wineglassful of rosewater, sugar to taste, 1/2 lb. ground almonds.
Boil the milk with the sugar and almonds; smooth the cornflour with
the rosewater and stir it into the boiling milk, let it boil up for a
minute. Beat up the eggs, leaving out 3 of the whites of the eggs,
which are to be beaten to a stiff froth. Let the milk cool a little,
then stir in the eggs very gradually, taking care not to curdle them;
stir over the fire until the custard is nearly boiling, then let it
cool, stirring occasionally; pour it into a glass dish, and pile the
whipped whites of the eggs on the top of the custard just before
serving.
BAKED APPLE CUSTARD.
8 large apples, moist sugar to taste, half a teacupful of water and
the juice of half a lemon, 1 pint of custard made with Allinson
custard powder. Peel, cut and core the apples and put into a lined
saucepan with the water, sugar, and lemon juice, stew till tender and
rub through a sieve; when cold put the fruit at the bottom of a
pie-dish and pour the custard over, grate a little nutmeg over the
top, bake lightly, and serve cold.
BAKED CUSTARD.
1 quart of milk, 6 eggs, sugar, and flavouring to taste. Heat the milk
until nearly boiling, sweeten it with sugar, and add any kind of
flavouring. Whip up the eggs, and mix them carefully with the hot
milk. Pour the custard into a buttered pie-dish, and bake it in a
moderately hot oven until set. If the milk and eggs are mixed cold and
then baked the custard goes watery; it is therefore important to bear
in mind that the milk should first be heated. Serve with stewed fruit.
CARAMEL CUSTARD.
1-1/2 pints of milk, 4 eggs, 1 dessertspoonful of sugar, 1/2 lemon and
4 oz. of castor sugar for caramel. Put the dry castor sugar into an
enamelled saucepan and let it melt and turn a rich brown over the
fire, stirring all the time. When the sugar is melted and browned stir
into it about 2 tablespoonfuls of hot water, and the juice of 1/2
lemon. Then pour the caramel into a mould or cake-tin, and let it run
all round the sides of the tin. Meanwhile heat the milk near
boiling-point, and add the vanilla and sugar. Whip up the eggs, stir
carefully into them the hot milk, so as not to curdle the eggs. Then
pour the custard into the tin on the caramel and stand the tin in a
larger tin with hot water, place it in the oven, and bake in a
moderately hot oven for about 20 minutes or until the custard is set.
Allow it to get cold, turn out, and serve.
CARAMEL CUP CUSTARD (French).
Make the custard as in the recipe for "Cup Custard." Take 4 oz. of
castor sugar; put it over a brisk fire in a small enamelled saucepan,
keep stirring it until quite melted and a rich brown. Then cautiously
add 2 tablespoonfuls of boiling water, taking care not to be scalded
by the spluttering sugar. Gradually stir the caramel into the hot
custard. Let it cool, and serve in custard glasses.
CUP CUSTARD.
6 whole eggs or 10 yolks of eggs, 1 quart of milk, sugar and vanilla
to taste. Beat the eggs well while the milk is being heated. Use
vanilla pods to flavour--they are better than the essence, which is
alcoholic; split a piece of the pod 3 or 4 inches long, and let it
soak in the milk for 1 hour before it is set over the fire, so as to
extract the flavour from the vanilla. Sweeten the milk and let it
come nearly to boiling-point. Carefully stir the milk into the beaten
eggs, adding only a little at a time, so as not to curdle the eggs.
When all is mixed, pour the custard into a jug, which should be placed
in a saucepanful of boiling water. Keep stirring the custard with a
wooden spoon, and as soon as the custard begins to coat the spoon
remove the saucepan from the fire, and continue stirring the custard
until it is well thickened. In doing as here directed there is no risk
of the custard curdling, for directly the water ceases to boil it
cannot curdle the custard, although it is hot enough to finish
thickening it. If the milk is nearly boiling when mixed with the eggs,
the custard will only take from 5 to 10 minutes to finish. When the
custard is done place the jug in which it was made in a bowl of cold
water, stir it often while cooling to prevent a skin forming on the
top. Remove the vanilla pod and pour the custard into glasses. Should
the custard be required very thick, 8 eggs should be used, or the milk
can first be thickened with a dessertspoonful of Allinson cornflour
before mixing it with the 6 eggs. This is an excellent plan; it saves
eggs, and the custard tastes just as rich as if more eggs were used.
