altogether different, but there is no difficulty in making good omlets,
pancakes, or fritters; and as they may be expeditiously prepared and
served, they are often a very convenient resource when, on short notice,
an addition is required to a dinner. The eggs for all of them should be
well and lightly whisked; the lard for frying batter should be extremely
pure in flavour, and quite hot when the fritters are dropped in; the
batter itself should be smooth as cream, and it should be briskly beaten
the instant before it is used. All fried pastes should be perfectly
drained from the fat before they are served, and sent to table promptly
when they are ready. Eggs may be dressed in a multiplicity of ways, but
are seldom more relished in any form than in a well-made and
expeditiously served omlet. This may be plain, or seasoned with minced
herbs and a very little eschalot, when the last is liked, and is then
called an “_Omlette aux fines herbes_;” or it may be mixed with minced
ham, or grated cheese; in any case, it should be light, thick,
full-tasted, and _fried only on one side_; if turned in the pan, as it
frequently is in England, it will at once be flattened and rendered
tough. Should the slight rawness which is sometimes found in the middle
of the inside, when the omlet is made in the French way, be objected to,
a heated shovel, or a salamander, may be held over it for an instant,
before it is folded on the dish. The pan for frying it should be quite
small; for if it be composed of four or five eggs only, and then put
into a large one, it will necessarily spread over it and be thin, which
would render it more like a pancake than an omlet; the only partial
remedy for this, when a pan of proper size cannot be had, is to raise
the handle of it high, and to keep the opposite side close down to the
fire, which will confine the eggs into a smaller space. No gravy should
be poured into the dish with it, and indeed, if properly made, it will
require none. Lard is preferable to butter for frying batter, as it
renders it lighter; but it must not be used for omlets.
A COMMON OMLET.
Six eggs are sufficient for an omlet of moderate size. Let them be very
fresh; break them singly and carefully; clear them in the way we have
already pointed out in the introduction to boiled puddings, or when they
are sufficiently whisked pour them through a sieve, and resume the
beating until they are very light. Add to them from half to a whole
teaspoonful of salt, and a seasoning of pepper. Dissolve in a small
frying-pan a couple of ounces of butter, pour in the eggs, and as soon
as the omlet is well risen and firm throughout, slide it on to a hot
dish, fold it together like a turnover, and serve it _immediately_; from
five to seven minutes will fry it.
For other varieties of the omlet, see the observations which precede
this.
Eggs, 5; butter, 2 oz.; seasoning of salt and pepper: 5 to 7 minutes.
AN OMLETTE SOUFFLÉ. SECOND COURSE REMOVE OF ROAST.[133]
Footnote 133:
Served also as an _entremets_.
Separate, as they are broken, the whites from the yolks of six fine
fresh eggs; beat these last thoroughly, first by themselves and then
with four tablespoonsful of dry, white sifted sugar, and the rind of
half a lemon grated on a fine grater. Whisk the whites to a solid froth,
and just before the omlet is poured into the pan, mix them well, but
lightly, with the yolks. Put four ounces of fresh butter into a very
small delicately clean omlet or frying pan, and as soon as it is all
dissolved, add the eggs and stir them round that they may absorb it
entirely. When the under side is just set, turn the omlet into a
well-buttered dish, and send it to a tolerably brisk oven. From five to
ten minutes will bake it; and it must be served the _instant_ it is
taken out; carried, indeed, as quickly as possible to table from the
oven. It will have risen to a great height, but will sink and become
heavy in a very short space of time: if sugar be sifted over it, let it
be done with the utmost expedition.
Eggs, 6; sugar, 4 tablespoonsful; rind, 1/2 lemon; butter, 4 oz.: omlet
baked, 5 to 10 minutes.
_Obs._—This _omlette_ may be served on a layer of apricot-marmalade
which must be spread over the dish in which it is to be baked, and sent
to table before the _omlette_ is turned into it.
PLAIN COMMON FRITTERS.
Mix with three well-whisked eggs a quarter of a pint of milk, and strain
them through a fine sieve; add them gradually to three large
tablespoonsful of flour, and thin the batter with as much more milk as
will bring it to the consistence of cream; beat it up thoroughly at the
moment of using it, that the fritters may be light. Drop it in small
portions from a spouted jug or basin into boiling lard; when lightly
coloured on one side, turn the fritters, drain them well from the lard
as they are lifted out, and serve them very quickly. They are eaten
generally with fine sugar, and orange or lemon juice: the first of these
may be sifted quickly over them after they are dished, and the oranges
or lemons halved or quartered, and sent to table with them. The lard
used for frying them should be fresh and pure-flavoured: it renders them
more crisp and light than butter, and is, therefore, better suited to
the purpose. These fritters may be agreeably varied by mingling with the
batter just before it is used two or three ounces of well cleaned and
well dried currants, or three or four apples of a good boiling kind
_not_ very finely minced. Double the quantity of batter will be required
for a large dish.
Eggs, 3; flour, 3 tablespoonsful; milk, 1/4 to 1/2 pint.
PANCAKES.
These may be made with the same batter as fritters, if it be
sufficiently thinned with an additional egg or two, or a little milk or
cream, to spread quickly over the pan: to fry them well, this ought to
be small. When the batter is ready, heat the pan over a clear fire and
rub it with butter in every part, then pour in sufficient batter to
spread over it entirely, and let the pancake be very thin: in this case
it will require no turning, but otherwise it must be tossed over with a
sudden jerk of the pan, in which the cook who is not somewhat expert
will not always succeed; therefore the safer plan is to make them so
thin that they will not require this. Keep them hot before the fire or
in the stove-oven until a sufficient number are ready to send to table,
then proceed with a second supply, as they should always be quickly
served. Either pile them one on the other with sugar strewed between, or
spread quickly over them, as they are done, some apricot or other good
preserve, and roll them up: in the latter case, they may be neatly
divided and dished in a circle. Clotted cream is sometimes sent to table
with them. A richer kind of pancake may be made with a pint of cream, or
of cream and new milk mixed, five eggs or their yolks only, a couple of
ounces of flour, a little pounded cinnamon or lemon-rind rasped on sugar
and scraped into them, with two ounces more of pounded sugar, and two
ounces of clarified butter: a few ratifias rolled to powder may be added
at pleasure, or three or four macaroons.
From 4 to 5 minutes.
FRITTERS OF CAKE AND PUDDING.
Cut plain pound, or rice cake, or rich seed cake, into small square
slices half an inch thick; trim away the crust, fry them slowly a light
brown in a small quantity of fresh butter, and spread over them when
done a layer of apricot-jam, or of any other preserve, and serve them
immediately. These fritters are improved by being moistened with a
little good cream before they are fried: they must then be slightly
floured. Cold plum-pudding sliced down as thick as the cake, and divided
into portions of equal size and good form, then dipped into French or
English batter and gently fried, will also make an agreeable variety of
fritter. Orange marmalade and Devonshire cream may be served in separate
layers on the _seed cake_ fritters. The whole of the above may be cut of
uniform size and shaped with a round cake-cutter.
MINCEMEAT FRITTERS.
With half a pound of mincemeat mix two ounces of fine bread-crumbs (or a
tablespoonful of flour), two eggs well beaten, and the strained juice of
half a small lemon. Mix these well, and drop the fritters with a
dessertspoon into plenty of very pure lard or fresh butter; fry them
from seven to eight minutes, drain them on a napkin or on white blotting
paper, and send them very hot to table: they should be quite small.
Mincemeat, 1/2 lb.; bread-crumbs, 2 oz. (or flour, 1 tablespoonful);
eggs, 2; juice of 1/2 lemon: 7 to 8 minutes.
VENETIAN FRITTERS.
(_Very good._)
Wash and drain three ounces of whole rice, put it into a full pint of
cold milk, and bring it very slowly to boil; stir it often, and let it
simmer gently until it is quite thick and dry. When about three parts
done, add to it two ounces of pounded sugar, and one of fresh butter, a
grain of salt, and the grated rind of half a small lemon. Let it cool in
the saucepan, and when only just warm, mix with it thoroughly three
ounces of currants, four of apples chopped fine, a teaspoonful of flour,
and three large or four small well-beaten eggs. Drop the mixture in
small fritters, fry them in butter from five to seven minutes, and let
them become quite firm on one side before they are turned: do this with
a slice. Drain them as they are taken up, and sift white sugar over them
after they are dished.
