another. Then simmer the pulp a little over the fire to soften it;
remove it and rub it through a colander to separate it from the seeds.
Then put the skins and pulp together and they are ready for pies or
for canning or putting in jugs for other use. Fine for pies.
DAMSON OR PLUM PIE.
Stew the damsons whole in water only sufficient to prevent their
burning; when tender and while hot, sweeten them with sugar and let
them stand until they become cold; then pour them into pie dishes
lined with paste, dredge flour upon them, cover them with the same
paste, wet and pinch together the edges of the paste, cut a slit in
the centre of the cover through which the vapor may escape and bake
twenty minutes.
[Illustration: CHOPPING THE MINCEMEAT.]
PEACH PIE.
Peel, stone and slice the peaches. Line a pie plate with crust and lay
in your fruit, sprinkling sugar liberally over them in proportion to
their sweetness. Allow three peach kernels chopped fine to each pie;
pour in a very little water and bake with an upper crust, or with
cross-bars of paste across the top.
DRIED FRUIT PIES.
Wash the fruit thoroughly, soak over night in water enough to cover.
In the morning stew slowly until nearly done in the same water.
Sweeten to taste. The crust, both upper and under, should be rolled
thin; a thick crust to a fruit pie is undesirable.
RIPE BERRY PIES.
All made the same as "Cherry Pie." Line your pie-tin with crust, fill
half full of berries, shake over a tablespoonful of sifted flour (if
very juicy) and as much sugar as is necessary to sweeten sufficiently.
Now fill up the crust to the top, making quite full. Cover with crust
and bake about forty minutes.
Huckleberry and blackberry pies are improved by putting into them a
little ginger and cinnamon.
JELLY AND PRESERVED FRUIT PIES.
Preserved fruit requires no baking; hence, always bake the shell and
put in the sweetmeats afterwards; you can cover with whipped cream, or
bake a top crust shell; the former is preferable for delicacy.
CRANBERRY PIE.
Take fine, sound, ripe cranberries and with a sharp knife split each
one until you have a heaping coffeecupful; put them in a vegetable
dish or basin; put over them one cupful of white sugar, half a cup of
water, a tablespoon _full_ of sifted flour; stir it all together and
put into your crust. Cover with an upper crust and bake slowly in a
moderate oven. You will find this the true way of making a cranberry
pie.
_Newport Style._
CRANBERRY TART PIE.
After having washed and picked over the berries, stew them well in a
little water, just enough to cover them; when they burst open and
become soft, sweeten them with plenty of sugar, mash them smooth (some
prefer them not mashed); line your pie-plates with thin puff paste,
fill them and lay strips of paste across the top. Bake in a moderate
oven. Or you may rub them through a colander to free them from the
skins.
GOOSEBERRY PIE.
Can be made the same as "Cranberry Tart Pie," or an upper crust can be
put on before baking. Serve with boiled custard or a pitcher of good
sweet cream.
STEWED PUMPKIN OR SQUASH FOR PIES.
Deep-colored pumpkins are generally the best. Cut a pumpkin or squash
in half, take out the seeds, then cut it up in thick slices, pare the
outside and cut again in small pieces. Put it into a large pot or
saucepan with a very little water; let it cook slowly until tender.
Now set the pot on the back of the stove, where it will not burn, and
cook slowly, stirring often until the moisture is dried out and the
pumpkin looks dark and red. It requires cooking a long time, at least
half a day, to have it dry and rich. When cool press through a
colander.
BAKED PUMPKIN OR SQUASH FOR PIES.
Cut up in several pieces, do not pare it; place them on baking tins
and set them in the oven; bake slowly until soft, then take them out,
scrape all the pumpkin from the shell, rub it through a colander. It
will be fine and light and free from lumps.
PUMPKIN PIE. No. 1.
For three pies: One quart of milk, three cupfuls of boiled and
strained pumpkin, one and one-half cupfuls of sugar, one-half cupful
of molasses, the yolks and whites of four eggs beaten separately, a
little salt, one tablespoonful each of ginger and cinnamon. Beat all
together and bake with an under crust.
Boston marrow or Hubbard squash may be substituted for pumpkin and are
much preferred by many, as possessing a less strong flavor.
PUMPKIN PIE. No. 2.
One quart of stewed pumpkin pressed through a sieve, nine eggs, whites
and yolks beaten separately, two scant quarts of milk, one
teaspoonful of mace, one teaspoonful of cinnamon and the same of
nutmeg, one and one-half cupfuls of white sugar, or very light brown.
Beat all well together and bake in crust without cover.
