the seed, weigh, and pack down in earthen or agate ware with their own
weight in granulated sugar. Crack the seeds, take out the kernels,
blanche the same as almonds, and put to soak in a quart of brandy. Let
stand in sunshine to extract the flavor, a full day. Let the fruit and
sugar stand twenty-four hours, then put over fire in a preserving kettle
and simmer very slowly until the fruit is in rags, adding now and then
enough boiling water to make up for what cooks out. If spices are
approved, simmer with the fruit, a pinch of blade mace, some whole
cloves and half a dozen black pepper corns. This is optional. Strain
without pressing to avoid cloudiness, and mix the juice while still very
hot with the brandy and soaked kernels. Add brandy and kernels, also a
quart of whiskey--there should be a gallon of the fruit juice. Stir hard
so as to blend well. Let cool, and bottle or put in demijohns, taking
care to apportion the kernels equally. They will sink to the bottom,
but the liqueur will fatten on them, getting thereby a delicate almond
fragrance and flavor.
_Strawberry Liqueur_: Wash, hull and mash two gallons of very ripe
strawberries, put over the fire, bring to a quick boil, skim clean, and
simmer for five minutes. Throw in a pint of boiling water, and strain as
for jelly. Measure the juice--for each pint take a pound of sugar,
return to the kettle, simmer fifteen minutes, skimming clean the while,
then take from the fire, measure, and to each quart add a pint of good
whiskey, or whiskey and brandy mixed. Bottle while still hot, and seal.
Small bottles are best. By adding spices to taste while the juice is
simmering you turn the liqueur into strawberry cordial.
_Blackberry Cordial_: Pick over, wash and drain well half a bushel of
very ripe, but sound berries. Mash, add a very little cold water, and
simmer for half an hour, then strain and measure the juice. Put a pound
of sugar to each pint, and to each gallon, a teaspoon of cloves, the
same of allspice, a race of ginger well bruised, a tiny pod of Cayenne
pepper, and a half dozen black pepper corns. Tie the spices loosely in
very thin muslin so they may not be skimmed off. Skim away all froth,
and cook for an hour, keeping the kettle barely boiling. It should
reduce about one-half. Take from the fire and add spirits, either
whiskey or brandy, in the proportion of one to two--two pints cordial to
one of liquor. Let cool uncovered, bottle and cork tight--sealing is
unnecessary. Excellent for convalescents, especially children. To make
it almost a specific for bowel troubles, dig up, and wash clean,
dewberry roots, cut short, and boil in clear water, making a very strong
decoction. Add this to the cordial while still boiling, in proportion of
one to four. Then mix in the spirits. A quart of cordial can be thus
treated medicinally, and the rest kept for ordinary uses.
_Blackberry Wine_: Pick, wash, and mash thoroughly, sound ripe berries,
pour upon each gallon a gallon of freshly-boiling water, and let stand
twenty-four hours. Strain, measure juice, allow three and one-half
pounds sugar to each gallon of it. Put into clean cask or jugs, do not
fill, but leave room for fermentation. Cover mouth or bung-hole with
thin cloth, and let stand in clean warm air for two months. Rack off
into clean vessels, throwing away the lees, and cork or cover close. Fit
for use in another month. Improves with age up to a year.
_Strawberry Wine_: Mash thoroughly clean, hulled, very ripe berries, add
equal bulk of boiling water, let stand six hours, then strain. Put the
strained juice in a preserving kettle with two and a half pounds of
sugar to each gallon. Bring to a boil, skim clean, then pour into clean
vessels, close mouths with thin cloth, and let stand until fermentation
ceases. In a wet season the berries are likely to be so juicy, less
water is required--or more sugar necessary.
_Gooseberry Wine_: Wash and drain dead-ripe gooseberries, mash them
thoroughly with a wooden pestle, and add their own bulk of boiling
water. Let stand thirty-six hours unless the weather is very warm--then
twenty-four will be long enough. Press out all the juice, even though it
runs muddy. Measure, and to each gallon add three pounds down-weight, of
the best lump sugar. Stir well, repeating every day for a week, then
cover with lawn and let stand till fermentation ceases. Cover tight then
and leave standing six weeks longer, so the wine may fatten on the lees.
Back off carefully, filtering the muddy part at the bottom through
several thicknesses of cheese cloth. Put in a clean vessel for two
months longer, then bottle and seal. If the bottles are laid on the
side, and the wine carefully decanted it will show a bright golden
yellow with much the translucence of topaz. It reaches perfection at a
year. Being rather heavy it is improved to many palates by adding
ice-cold vichy after it is in the glasses.