Whole rice, 3 oz.; milk, 1 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; butter, 1 oz.; grated
rind of 1/2 lemon; currants, 3 oz.; minced apples, 4 oz.; flour, 1
teaspoonful; a little salt; eggs, 3 large, or 4 small: 5 to 7 minutes.
RHUBARB FRITTERS.
The rhubarb for these should be of a good sort, quickly grown, and
tender. Pare, cut it into equal lengths, and throw it into the French
batter of page 130; with a fork lift the stalks separately, and put them
into a pan of boiling lard or butter: in from five to six minutes they
will be done. Drain them well and dish them on a napkin, or pile them
high without one, and strew sifted sugar plentifully over them. They
should be of a very light brown, and quite dry and crisp. The young
stalks look well when left the length of the dish in which they are
served, and only slightly encrusted with the batter, through which they
should be merely drawn.
5 to 6 minutes.
APPLE, PEACH, APRICOT, OR ORANGE FRITTERS.
Pare and core without dividing the apples, slice them in rounds the full
size of the fruit, dip them into the same batter as that directed for
the preceding fritters, fry them a pale brown, and let them be very dry.
Serve them heaped high upon a folded napkin, and strew sifted sugar over
them. After having stripped the outer rind from the oranges, remove
carefully the white inner skin, and in slicing them take out the pips;
then dip them into the batter and proceed as for the apple fritters. The
peaches and apricots should be merely skinned, halved, and stoned before
they are drawn through the batter, unless they should not be fully ripe,
when they must first be stewed tender in a thin syrup.
8 to 12 minutes
BRIOCHE FRITTERS.
The brioche-paste,[134] when good, makes very superior cannelons and
fritters: it is, we should say, better in this form than in that of the
bun or cake, in which it is seen so commonly abroad. Make it, for the
fritters, into very small balls; roll them quite thin, put a teaspoonful
or less of rich preserve into each, moisten the edges and fold the paste
together securely, or with a _small_ tin shape cut as many rounds of the
brioche as are wanted, place some preserve in the centre of one half of
these, moisten the edges, lay the remainder lightly over them, press
them carefully together and restore them to a good form with the
tin-cutter, by trimming them with it to their original size; glide them
gently into a pan of boiling lard, and fry them from four and a half to
five minutes. Serve them very hot, crisp, and dry, piled on a folded
napkin. The cannelons are made like those of paste, and are very good.
They are sometimes filled with lemon-cheesecake mixture, or with Madame
Werner’s (see Chapter XVIII.)
Footnote 134:
For this see page 347.
Fritters, 4-1/2 to 5 minutes; cannelons, 5 to 6 minutes.
POTATO FRITTERS. (ENTREMETS.)
The same mixture as for potato puddings, Chapter XXI., if dropped in
small portions into boiling butter, and fried until brown on both sides,
will make potato-fritters. Half the proportion of ingredients will be
quite sufficient for a dish of these.
LEMON FRITTERS. (ENTREMETS.)
Mix with six ounces of very fine bread-crumbs four of beef suet minced
as small as possible, four ounces of pounded sugar, a small
tablespoonful of flour, four whole eggs well and lightly whisked, and
the grated rind of one large or of two small lemons, with half or the
whole of the juice, at choice; but before this last is stirred in, add a
spoonful or two of milk or cream if needed. Fry the mixture in small
fritters for five or six minutes.
CANNELONS. (ENTREMETS.)
[Illustration]
Roll out very thin and evenly some fine puff-paste into a long strip of
from three to four inches wide, moisten the surface with a feather
dipped in white of egg, and cut it into bands of nearly two inches wide;
lay some apricot or peach marmalade equally along these, and fold the
paste twice over it, close the ends carefully, and when all are ready,
slide them gently into a pan of boiling lard;[135] as soon as they begin
to brown, raise the pan from the fire that they may not take too much
colour before the paste is done quite through. Five minutes will fry
them. Drain them well, and dry them on a soft cloth before the fire;
dish them on a napkin, and place one layer crossing another, or merely
pile them high in the centre. If well made, and served of a light brown
and very dry, these cannelons are excellent: when lard is objected to
butter may be used instead, but the paste will then be somewhat less
light. Only lard of the purest quality will answer for the purpose.
Footnote 135:
Cannelons may be either baked or fried: if sent to the oven, they may
first be glazed with white of egg and sugar.
5 minutes.
CANNELONS OF BRIOCHE PASTE. (ENTREMETS.)
Proceed exactly as for the cannelons above, substituting the brioche for
the puff-paste, and rolling it as thin as possible, as it swells very
much in the pan. Fine sugar may be sifted over these after they are
dried and dished.
4 or 5 minutes.
CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTREMETS.)
[Illustration:
Croquettes.
]
Wipe very clean, in a dry cloth, seven ounces of rice, put it into a
clean stewpan, and pour on it a quart of new milk; let it swell gently
by the side of the fire, and stir it often that it may not stick to the
pan, nor burn; when it is about half done, stir to it five ounces of
pounded sugar, and six bitter almonds beaten extremely fine: the thin
rind of half a fresh lemon may be added in the first instance. The rice
must be simmered until it is soft, and very thick and dry; it should
then be spread on a dish, and left until cold, when it is to be rolled
into small balls, which must be dipped into beaten egg, and then covered
in every part with the finest bread-crumbs. When all are ready, fry them
a light brown in fresh butter, and dry them well before the fire, upon a
sieve reversed and covered with a very soft cloth, or with a sheet of
white blotting paper. Pile them in a hot dish, and send them to table
quickly.
Rice, 7 oz.; milk, 1 quart; rind of lemon: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 5 oz. bitter
almonds, 6: 40 to 60 minutes, or more. Fried, 5 to 7 minutes.
FINER CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTREMETS.)
Swell the rice in thin cream, or in new milk strongly flavoured with
vanilla or cocoa-nut; add the same ingredients as in the foregoing
receipt, and when the rice is cold, form it into balls, and with the
thumb of the right hand hollow them sufficiently to admit in the centre
a small portion of peach jam, or of apricot marmalade; close the rice
well over it; egg, crumb, and fry the croquettes as usual. As, from the
difference of quality, the same proportions of rice and milk will not
always produce the same effect, the cook must use her discretion in
adding, should it be needed, sufficient liquid to soften the rice
perfectly: but she must bear in mind that if not boiled extremely thick
and dry, it will be difficult to make it into croquettes.[136]
Footnote 136:
We must repeat here what we have elsewhere stated as the result of
_many_ trials of it, that good rice will absorb and become tender with
three times its own bulk or measure of liquid. Thus, an exact half
pint (or half pound) will require a pint and a half, with an extremely
gentle degree of heat, to convert it into a thoroughly soft but firm
mass; which would, perhaps, be rather too dry for _croquettes_. A pint
of milk to four ounces of rice, if well managed, would answer better.
SAVOURY CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTRÉE.)
These are made with the same preparation as the _casserole_ of rice of
Chapter XVIII., but it must be boiled very dry, and left to become quite
cold before it is used. A few spoonsful of rich white sauce stirred into
it when it is nearly tender, will improve it much. Form and hollow the
croquettes as directed in the last receipt; fill them with a small
portion of minced fowl, partridge, or pheasant in a thick sauce, or with
a stewed oyster or two cut in quarters; close the rice perfectly over
them; egg, and crumb the croquettes, fry and serve them garnished with
crisped parsley. French cooks mix sometimes a little grated Parmesan
cheese with the rice at the moment it is taken from the fire, and roll
the croquettes in more after they are egged; they press this on and dip
them again in egg, and then into the crumbs. Raise the pan high above
the fire when the croquettes are lightly browned, that they may heat
through; then heighten the colour, and lift them out immediately.
RISSOLES. (ENTRÉE.)
This is the French name for small fried pastry of various forms, filled
with meat or fish previously cooked; they may be made with _brioche_, or
with light puff-paste, either of which must be rolled extremely thin.
Cut it with a small round cutter fluted or plain; put a little rich
mince, or good pounded meat, in the centre, and moisten the edges, and
press them securely together that they may not burst open in the frying.
The rissoles may be formed like small patties, by laying a second round
of paste over the meat, or like _cannelons_; they may, likewise, be
brushed with egg, and sprinkled with vermicelli, broken small, or with
fine crumbs. They are sometimes made in the form of _croquettes_, the
paste being gathered round the meat, which must form a ball.[137]
Footnote 137:
If our space will permit, more minute directions for these, and other
small dishes of the kind, shall be given in the chapter of Foreign
Cookery.
