quarters of a pound of fresh butter, and three quarters of a pound of
powdered white sugar, adding two table-spoonfuls of ginger. Grate a
pound and a half of sweet potato. Beat eight eggs very light, and stir
them gradually into the butter and sugar, in turn with the grated sweet
potato. Dissolve a tea-spoonful of saleratus or soda in a jill of sour
milk, and stir it in at the last, beating the whole very hard. Butter
the inside of a tin pan. Put in the mixture, and bake it four hours or
more. It should be eaten fresh, cut into slices.
RICE BREAD.--To a pint of well boiled rice add half a pint of wheat
flour, mixing them well together. Take six eggs, and beat the whites and
yolks separately. Having beaten the whites to a stiff froth, mix them
gradually with a pint of rich milk, and two large table-spoonfuls of
fresh butter, softened at the fire. Mix, by degrees, the yolks of the
eggs with the rice and flour. Then add the white-of-egg mixture, a
little at a time. Stir the whole very hard. Put it into a buttered tin
pan with straight or upright sides. Set it in a moderate oven, and bake
it an hour or more. Then turn it out of the pan, put it on a dish, and
send it warm to the breakfast table, and eat it with butter.
This cake may be baked, by setting the pan that contains it into an iron
dutch-oven, placed over hot coals. Heat the lid of the oven on the
inside, by standing it up before the fire while the rice-bread is
preparing; and, after you put it on, keep the lid covered with hot
coals.
Rice-bread may be made of ground rice flour, instead of whole rice.
RICE FLOUR BREAD.--Sift into a pan a pint and a half of rice flour, and
a pint and a half of fine wheat flour. Add two large table-spoonfuls of
fresh butter or lard, and mix in a pint and a half of milk. Beat four
eggs very light; then stir them gradually into the mixture. When the
whole has been well mixed, add, at the last, a small tea-spoonful of
soda or saleratus, dissolved in as much warm water as will cover it. Put
the whole into a buttered tin pan, set it immediately into a quick oven,
and bake it well. It is best when eaten fresh. Slice and butter it.
RICE FLOUR BATTER CAKES.--Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, or
lard, in a quart of milk; but be careful not to let it begin to boil.
Divide the milk equally, by putting it into two pans. Beat three eggs
very light, and stir them into one half of the milk with the addition of
a large table-spoonful of wheat flour. Stir in as much ground rice flour
as will make a thick batter. Then put in a _small_ tea-cupful of strong
fresh yeast, and thin the batter with the remainder of the milk. Cover
it, and set it to rise. When it has risen high, and is covered with
bubbles, bake it on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes. Send
them to table hot, and butter them.
Similar cakes may be made with indian meal instead of rice flour.
GROUND-NUT MACAROONS.--Take a sufficiency of ground-nuts, or pea-nuts,
that have been roasted in an iron pot over the fire; remove the shells,
and weigh a pound of the nuts. Put them into a pan of cold water, and
wash off the skins. Have ready some beaten white of egg. Pound the
ground-nuts (two or three at a time,) in a marble mortar, adding
frequently a little cold water to prevent their oiling. They must be
pounded to a smooth light paste; and, as you proceed, remove the paste
to a saucer or a plate. Beat, to a stiff froth, the whites of four eggs,
and then beat into it gradually a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and a
large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed. Then stir in, by
degrees, the pounded ground-nuts, till the mixture becomes very thick.
Flour your hands, and roll between them portions of the mixture, forming
each portion into a little ball. Lay sheets of white paper on flat
baking tins, and place on them the macaroons at equal distances,
flattening them all a little, so as to press down the balls into cakes.
Then sift powdered sugar over each. Place them in a brisk oven, with
more heat at the top than in the bottom. Bake them brown.
Almond macaroons may be made as above, mixing one quarter of a pound of
shelled bitter almonds, with three quarters of shelled sweet almonds.
For almond macaroons, instead of flouring your hands, you may dip them
in cold water; and when the macaroons are formed on the papers, go
slightly over every one with your fingers wet with cold water.
Macaroons may be made, also, of grated cocoa-nut mixed with beaten white
of egg and powdered sugar.