A tablespoonful of brandy is a great improvement to pumpkin, or squash
pies.
PUMPKIN PIE WITHOUT EGGS.
One quart of properly stewed pumpkin pressed through a colander; to
this add enough good, rich milk, sufficient to moisten it enough to
fill two good-sized earthen pie-plates, a teaspoonful of salt, half a
cupful of molasses or brown sugar, a tablespoonful of ginger, one
teaspoonful of cinnamon or nutmeg. Bake in a moderately slow oven
three-quarters of an hour.
SQUASH PIE.
One pint of boiled dry squash, one cupful of brown sugar, three eggs,
two tablespoonfuls of molasses, one tablespoonful of melted butter one
tablespoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, a pinch of salt
and one pint of milk. This makes two pies, or one large deep one.
SWEET POTATO PIE.
One pound of steamed sweet potatoes finely mashed,-two cups sugar, one
cup cream, one-half cup butter, three well-beaten eggs, flavor with
lemon or nutmeg and bake in pastry shell. Fine.
COOKED MEAT FOR MINCE PIES.
In order to succeed in having good mince pie, it is quite essential to
cook the meat properly, so as to retain its juices and strength of
flavor.
Select four pounds of lean beef, the neck piece is as good as any;
wash it and put it into a kettle with just water enough to cover it;
take off the scum as it reaches the boiling point, add hot water from
time to time, until it is tender, then season with salt and pepper;
take off the cover and let it boil until almost dry, or until the
juice has boiled back into the meat. When it looks as though it was
beginning to fry in its own juice, it is time to take up and set aside
to get cold, which should be done the day before needed. Next day,
when making the mince meat, the bones, gristle and stringy bits should
be well picked out before chopping.
MINCE PIES. No. 1.
The "Astor House," some years ago, was _famous_ for its "mince pies."
The chief pastry cook at that time, by request, published the recipe.
I find that those who partake of it never fail to speak in laudable
terms of the superior excellence of this recipe when strictly
followed.
Four pounds of lean boiled beef chopped fine, twice as much of chopped
green tart apples, one pound of chopped suet, three pounds of raisins,
seeded, two pounds of currants picked over, washed and dried, half a
pound of citron, cut up fine, one pound of brown sugar, one quart of
cooking molasses, two quarts of sweet cider, one pint of boiled cider,
one tablespoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of pepper, one
tablespoonful of mace, one tablespoonful of allspice and four
tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, two grated nutmegs, one tablespoonful of
cloves; mix thoroughly and warm it on the range until heated through.
Remove from the fire and when nearly cool, stir in a pint of good
brandy and one pint of Madeira wine. Put into a crock, cover it
tightly and set it in a cold place where it will not freeze, but keep
perfectly cold. Will keep good all winter.
_Chef de Cuisine, Astor House, N. Y._
MINCE PIES. No. 2.
Two pounds of lean fresh beef, boiled and, when cold, chopped fine.
One pound of beef suet, cleared of strings and minced to powder. Five
pounds of apples, pared and chopped, two pounds of raisins, seeded and
chopped, one pound of Sultana raisins, washed and picked over, two
pounds of currants washed and _carefully_ picked over, three-quarters
of a pound of citron cut up fine, two tablespoonfuls cinnamon, one of
powdered nutmeg, two of mace, one of cloves, one of allspice, one of
fine salt, two and a quarter pounds of brown sugar, one quart brown
sherry, one pint best brandy.
Mince-meat made by this recipe will keep all winter. Cover closely in
a jar and set in a cool place.
_Common Sense in the Household._
For preserving mince meat, look for CANNED MINCE MEAT.
MOCK MINCE MEAT WITHOUT MEAT.
One cupful of cold water, half a cupful of molasses, half a cupful of
brown sugar, half a cupful of cider vinegar, two-thirds of a cupful
of melted butter, one cupful of raisins seeded and chopped, one egg
beaten light, half a cupful of rolled cracker crumbs, a teaspoonful of
cinnamon, a teaspoonful each of cloves, allspice, nutmeg, salt and
black pepper.
Put the saucepan on the fire with the water and raisins; let them cook
a few minutes, then add the sugar and molasses, then the vinegar, then
the other ingredients; lastly, add a wine-glassful of brandy. Very
fine.
FRUIT TURNOVERS. (Suitable for Picnics.)
Make a nice puff paste; roll it out the usual thickness, as for pies;
then cut it out into circular pieces about the size of a small tea
saucer; pile the fruit on half of the paste, sprinkle over some sugar,
wet the edges and turn the paste over. Press the edges together,
ornament them and brush the turnovers over with the white of an egg;
sprinkle over sifted sugar and bake on tins, in a brisk oven, for
about twenty minutes. Instead of putting the fruit in raw, it may be
boiled down with a little sugar first and then enclosed in the crust;
or jam of any kind may be substituted for fresh fruit.
