eggs, half a gill of rose-water or wine. To be baked in such pans as
are used for cup cake. This keeps good a long time, and is very nice.
=Another (without eggs).=
One pound of butter, two of sugar, three of flour, a pint of milk, a
large spoonful of ginger, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar mixed in
the flour, and one teaspoonful of saleratus. Stir the butter and sugar
to a cream, then add half of the milk, and a large part of the flour;
then the remainder of the milk having the saleratus dissolved in it,
and the rest of the flour. Make half the quantity for a small family.
Bake it in cup-cake pans.
=Ginger Crackers.=
A pint of molasses, two cups of butter, one and a half of sugar, one
teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger; add flour enough to make
it easy to roll out. Stir the butter and sugar together, boil the
molasses and pour it into the pan, and stir steadily until the butter
and sugar are melted, then put in a few handfuls of flour, and add the
saleratus. Stir it a few minutes, and then work in all the flour. To be
rolled very thin, and baked but a few minutes.
=New York Ginger Snaps.=
Half a pound each of butter and sugar, two and a half pounds of flour,
a pint of molasses, a teaspoonful of saleratus, caraway seeds, or
ginger. Mix it just like the ginger crackers, and bake them thin.
=Soft Molasses Gingerbread.=
For three pints of flour, allow a pint of molasses, a pint of sour
milk, or butter-milk, a gill of butter, half a gill of nice drippings,
three teaspoonfuls of ginger, two of saleratus, and a very little salt.
To mix it, boil the molasses with the butter and shortening cut up in
it, and pour it hot upon the flour. Stir it a little, and then add the
sour milk with the saleratus and ginger. Stir it well. Gingerbread is
as much better for being thoroughly beaten, as any other cake. You can
make it rather more delicate by using butter only, adding a gill of
brown sugar, and substituting cinnamon and clove instead of ginger. On
the other hand, very good gingerbread is made by omitting the butter,
and using shortening instead, and cold water or cider in place of the
sour milk. A teaspoonful of salt is necessary where the butter is
omitted.
=Hard Molasses Gingerbread.=
A half a pint of molasses, a gill of butter, half a gill of nice
drippings, half a gill of sour milk, two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, and
the same of ginger. Melt the butter, drippings, and molasses together,
and pour hot upon a quart of flour; add the ginger and saleratus,
and when well mixed add more flour until it can be handled without
sticking. Then roll it out about as thick as the little finger, stamp
or mark it, and bake it in shallow iron or tin pans. Bake it in a
moderate heat. When done, cut it up before you take it out of the pans,
as it cannot be done after it is cold without crumbling the edges.
If you prefer to have it thin, and cut into rounds like cookies, it is
a very good way.
By omitting the sour milk and adding a cup of sugar, a rather nicer
gingerbread is made.
=Another.=
Melt one cup of butter in two of molasses, pour it hot upon a quart of
flour; dissolve one teaspoonful of saleratus in a little hot water and
add it. Put in flour enough to roll it out neatly. Make it very thin,
cut it in rounds, and bake it quick. These cakes are very crisp, and
keep so in a tin chest.
FRIED CAKES.
=On Frying Cakes.=
[To have fried cakes good, it is necessary that the fat should be of
the right heat. When it is hot enough, it will cease to bubble, and be
perfectly still. It is best to try it with a little bit of the cake to
be fried. If the heat is right, the dough will rise in a few seconds
to the top, and occasion a bubbling in the fat; it will swell, and the
under-side quickly become brown. It should then be turned over. Cakes
should be turned two or three times. The time necessary to fry them,
depends on their thickness; if about as thick as the little finger,
they will be done in seven or eight minutes. It is best to break open
one, in order to judge. When done, drain them well with a skimmer. If
the fat is too hot, the outside will be burned before the centre is
cooked at all; if too cool, they will become fat-soaked, which makes
them very unhealthy and disagreeable. The fire must be carefully
regulated. A person who fries cakes must attend to nothing else; the
cakes, the fat, and the fire will occupy every minute. The use of many
eggs prevents cakes from absorbing much fat. But they can be so made
without eggs, as not to take up much fat.]
=Crullers.=
To two pounds of flour, put three quarters of a pound of sugar, half a
pound of butter, nine eggs, mace, and rose-water unless the butter has
been kept in rose leaves.
=Another.=
To six teacups of flour, put two of sugar, half a one of butter, half a
one of cream, eight eggs, one nutmeg; or if more convenient, nine eggs,
no cream, and a full cup of butter.