Serve in custard glasses, or in a glass dish.
CUSTARD (ALLINSON).
1 pint of milk or cream, 2 oz. of lump sugar and 1 packet of Allinson
custard powder. Put the contents of the packet into a basin and mix to
a smooth, thin paste with about 2 tablespoonfuls of the milk; boil the
remainder of milk with the sugar, and when quite boiling pour quickly
into the basin, stirring thoroughly; stir occasionally until quite
cold, then pour into custard glasses and grate a little nutmeg on the
top, or put in a glass dish and serve with stewed or tinned fruits, or
the custard can be used with Christmas or plum pudding instead of
sauce.
When the custard has been standing over night, it should be well
stirred before using.
CUSTARD IN PASTRY OR KENTISH PUDDING PIE.
Line a pie-dish with puff paste, prick well with a fork and bake
carefully, then fill the case with a custard made as follows. Mix 1
dessertspoonful of flour with the contents of a packet of Allinson
custard powder, out of a pint of milk take 8 tablespoonfuls and mix
well with the flour, custard powder, &c., boil the remainder of milk
with sugar to taste and 1 oz. of butter and when quite boiling pour on
to the custard powder, stir quickly for a minute, then pour into the
pastry case, grate a little nutmeg on the top and bake till of a
golden brown; serve either hot or cold.
FRUMENTY.
1 quart of milk, 1/2 pint of ready boiled wheat (boiled in water), 1/4
lb. of sultanas and currants mixed, sugar to taste, 4 eggs, a stick of
cinnamon. Mix the milk with the wheat (which should be fresh), the
sugar and fruit, adding the cinnamon, and let all cook gently over a
low fire, stirring frequently; when the mixture is nicely thickened
remove it from the fire and let it cool; beat up the eggs and
gradually mix them with the rest, taking great care not to curdle
them. Stir the frumenty over the fire, but do not allow to boil. Serve
hot or cold. The wheat should be fresh and soaked for 24 hours, and
then cooked from 3 to 5 hours.
GOOSEBERRY CUSTARD.
Make some good puff paste and line a pie-dish with it, putting a
double row round the edge. With 1/2 lb. of castor sugar stew 1 lb. of
green gooseberries until the skins are tender, then rub them through a
sieve. Scald 1 pint of milk, mix 1 tablespoonful of Allinson cornflour
to a smooth paste with cold milk, add it to the milk when boiling, let
it boil for 5 minutes, gently stirring it all the time, then turn it
into a bowl and let it become cool. Add 1/4 lb. of castor sugar, 2 oz.
of butter melted and dropped in gradually whilst the mixture is
beaten, then put in the well-beaten yolks of 6 eggs, add the mashed
gooseberries in small quantities, and lastly the whites of the eggs
whipped to a stiff froth; beat all together for a minute to mix well.
Pour this into the lined pie-dish and bake 25 or 30 minutes; serve in
the pie-dish. This can be made from any kind of acid fruit, and is as
good cold as hot.
GOOSEBERRY FOOL.
Top and tail 1 pint of gooseberries, put into a lined saucepan with
sugar to taste and half a small teacupful of water, stew gently until
perfectly tender, rub through a sieve, and when quite cold add 1 pint
of custard made with Allinson custard powder, which should have been
allowed to become cold before being mixed with the fruit. Serve in a
glass dish with sponge fingers.
N.B.--Apple fool is made in exactly the same way as above,
substituting sharp apples for the gooseberries.
MACARONI CUSTARD.