PLUM CUSTARD TARTLETS.
One pint of greengage plums, after being rubbed through a sieve, one
large cup of sugar, the yolks of two eggs well beaten. Whisk all
together until light and foamy, then bake in small patty-pans shells
of puff paste a light brown. Then fill with the plum paste, beat the
two whites until stiff, add two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar,
spread over the plum paste and set the shells into a moderate oven for
a few moments.
These are much more easily handled than pieces of pie or even pies
whole, and can be packed nicely for carrying.
LEMON TARTLETS. No. 1.
Put a quart of milk into a saucepan over the fire. When it comes to
the boiling point put into it the following mixture: Into a bowl put a
heaping tablespoonful of flour, half a cupful of sugar and a pinch of
salt. Stir this all together thoroughly; then add the beaten yolks of
six eggs; stir this one way into the boiling milk until cooked to a
thick cream; remove from the fire and stir into it the grated rind and
juice of one large lemon. Have ready baked and hot some puff paste
tart shells. Fill them with the custard and cover each with a
meringue made of the whites of the eggs, sweetened with four
tablespoonfuls of sugar. Put into the oven and bake a light straw
color.
LEMON TARTLETS. No. 2.
Mix well together the juice and grated rind of two lemons, two cupfuls
of sugar, two eggs and the crumbs of sponge cake; beat it all together
until smooth; put into twelve patty-pans lined with puff paste and
bake until the crust is done.
ORANGE TARTLETS.
Take the juice of two large oranges and the grated peel of one,
three-fourths of a cup of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter; stir in a
good teaspoonful of cornstarch into the juice of half a lemon and add
to the mixture. Beat all well together and bake in tart shells without
cover.
MERINGUE CUSTARD TARTLETS.
Select deep individual pie-tins; fluted tartlet pans are suitable for
custard tarts, but they should be about six inches in diameter and
from two to three inches deep. Butter the pan and line it with
ordinary puff paste, then fill it with a custard made as follows: Stir
gradually into the beaten yolks of six eggs two tablespoonfuls of
flour, a saltspoonful of salt and half a pint of cream. Stir until
free from lumps and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar; put the saucepan
on the range and stir until the custard coats the spoon. Do not let it
boil or it will curdle. Pour it in a bowl, add a few drops of vanilla
flavoring and stir until the custard becomes cold; fill the lined mold
with this and bake in a moderate oven. In the meantime, put the whites
of the eggs in a bright copper vessel and beat thoroughly, using a
baker's wire egg-beater for this purpose. While beating, sprinkle in
lightly half a pound of sugar and a dash of salt. When the paste is
quite firm, spread a thin layer of it over the tart and decorate the
top with the remainder by squeezing it through a paper funnel. Strew a
little powdered sugar over the top, return to the oven, and when a
delicate yellow tinge remove from the oven and when cold serve.
BERRY TARTS.
Line small pie-tins with pie crust and bake. Just before ready to use
fill the tarts with strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, or
whatever berries are in season. Sprinkle over each tart a little
sugar; after adding berries add also to each tart a tablespoonful of
sweet cream. They form a delicious addition to the breakfast table.
CREAM STRAWBERRY TARTS.
After picking over the berries carefully, arrange them in layers in a
deep pie-tin lined with puff paste, sprinkling sugar thickly between
each layer: fill the pie-tin pretty full, pouring in a quantity of the
juice: cover with a thick crust, with a slit in the top and bake. When
the pie is baked, pour into the slit in the top of the pie the
following cream mixture: Take a small cupful of the cream from the top
of the morning's milk, heat it until it comes to a boil, then stir
into it the whites of two eggs beaten light, also a tablespoonful of
white sugar and a teaspoonful of cornstarch wet in cold milk. Boil all
together a few moments until quite smooth; set it aside and when cool
pour it into the pie through the slit in the crust. Serve it cold with
powdered sugar sifted over it.
Raspberry, blackberry and whortleberry may be made the same.
GREEN GOOSEBERRY TART.
Top and tail the gooseberries. Put into a porcelain kettle with enough
water to prevent burning and stew slowly until they break. Take them
off, sweeten _well_ and set aside to cool. When cold pour into pastry
shells and bake with a top crust of puff paste. Brush all over with
beaten egg while hot, set back in the oven to glaze for three minutes.
Eat cold.