_Grape Wine_: Pick from stems, wash, drain, and mash thoroughly, ripe
sound grapes. Add measure for measure of full-boiling water, and let
stand twelve hours. If very deep color is desired, and the grapes are
black, let stand twenty-four. Strain, measure juice, add to each gallon
three pounds of sugar, stir till dissolved, then put in a clean vessel,
filling it only three-parts, cover the mouth with lawn, and let stand in
clean warm air until fermentation ceases. Close tight then, and let
stand a month longer, then rack off, filter last runnings through triple
cheese cloth, bottle and cork tight. Keep where it is dark and warm,
rather than cool, but away from any sort of taints.
_Muscadine Wine_: Troublesome, but worth the trouble. Wash dead-ripe
muscadines, and pop them one by one, out of the skins. Throw away the
skins, after squeezing all juice from them--if the pulp stood with them
their burning, musky taste would ruin it. Cover it with half its bulk of
boiling water. Let stand a day and night, then strain, and add to each
gallon of juice three pounds of white rock-candy. Stir every day until
the candy dissolves. Cover with cloth until it is through fermenting.
Back off, bottle immediately, and seal, or tie down the corks. The wine
in perfection is a pale pink, very clear, and of a peculiar but
indescribably delicious flavor.
_Fruit Vinegars_: Any sort of acid fruit--as strawberries, raspberries,
gooseberries, currants, black or red, affords a refreshing drink. Pick,
wash, put over the fire to scald--when it has boiled a minute or two add
half as much cold water as fruit, and bring again to a boil. Skim clean,
take from fire and let stand till next day. Strain, then measure juice,
add two to three pounds sugar to the gallon, according to tartness
desired, put over the fire, and simmer for twenty minutes, skimming
clean. Boil in it spices most liked, tied up in thin muslin. If it seems
watery, boil another twenty minutes till the syrup shows rather rich,
then add, after taking from the fire, a quart of cider vinegar for each
gallon of syrup, mix well, bottle while still hot in small bottles, cork
and seal. Mixed half and half with ice water, or poured over finely
broken ice, or as a flavoring to tea, hot or cold, this is refreshing,
particularly in hot weather. Use in tea a spoonful to the cup or glass.
_Boiled Cider_: Reduce new sweet cider one-half by gentle boiling,
skimming it clean as it boils, then bottle, putting a clove or two, a
grain of alspice and a blade of mace in each bottle. Cork, seal and keep
in a cool place. This is especially valuable for use in mincemeat, or
for flavoring sauces for nursery puddings. A variant is to add sugar
towards the last, enough to make a thinnish syrup, which is of itself a
good sauce for simple desserts.
[Illustration: _Paste, Pies, Puddings_]
_The Philosophy of Pie-Crust_: Pie-crust perfection depends on several
things--good flour, good fat, good handling, most especially good
baking. A hot oven, quick but not scorching, expands the air betwixt
layers of paste, and pops open the flour-grains, making them absorb the
fat as it melts, thereby growing crisp and relishful instead of hard and
tough. The lighter and drier the flour the better--in very damp weather
it is best oven-dried, then cooled before mixing. Shortening, whether
lard, butter, or clarified drippings, should be very cold--unless your
recipe demands that it be softened or melted. Milk or water used in
mixing ought to be likewise well chilled, unless the shortening is
soft--in that case match its temperature. The regular rule is half-pint
ice water to the pound of flour, using chilled shortening. If the fat is
semi-fluid the paste must be mixed softer, using say, three parts of a
pint to the pound.
Baking powder or soda and cream tartar, or soda alone with sour cream or
buttermilk for wetting, makes crust light and short with less butter,
therefore is an economy. Genuine puff paste is requisite for the finest
tarts, pies, etc., etc., but light short crust answers admirably for
most things. Sift flour twice or even thrice for any sort of paste. Sift
soda or baking powder well through it, but not salt. Make the salt fine,
drop in the bottom of the mixing bowl, before the last sifting, and mix
lightly through the flour before adding the shortening. Rub in
shortening very lightly, using only the finger-tips--the palms melt or
soften it. Add milk or water, a little at a time, mixing it in with a
broad-bladed knife rather than the hands. Mix lightly--so the paste
barely sticks together. Put in first one-third of the shortening--this,
of course, for puff paste. Half a pound of butter or lard to the pound
of flour makes a very good paste, but to have it in full richness, use
three-quarters of a pound. Wash butter well to remove the salt, and
squeeze out water by wringing it in a well-floured cloth. If there is a
strong taste, or any trace of rancidity, wash well, kneading through and
through, in sweet milk, then rinse out the milk with cold water to which
a little borax has been added. Rinse again in clear cold water--this
should remove ill-flavor without injury to anybody's stomach. But be
very sure the last rinsing is thorough--borax, though wholly harmless,
adds nothing to digestibility.