4 oz. of Allinson macaroni, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 1 even
dessertspoonful of Allinson cornflour, vanilla to taste. Boil the
macaroni in 1 pint of milk, and add a little water it needed; when
quite tender place it on a glass dish to cool; make a custard of the
rest of the milk and the other ingredients; flavour it well with
vanilla; when the custard is cool pour it over the macaroni, and serve
with or without stewed fruit.
MACAROON CUSTARD.
1/2 lb. of macaroons, 1 quart of milk, 6 eggs, 1 dessertspoonful of
Allinson cornflour, sugar and vanilla essence to taste. Boil the milk
and stir into it the cornflour smoothed with a little of the milk;
whip up the eggs, and carefully stir in the milk (which should have
been allowed to go off the boil) without curdling it; add sugar and
vanilla to taste, and stir the custard over the fire until it
thickens, placing it in a jug into a saucepan of boiling water.
Arrange the macaroons in a glass dish, and when the custard is cool
enough not to crack the dish, pour it over them and sprinkle some
ground almonds on the top. Serve cold.
ORANGE CUSTARD.
The juice of 6 oranges and of 1/2 a lemon, 6 eggs, 6 oz. of sugar, and
1 dessertspoonful of Allinson cornflour. Add enough water to the fruit
juices to make 1-1/2 pints of liquid. Set this over the fire with the
sugar; meanwhile smooth the cornflour with a little cold water, and
thicken the liquid with it when boiling. Set aside the saucepan,
(which should be an enamelled one) so as to cool the contents a
little. Beat up the eggs, gradually stir into them the thickened
liquid, and then proceed with the custard as in the previous recipe.
This is a German sweet, and very delicious.
RASPBERRY CUSTARD.
1-1/2 pints of raspberries, 1/2 pint of red currants, 6 oz. of sugar,
7 eggs, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson cornflour. Mix the fruit, and
let it cook from 5 to 10 minutes with 1 pint of water; strain the
juice well through a piece of muslin or a fine hair-sieve. There
should be 1 quart of juice; if necessary add a little more water;
return the juice to the saucepan, add the sugar and reheat the liquid;
when it boils thicken it with the cornflour, then set it aside to
cool. Beat up the eggs, add them carefully after the fruit juice has
somewhat cooled; stir the custard over the fire until it thickens, but
do not allow it to boil, as the eggs would curdle. Serve cold in
custard glasses, or in a glass dish poured over macaroons or sponge
cakes. You can make a fruit custard in this way, with strawberries,
cherries, red currants, or any juicy summer fruit.
STRAWBERRY CUSTARD.
Remove the stalks from 1 lb. of fresh strawberries, place them in a
glass dish and scatter over 2 tablespoonfuls of pounded sugar; prepare
1 pint of custard with Allinson custard powder according to recipe
given above, and while still hot pour carefully over the fruit, set
aside to cool, and just before serving (which must not be until the
custard has become quite cold) garnish the top with a few fine
strawberries.
APPLE COOKERY
APPLES (BUTTERED).
1 lb. of apples, 2 oz. of butter, ground cinnamon and sugar to taste.
Pare, core, and slice the apples; heat the butter in a frying-pan,
when it boils turn in the apples and fry them until cooked; sprinkle
with sugar and cinnamon, and serve on buttered toast.
APPLE CAKE
6 oz. each of Allinson fine wheatmeal and white flour, 4-1/2 oz. of
butter, 1 egg, a little cold water, 1-1/2 lbs. of apples, 1 heaped-up
teaspoonful of cinnamon, and 3 oz. of castor sugar. Rub the butter
into the meal and flour, beat up the egg and add it, and as much cold
water as is required to make a smooth paste; roll out the greater part
of it 1/4 inch thick, and line a flat buttered tin with it. Pare,
core, and cut the apples into thin divisions, arrange them in close
rows on the paste point down, leaving 1 inch of edge uncovered; sift
the sugar and cinnamon over the apples; roll out thinly the rest of
the paste, cover the apples with it, turn up the edges of the bottom
crust over the edges of the top crust, make 2 incisions in the crust,
and bake the cake until brown in a moderately hot oven; when cold sift
castor sugar over it, slip the cake off the tin, cut into pieces, and
serve.