=Another (plainer, but very good).=
To a pint of warm milk, put two spoonfuls of lard, and three of butter
cut into little bits. Beat four eggs and five heaping spoonfuls of
sugar together, and stir into the milk. Grate in a nutmeg, put in a
very heaping teaspoonful of saleratus, and knead in flour enough to
roll out.
=Cream of Tartar.=
Make them precisely like the cream of tartar biscuit (see page 34),
with the addition of five spoonfuls of sugar, half a nutmeg, one egg,
and a small piece more of butter.
=Raised Doughnuts.=
Boil a quart of milk, and rub smooth in a little cold milk a large
gill of ground rice; when the milk boils up, stir in the rice and a
little salt. Let it boil till it thickens, stirring it two or three
times. Pour it, hot, upon a quart of flour; when cool enough, add a
gill of yeast, and flour enough to make it stiff as bread. Knead it a
great deal. Let it rise over night, and when very light, work in three
quarters of a pound of butter, a pound and a half of sugar beaten in
five eggs, and add nutmeg and lemon, juice and rind. Let it rise again,
and then roll out and fry it.
Light bread dough, which is wet with milk, may be made into plain, or
rich dough-nuts, as preferred, with very little trouble. Prepare the
dough as directed in the receipt for rusk, and add two or three eggs,
if convenient. It is not necessary.
=Fried Biscuit.=
Work a piece of batter the size of an egg into a large pint of light
bread dough. When it has risen again, roll it very thin, cut it into
circles or squares, and fry them for breakfast. Eat them with salt,
or with cider and sugar. All crullers and dough-nuts are much more
healthful fried in clarified drippings of roast meat, than in lard; and
it is, besides, good economy.
ON MAKING PASTRY.
The flour, as in making bread or cake, should be sifted. The
best-looking pastry is made with lard, but it is not so healthy or
good, as that which is made with half or two thirds butter. Whichever
you use, rub a third of it into the flour, but do not try to rub out
every lump; the less the hands are used the better. Add cold water; in
summer, ice water. If your crust is shortened wholly with lard, allow
a teaspoonful of salt to a pound (or quart) of flour, and a small
teaspoonful of saleratus to every three pounds. Sprinkle the salt into
the flour, and dissolve the saleratus in the water. If butter only or
chiefly is used, omit the saleratus. When you have put in the water,
stir it quickly, rather stiff, with a knife. Do not mould it; it will
make it tough; but when it is barely stirred together, put it on the
board, roll it out, lay thin shavings of butter on every part, sprinkle
a little flour over it, and roll it out again, then lay on butter as
before. To avoid much handling of the crust, roll it so thin that all
the butter will be taken up by two or three times rolling in. When
it is all rolled in, fold up the crust in a long roll, and double
it, laying the ends together; then lay it aside, and cut from it for
each pie. In rolling out for the plates press the pin equally, so as
to make all parts of the same thickness, and as nearly circular as
possible. Have the plates ready buttered, or greased with lard, lay in
the crust, and see that all parts touch the plate. Take the dish up on
the palm of the left hand, and with the right trim the edges, holding
the knife under and _aslant_, and so cut the crust that the edge of the
dish will be perfectly covered. People differ in regard to the proper
thickness of pie-crust. A pie in which the fruit constitutes one third
of the thickness, and the two crusts the other two thirds, although
it may look more elegant, is neither so healthful or good as one made
with thinner crust and plenty of fruit. Some fruit requires thicker
crust than others; for apple, peach, and pumpkin it should be thin as
a common earthen plate; for juicy fruits, such as berries, cherries,
currants, plums, and for mince, it should be a little thicker. Lay some
of the trimmings round the rim of the plate to make the edge of the pie
handsome, and put the rest by themselves, and when there are enough,
roll them out for an under-crust.
In making cherries, currants, &c., into pies, use deep dishes, and
be careful not to fill them even full, as the syrup will boil over,
and thus, much of the richness of the pie be lost. There is one way
effectually to prevent the loss of syrup. After you have laid in the
fruit, or mince, and rolled out the upper-crust, wet the rim of the
under-crust all around with cold water [not omitting a single spot, if
you do the syrup will escape at that spot], and sprinkle a very little
flour upon it, lay the trimming upon the rim, wet and flour that in
the same manner, then lay the upper-crust immediately over, and press
it down gently upon the rim. The flour and water act as a paste to
fasten the crusts together. Trim the edge as before, and prick the top
eight or ten times with a fork. This is necessary for the escape of the
steam, and without it, the closing of the edge will not avail to keep
in the syrup. It is a good way to invert a teacup in the centre of a
juicy fruit-pie, as in making an oyster-pie.