COLUMBIAN PUDDING.--Tie up closely in a bit of very thin muslin a split
vanilla bean, cut into pieces, and a broken-up stick of cinnamon. Put
this bag, with its contents, into half a pint of rich milk, and boil it
a long time till very highly flavored. Then take out the bag; set the
milk near the fire to keep warm in the pan in which it was boiled,
covering it closely. Slice thin a pound of almond sponge cake, and lay
it in a deep dish. Pour over it a quart of rich cream, with which you
must mix the vanilla-flavored milk, and leave the cake to dissolve in
it. Blanch, in scalding water, two ounces of shelled bitter almonds or
peach kernels, and pound them (one at a time,) to a smooth paste in a
marble mortar, pouring on each a few drops of rose-water or peach-water
to prevent their oiling. When the almonds are done, set them away in a
cold place till wanted. Beat eight eggs till very light and thick; and
having stirred together hard the dissolved cake and the cream, add them
gradually to the mixture in turn with the almond, and half a pound of
powdered loaf sugar, a little at a time of each. Butter a deep dish,
and put in the mixture. Set the pudding into a brisk oven and bake it
well. Have ready a star nicely cut out of a large piece of candied
citron, a number of small stars, all of equal size, as many as there are
States in the Union, and a sufficiency of rays or long strips also cut
out of citron. The rays should be wide at the bottom and run to a point
at the top. As soon as the pudding comes out of the oven, while it is
smoking, arrange these decorations. Put the large star in the centre,
then the rays so that they will diverge from it, narrowing off towards
the edge of the pudding. Near the edge place the small stars in a
circle.
Preserved citron-melon will be still better for this purpose than the
dry candied citron.
This is a very fine pudding; suitable for a dinner party, or a Fourth of
July dinner.
A WASHINGTON PUDDING.--Pick, and wash clean half a pound of Zante
currants; drain them, and wipe them in a towel, and then spread them out
on a flat dish, and place them before the fire to dry thoroughly.
Prepare about a quarter of a pound or half a pint of finely-grated
bread-crumbs. Have ready a heaping tea-spoonful of powdered mace,
cinnamon, and nutmeg mixed. When the currants are dry, dredge them
thickly on all sides with flour, to prevent their sinking or clodding in
the pudding while baking. Cut up in a deep pan half a pound of the best
fresh butter, and add to it half a pound of fine white sugar, powdered.
Stir the butter and sugar together with a wooden spaddle, till they are
very light and creamy. Then add a table-spoonful of wine, and a
table-spoonful of brandy. Beat in a shallow pan, eight eggs till
perfectly light, and as thick as a good boiled custard. Afterwards, mix
with them, gradually, a pint of rich milk and the grated bread-crumbs,
stirred in alternately. Next, stir this mixture, by degrees, into the
pan of beaten butter and sugar, and add the currants a few at a time.
Finish with a table-spoonful of strong rose-water; or a wine-glass full,
if it is not very strong. Stir the whole very hard. Butter a large deep
white dish, or two of soup-plate size. Put in the batter. Set it
directly into a brisk oven, and bake it well. When cold, dredge the
surface with powdered sugar. Serve it up in the dish in which it was
baked. You may ornament the tops with bits of citron cut into leaves and
forming a wreath; or with circles of preserved strawberries.
This will be found a very fine pudding. It must be baked in time to
become quite cold before dinner.
For currants, you may substitute raisins of the best quality; seeded,
cut in half, and well dredged with flour.
Instead of rose-water you may stir in the yellow rind (finely grated) of
one large lemon, or two small ones, and their juice also.
A COTTAGE PUDDING.--Take ripe currants, and having stripped them from
the stalks, measure as many as will make a heaping quart. Cover the
bottom of a deep dish with slices of bread, slightly buttered, and with
the crust cut off. Put a thick layer of currants on the bread, and then
a layer of sugar. Then other layers of bread, currants, and sugar, till
the dish is full; finishing at the top with very thin slices of bread.
Set it into the oven, and bake it half an hour. Serve it either warm or
cold; and eat it with sweetened cream.