APPLE CHARLOTTE.
2 lbs. of good cooking apples, 2 oz. of chopped almonds, 4 oz. of
currants and sultanas mixed, 1 stick of cinnamon about 3 inches long,
sugar to taste, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and Allinson bread and
butter cut very thinly. Pare, core, and cut up the apples, and stew
them with a teacupful of water and the cinnamon, until the apples have
become a pulp; remove the cinnamon, and add sugar, lemon juice, the
almonds, and the currants and sultanas, previously picked, washed, and
dried; mix all well and allow the mixture to cool; butter a pie-dish
and line it with thin slices of bread and butter, then place on it a
layer of apple mixture, repeat the layers, finishing with slices of
bread and butter; bake for 3/4 hour in a moderate oven.
APPLES (DRYING).
Those who have apple-trees are often at a loss to know what to do with
the windfalls. The apples come down on some days by the bushel, and it
is impossible to use them all up for apple pie, puddings, or jelly. An
excellent way to keep them for winter use is to dry them. It gives a
little trouble, but one is well repaid for it, for the home-dried
apples are superior in flavour to any bought apple-rings or pippins.
Peel your apples, cut away the cores and all the worm-eaten parts--for
nearly the whole of the windfalls are more or less worm-eaten. The
good parts cut into thin pieces, spread them on large sheets of paper
in the sun. In the evening (before the dew falls), they should be
taken indoors and spread on tins (but with paper underneath), on the
cool kitchen stove, and if the oven is only just warm, placed in the
oven well spread out; of course they require frequent turning about,
both in the sun and on the stove. Next day they may again be spread in
the sun, and will probably be quite dry in the course of the day.
Should the weather be rainy, the apples must be dried indoors only,
and extra care must then be taken that they are neither scorched nor
cooked on the stove. Whilst cooking is going on they will dry nicely
on sheets of paper on the plate-rack. When the apples are quite dry,
which is when the outside is not moist at all, fill them into brown
paper bags and hang them up in an airy, dry place. The apples will be
found delicious in flavour when stewed, and most acceptable when fresh
fruit is scarce. I have dried several bushels of apples in this way
every year.
APPLE DUMPLINGS.
Core as many apples as may be required. Fill the holes with a mixture
of sugar and cinnamon; make a paste for a short crust, roll it out,
and wrap each apple in it. Bake the dumplings about 30 or 40 minutes
in the oven, or boil them the same time in plenty of water, placing
the dumplings in the water when it boils fast. Serve with cream or
sweet white sauce.
APPLE FOOL.
2 lbs. of apples, 1/2 lb. of dates, 3/4 pint of milk, 1/4 pint of
cream, 6 cloves tied in muslin, and a little sugar. Pare, core, and
cut up the apples, stone the dates, and gently stew the fruit with a
teacupful of water and the cloves until quite tender; when
sufficiently cooked, remove the cloves, and rub the fruit through a
sieve; gradually mix in the milk, which should be boiling, then the
cream; serve cold with sponge-cake fingers.
APPLE FRITTERS.
3 good juicy cooking apples, 3 eggs, 6 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal,
1/2 pint of milk, and sugar to taste. Pare and core the apples, and
cut them into rounds 1/4 inch thick; make a batter with the milk,
meal, and the eggs well beaten, adding sugar to taste. Have a
frying-pan ready on the fire with boiling oil, vege-butter, or butter,
dip the apple slices into the batter and fry the fritters until golden
brown; drain them on blotting paper, and keep them hot in the oven
until all are done.
APPLE JELLY.
1 pint of water to each 1 lb. of apples. Wash and cut up the apples,
and boil them in the water until tender; then pour them into a jelly
bag and let drain well; take 1 lb. of loaf sugar to each pint of
juice, and the juice of 1 lemon to each quart of liquid. Boil the
liquid, skimming carefully, until the jelly sets when cold if a drop
is tried on a plate. It may take from 2 hours to 3 hours in boiling.