A clammy lower-crust is neither good or digestible. Therefore never
fill pies made of moist materials until just before putting them into
the oven. Squash pies, cocoanut, and Marlborough puddings, &c., should
not be filled until the last minute, and mince and stewed apple should
only stand long enough for the upper-crust to be laid on. Pie-crust
becomes yellow from standing long before being baked; therefore, delay
rolling out the upper-crust for any kind of pies until the oven is
nearly ready. Pastry should be baked in a quick oven, to be light, and
be slightly browned to be healthy. When you bake pumpkin and similar
kinds of pies, if you have the least doubt whether the crust is well
done, set the dishes a few minutes on embers, or the top of a cooking
stove. This sort of pies requires nearly an hour to bake; more, if the
dishes are very deep. When done enough, the top will be gently swelled
all over, and in moving, tremble like jelly; if not done, the middle
will look like a thick liquid. Most pies require an hour to bake; those
made of stewed apple or cranberry, three quarters of an hour. Much
depends on the kind of oven used.
It is difficult to make flaky crust in warm weather. But cooling the
butter and water with ice, and having the pastry-table in the cellar,
will insure tolerable success.
There is hardly another article of food in which so much is sacrificed
to appearance as in pastry. Everybody likes a light crust, a little
brown, and not excessively rich, better than one that is half butter or
lard, and baked white.
Cherries should not be stewed or stoned for pies. Apples, after they
are pared, cut, and cored, should be washed. Steam pumpkin and squash,
or stew it with very little water. Meat for pies must not be chopped
till after it is cold.
After a little practice and observation, it will be just as well to
omit weighing the materials for pastry. One very heaping handful of
flour will make a common-sized pie; not, however, allowing for the
flour to be used in rolling the paste.
When all the pies but the last one are made, scrape the remains of
crust from the moulding-board and the rolling-pin, and add any parings
of edges that you have, work them together, and use for the under-crust.
For almost all kinds of pies, good brown sugar is nice enough. The
Havana is seldom clean. The Porto-Rico and Santa Cruz are considered
the best. The New Orleans is very sweet.
The very early apples, when used for pies or sauce, should not be
pared, as the greatest part of the richness of the fruit, at that
season, is in the skin. Some kinds are so delicate, that when stewed,
the skin is entirely absorbed in the pulp, so as not to be visible, and
the color, if it is red, is beautifully diffused through the whole mass.
=Rich Puff Paste.=
For a pound and a half of flour, take one pound of butter; divide it
into three parts, and reserve a third of the flour for use in rolling
in two parts. Rub one third of the butter into the flour, add water
enough just to make it a stiff dough, then roll it out, and put in the
rest of the butter as directed above.
=A plainer Paste.=
Three pounds (or quarts) of flour, half a pound of lard, and a pound
of butter.
=Good common Pie-crust.=
Allow one heaping handful of flour for a pie, and a table-spoonful of
lard or butter for each handful.
=Bread-dough Pie-crust.=
Take very light dough and roll in shavings of butter three times, using
as little flour as you can.
=Potatoe-crust.=
Boil six good-sized mealy potatoes, and mash them fine; add salt, a
spoonful of butter and two of water while they are hot. Then work in
flour enough for making a paste to roll out, or put in two or three
spoonfuls of cream, and no butter or water. This is a good crust for
pot-pies or dumplings.
PIES.
=Of Stewed Apple.=
Stew the apple with water enough to prevent its burning; sweeten and
flavor it to your taste, and, while it is hot, add butter in the
proportion of a dessert spoonful to a quart of apple. The spices most
appropriate are nutmeg and lemon, cinnamon and orange. Two kinds are
enough; one does very well. When you have laid the under crust in the
plate, roll out the upper one, so that it may be laid on the moment the
apple is put in, as the under crust will be clammy if the pie is not
put immediately into the oven.