In frying them, adopt the same plan as for the _croquettes_, raising the
pan as soon as the paste is lightly coloured. Serve all these fried
dishes well drained, and on a napkin.
From 5 to 7 minutes, or less.
VERY SAVOURY ENGLISH RISSOLES. (ENTRÉE.)
Make the forcemeat No. 1, Chapter VIII., sufficiently firm with unbeaten
yolk of egg, to roll rather thin on a well-floured board; cut it into
very small rounds, put a little pounded chicken in the centre of one
half, moistening the edges with water, or white of egg, lay the
remaining rounds over these, close them securely, and fry them in butter
a fine light brown; drain and dry them well, and heap them in the middle
of a hot dish, upon a napkin folded flat: these _rissoles_ may be egged
and crumbed before they are fried.
SMALL FRIED BREAD PATTIES, OR CROUSTADES OF VARIOUS KINDS.
These may be either sweet or savoury, and many of them may be so
promptly prepared, that they offer a ready resource when an extra dish
is unexpectedly required. They should be carefully fried very crisp, and
of a fine equal gold colour, either in clarified marrow, for which we
give our own receipt, or in really good butter.
DRESDEN PATTIES, OR CROUSTADES.
(_Very delicate._)
Pare the crust neatly from one or two French rolls, slice off the ends,
and divide the remainder into as many patties as the size of the rolls
will allow; hollow them in the centre, dip them into milk or thin cream,
and lay them on a drainer over a dish; pour a spoonful or two more of
milk over them at intervals, but not sufficient to cause them to break;
brush them with egg, rasp the crust of the rolls over them, fry and
drain them well, fill them with a good mince, or with stewed mushrooms
or oysters, and serve them very hot upon a napkin; they may be filled
for the second course with warm apricot marmalade, cherry-jam, or other
good preserve. This receipt came to us _direct from Dresden_, and on
testing it we found it answer excellently, and inserted it in an earlier
edition of the present work. We name this simply because it has been
appropriated, with many other of our receipts, by a contemporary writer
without a word of acknowledgment.
TO PREPARE BEEF MARROW FOR FRYING CROUSTADES, SAVOURY TOASTS, &C.
At a season when butter of pure flavour is often procured with
difficulty, beef-marrow, carefully clarified, is a valuable substitute
for it; and, as it is abundantly contained in the joints which are in
constant request for soup-making, it is of slight comparative cost in a
well managed kitchen. It is often thrown into the stock-pot by careless
or indolent cooks, instead of being rendered available for the many
purposes to which it is admirably adapted. Take it from the bones as
fresh as possible, put it into a white jar, and melt it with a _very
gentle_ degree of heat at the mouth of the oven, or by the side of the
stove, taking all precaution to prevent its being smoked or discoloured;
strain it off, through a very fine sieve or muslin, into a clean pan or
pans, and set it aside for use. It will be entirely flavourless if
prepared with due care and attention; but, if dissolved with too great a
degree of heat, it will acquire the taste almost of dripping. A small
quantity of fine salt may be sprinkled into the pan with it when it is
used for frying.
SMALL CROUSTADES, OR BREAD PATTIES, DRESSED IN MARROW.
(_Author’s Receipt._)
Cut very evenly, from a firm stale loaf, slices nearly an inch and a
half thick, and with a plain or fluted paste-cutter of between two and
three inches wide press out the number of patties required, loosening
them gently from the tin, to prevent their breaking; then, with a plain
cutter, scarcely more than half the size, mark out the space which is
afterwards to be hollowed from it. Melt some clarified beef-marrow in a
small saucepan or frying-pan, and, when it begins to boil, put in the
patties, and fry them gently until they are equally coloured of a pale
golden brown. In lifting them from the pan, let the marrow (or butter)
drain well from them; take out the rounds which have been marked on the
tops, and scoop out part of the inside crumb, but leave them thick
enough to contain securely the gravy of the preparation put into them.
Fill them with any good patty-meat, and serve them very hot on a napkin.
_Obs._—These _croustades_ are equally good if dipped into clarified
butter or marrow, and baked in a tolerably quick oven. It is well, in
either case, to place them on a warm sheet of double white
blotting-paper while they are being filled, as it will absorb the
superfluous fat. A rich mince, with a thick, well-adhering sauce, either
of mutton and mushrooms, or oysters, or with fine herbs and an eschalot
or two; or of venison, or hare, or partridges, may be appropriately used
for them.
SMALL CROUSTADES À LA BONNE MAMAN.
(_The Grandmama’s Patties._)
Prepare the _croustades_ as above, or use for them French rolls of very
even shape, cut in thick equal slices. If quite round, the crust may be
left on; mark each slice with a small cutter in the centre, dip the
_croustades_ into butter or marrow, fry them lightly, or bake them
without permitting them to become very hard; empty, and then fill them;
dish them without a napkin, and pour some good brown gravy round, but
not _over_ them.
_Obs._—From being cooked without butter, these and the preceding patties
are adapted to a Jewish table.
CURRIED TOASTS WITH ANCHOVIES.
Fry lightly, in good butter, clarified marrow, or very pure olive oil,
some slices of bread, free from crust, of about half an inch thick, and
two inches and a half square; lift them on to a dish, and spread a not
very thick layer of Captain White’s currie-paste on the top; place them
in a gentle oven for three or four minutes, then lay two or three
fillets of anchovies on each, replace them in the oven for a couple of
minutes, and send them immediately to table. Their pungency may be
heightened by the addition of cayenne pepper, when a very hot
preparation is liked.
_Obs._—We have spoken but slightly in our chapter of curries of Captain
White’s currie-paste, though for many years we have had it used in
preference to any other, and always found it excellent. Latterly,
however, it has been obtained with rather less facility than when
attention was first attracted to it. The last which we procured
directed, on the label of the jar, that orders for it should be sent per
post to 83, Copenhagen Street, Islington. It may, however, be procured
without doubt from any good purveyor of sauces and other condiments. It
is sold in jars of all sizes, the price of the smallest being
one-and-sixpence. We certainly think it much superior to any of the
others which we have tested, its flavour being peculiarly agreeable.
TO FILLET ANCHOVIES.
Drain them well from the pickle, take off the heads and fins, lay them
separately on a plate, and scrape off the skin entirely; then place them
on a clean dish and with a sharp-edged knife raise the flesh on either
side of the back-bone, passing it from the tail to the shoulders, and
keeping it nearly flat as it is worked along. Divide each side (or
_fillet_) in two, and use them as _directed_ for the preceding toasts or
other purposes. They make excellent simple sandwiches with slices of
bread and butter only; but _very_ superior ones when they are potted or
made into anchovy butter.
SAVOURY TOASTS.
Cut some slices of bread free from crust, about half an inch thick and
two inches and a half square; butter the tops thickly, spread a little
mustard on them, and then cover them with a deep layer of grated cheese
and of ham seasoned rather highly with cayenne; fry them in good butter,
but do not turn them in the pan; lift them out, and place them in a
Dutch oven for three or [TN: missing word.] minutes to dissolve the
cheese: serve them very hot.
To 4 tablespoonsful of grated English cheese, an equal portion of very
finely minced, or grated ham; but of Parmesan, or Gruyère, 6
tablespoonsful. Seasoning of mustard and cayenne.
_Obs._—These toasts, for which we give the original receipt unaltered,
may be served in the cheese-course of a dinner. Such mere “_relishes_”
as they are called, do not seem to us to demand much of our space, or
many of them which are very easy of preparation might be inserted here:
a good cook, however, will easily supply them at slight expense.
Truffles minced, seasoned, and stewed tender in butter with an eschalot
or two, may be served on fried toasts or _croûtons_ and will generally
be liked.
TO CHOOSE MACCARONI AND OTHER ITALIAN PASTES.