APPLE PANCAKES.
Make the batter as directed in the recipe for "Apple Fritters," peel 2
apples, and cut them in thin slices, mix them with the batter, add
sugar and cinnamon to taste, a little lemon juice if liked, and fry
the pancakes in the usual way.
APPLE PUDDING.
1-1/2 lbs. of apples, 1 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, sugar to
taste, 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, and 2-1/2 oz. of butter or
vege-butter. Pare, core, and cut up the apples; make a paste of the
meal, butter and a little cold water; roll the paste out, line a
pudding basin with the greater part of it, put in the apples, and
sprinkle over them the cinnamon and 4 oz. of sugar--a little more
should the apples be very sour; cover the apples with the rest of the
paste, and press the edges together round the sides; tie a cloth over
the basin and boil the pudding for 2-1/2 to 3 hours in a saucepan with
boiling water.
APPLE PUDDING (Nottingham).
6 baking apples, 2 oz. of sugar, 1 heaped up teaspoonful of ground
cinnamon, 3/4 pint of milk, 3 eggs, 6 oz. of Allinson wholemeal, and 1
oz. of butter. Core the apples, mix the sugar and cinnamon, and fill
the hole where the core was with it; put the apples into a buttered
pie-dish; make a batter of the milk, eggs, and meal, melt the butter
and mix it into the batter; pour it over the apples, and bake the
pudding for 2 hours in a moderate oven.
APPLE SAGO.
5 oz. of sago, 1-1/2 lbs. of apples, the juice of a lemon, a
teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, and sugar to taste. Wash the sago and
cook it in 1-1/2 pints of water, to which the cinnamon is added;
meanwhile have the apples ready, pared, cored, and cut up; cook them
in very little water, just enough to keep the apples from burning;
when they are quite soft rub them through a sieve and mix them with
the cooking sago, adding sugar and lemon juice; let all cook gently
for a few minutes or until the sago is quite soft; put the mixture
into a wetted mould, and turn out when cold.
APPLE SAUCE.
1 lb. of good cooking apples, sugar to taste. Pare, core, and cut in
pieces the apples, cook them in a few spoonfuls of water to prevent
them burning; when quite soft rub the apple through a sieve, and
sweeten the sauce to taste. Rubbing the sauce through a sieve ensures
the sauce being free from pieces should the apple not pulp evenly.
APPLE TART (OPEN).
2 lbs. of apples, 1 cupful of currants and sultanas, 2 oz. of chopped
almonds, sugar to taste, 1 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon or the rind
of 1/2 lemon (which latter should be removed after cooking with the
apples), 12 oz. or Allinson fine wheatmeal, and 4-1/2 oz. of butter.
Pare, core, and cut up the apples; stew them in very little water,
only just enough to keep from burning; when nearly done add the
currants, sultanas, almonds, cinnamon, and sugar; let all simmer
together until the apples have become a pulp; let the fruit cool; make
a paste of the meal, butter, and a little water; roll it out and line
a round, flat dish with it, and brush the paste over with white of
eggs; turn the apple mixture on the paste; cut the rest of the paste
into strips 3/8 of an inch wide, and lay them over the apples in
diamond shape, each 1 inch from the other, so as to make a kind of
trellis arrangement of the pastry. If enough paste is left, lay a thin
strip right round the dish to finish off the edge, mark it nicely with
a fork or spoon, and bake the tart for 3/4 hour. Serve with white
sauce or custard.
APPLES (RICE)
2 lbs. of apples, 1/2 lb. of rice, the rind of 1/2 lemon (or a piece
of stick cinnamon if preferred), 4 oz. of sultanas, sugar to taste, 1
oz. of butter, and, if the apples are not sour, the juice of a lemon.
