enough to make a batter; add a tablespoonful of
essence of almonds; butter and paper a tin, pour in the mixture until
the tin is two-thirds full, and bake one hour in a moderate oven. The
bottom of the tin may be studded with small pieces of almonds.