The Naples maccaroni, of which the pipes are large, and somewhat thin,
should be selected for the table in preference to the Genoa, which is
less in size, but more substantial, and better suited to the formation
of the various fanciful _timbales_[138] for which it is usually
chosen. We have inserted here no receipts for these, because unless
very skilfully prepared they are sure to fail, and they are not in
much request in this country, unless it be at the tables of the
aristocracy, for which they are prepared by efficient cooks. Of the
ribbon maccaroni (or _lazanges_) we have given particulars in the
pages which follow. The _macaroncini_, though not much larger than a
straw, requires much boiling for its size, to render it soft. The
celery-maccaroni is made very large and of an ornamental form, but in
short lengths. It is used by “professed” cooks as a sort of crust or
case for _quenelle_-forcemeat, or other expensive preparations of the
same nature. The ring or _cut_ maccaroni is another form given to the
Italian paste: it may be had at almost any good foreign warehouse.
Footnote 138:
For an explanation of the term _timbale_, the reader is referred to
the glossary at the commencement of this volume.
All these pastes should be of a yellowish tint (by no means _white_ as
one sees them when they are of inferior quality); they should also be
quite fresh, as they contract a most unpleasant flavour from being too
long stored. The Naples vermicelli, which is much larger than any other,
may be dressed like maccaroni: by many persons it is also preferred to
the smaller varieties for serving in soup.
TO BOIL MACCARONI.
We have always found the continental mode of dressing maccaroni the
best. English cooks sometimes soak it in milk and water for an hour or
more, before it is boiled, that the pipes may be swollen to the utmost,
but this is apt to render it pulpy, though its appearance may be
improved by it. Drop it lightly, and by degrees, into a large pan of
fast-boiling water, into which a little salt, and a bit of butter the
size of a walnut, have previously been thrown, and of which the boiling
should not be stopped by the addition of the maccaroni. In about
three-quarters of an hour the Naples maccaroni will be sufficiently
tender: every kind should always be perfectly cooked, for otherwise it
will prove very indigestible, but the pipes of that commonly served
should remain entire. Pour it into a large cullender, and drain the
water well from it. It should be very softly boiled after the first
minute or two.
_Time of boiling_:—Naples maccaroni, about 3/4 hour; Genoa, nearly or
quite 1 hour; _macaroncini_, 20 to 25 minutes; cut maccaroni, 10
minutes; Naples vermicelli (in water), about 20 minutes; longer in soup,
or milk.
RIBBON MACCARONI.[139]
Footnote 139:
The best ribbon-maccaroni which we have ever had, was from Mr.
Cobbett’s, 18, Pall Mall. It is rather higher in price than the pipe
maccaroni, but swells so much in the boiling that a large quantity of
it is not required for a dish. We ought to add that Mr. Cobbett’s is
not a professedly cheap house, but that all he supplies is of
excellent quality.
This kind of maccaroni, though more delicate in flavour and much more
quickly boiled than the pipe maccaroni, is far less frequently seen at
English tables; yet it is extremely good in many simple forms and very
wholesome, therefore well suited to invalids and children as well as to
persons in health. Drop it gradually into plenty of boiling water, and
turn it over occasionally that it may be equally done. Drain it
thoroughly when it is perfectly tender, and serve it quickly either
quite plain, to be eaten instead of vegetables or rice; or with a
_compote_ of fruit; or with sugar and cinnamon, or lemon juice; or
prepared in any of the modes indicated for the Naples maccaroni.
To be boiled 15 to 18 minutes.
DRESSED MACCARONI.
After careful and repeated trial of different modes of dressing various
kinds of maccaroni, we find that in preparing them with Parmesan cheese,
unmixed with any of a more mellow nature, there is always a chance of
failure, from its tendency to gather into lumps; we would therefore
recommend the inexperienced reader to substitute for it in part, at
least, any finely flavoured English cheese; and the better to ensure its
blending smoothly with the other ingredients (when neither white, nor
any other thickened sauce is used with it), to dissolve the butter, and
to stir to it a small teaspoonful of flour, before any liquid is added,
then carefully to mix with it the cream or gravy, as directed for _Sauce
Tournée_, Chapter V., and to give this a boil before the maccaroni and
cheese are added: if gently tossed as these become hot, the whole will
be smooth, and the cheese will adhere properly to the paste. Four ounces
of pipe maccaroni is sufficient for a small dish, but from six to eight
should be prepared for a family party where it is liked. The common
English mode of dressing it is with grated cheese, butter, and cream, or
milk. French cooks substitute generally a spoonful or two of very strong
rich jellied gravy for the cream; and the Italians, amongst their many
other modes of serving it, toss it in rich brown gravy, with sufficient
grated cheese to flavour the whole strongly; they send it to table also
simply laid into a good _Espagnole_ or brown gravy (that drawn from the
_stufato_,[140] for example), accompanied by a plate of grated cheese.
Another, and an easy mode of dressing it is to boil and drain it well,
and to put it into a deep dish, strewing grated cheese on every layer,
and adding bits of fresh butter to it. The top, in this case, should be
covered with a layer of fine bread-crumbs, mixed with grated cheese;
these should be moistened plentifully with clarified butter, and colour
given to them in the oven, or before the fire; the crumbs may be
omitted, and a layer of cheese substituted for them. An excellent
preparation of maccaroni may be made with any well-flavoured, dry white
cheese, which can be grated easily, at much less cost than with the
Parmesan, which is expensive, and in the country not always procurable:
and we think that the brown gravy and a seasoning of cayenne are great
improvements to it.
Footnote 140:
See Chapter of Foreign Cookery.
Maccaroni, 6 oz.; butter, 3 oz.; Parmesan (or other) cheese, 6 oz.;
cream, 4 tablespoonsful.
_Obs._—Less of butter and cheese can be used by the strict economist.
MACCARONI À LA REINE.
This is a very excellent and delicate mode of dressing maccaroni. Boil
eight ounces in the usual way, and by the time it is sufficiently
tender, dissolve gently ten ounces of any rich, well flavoured white
cheese in full three-quarters of a pint of good cream; add a little
salt, a rather full seasoning of cayenne, from half to a whole
saltspoonful of pounded mace, and a couple of ounces of sweet fresh
butter. The cheese should, in the first instance, be sliced very thin,
and taken quite free of the hard part adjoining the rind; it should be
stirred in the cream without intermission until it is entirely
dissolved, and the whole is perfectly smooth: the maccaroni, previously
well drained, may then be tossed gently in it, or after it is dished,
the cheese may be poured equally over the maccaroni. The whole, in
either case, may be thickly covered before it is sent to table, with
fine crumbs of bread fried of a pale gold colour, and dried perfectly,
either before the fire or in an oven, when such an addition is
considered an improvement. As a matter of precaution, it is better to
boil the cream before the cheese is melted in it; rich white sauce, or
_béchamel_, made not very thick, with an additional ounce or two of
butter, may be used to vary and enrich this preparation. If Parmesan
cheese be used for it, it must of course be grated; but, as we have said
before, it will not easily blend with the other ingredients so as to be
smooth. A portion of Stilton, free from the blue mould, would have a
good effect in the present receipt. Half the quantity may be served.
Maccaroni, 1/2 lb.; cheese, 10 oz.; good cream, 3/4 pint (or rich white
sauce); butter, 2 oz. (or more); little salt, _fine_ cayenne, and mace.
SEMOULINA AND POLENTA À L’ITALIENNE. (GOOD.)
(_To serve instead of Maccaroni._)
[Illustration:
Maize.
]
Throw into a quart of milk, when it is fast boiling, half a teaspoonful
of salt, and then shake lightly into it five ounces of the _best_
semoulina; stir the milk as this is added, and continue to do so from
eight to ten minutes, letting the mixture boil gently during the time.
It should be very thick, and great care must be taken to prevent its
sticking to the saucepan, which should be placed over a clear fire on a
bar or trivet, but not _upon_ the coals. Pour the semoulina, when it is
done, into a basin, or a plain mould which it will not fill by an inch
or two, and let it remain some hours in a cool place, that it may become
perfectly cold; it will then turn out quite solid, and like a pudding in
appearance. Cut it with a large, sharp carving-knife, or a bit of thin
wire, into half-inch slices; wash the basin into which it was poured at
first, and butter it well; grate from six to eight ounces of good cheese
(Parmesan, or any other), and mix with it a half-teaspoonful of cayenne,
and twice as much pounded mace; clarify from two to three ounces of
fresh butter, and put a small quantity into the basin, strew in a little
of the cheese, and then lay in the first slice of the semoulina, on this
put a thick layer of the cheese, moisten it with some drops of butter,
and place the second slice upon it; then more cheese and butter, and
continue thus until all the semoulina is replaced in the basin; put
plenty of cheese upon the top, add the remainder of the clarified
butter, and bake the mixture for about half an hour in a gentle oven. It
should be of a fine golden colour when served. Turn it carefully into a
dish, and send it instantly to table. A little rich brown gravy poured
round might, to some tastes, improve it, but it is excellent without,
and may be substituted for maccaroni, which it much resembles in
flavour. It may be enriched by adding butter to the milk, or by mixing
with it a portion of cream; and it may be browned in a Dutch oven, when
no other is in use.