Boil the rice in 3 pints of water with the lemon rind, then add the
apples, pared, cored, and sliced, the sultanas, butter, lemon juice,
and sugar; let all simmer gently for 1/2 hour, or until quite tender;
if too dry add a little more water; remove the lemon rind before
serving.
EVE PUDDING.
1/2 lb. each of apples and breadcrumbs, and 1/2 lb. of currants and
sultanas mixed, 5 eggs well beaten, sugar to taste, the grated rind
and juice of 1 lemon, and 2 oz. of butter. Peel, core, and chop small
the apples, mix them with the breadcrumbs, sugar, currants, and
sultanas (washed and picked), the lemon juice and rind, and the
butter, previously melted; whip up the eggs and mix them well with the
other ingredients; turn the mixture into a buttered mould, tie with a
cloth, and steam the pudding for 3 hours.
BREAD AND CAKES
THE ADVANTAGES OF WHOLEMEAL BREAD.
People are now concerning themselves about the foods they eat, and
inquiring into their properties, composition, and suitability. One
food that is now receiving a good deal of attention is bread, and we
ought to be sure that this is of the best kind, for as a nation we eat
daily a pound of it per head. We consume more of this article of food
than of any other, and this is as it ought to be, for bread is the
staff of life, and many of the other things we eat are garnishings. It
is said we cannot live on bread alone, but this is untrue if the loaf
is a proper one; at one time our prisoners were fed on it alone, and
the peasantry of many countries live on very little else.
Not many years ago books treating of food and nutrition always gave
milk as the standard food, and so it is for calves and babies.
Nowadays we use a grain food as the standard, and of all grains wheat
is the one which is nearest perfection, or which supplies to the body
those elements that it requires, and in best proportions. A perfect
food must contain carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and mineral matter in
definite quantities; there must be from four to six parts of
carbonaceous or heat and force-forming matter to one of nitrogen, and
from two to four per cent. of mineral matter; also a certain bulk of
innutritious matter for exciting secretion, for separating the
particles of food so that the various gastric and intestinal juices
may penetrate and dissolve out all the nutriment, and for carrying off
the excess of the biliary and other intestinal secretions with the
fæces.
A grain of wheat consists of an outer hard covering or skin, a layer
of nitrogenous matter directly under this, and an inner kernel of
almost pure starch. The average composition of wheat is this:--
Nitrogen 12
Carbon 72
Mineral Matter 4
Water 12
---
100
From this analysis we observe that the nitrogenous matter is to the
carbonaceous in the proportion of one-sixth, which is the composition
of a perfect food. Besides taking part in this composition, the bran,
being in a great measure insoluble, passes in bulk through the bowels,
assisting daily laxation--a most important consideration. If wheat is
such a perfect food, it must follow that wholemeal bread must be best
for our daily use. That such is the case, evidence on every side
shows; those who eat it are healthier, stronger, and more cheerful
than those who do not, all other things being equal. Wholemeal bread
comes nearer the standard of a perfect food than does the wheaten
grain, as in fermentation some of the starch is destroyed, and thus
the proportion of nitrogen is slightly increased.
The next question is, how shall we prepare the grain so as to make the
best bread from it? This is done by grinding the grain as finely as
possible with stones, and then using the resulting flour for
bread-making. The grain should be first cleaned and brushed, and
passed over a magnet to cleanse it from any bits of steel or iron it
may have acquired from the various processes it goes through, and then
finely ground. To ensure fine grinding, it is always advisable to
kiln-dry it first. When ground, nothing must be taken from it, nor
must anything be added to the flour, and from this bread should be
made. Baking powder, soda, and tartaric acid, or soda and hydrochloric
acid, or ammonia and hydrochloric acid, or other chemical agents,
must never be used for raising bread, as these substances are
injurious, and affect the human system for harm. The only ferment that
should be used is yeast; of this the French variety is best. If
brewer's yeast is used it must be first well washed, otherwise it
gives a bitter flavour to the loaf. A small quantity of salt may be
used, but not much, otherwise it adds an injurious agent to the bread.
BARLEY BANNOCKS.