Instead of currants you may take cherries, (first stoning them all,)
raspberries, ripe blackberries, or barberries, plums, (first extracting
the stones,) stewed cranberries, or stewed gooseberries. If the fruit is
previously stewed, the pudding will require but ten minutes' baking.
When it is sent to table, have sugar at hand in case it should not be
sweet enough.
ICE-CREAM CAKES.--Stir together, till very light, a quarter of a pound
of powdered sugar and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. Beat six
eggs very light, and stir into them a half pint of rich milk. Add,
gradually, the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar, alternately with a
half pound of sifted flour. Add a glass of sweet wine and some grated
nutmeg. When all the ingredients are mixed, stir the batter very hard.
Then put it into small deep pans, or cups that have been well buttered,
filling them about two thirds with the batter. Set them immediately into
a brisk oven, and bake them brown. When done, remove them from the cups,
and place them to cool on an inverted sieve. When quite cold make a slit
or incision in the side of each cake. If very light, and properly baked,
they will be hollow in the middle. Fill up this cavity with ice cream,
carefully put in with a spoon, and then close the slit with your fingers
to prevent the cream running out. Spread them on a large dish. Either
send them to table immediately before the ice-cream melts or keep them
on ice till wanted.
WHIPPED CREAM MERINGUES.--Take the whites of eight eggs, and beat them
to a stiff froth that will stand alone. Then beat into them, gradually,
(a tea-spoonful at a time,) two pounds or more of finely-powdered loaf
sugar; continuing to add sugar till the mixture is very thick, and
finishing with lemon juice or extract of rose. Have ready some sheets of
white paper laid on a baking board, and with a spoon drop the mixture on
it in long oval heaps, about four inches in length. Smooth and shape
them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped occasionally in cold water. The
baking board used for this purpose should be an inch thick, and must
have a slip of iron beneath each end to elevate it from the floor of the
oven, so that it may not scorch, nor the bottoms of the meringues be
baked too hard. This baking-board must not be of pine wood, as a pine
board will communicate a disagreeable taste of turpentine. The oven must
be moderate. Bake the meringues of a light brown. When cool, take them
off the paper by slipping a knife nicely beneath the bottom of each.
Then push back or scoop out carefully a portion of the inside of each
meringue, taking care not to break them. Have ready some nice whipped
cream, made in the following proportion:--Take a quarter of a pound of
broken-up loaf sugar, and on some of the lumps rub off the yellow rind
of two large lemons. Powder the sugar, and then mix with it the juice of
the lemons, and grate in some nutmeg. Mix the sugar with a half pint of
sweet white wine. Put into a pan a pint of rich cream, and whip it with
rods or a wooden whisk, or mill it with a chocolate mill till it is a
stiff froth. Then mix in, gradually, the other ingredients; continuing
to whip it hard a while after they are all in. As you proceed, lay the
froth on an inverted sieve, with a dish underneath to catch the
droppings; which droppings must afterwards be whipped and added to the
rest. Fill the inside of each meringue with a portion of the whipped
cream. Then put two together, so as to form one long oval cake, joining
them nicely, so as to unite the flat parts that were next the paper,
leaving the inside filled with the whipped cream. Set them again in the
oven for a few minutes. They must be done with great care and nicety, so
as not to break. Each meringue should be about the usual length of a
middle finger. In dropping them on the paper, take care to shape the
oval ends handsomely and smoothly. They should look like very long
kisses.
CHOCOLATE PUFFS.--Beat very stiff the whites of three eggs, and then
beat in gradually half a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Scrape down very
fine three ounces of the best chocolate, (prepared cocoa is better
still,) and dredge it with flour to prevent its oiling; mixing the flour
well among it. Then add it gradually to the mixture of white of egg and
sugar, and stir the whole very hard. Cover the bottom of a square tin
pan with a sheet of fine white paper, cut to fit exactly. Place upon it
thin spots of powdered loaf sugar about the size of a half dollar. Pile
a portion of the mixture on each spot, smoothing it with the back of a
spoon or a broad knife, dipped in cold water. Sift white sugar over the
top of each. Set the pan into a brisk oven, and bake them a few minutes.