The end of the repeated rollings out and foldings demanded by real puff
paste is to enclose between the layers of paste as much air as possible.
Hence the chillings between rollings. Hence also the need of pinching
edges well together after foldings, and rolling always _from_ you,
never back and forth. Roll out paste into a long narrow strip after the
first mixing, divide the remaining shortening into three equal portions,
keep very cold, and as needed cut into small bits, which spread evenly
on top of the rolled paste, which must be lightly dredged with flour.
Fold in three evenly, one thickness on another, turn so the folded edges
may be to right and left while rolling, pinch the other edges well
together and roll again into a long strip, moving the rolling-pin always
from you. Repeat until all the butter is used, then set on ice for an
hour to harden. In baking beware opening the oven door until the paste
has risen fully and becomes slightly crusted over.
Baking powder crust must not stand--the gas which aerates it begins
forming and escaping the minute it is wet up. It also requires a hot
oven and delicate handling. Half a pound of shortening and a teaspoon of
baking powder, to the pound of flour, mixed stiff or soft, according to
the consistency of the fat, properly handled and baked, make crust good
enough for anybody.
_French Puff Paste_: This is like the famous little girl--either very
good indeed or horrid. Therefore beware undertaking it until you have
experience or the confidence of absolute ignorance for your help. Either
may take you on to success--when half-knowledge or half-confidence will
spell disaster. You need for it, two pounds, thrice sifted flour, two
pounds well-washed and very cold butter, four egg-yolks well chilled,
and half a pint, more or less, of ice water, also a saltspoon of fine
salt. Rub four ounces of butter lightly into the flour, shape the rest
into a flattish oblong and set on ice. Wet the flour with the egg-yolks
and water, adding them alternately, work smooth, handling as lightly as
possible, then roll out half an inch thick, dredge lightly with flour,
lay on the ball of cold butter, fold paste over it smoothly, flatten
lightly with strokes of the rolling-pin, then roll out as thin as
possible without making the butter break through. Fold again in three,
roll again, as thin as you can. Repeat folding and rolling, then set on
ice half an hour, folding in three. Roll and fold twice again, chill
again for twenty minutes, then give two more rolls and foldings. Chill
if possible before using. If all things have worked well you will have
crust that is an experience.
_Every Day Pie Crust_: One pound flour, six ounces shortening--lard or
clarified dripping, pinch salt, half-pint ice water. Mix flour, salt and
water to a smooth dough, using a broad knife, roll out thin, spread with
a third of the fat, fold in three, roll out again, add another third of
fat, roll, add the last fat, roll again, fold and chill for ten minutes
before using.
_Cobblers_: Make from any sort of fruit in season--peaches, apples,
cherries, plums or berries. Green gooseberries are inadvisable, through
being too tart and too tedious. Stone cherries, pare peaches or apples
and slice thin, halve plums if big enough, and remove stones--if not,
wash, drain well, and use whole. Line a skillet or deep pie pan--it must
be three inches deep at least, liberally with short crust, rolled
rather more than a quarter-inch thick. Fit well, then prick all over
with a blunt fork. Fill with the prepared fruit, put on an upper crust a
quarter-inch thick and plenty big enough, barely press the crust edges
together, prick well with a fork all over the top, and cook in a hot
oven half to three-quarters of an hour, according to size. Take up,
remove top crust, lay it inverted upon another plate, sweeten the hot
fruit liberally, adding if you like, a spoonful of brandy, adding also a
good lump of the best butter. Mix well through the fruit, then dip out
enough of it to make a thick layer over the top crust. Grate nutmeg over
apple pies, or strew on a little powdered cinnamon. A few blades of mace
baked with the fruit accent the apple flavor beautifully. Cherries take
kindly to brandy, but require less butter than either peaches or apples.
Give plums plenty of sugar with something over for the stones. Cook a
few stones with them for flavor, even if you take away the bulk. Do the
same with cherries, using, say, a dozen pits to the pie.