_Common Sense in the Household._
COCOANUT TARTS.
Take three cocoanuts, the meats grated, the yolks of five eggs, half a
cupful of white sugar, season, a wine-glass of milk; put the butter in
cold and bake in a nice puff paste.
CHOCOLATE TARTS.
Four eggs, whites and yolks, one-half cake of Baker's chocolate,
grated, one tablespoonful of cornstarch, dissolved in water, three
tablespoonfuls of milk, four of white sugar, two teaspoonfuls of
vanilla, one saltspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful of cinnamon,
one teaspoonful of butter, melted; rub the chocolate smooth in the
milk and heat to boiling over the fire, then stir in the cornstarch.
Stir five minutes until well thickened, remove from the fire and pour
into a bowl. Beat all the yolks and the whites of two eggs well with
the sugar, and when the chocolate mixture is almost cold, put all
together with the flavoring and stir until light. Bake in open shells
of pastry. When done, cover with a meringue made of the whites of two
eggs and two tablespoonfuls of sugar flavored with a teaspoonful of
lemon juice. Eat cold.
These are nice for tea, baked in patty-pans.
_Common Sense in the Household._
MAIDS OF HONOR.
Take one cupful of sour milk, one of sweet milk, a tablespoonful of
melted butter, the yolks of four eggs, juice and rind of one lemon and
a small cupful of white pounded sugar. Put both kinds of milk together
in a vessel, which is set in another and let it become sufficiently
heated to set the curd, then strain off the milk, rub the curd through
a strainer, add butter to the curd, the sugar, well-beaten eggs and
lemon. Line the little pans with the richest of puff paste and fill
with the mixture; bake until firm in the centre, from ten to fifteen
minutes.
GERMAN FRUIT PIE.
Sift together a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder and a pint of
flour; add a piece of butter as large as a walnut, a pinch of salt,
one beaten egg and sweet milk enough to make a soft dough. Roll it out
half an inch thick; butter a square biscuit tin and cover the bottom
and sides with the dough; fill the pan with quartered juicy apples,
sprinkle with a little cinnamon and molasses. Bake in rather quick
oven until the crust and apples are cooked a light brown. Sprinkle a
little sugar over the top five minutes before removing from the oven.
Ripe peaches are fine used in the same manner.
APPLE TARTS.
Pare, quarter, core and boil in half a cupful of water, until quite
soft, ten large, tart apples; beat until very smooth and add the yolks
of six eggs, or three whole ones, the juice and grated outside rind of
two lemons, half a cap of butter; one and a half of sugar (or more,
if not sufficiently sweet); beat all thoroughly, line patty-pans with
a puff paste and fill; bake five minutes in a hot oven.
_Meringue._--If desired very nice, cover them when removed from the
oven with the meringue made of the whites of three eggs remaining,
mixed with three tablespoonfuls of sugar; return to the oven and
delicately brown.
CREAM TARTS.
Make a rich, brittle crust, with which cover your patty-pans,
smoothing off the edges nicely and bake well. While these "shells" are
cooling, take one teacupful (more or less according to the number of
tarts you want) of perfectly sweet and fresh cream, skimmed free of
milk; put this into a large bowl or other deep dish, and with your
egg-beater whip it to a thick, stiff froth; add a heaping
tablespoonful of fine white sugar, with a teaspoonful (a small one) of
lemon or vanilla. Fill the cold shells with this and set in a cool
place till tea is ready.
OPEN JAM TARTS.
Time to bake until paste loosens from the dish. Line shallow tin dish
with puff paste, put in the jam, roll out some of the paste, wet it
lightly with the yolk of an egg beaten with a little milk, and a
tablespoonful of powdered sugar. Cut it in narrow strips, then lay
them across the tart, lay another strip around the edge, trim off
outside, and bake in a quick oven.
CHESS CAKES.
Peel and grate one cocoanut; boil one pound of sugar fifteen minutes
in two-thirds of a pint of water; stir in the grated cocoanut and boil
fifteen minutes longer. While warm, stir in a quarter of a pound of
butter; add the yolks of seven eggs well beaten. Bake in patty-pans
with rich paste. If prepared cocoanut is used, take one and a half
coffeecupfuls. Fine.
CUSTARDS, CREAMS AND DESSERTS.
The usual rule for custards is, eight eggs to a quart of milk; but a
very good custard can be made of six, or even less, especially with
the addition of a level tablespoonful of sifted flour, thoroughly
blended in the sugar first, before adding the other ingredients. They
may be baked, boiled or steamed, either in cups or one large dish. It
improves custard to first boil the milk and then cool it before being
used; also a little salt adds to the flavor. A very small lump of
butter may also be added, if one wants something especially rich.