In Italy the flour of Indian corn, which is much grown there, and eaten
by all ranks of people, is used for this dish; but the semoulina is
perhaps rather better suited to English taste and habits of diet, from
being somewhat lighter and more delicate. The maize-flour imported from
Italy is sold at the foreign warehouses here under the name of
_polenta_,[141] though that properly speaking is, we believe, a boiled
or stewed preparation of it, which forms the most common food of the
poorer classes of the inhabitants of many of the Italian states. It
seems to us superior in quality to the Indian corn flour grown in
America.
Footnote 141:
This was vended at a sufficiently high price in this country before
the maize meal was so largely imported here from America.
New milk (or milk mixed with cream), 1 quart; salt, large 1/2
teaspoonful; semoulina, 5 oz.: 10 minutes. Grated cheese, 6 to 8 oz.;
cayenne, 1/2 teaspoonful; mace, 1 small teaspoonful; butter, 2 to 3 oz.:
baked 1/2 hour, gentle oven.
_Obs._—A plain mould can be used instead of the basin.
FOR VARIOUS MODES OF DRESSING EGGS, SEE CHAPTER XXII.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XX.
=Boiled Puddings.=
[Illustration]
GENERAL DIRECTIONS.
[Illustration:
Pudding Mould.
]
ALL the ingredients for puddings should be fresh and of good quality. It
is a false economy to use for them such as have been too long stored, as
the slightest degree of mustiness or taint in any one of the articles of
which they are composed will spoil all that are combined with it. Eggs
should _always_ be broken separately into a cup before they are thrown
together in the same basin, as a single very bad one will occasion the
loss of many when this precaution is neglected. They should also be
cleared from the specks with scrupulous attention, either with the point
of a small three-pronged fork while they are in the cup, or by straining
the whole through a fine hair-sieve after they are beaten. The perfect
sweetness of suet and milk should be especially attended to before they
are mixed into a pudding, as nothing can be more offensive than the
first when it is over-kept, nor worse in its effect than the curdling of
the milk, which is the certain result of its being ever so slightly
soured.
Currants should be cleaned, and raisins stoned with exceeding care;
almonds and spices very finely pounded, and the rinds of oranges or
lemons rasped or grated lightly off, that the bitter part of the skin
may be avoided, when they are used for this, or for any other class of
dishes; if pared, they should be cut as _thin_ as possible.
Custard puddings to have a good appearance, must be _simmered_ only but
without ceasing; for if boiled in a quick and careless manner, the
surface instead of being smooth and velvety, will be full of holes, or
honey-combed, as it is called, and the whey will flow from it and mingle
with the sauce. A thickly-buttered sheet of writing-paper should be laid
between the custard mixture and the cloth before it is tied over, or the
cover of the mould is closed upon it; and the mould itself or the basin
in which it is boiled, and which should always be quite full, must
likewise be well buttered; and after it is lifted from the water the
pudding should be left in it for quite five minutes before it is dished,
to prevent its breaking or spreading about.
Batter is much lighter when boiled in a cloth, and allowed full room to
swell, than when confined in a mould: it should be well beaten the
instant before it is poured into it, and put into the water immediately
after it is securely tied. The cloth should be moist and thickly
floured, and the pudding should be sent to table as expeditiously as
possible after it is done, as it will quickly become heavy. This applies
equally to all puddings made with paste, which are rendered uneatable by
any delay in serving them after they are ready: they should be opened a
little at the top as soon as they are taken from the boiler or stewpan
to permit the escape of the steam from within.
Plum-puddings, which it is customary to boil in moulds, are both lighter
and less dry, when closely tied in stout cloths well buttered and
floured, especially when they are made in part with bread; but when this
is done, care should be taken not to allow them to burn to the bottom of
the pan in which they are cooked; and it is a good plan to lay a plate
or dish under them, by way of precaution against this mischance; it will
not then so much matter whether they be kept floating or not. It is
thought better to mix these entirely (except the liquid portion of them)
the day before they are boiled, and it is perhaps an advantage when they
are of large size to do so, but it is not really necessary for small or
common ones.
A _very_ little salt improves all sweet puddings, by taking off the
insipidity, and bringing out the full flavour of the other ingredients,
but its presence should not be in the slightest degree _perceptible_.
When brandy, wine, or lemon-juice is added to them it should be stirred
in briskly, and by degrees, quite at last, as it would be likely
otherwise to curdle the milk or eggs.
Many persons prefer their puddings steamed; but when this is not done,
they should be dropped into plenty of boiling water, and be kept well
covered with it until they are ready to serve; and the boiling should
never be allowed to cease for an instant, for they soon become heavy if
it be interrupted.
Pudding and dumpling cloths should not only be laid into plenty of water
as soon as they are taken off, and well washed afterwards, but it is
essential to their perfect sweetness that they should be well and
quickly dried (in the open air if possible), then folded and kept in a
clean drawer.
TO CLEAN CURRANTS FOR PUDDINGS OR CAKES.
Put them into a cullender, strew a handful of flour over them, and rub
them gently with the hands to separate the lumps, and to detach the
stalks; work them round in the cullender, and shake it well, when the
small stalks and stones will fall through it. Next pour plenty of cold
water over the currants, drain and spread them on a soft cloth, press it
over them to absorb the moisture, and then lay them on a clean oven-tin,
or a large dish, and dry them _very gradually_ (or they will become
hard), either in a cool oven or before the fire, taking care in the
latter case that they are not placed sufficiently near it for the ashes
to fall amongst them. When they are perfectly dry, clear them entirely
from the remaining stalks, and from _every stone_ that may be amongst
them. The best mode of detecting these is to lay the fruit at the far
end of a large white dish, or sheet of paper, and to pass it lightly,
and in very small portions, with the fingers, towards oneself, examining
it closely as this is done.
TO STEAM A PUDDING IN A COMMON STEWPAN OR SAUCEPAN.
Butter and fill the mould or basin as usual; tie over it, first, a
well-buttered paper, and then a thin floured cloth or muslin, which
should be quite small; gather up and tie the corners, and be careful
that no part of it, or of the paper, reaches to the water; pour in from
two to three inches depth of this, according to the height of the mould,
and when it boils put in the pudding, and press the cover of the stewpan
closely on; then boil it gently without ceasing until it is done. This
is the safer method of boiling all puddings made with polenta, or with
the American flour of maize; as well as many others of the custard kind,
which are easily spoiled by the admission of water to them. As the
evaporation diminishes that in the saucepan, more, ready-boiling, must
be added if necessary; and be poured carefully down the side of the pan
without touching the pudding.
TO MIX BATTER FOR PUDDINGS.
Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and stir them together; whisk the
eggs thoroughly, strain them through a fine hair-sieve, and add them
_very gradually_ to the flour; for if too much liquid be poured to it at
once it will be full of lumps, and it is easy with care to keep the
batter perfectly smooth. Beat it well and lightly with the back of a
strong wooden spoon, and after the eggs are added thin it with milk to a
proper consistence. The whites of the eggs beaten separately to a solid
froth, and stirred gently into the mixture the instant before it is tied
up for boiling, or before it is put into the oven to be baked, will
render it remarkably light. When fruit is added to the batter, it must
be made thicker than when it is served plain, or it will sink to the
bottom of the pudding. Batter should never _stick to the knife_ when it
is sent to table: it will do this both when a sufficient number of eggs
are not mixed with it, and when it is not enough cooked. About four eggs
to the half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly.
SUET-CRUST, FOR MEAT OR FRUIT PUDDINGS.