When cold, loosen them from the paper with a broad knife.
COCOA-NUT PUFFS.--Break up a large ripe cocoa-nut. Pare the pieces, and
lay them awhile in cold water. Then wipe them dry, and grate them as
finely as possible. Lay the grated cocoa-nut in well-formed heaps on a
large handsome dish. It will require no cooking. The heaps should be
about the circumference of a half dollar, and must not touch each other.
Flatten them down in the middle, so as to make a hollow in the centre of
each heap; and upon this pile some very nice sweetmeat. Make an
excellent whipped cream, well sweetened and flavored with lemon and
wine, and beat it to a stiff froth. Pile some of this cream high upon
each cake over the sweetmeats. If on a supper-table, you may arrange
them in circles round a glass stand.
FIG MARMALADE.--Take fine fresh figs that are perfectly ripe, such as
can only be obtained in countries where they are cultivated in
abundance. Weigh them, and to every two pounds of figs allow a pound and
a half of sugar, and the grated yellow rind of a large orange or lemon.
Cut up the figs, and put them into a preserving kettle with the sugar,
and orange or lemon rind, adding the juice. Boil them till the whole is
reduced to a thick smooth mass, frequently stirring it up from the
bottom. When done, put it warm into jars, and cover it closely.
CARRAWAY GINGERBREAD.--Cut up half a pound of fresh butter in a pint of
_West India_ molasses, and warm them together slightly till the butter
is quite soft. Then stir them well, and add gradually a half pound of
good brown sugar, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and two heaped
table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, or three, if the ginger is not very
strong. Sift two pounds or two quarts of flour. Beat four eggs till very
thick and light, and stir them gradually into the mixture, in turn with
the flour, and five or six large table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds, a
little at a time. Dissolve a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda
in as much lukewarm water as will cover it. Then stir it in at the last.
Stir all very hard. Transfer it to a buttered tin pan with straight
sides, and bake it in a loaf in a moderate oven. It will require a great
deal of baking.
SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up
in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into
the flour, and then mix in a pint of _West India_ molasses and a pound
of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the
beaten egg two glasses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a
tea-cupful of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon,
with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the
flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a
little flour on your pasteboard, and with a broad knife spread portions
of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal
all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will
be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in
flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly
buttered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their
running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and
bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.
You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something
similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.
These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried
to sea. Many persons find highly-spiced gingerbread a preventive to
sea-sickness.
EXCELLENT GROUND RICE PUDDING.--Take half a pint from a quart of rich
milk, and boil in it a large handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels,
blanched and broken up; also half a dozen blades of mace, keeping the
sauce-pan closely covered. When the milk is highly flavored and reduced
to one half the quantity, take it off and strain it. Stir, gradually,
into the remaining pint and a half of milk, five heaping table-spoonfuls
of ground rice; set it over the fire in a sauce-pan, and let it come to
a boil. Then take it off, and while it is warm, mix in gradually a
quarter of a pound of fresh butter and a quarter of a pound of white
sugar. Afterwards, beat eight eggs as light as possible, and stir them
gradually into the mixture. Add some grated nutmeg. Stir the whole very
hard; put it into a deep dish, and set it immediately into the oven.
Keep it baking steadily for an hour. It should then be done. Eat it
cool, having sifted sugar over it.
CHOCOLATE MACAROONS.--Blanch half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, by
scalding them with boiling water, till the skins peel off easily. Then
throw them into a bowl of cold water, and let them stand awhile. Take
them out and wipe them separately. Afterwards set them in a warm place
to dry thoroughly. Put them, one at a time, into a marble mortar, and
pound them to a smooth paste, moistening them, as you proceed, with a
few drops of rose-water to prevent their oiling. When you have pounded
one or two, take them out of the mortar with a tea-spoon, and put them
into a deep plate beside you, and continue removing the almonds to the
plate till they are all done. Scrape down, as fine as possible, half a
pound of the best chocolate, or of Baker's prepared cocoa, and mix it
thoroughly with the pounded almonds. Then set the plate in a cool place.