To make custards look and taste better, duck's eggs should be used
when obtainable; they add very much to the flavor and richness, and so
many are not required as of ordinary eggs, four duck's eggs to the
pint of milk making a delicious custard. When desired extremely rich
and good, cream should be substituted for the milk, and double the
quantity of eggs used to those mentioned, omitting the whites.
When making boiled custard, set the dish containing the custard into
another and larger dish, partly filled with boiling water, placed over
the fire. Let the cream or milk come almost to a boil before adding
the eggs or thickening, then stir it briskly one way every moment
until smooth and well cooked; it must _not_ boil or it will curdle.
To bake a custard, the fire should be moderate and the dish well
buttered.
Everything in baked custard depends upon the _regularly heated slow_
oven. If made with nicety it is the most delicate of all sweets; if
cooked till it wheys it is hardly eatable.
Frozen eggs can be made quite as good as fresh ones if used as soon as
thawed soft. Drop them into boiling water, letting them remain until
the water is cold. They will be soft all through and beat up equal to
those that have not been touched with the frost.
Eggs should always be thoroughly well beaten separately, the yolks
first, then the sugar added, beat again, then add the beaten whites
with the flavoring, then the cooled scalded milk. The lighter the eggs
are beaten, the thicker and richer the custard.
Eggs should always be broken into a cup, the whites and yolks
separated, and they should always be strained. Breaking the eggs thus,
the bad ones may be easily rejected without spoiling the others and so
cause no waste.
A meringue, or frosting for the top, requires about a tablespoonful of
fine sugar to the beaten white of one egg; to be placed on the top
after the custard or pudding is baked, smoothed over with a
broad-bladed knife dipped in cold water, and replaced in the oven to
brown slightly.
SOFT CARAMEL CUSTARD.
One quart of milk, half a cupful of sugar, six eggs, half a
teaspoonful of salt. Put the milk on to boil, reserving a cupful. Beat
the eggs and add the cold milk to them. Stir the sugar in a small
frying pan until it becomes liquid and just begins to smoke. Stir it
into the boiling milk; then add the beaten eggs and cold milk and stir
constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Set away to cool.
Serve in glasses.
BAKED CUSTARD.
Beat five fresh eggs, the whites and yolks separately, the yolks with
half a cup of sugar, the whites to a stiff froth; then stir them
gradually into a quart of sweet rich milk previously boiled and
cooled; flavor with extract of lemon or vanilla and half a teaspoonful
of salt. Rub butter over the bottom and sides of a baking-dish or tin
basin; pour in the custard, grate a little nutmeg over and bake in a
quick oven. It is better to set the dish in a shallow pan of hot water
reaching nearly to the top, the water to be kept boiling until the
custard is baked; three-quarters of an hour is generally enough. Run a
teaspoon handle into the middle of it; if it comes out clean it is
baked sufficiently.
CUP CUSTARD.
Six eggs half a cupful of sugar, one quart of new milk. Beat the eggs
and the sugar and milk, and any extract or flavoring you like. Fill
your custard cups, sift a little nutmeg or cinnamon over the tops, set
them in a moderate oven in a shallow pan half filled with hot water.
In about twenty minutes try them with the handle of a teaspoon to see
if they are firm. Judgment and great care are needed to attain skill
in baking custard, for if left in the oven a minute too long, or if
the fire is too hot, the milk will certainly whey.
Serve cold with fresh fruit sugared and placed on top of each.
Strawberries, peaches or raspberries, as preferred.
BOILED CUSTARD.
Beat seven eggs very light, omitting the whites of two; mix them
gradually with a quart of milk and half a cupful of sugar; boil in a
dish set in another of boiling water; add flavoring. As soon as it
comes to the boiling point remove it, or it will be liable to curdle
and become lumpy. Whip the whites of the two eggs that remain, adding
two heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar. When the custard is cold heap
this on top; if in cups, put on a strawberry or a bit of red jelly on
each. Set in a cold place till wanted.
_Common Sense in the Household._
BOILED CUSTARD, OR MOCK CREAM.
Take two even tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, one quart of milk, three
eggs, half a teaspoonful of salt and a small piece of butter; heat the
milk to nearly boiling and add the starch, previously dissolved in a
little cold milk; then add the eggs well beaten with four
tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar; let it boil up once or twice,
stirring it briskly, and it is done. Flavor with lemon, or vanilla, or
raspberry, or to suit your taste.
A good substitute for ice cream, served _very_ cold.
FRENCH CUSTARD.