=Another (without an upper crust).=
Pare and quarter fourteen or eighteen fair sour apples, weigh them,
and make a syrup of the same weight of sugar and a little water. Grate
off the outside of a lemon and set it aside; take out the seeds, cut up
the inside, and put it into the syrup. When the syrup is boiled clear,
lay in half of the apples and boil them, but not till they are very
soft. Take them out carefully, and lay them separately on a dish, so
as not to break them. Stew the rest of the apples, and when they are
taken out, boil the syrup a little while longer. Have ready three or
four medium sized deep plates, with a nice paste in them. If any of the
apple is broken or stewed soft, lay that into the middle of the plate,
then put the quarters around in regular tiers, one above another, so
as to form a sort of half sphere or pyramid, then sprinkle the grated
lemon over the top, and pour on some of the syrup. Bake in a quick oven
half an hour. When they are taken out, sift fine sugar over the top.
=Of uncooked Apples.=
To eat immediately, the following is excellent. Lay the slices into
the plate upon an under crust; fill it quite full; sprinkle the rim
with a little flour, to prevent the upper crust from adhering to the
under one. Bake forty minutes, or till the apple is tender, and then
slide off the upper crust and add a small bit of butter, some nutmeg
or lemon, and sugar to your taste. Mix them well with the apple with a
silver spoon, and return the upper crust to its place.
=Another.=
The other method is to lay the apples into a deep dish with an under
crust, and for a large family, no matter how large a dish is used;
grate a whole or half nutmeg over, according to the size of the pie,
or if you have a fresh orange, cut small the peel of half a one, and
sprinkle in with the apple; add a few sticks of cinnamon, a few little
bits of butter, and lastly, put on as much sugar as your judgment
directs. Cover it, and close the edge, so that the syrup will not
escape. Bake from an hour and a half to two hours.
=Another (sweetened with molasses).=
Make a plain crust, and line a deep dish; fill it with sliced apples,
grate a good deal of nutmeg over them, and lay on two or three thin
shavings of butter. Then pour over a teacupful or two of good molasses,
according to the size of the pie; lay on the upper crust, and close it
so that the syrup cannot escape. Bake it two hours and a half.
For directions how to make a pie of Dried Apples, see the receipt for
stewing them.
=Whortleberry.=
Fill the dish not quite even full, and to each pie of the size of a
large soup plate, add four large spoonfuls of sugar; (for blackberries
and blueberries, five). Dredge a very little flour over the fruit
before you lay on the upper crust. Close the edge with special care.
=Cherry.=
The common red cherry makes the best pie. Bake it in a deep dish. Use
sugar in the proportion directed for blackberries. All cherries, except
the very sweet ones, are good for pies.
=Cranberry.=
Take the sauce as prepared to eat with meat; grate a little nutmeg over
it, put three or four thin shavings of butter on it, and then lay on
the upper crust. If not sweet enough, add more sugar. Make it without
an upper crust, if you prefer, and lay very narrow strips across
diagonally.
=Green Currants and Gooseberries.=
These require a great deal of sugar, at least two thirds as much in
measure as of fruit. Currant pies should be made in a deep plate or a
pudding dish, and with an upper crust.
Gooseberries should be stewed like cranberries, sweetened to suit the
taste, and laid upon the under crust, with strips placed diagonally
across the top, as directed for the cranberry tarts. Currants that are
almost ripe make a nice pie, and require the same measure of sugar as
blackberries.
=Lemon.=
Make a nice paste, and lay into two medium-sized plates; then prepare
the following mixture. To the juice, and grated rind of one lemon,
made very sweet with white sugar, add three well-beaten eggs, and a
piece of butter half the size of an egg, melted. Stir these ingredients
together, then add a pint of rich milk, or thin cream, stirring very
fast. Fill the plates and bake immediately.
=Another.=
An egg, a lemon, and a cup of sugar prepared as directed in the last
receipt; then add half a cup of water, and two small crackers, pounded
and sifted. Bake in a plate, with a paste.
=Rich Mince.=
To one beef's tongue, allow a pound of suet, a pound of currants,
another of raisins, a pound and a quarter of sugar, half a pound of
citron, eight large apples, a quart of wine or boiled cider, salt, a
nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, the juice and pulp of a lemon, and the rind
chopped fine. Let the meat be chopped very fine, then add the apples
and chop them fine also. Put the sugar into the cider or wine, and just
boil it up so as to skim off the top; let it stand a few minutes, and
then pour it off into a pan containing all the other ingredients. Be
careful, in pouring it, not to disturb any sediment there may be from
the sugar. Use loaf sugar if you choose.
=Another (not as rich).=
Chop the meat, apples, and suet separately, and then measure the
ingredients thus: three bowls of meat, three of apple, one of suet, one
of citron cut small, two of raisins, four of sugar, one of molasses,
one of vinegar, one of some kind of syrup (quince or peach), or wine
instead, if you prefer. Add powdered clove, nutmeg and cinnamon to suit
the taste.
