Perhaps I run the risk of overdoing the matter by telling you how to
make an almond pudding, but it does harmonize so delightfully with
coffee glacée that 'twould be actually sinful to leave you in
ignorance of how it is made. It's simple, too, simple as a b c. You
just beat up the yolks of five and the whites of three eggs with a
large tablespoonful of rose-water, and add gradually to it four ounces
of powdered sugar and four ounces of freshly ground almonds, mixed
with a few small whole ones. Beat this thoroughly for ten or fifteen
minutes, pour into a well-buttered pie-dish and bake. When
half-cooked, garnish with strips of candied orange peel and blanched
almonds. And if you have any of the pudding left, which is doubtful,
you will find that it makes an excellent five-o'clock tea cake, for it
is quite as good cold as hot.
Now, have I not given you a good ground plan, so to speak, for Lenten
dinners? It is the easiest thing in the world to leave out a part of
it, or add to it, for that matter, for it is composed wholly of
neutral tints, you might say, and almost any viand under the sun will
dovetail with it, if you wish to elaborate it.
* * * * *
I really don't know the first thing about the dietetic properties of
eggs, for which ignorance I am truly grateful, because I have always
noticed that once a man or a woman gets where the healthfulness or
the hurtfulness of any edible becomes the first consideration all real
pleasure to be found in dining has for that man or woman lost half its
charm.
Neither could I guess, though I had a dozen chances, whether the fact
that eggs form the backbone of so many meals during Lent has its
foundation in history, or some religious rite. And I am also content
to remain uninformed on this point.
But I do know that at market these days the sign "strictly fresh eggs"
is the most noticeable feature on every hand; and I know, too, that
there are a good many housekeepers who fairly long to know of some way
in which to improve upon the neutral flavor of an egg so that it may
become dainty, savory or delicately sweet as the case may seem to
require.