Put the whites of eight eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them to a
stiff froth that will stand alone. Have ready a pound and a half of
finely-powdered loaf sugar. Stir it hard into the beaten white-of-egg, a
spoonful at a time. Then stir in, gradually, the mixture of almond and
chocolate, and beat the whole very hard. Drop the mixture in equal
portions upon thin white paper, laid on square tin pans; smoothing them
with a spoon into round cakes about the size of a half dollar. Dredge
the top of each lightly with powdered sugar. Set them into a quick
oven, and bake them a light brown. When done, take them off the paper.
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 butter 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.
TO KEEP FRESH BUTTER FOR FRYING STEWING, &c.--Take several pounds of
the _very best_ fresh butter. Cut it up in a large tin sauce-pan, or in
any clean cooking vessel lined with tin. Set it over the fire, and boil
and skim it during half an hour. Then pour it off, carefully, through a
funnel into a stone jar, and cover it closely with a bladder or leather
tied down over the lid. The butter having thus been separated from the
salt and sediment, (which will be found remaining at the bottom of the
boiling vessel,) if kept closely covered and set in a cool place, will
continue good for a month, and be found excellent for frying and
stewing, and other culinary purposes. Prepare it thus in May or June,
and you may use it in winter, if living in a place where fresh butter is
scarce at that season.
EXCELLENT MUTTON SOUP.--Having been accidentally omitted in its proper
place, we here insert a receipt for very fine mutton soup. Try it. If
for a large family, take two necks of mutton of the best quality, and
let the butcher disjoint it. To each pound of meat allow a quart of
water. Put it into a soup-pot, with a slice of ham, which will render
the soup sufficiently salt. Boil it slowly, and skim it well, till the
scum ceases to appear. If you have no ham, season the meat, when you
first put it in, with a tea-spoonful of salt. In the mean time prepare
the vegetables, but do not put them in till the meat has boiled to rags,
and all the scum has risen to the surface and been carefully removed. It
is then time to strain out the shreds of meat and bone, return the soup
to the pot, and add the vegetables. First, have ready the deep yellow
_outsides_ of three or four carrots grated, and stir them into the soup
to enrich it, and give it a fine color. Next, add turnips, potatos,
parsnips, salsify, celery, (including its green leaves from the top) and
onions that have been already peeled and boiled by themselves to render
them less strong. All the vegetables should be cut nicely into small
pieces of equal size, (as for Soup à la Julienne.) You may add some
boiled beets, handsomely sliced. And (if approved) strew in at the last
a handful of fresh leaves of the marygold flower, which adds a flavor to
some persons very agreeable. Put all these vegetables gradually into the
soup, (those first that require the longest boiling,) and when they are
all _quite done_ the soup is finished. If well made, with a liberal
allowance of meat and vegetables, and well boiled, it will be much
liked--particularly if served as Julienne soup, for company.
NEW ENGLAND CREAM CHEESE.--Take a large pan of rich unskimmed milk that
has set in the dairy all night, and is from pasture-fed cows in the
summer. Have ready a small tea-cup of rennet-water, in which a piece of
rennet, from four to six inches square, has been steeping several hours.
Stir the rennet-water into the pan of milk, and set it in a warm place
till it forms a firm curd. Tie up the curd in a clean linen bag, and
hang it up in the dairy with a pan under it to receive the droppings,
till it drips no longer. Then transfer the curd to a small cheese mould.
Cover it all over with a clean linen cloth, folded over the sides, and
well secured. Put a heavy weight on the top, so as to press it hard. The
wooden vessel in which you mould cream cheeses, should be a bottomless,
broad hoop, about the circumference of a dinner plate. Set it (before
you fill it with the curd) on a very clean table or large flat dish.
Turn it every day for four days, keeping it covered thickly all over
with fresh green grass, frequently renewed. When done, keep it in a dry
cool place, first rubbing the outside with fresh butter. When _once
cut_, use the whole cheese on that day, as it may spoil before the next.
Send it to the tea-table cut across in triangular or pie pieces.