=Temperance.=
Boil five pounds of meat in water enough to have one quart when it is
done; chop the meat very fine when it is cold, and add a quarter of a
pound of suet, or salt pork, three pounds and a half of sugar, three
of chopped apple, two and a half of box raisins and one of Sultana
raisins, one of citron, and a pint of syrup of preserved peach, quince,
or both; or any other syrup you may have; add salt, nutmeg, and
powdered clove. To mix the ingredients, remove the fat from the juice
of the meat and put it into a kettle with the apple, sugar, raisins,
and citron, and let them boil a few minutes; if froth rises, take it
off; have the meat ready in a pan mixed with the spices, pour the
mixture boiling hot upon it, and stir it together; add, if you choose,
the juice and pulp of three lemons. This process cooks the ingredients
so thoroughly that, if you prefer, you can bake the paste first and
then fill the dishes; and if you choose to reserve part of it, it will
keep in a cool place several weeks.
=Very Plain.=
These may be made of almost any cheap pieces of meat, boiled till
tender; add suet or salt pork chopped very fine, half or two thirds
as much apple as meat; sugar and spices to your taste. If mince pies
are eaten cold it is better to use salt pork than suet. A lemon, and a
little syrup of sweetmeats will greatly improve them. Clove is the most
important spice.
=Without Suet.=
Boil up a quart of good brown sugar in three pints of cider; set it
off, and after a few minutes take off the scum; then put in a pint of
chopped meat, a quart of chopped apple, and four large crackers pounded
and sifted. Add a grated nutmeg, a large teaspoonful of powdered clove,
and any other spice you prefer. Make the mixture more sweet if you
choose. Boil it again four or five minutes. This will not keep so long
as mince which contains no cracker.
=Without Meat.=
To twelve apples chopped fine, add six beaten eggs, and a half pint of
cream. Put in spice, sugar, raisins or currants just as you would for
meat mince pies.
=Another.=
A cup of molasses, a cup of sugar, half a cup of vinegar, and half a
cup of butter, boiled up together for a minute. Then add three crackers
pounded and sifted, a half a pint of chopped raisins, two beaten eggs,
and spice to suit the taste.
=Peach.=
If the peaches are dried, stew them first in a little water; if fresh,
pare them, but do not take out the stones. Make the pie in a large deep
dish, and close the edge well, to prevent the escape of the syrup. The
free-stones are best, because most tender; the cling-stones require
long cooking.
=Rhubarb.=
Peel the stalks, and cut them into pieces about an inch long; lay
them in a soft cloth in order to absorb some of the juice, as the
quantity is very great. Put them in a sauce-pan and stew gently; add
sugar enough to make it sweet as you wish, but no water; cover close.
Be careful not to stew it so long as to break the pieces. Lay it into
dishes for the table, and having baked your paste of the right size,
lay it over. Some persons prefer the rhubarb without spice. If any is
used, it should be the rind of a lemon.
Rhubarb tarts are good made, like the gooseberry, with a lower crust,
and strips laid across the top.
=Squash or Pumpkin.=
To a pint and a gill of strained squash, put three gills of sugar,
three eggs, two crackers, pounded and sifted (or four eggs without the
crackers), a teaspoonful of salt, one nutmeg, a dessert spoonful of
powdered cinnamon, or some essence of lemon, a teaspoonful of ginger,
and a table-spoonful of butter, melted in a quart of milk. Boil the
milk. To mix it, stir the spice and salt into the strained squash
first, then add the cracker, and sugar, and when these are mixed, pour
in half the milk, and when this is well stirred, add the remainder, and
lastly the eggs, which should be thoroughly beaten. If you make up two
quarts of milk, use five eggs, and five pounded crackers, and double
the other ingredients.
=Another.=
Six eggs, eight table-spoonfuls of strained squash, one quart of
boiled milk, a little salt, two table-spoonfuls of rose-water, a lemon
(juice and rind), sugar to your taste, a spoonful of butter melted.
Grate nutmeg over the top. Mix the ingredients as directed in the last
receipt. The mode of making pumpkin puddings or pies, may be almost
endlessly varied. They are very good without eggs, substituting a
little more pumpkin and three crackers pounded and sifted, to a quart
of milk; omitting rose-water, use cinnamon and a very little ginger.
When you have only one or two eggs to a quart, use two crackers.
=Puffs.=