Serve cobbler hot or cold. If hot, serve with it hard brandy sauce, made
by creaming together a cup of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter, then
working in two tablespoonfuls of brandy or good whiskey. Right here is
perhaps the place to say once for all, good whiskey is far and away
better in anything than poor brandy. Thick sweet cream whipped or plain,
sets off cold cobbler wonderfully to the average palate.
_Fried Pies_: To be perfect these must be made of sun-dried peaches,
very bright and sweet, but any sort of sound dried fruit will serve at a
pinch. Soak overnight after washing in three waters, simmer five hours
in the soaking water, with a plate to hold the fruit under, mash and
sweeten while hot, adding spices to taste--cinnamon, nutmeg and grated
lemon peel for apples, cloves and ginger--a bare zest--for peaches or
apricots. Roll out short paste into rounds the size of a small plate,
cover one-half with the fruit, fold over the empty half, pinch well
together around the edges, and fry in deep fat, blazing hot, to a rich
quick brown on both sides. Drain on paper napkins, sprinkling lightly
with sugar. Serve hot or cold. Most excellent for impromptu luncheons or
very late suppers--withal wholesome. A famous doctor said often of them,
"You would be only the better for eating an acre of them."
_Green Apple Pie_: Take apples a little bigger than the thumb's end, cut
off stalks and nibs, and slice crosswise in three, dropping them in
water as sliced to save discoloration. Make a rich syrup--three cups
sugar, one cup water, to four cups sliced fruit. Boil and skim, throw in
the apples, with a blade or so of mace, and cook quickly until preserved
through. Either bake between crust in the common way, or bake crust
crisp after pricking well, and spread with the preserved fruit. Else
make into small turnovers, but bake instead of frying them--and be sure
the oven is hot enough to brown, but not to burn. Or you may make the
green apples into shortcake, putting fruit only between the layers of
crust, and serving with rich sauce or sweetened cream.
_Lemon Custard_: (M. L. Williams.) Separate and beat very light, the
yolks and whites of six eggs. Beat into the yolks very smoothly one
pound of sugar, then half a pound of creamed butter. Mix well, then add
the beaten whites, followed by the strained juice and grated yellow peel
of two large or three small lemons. Beat five minutes longer, pour into
pans lined with puff paste, pop into a hot oven and bake to a bright
brown. Meringue can be added but is not necessary save for ornament.
_Cream Pie_: (M. L. Williams.) Beat three eggs very light with a heaping
cup of sugar, add two cups sifted flour, mix smooth, then put in half a
cup of rich sour cream with half-teaspoon soda dissolved in it. Mix, put
instantly into shallow pans, bake in a quick oven and serve hot with or
without sauce.
_Damson and Banana Tart_: (M. W. Watkins.) An heirloom in the relator's
family, coming down from English forebears. Line an agate or earthen
pie dish two to three inches deep, with very good crust, rolled thin,
but not stretched nor dragged. Cover it with bananas, sliced thin,
lengthwise, strew over three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and a pinch of
grated lemon peel. Sprinkle with a liqueur glass of rum or brandy or
whiskey, then put in a layer of preserved plums--damsons are best--along
with their juice. If there is room repeat the layers--bananas and plums
and seasoning. Cover with a crust rolled fairly thin, prick and bake
three-quarters of an hour in a moderately quick oven. Serve either hot
or cold, preferably hot, with this sauce. One egg beaten very light,
with a cupful of cream, a wineglass of rum, brandy or sherry, and a
larger glass of preserve syrup. Mix over hot water, stirring hard all
the time till it begins to thicken. It must not get too thick.
_Amber Pie_: (Mrs. J. R. Oldham.) Beat yolks of four eggs very light,
with two heaping cups sugar, large spoonful melted butter, rounding
teaspoon sifted flour, cup buttermilk, cup seeded raisins, teaspoon
cinnamon, pinch each of cloves, alspice and nutmeg, two whites of egg
beaten very stiff. Half bake crust, then pour in batter and cook slowly
until done. Cover with meringue made by beating two egg-whites with two
teaspoons cold water, a few grains of salt, and one cup sugar. Add sugar
gradually after eggs are very light. Use at once--it will fall by
standing. Let the meringue barely color in the oven. Serve hot or cold.
_Jelly Pie_: (Louise Williams.) Beat the yolks of four eggs very light,
with a cup of sugar, three-quarters cup creamed butter, and a glass of
jelly, the tarter the better. Add a tablespoonful vanilla and a
dessert-spoonful of sifted cornmeal, then the whites of eggs beaten very
stiff. Bake in crusts--this makes two fat pies. Meringue is
optional--and unnecessary.