Clear off the skin from some fresh beef kidney-suet, hold it firmly with
a fork, and with a sharp knife slice it thin, free it entirely from
fibre, and mince it very fine: six ounces thus prepared will be found
quite sufficient for a pound of flour. Mix them well together, add half
a teaspoonful of salt for meat puddings, and a third as much for fruit
ones, and sufficient cold water to make the whole into a very firm
paste; work it smooth, and roll it out of equal thickness when it is
used. The weight of suet should be taken after it is minced. This crust
is so much lighter, and more wholesome than that which is made with
butter, that we cannot refrain from recommending it in preference to our
readers. Some cooks merely slice the suet in thin shavings, mix it with
the flour, and beat the crust with a paste-roller, until the flour and
suet are perfectly incorporated; but it is better minced.
Flour, 2 lbs.; suet, 12 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; water, 1 pint.
BUTTER CRUST FOR PUDDINGS.
When suet is disliked for crust, butter must supply its place, but there
must be no intermixture of lard in paste which is to be boiled. Eight
ounces to the pound of flour will render it sufficiently rich for most
eaters, and less will generally be preferred; rich crust of this kind
being more indigestible by far than that which is baked. The butter may
be lightly broken into the flour before the water is added, or it may be
laid on, and rolled into the paste as for puff-crust. A small portion of
salt must be added to it always, and for a meat pudding the same
proportion as directed in the preceding receipt. For kitchen, or for
quite common family puddings, butter and clarified dripping are used
sometimes in equal proportions. From three to four ounces of each will
be sufficient for the pound and quarter of flour.
Flour, 1 lb.; butter, 8 oz.; salt, for fruit puddings, 1/2 saltspoonful;
for meat puddings, 1/2 teaspoonful.
SAVOURY PUDDINGS.
The perfect manner in which the nutriment and flavour of an infinite
variety of viands may be preserved by enclosing and boiling them in
paste, is a great recommendation of this purely English class of dishes,
the advantages of which foreign cooks are beginning to acknowledge. If
really well made, these savoury puddings are worthy of a place on _any_
table; though the decrees of fashion—which in many instances have so
much more influence with us than they deserve—have hitherto confined
them almost entirely to the simple family dinners of the middle classes;
but we are bound to acknowledge that even where they are most commonly
served they are seldom prepared with a creditable degree of skill; and
they are equally uninviting and unwholesome when heavily and coarsely
concocted. From the general suggestions which we make here, and the few
detailed receipts which follow, a clever cook will easily compound them
to suit the taste and means of her employers; for they may be either
very rich and expensive, or quite the reverse. Venison (the neck is best
for the purpose), intermingled or not with truffles; sweetbreads sliced,
and oysters or nicely prepared button-mushrooms in alternate layers,
with good veal stock for gravy;[142] pheasants, partridges, moorfowl,
woodcocks, snipes, plovers, wheatears, may all be converted into the
first class of these; and veal kidneys, seasoned with fine herbs, will
supply another variety of them. Many persons like eels dressed in this
way, but they are unsuited to delicate eaters: and sausages are liable
to the same objection; and so is a _harslet_ pudding, which is held in
much esteem in certain counties, and which is made of the heart, liver,
kidneys, &c., of a pig. We can recommend as both wholesome and
economical the receipts which follow, for the more simple kind of
savoury puddings, and which may serve as guides for such others as the
intelligence of the cook may suggest.
Footnote 142:
The liquor of the oysters should be added when they are used.
BEEF-STEAK, OR JOHN BULL’S PUDDING.
All meat puddings are more conveniently made in deep pans, moulds, or
basins having a thick rim, below which the cloths can be tied without
the hazard of their slipping off; and as the puddings should by no means
be _turned out_ before they are sent to table, one to match the
dinner-service, at least in _colour_, is desirable.[143] Roll out a suet
crust to half an inch in thickness, line evenly with it a quart, or any
other sized basin that may be preferred, and raise the crust from an
inch and a half to two inches above the edge. Fill it with layers of
well-kept rump-steak, neatly trimmed, and seasoned with salt and pepper,
or cayenne; pour in some cold water to make the gravy; roll out the
cover, moisten the edge, as well as that of the pudding; draw and press
them together carefully, fold them over, shake out a cloth which has
been dipped into hot water, wrung out, and well floured; tie it over the
pudding, gather the corners together, tie them over the top of the
pudding, put it into plenty of fast boiling water, and let it remain in
from three to five hours, according to its size. The instant it is
lifted out, stick a fork quite through the middle of the paste to
prevent its bursting; remove the cloth quickly, and cut a small round or
square in the top to allow the steam to escape, and serve the pudding
_immediately_. Though not considered very admissible to an elegantly
served table, this is a favourite dish with many persons, and is often
in great esteem with sportsmen, for whom it is provided in preference to
fare which requires greater exactness in the time of cooking; as an
additional hour’s boiling, or even more, will have little effect on a
large pudding of this kind, beyond reducing the quantity of gravy, and
rendering it very thick.
Footnote 143:
It is now customary in some families to have both meat and fruit
puddings boiled and served in pie or tart-dishes. They are lined
entirely with very thin crust, or merely edged with it, according to
taste; then filled, closed, and cooked in the usual manner. The plan
is a good and convenient one, where the light upper-crust is preferred
to the heavy and sodden part which is under the meat. In Kent and
Sussex, shallow pans, in form somewhat resembling a large deep saucer,
are sold expressly for boiling meat puddings.
Some cooks flour the meat slightly before it is laid into the crust, but
we do not think it an improvement: where fat is liked, a portion may be
added with the lean, but all skin and sinew should be carefully
rejected. Beat the steak with a paste roller, or cutlet-bat, should it
not appear to be perfectly tender, and divide it into portions about the
width of two fingers. Two or three dozens of oysters, bearded and washed
free from grit in their own liquor (which should afterwards be strained
and poured into the pudding), may be intermingled with the meat.
A true epicurean receipt for this dish directs the paste to be made with
_veal_-kidney suet, and filled with alternate layers of _the inside of
the sirloin_, sliced and seasoned, and of fine plump native oysters,
intermixed with an occasional small slice of the veal fat.
SMALL BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.
Make into a very firm smooth paste, one pound of flour, six ounces of
beef-suet finely minced, half a teaspoonful of salt, and half a pint of
cold water. Line with this a basin which holds a pint and a half. Season
a pound of tender steak, free from bone and skin, with half an ounce of
salt and half a teaspoonful of pepper well mixed together; lay it in the
crust, pour in a quarter of a pint of water, roll out the cover, close
the pudding carefully, tie a floured cloth over, and boil it for three
hours and a half. We give this receipt in addition to the preceding one,
as an exact guide for the proportions of meat-puddings in general.
Flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; water, 1/2 pint;
rump-steak, 1 lb.; salt, 1/2 oz.; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; water, 1/4
pint: 3-1/2 hours.
RUTH PINCH’S BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.
To make _Ruth Pinch’s_ celebrated pudding (known also as beef-steak
pudding _à la Dickens_), substitute six ounces of butter for the suet in
this receipt, and moisten the paste with the well-beaten yolks of four
eggs, or with three whole ones, mixed with a little water; butter the
basin very thickly before the paste is laid in, as the pudding is to be
turned out of it for table. In all else proceed exactly as above.
MUTTON PUDDING.
Mutton freed perfectly from fat, and mixed with two or three sliced
kidneys, makes an excellent pudding. The meat may be sprinkled with fine
herbs as it is laid into the crust. This will require rather less
boiling than the preceding puddings, but it is made in precisely the
same way.
PARTRIDGE PUDDING.
(_Very Good._)
Skin a brace of well-kept partridges and cut them down into joints; line
a deep basin with suet crust, observing the directions given in the
preceding receipts; lay in the birds, which should be rather highly
seasoned with pepper or cayenne, and moderately with salt; pour in water
for the gravy, close the pudding with care, and boil it from three hours
to three and a half. The true flavour of the game is admirably preserved
by this mode of cooking. When mushrooms are plentiful, put a layer of
buttons, or small flaps, cleaned as for pickling, alternately with a
layer of partridge, in filling the pudding, which will then be most
excellent eating: the crust may be left untouched, and merely emptied of
its contents, where it is objected to, or its place may be supplied with
a richer one made of butter. A seasoning of pounded mace or nutmeg can
be used at discretion. Puddings of veal, chickens, and young rabbits,
may all be made by this receipt, or with the addition of oysters, which
we have already noticed.
A PEAS PUDDING.