_Cheese Cakes_: Beat until very light the yolks of twelve eggs with a
pound of sugar, add to them a tablespoonful cornstarch, then
three-quarters of a pound of butter, washed and creamed. Add also the
strained juice of two lemons, a teaspoonful lemon essence and a
teaspoonful vanilla. Set over boiling water and stir until all
ingredients blend--only thus can you dissolve granulated sugar, which is
best to use, lacking the old-fashioned live open-kettle brown. Keep over
the hot water, stirring well together as you fill the tart shells. They
must be lined with real puff paste, rolled very thin, and nicely fitted.
Set in broad shallow pans, after filling with the batter and bake in a
quick, but not scorching oven. A blanched almond, or bit of citron, or
half a pecan or walnut meat, may be put in each shell before filling. I
prefer though to add such frills by help of the frosting. To make it,
beat six egg-whites with a pinch of salt until they stick to the dish,
add to them a little at a time, three cups granulated sugar boiled with
a cup and a half of water, till it spins a thread. Keep the syrup
boiling while adding it. When it is all in, set the pan of frosting over
boiling water, add six drops lemon juice and beat until stiff enough to
hold shape. It must not touch the water, but have plenty of steam
rising underneath. Frost the tarts rather thickly, and stick either a
shred of citron, a quarter of Maraschino cherry, or half a nut in the
middle. If you like cocoanut flavor, strew freshly grated cocoanut over
while the frosting is soft--it ought to harden inside half an hour. Tiny
pink or green comfits stuck in the middle, or set in threes
triangularly, are very decorative. Indeed, there is no limit but taste
and invention to the manners of making beautiful these tarts. I rather
pride myself upon them, since they have been enthusiastically praised by
folk who have eaten all around the world, and set above the best of
French confections by a man ten years resident in Paris, whose wife is
held to be the most skilled amateur cook in New York.
Grated cocoanut or raw grated apple stirred into the batter before
baking, varies the cheese cakes--and to some palates improves it. I
myself find nothing quite to equal the cheese cake of my
childhood--which had a full pound of butter to the pound of sugar, and
no frills of frosting, though strips of citron were often latticed over
the pans after the crust was in. Prick crust always very well before
filling--thus the tarts will be shapely instead of caricatures.
_Sweet Potato Custard_: Boil tender two large or four medium sweet
potatoes, peel, free of strings, and mash fine. Add to the pulp half a
pound of creamed butter, mix well, then add gradually five cups sugar,
alternately with five whole eggs. Beat smooth, add the juice of three
lemons, a tablespoonful lemon essence, and a scant pint of very rich
milk. Use less milk if the potatoes are very soft. Beat smooth and pour
into pie pans lined with good crust. Bake brown in a quick oven, but do
not over-bake. Lest the proportion of sugar may seem excessive, let it
be said here that sweet potatoes require more sugar for sweetening than
anything save crabapples or green gooseberries.
_Sweet Potato Pie_: Line a deep pie pan with short crust rolled a
quarter-inch thick, fill it with raw sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
thin. Add to them, for a pan of medium size, three cups sugar, a cup of
butter, cut in bits, mace, cloves and nutmeg to taste, half a cup cold
water and half a cup good whiskey or sherry. Cover with a crust an
eighth-inch thick, prick well, also cut a tiny cross in middle, and bake
in a hot, but not scorching oven, three-quarters of an hour--a full hour
if the pan is large. Turning another pan, fitting the rim over, helps to
make the baking sure and even. Remove the cover pan ten minutes before
taking up. Serve hot. This requires no sauce.
_Apple Custard_: Beat four eggs very light with three cups sugar, one
cup butter, cup and a half rich milk--the richer the better. Stir in at
the very last, one quart grated apple, flavor with nutmeg or vanilla,
and bake in crusts. If wanted richer, dot raisins seeded and soaked in
whiskey, or shred citron over the top before baking.
_Molasses Pie_: (M. W. Watkins.) Cream well together one large cup
granulated sugar, and one heaping tablespoonful of butter, add when very
light the well-beaten yolks of three eggs, and a large cup of rich
molasses. Flavor with one teaspoonful grated nutmeg, then beat in, at
the very last, the whites of the eggs frothed as stiff as possible. Bake
in pans lined with rich crust until firm. Meringue can be added, but the
pies do not need it.