(_To serve with boiled pork._)
Separate carefully from a pint of good mellow split peas, all that are
worm-eaten; wash the remainder well, and soak them for a night in plenty
of soft water. The following day tie them up in a thick pudding cloth,
giving them room to swell, cover them well with cold soft water and boil
them gently from two hours to two and a half: if they are not then quite
tender, they are of bad quality, and cannot be rendered so. Lift them
into a cullender, untie the cloth, and crush them to a paste with a
wooden spoon, stir in a good slice of butter, and a seasoning of pepper
and salt, tie them up again very tight, and boil them for half an hour;
turn the pudding gently into a dish that it may not break, and serve it
as hot as possible. This is the common old-fashioned mode of preparing a
peas pudding, and many persons prefer it to the more modern one which
follows. Soak, and boil the peas as above, drain the water well from
them before the cloth is untied, rub them through a cullender or sieve,
mix the seasoning and the butter thoroughly with them, then add to them
gradually three well whisked eggs, tie the mixture tightly and closely
in a floured cloth, and boil it for one hour.
Good split peas, 1 pint; soaked in soft water 1 night. Boiled 2 to 2-1/2
hours. Butter, 1 oz.: salt, pepper: boil again 20 to 30 minutes. Or:
butter, 1-1/2 oz.; eggs, 3: boiled 1 hour.
_Obs._—When soft water cannot be had, half a teaspoonful of carbonate of
soda must be stirred into that in which the peas are boiled. They must
have room to swell or they will be hard; but if too much be given them
they will be watery, and it will be difficult to convert them into a
pudding at all.
WINE SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.
Boil gently together for ten or fifteen minutes the very thin rind of
half a small lemon, about an ounce and a half of sugar, and a
wineglassful of water. Take out the lemon-peel and stir into the sauce
until it has boiled for one minute, an ounce of butter smoothly mixed
with a large half-teaspoonful of flour; add a wineglassful and a half of
sherry or Madeira, or other good white wine, and when quite hot serve
the sauce without delay. Port wine sauce is made in the same way with
the addition of a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, some grated nutmeg and
a little more sugar. Orange-rind and juice may be used for it instead of
lemon.
COMMON WINE SAUCE.
Sweeten a quarter-pint of good melted butter with an ounce and a half of
sugar, and add to it gradually a couple of glasses of wine; stir it
until it is at the point of boiling, and serve it immediately.
Lemon-grate, or nutmeg, can be added at pleasure.
PUNCH SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.
This may be served with custard, plain bread, and plum-puddings. With
two ounces of sugar and a quarter of a pint of water, boil very gently
the rind of half a small lemon, and somewhat less of orange-peel, from
fifteen to twenty minutes; strain out the rinds, thicken the sauce with
an ounce and a half of butter and nearly a teaspoonful of flour, add a
half-glass of brandy, the same of white wine, two-thirds of a glass of
rum, with the juice of half an orange, and rather less of lemon-juice:
serve the sauce very hot, but do not allow it to boil after the spirit
is stirred in.
Sugar, 2 oz.; water, 1/4 pint; lemon and orange rind: 14 to 20 minutes.
Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful; brandy and white wine, each 1/2
wineglassful; rum, two-thirds of glassful; orange and lemon juice.
FOR CLEAR ARROW-ROOT SAUCE.
(See the Welcome Guest’s Own Pudding.)
A GERMAN CUSTARD PUDDING-SAUCE.
Boil very gently together half a pint of new milk or of milk and cream
mixed, a very thin strip or two of fresh lemon-rind, a bit of cinnamon,
half an inch of a vanilla bean, and an ounce and a half or two ounces of
sugar, until the milk is strongly flavoured; then strain, and pour it,
by slow degrees, to the well-beaten yolks of three eggs, smoothly mixed
with a _knife-end-full_ (about half a teaspoonful) of flour, a grain or
two of salt, and a tablespoonful of cold milk; and stir these very
quickly round as the milk is added. Put the sauce again into the
stewpan, and whisk or stir it rapidly until it thickens, and looks
creamy. It must not be placed _upon_ the fire, but should be held over
it, when this is done. The Germans _mill_ their sauces to a froth; but
they may be whisked with almost equally good effect, though a small mill
for the purpose—formed like a chocolate mill—may be had at a very
trifling cost.
A DELICIOUS GERMAN PUDDING-SAUCE.
Dissolve in half a pint of sherry or of Madeira, from three to four
ounces of fine sugar, but do not allow the wine to boil; stir it hot to
the well-beaten yolks of six fresh eggs, and mill the sauce over a
gentle fire until it is well thickened and highly frothed; pour it over
a plum, or any other kind of sweet boiled pudding, of which it much
improves the appearance. Half the quantity will be sufficient for one of
moderate size. We recommend the addition of a dessertspoonful of
strained lemon-juice to the wine.
For large pudding, sherry or Madeira, 1/2 pint; fine sugar, 3 to 4 oz.;
yolks of eggs, 6; lemon-juice (if added), 1 dessertspoonful.
_Obs._—As we have already said in the previous receipt, it is customary
to froth sweet sauces in Germany with a small machine made like a
chocolate-mill. Two silver forks fastened together at the handles may be
used instead on an emergency, or the sauce may be whisked to the proper
state, like the one which precedes it.
Great care must be taken not to allow these sauces to curdle. The safer
plan is to put any preparation of the kind into a white jar, and to
place it over the fire in a pan of boiling water, and then to stir or
mill it until it is sufficiently thickened: the jar should not be half
filled, and it should be large enough to allow the sauce to be worked
easily. The water should not reach to within two or three inches of the
brim. We give these minute details for inexperienced cooks.
RED CURRANT OR RASPBERRY SAUCE. (GOOD.)
Measure half a pint of sound red currants after they have been stripped
from the stalks; wash them, should they be dusty, and drain all the
water from them. Have ready a syrup, made with three ounces of sugar in
lumps, and the third of a pint of water, boiled gently together for five
minutes; put in the currants, and stew them for ten minutes; strain off
the juice, of which there will be nearly or quite half a pint, through a
lawn sieve or folded muslin; heat it afresh, and pour it boiling to a
small spoonful of arrow-root which has been very smoothly mixed with a
tablespoonful of cold water, being careful to stir it briskly while the
juice is being added; give the sauce a minute’s boil to render it
transparent, and mask the pudding with it (or, in other words, pour it
equally over it, so as to cover the entire surface); or serve it in a
tureen. A few raspberries may be added in their season, to flavour this
preparation; but if quite ripe, they must be thrown into the syrup
without having been washed, two or three minutes after the currants have
been put into it. A delicious sauce may be made entirely from
raspberries as above, allowing a larger proportion of the fruit, as it
yields less juice than the currant.
The proportions directed in this receipt are quite sufficient for a
pudding of moderate size, but they can easily be increased when
required.
COMMON RASPBERRY-SAUCE.
Put three ounces of sugar broken into small lumps, and a wineglassful
and a half of water into a small stewpan, and boil them for four or five
minutes. Add half a pint of fresh ripe raspberries, well mashed with the
back of a spoon. Mix them with the syrup, and boil them for six or seven
minutes; the sauce should then be quite smooth and clear. The quantity
of it with these proportions will not be large, but can be increased at
pleasure.
_Obs._—We have generally found that the most simple, and consequently
the most refreshing fruit-sauces have been much liked by the persons who
have partaken of them; and they are, we think, preferable to the foreign
ones—German principally—to which wine and cinnamon are commonly added,
and which are often composed of dried fruit. Their number can easily be
augmented by an intelligent cook; and they can be varied through all the
summer and autumnal months with the fruit in season at the time.
SUPERIOR FRUIT-SAUCES FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.
Clear rich fruit syrups, such as the _Sirop de Groseilles_ of Chapter
XXIX. or those from which cherries, apricots, damsons, and other plums,
are taken when they have been prepared in them for drying, make the
finest possible sauces for sweet puddings. A pound of ripe Morella
cherries, for example, pricked separately with a large needle, then
slowly heated and simmered from seven to ten minutes with three quarters
of a pound of castor-sugar, and allowed to become cold in their juice,
will be excellent if laid on dishes and slowly dried; and the syrup from
them will be a delicious accompaniment to a pudding (or to plain boiled
rice); and it will also afford a most agreeable summer beverage mixed
with water, slightly iced, or not. Other varieties of these sauces are
made by stewing the fruit tender without sugar, then rubbing it through
a sieve, and diluting it with wine; or simply mixing and boiling it with
sufficient sugar to render it sweet and clear.
PINE-APPLE PUDDING-SAUCE.
Rasp down on a fine bright grater sufficient of the flesh of a ripe
Jamaica or English pine-apple from which the rind has been thickly
pared, to make the quantity of sauce required. Simmer it quite tender,
with a very small quantity of water; then mix with it by degrees from
half to three-quarters of its weight of sugar, give it five minutes more
of gentle boiling, and pour it over the pudding.
Rasped pine-apple, 6 oz.; water, 2 tablespoonsful: 10 to 15 minutes
gentle stewing. Sugar, 4 oz: 5 minutes.
A finer sauce may be made with half a pound of the pine first simmered
tender in its own juice, and one tablespoonful only of water, and then
mixed with seven ounces of sifted sugar, and boiled gently until it
looks clear. If too sweet, the strained juice of half a large sized
lemon may be stirred to it before it is served, but a certain weight of
sugar is required to make it appear bright. This preparation may be kept
for some time, and warmed afresh for table when needed.
A VERY FINE PINE-APPLE SAUCE OR SYRUP, FOR PUDDINGS OR OTHER SWEET
DISHES.
After having pared away every morsel of the rind from a ripe and highly
flavoured pine-apple, cut three-quarters of a pound of it into very thin
slices, and then into quite small dice. Pour to it nearly half a pint of
spring water; heat, and boil it very gently until it is extremely
tender, then strain and press the juice closely from it through a cloth
or through a muslin strainer[144] folded in four; strain it clear, mix
it with ten ounces of the finest sugar in small lumps, and when this is
dissolved, boil the syrup gently for a quarter of an hour. It will be
delicious in flavour and very bright in colour if well made. If put into
a jar, and stored with a paper tied over it, it will remain excellent
for weeks; and it will become almost a jelly with an additional ounce of
sugar and rather quicker boiling. It may be poured round moulded creams,
rice, or sago; or mingled with various sweet preparations for which the
juice of fruit is admissible.
Footnote 144:
It is almost superfluous to say that the large squares of muslin, of
which on account of their peculiar nicety we have recommended the use
for straining many sweet preparations, must never have a particle of
starch in them; they should be carefully kept free from dust and soil
of any kind, and always well rinsed and soaked in clear water before
they are dried.
GERMAN CHERRY SAUCE.
Beat a quart of cherries in a mortar until the stones are broken, then
boil them tender with half a pint of water and wine mixed. Rub them
through a sieve, and boil them again, with from four to six ounces of
fine sugar, some grated lemon-peel, powdered cinnamon, and a small
portion of pounded cloves. In a few minutes stir to the sauce a
dessertspoonful of potato-flour, smoothly mixed with a very little cold
water; continue to stir until it is again ready to boil, and serve it,
either poured entirely over the pudding, or in a tureen.
COMMON BATTER PUDDING.
Beat four eggs thoroughly, mix with them half a pint of milk, and pass
them through a sieve, add them by degrees to half a pound of flour, and
when the batter is perfectly smooth, thin it with another half pint of
milk. Shake out a wet pudding cloth, flour it well, pour the batter in,
leave it room to swell, tie it securely, and put it immediately into
plenty of fast-boiling water. An hour and ten minutes will boil it. Send
it to table the instant it is dished, with wine sauce, a hot _compôte_
of fruit, or raspberry vinegar: this last makes a delicious pudding
sauce. Unless the liquid be added very gradually to the flour, and the
mixture be well stirred and beaten as each portion is poured to it, the
batter will not be smooth: to render it _very_ light, a portion of the
whites of the eggs, or the whole of them, should be whisked to a froth
and stirred into it just before it is put into the cloth.
Flour, 1/2 lb.; eggs, 4; salt, 3/4 teaspoonful; milk, 1 pint: 1 hour and
10 minutes.
_Obs._—Modern taste is in favour of puddings boiled in moulds, but, as
we have already stated, they are seldom or ever so light as those which
are tied in cloths only.
ANOTHER BATTER PUDDING.
Mix the yolks of three eggs smoothly with three heaped tablespoonsful of
flour, thin the batter with new milk until it is of the consistence of
cream, whisk the whites of eggs apart, stir them into the batter and
boil the pudding in a floured cloth or in a buttered mould or basin for
an hour. Before it is served, cut the top quickly into large dice half
through the pudding, pour over it a small jarful of fine currant,
raspberry, or strawberry jelly, and send it to table without the
_slightest_ delay.
Flour, 3 tablespoonsful; eggs, 3; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; milk, from 1/2
to whole pint: 1 hour.
BLACK-CAP PUDDING.
Make a good light thin batter, and just before it is poured into the
cloth stir to it half a pound of currants, well cleaned and dried: these
will sink to the lower part of the pudding and blacken the surface. Boil
it the usual time, and dish it with the dark side uppermost; send very
sweet sauce to table with it. Some cooks butter a mould thickly, strew
in the currants, and pour the batter on them, which produces the same
appearance as when the ingredients are tied in a cloth.
_All_ batter puddings should be despatched quickly to table when they
are once ready to serve, as they speedily become heavy if allowed to
wait.
BATTER FRUIT PUDDING.
Butter thickly a basin which holds a pint and a half, and fill it nearly
to the brim with _good_ boiling apples pared, cored, and quartered; pour
over them a batter made with four tablespoonsful of flour, two large or
three small eggs, and half a pint of milk. Tie a buttered and floured
cloth over the basin, which ought to be quite full, and boil the pudding
for an hour and a quarter. Turn it into a hot dish when done, and strew
sugar thickly over it: this, if added to the batter at first, renders it
heavy. Morella cherries make a very superior pudding of this kind; and
green gooseberries, damsons, and various other fruits, answer for it
extremely well: the time of boiling it must be varied according to their
quality and its size.
For a pint and a half mould or basin filled to the brim with apples or
other fruit; flour, 4 tablespoonsful; eggs, 2 large or 3 small; milk,
1/2 pint: 1-1/4 hour.
_Obs._—Apples cored, halved, and mixed with a good batter, make an
excellent baked pudding, as do red currants, cherries, and plums of
different sorts likewise.
KENTISH SUET PUDDING.
To a pound and a quarter of flour add half a pound of finely minced
beef-suet,[145] half a teaspoonful of salt, and a quarter one of pepper;
mix these into a smooth paste with one well-beaten egg, and a little
cold milk or water; make it into the shape of a paste-roller, fold a
floured cloth round it, tie the ends tightly, and boil it for two hours.
In Kentish farmhouses, and at very plain family dinners, this pudding is
usually sent to table with boiled beef, and is sometimes cooked with it
also. It is very good sliced and broiled, or browned in a Dutch oven,
after having become quite cold.
Footnote 145:
A very common fault with bad and careless cooks is, that of using for
paste and puddings suet _coarsely chopped_, which is, to many eaters,
distasteful to the last degree.
Flour, 1-1/2 lb.; suet, 1/2 lb.; salt 1/2 teaspoonful; half as much
pepper; 1 egg; little milk or water: boiled 2 hours.
ANOTHER SUET PUDDING.
Make into a somewhat lithe but smooth paste, half a pound of fine stale
bread-crumbs, three quarters of a pound of flour, from ten to twelve
ounces of beef-suet chopped extremely small, a large half-teaspoonful of
salt, and rather less of pepper, with two eggs and a little milk. Boil
it for two hours and a quarter.
APPLE, CURRANT, CHERRY, OR OTHER FRESH FRUIT PUDDING.
Make a paste as for a beef-steak pudding, either with suet or butter;
lay into a basin a well-floured cloth, which has been dipped into hot
water, wrung dry, and shaken out; roll the paste thin, press it evenly
into the basin upon the cloth, fill it with apples, pared, cored, and
quartered, or with any other fruit; put on the cover, taking care to
moisten the edges of the paste, to press them well together, and fold
them over; gather up the ends of the cloth, and tie it firmly close to
the pudding, which should then be dropped into plenty of fast boiling
water. When it is done, lift it out by twisting a strong fork into the
corner of the cloth, turn it gently into the dish in which it is to be
served, and cut immediately a small round or square from the top, or the
pudding will quickly become heavy; send it to table without the
slightest delay, accompanied by pounded, and by good Lisbon sugar, as
many persons prefer the latter, from its imparting a more mellowed
flavour to the fruit. A small slice of fresh butter, and some finely
grated nutmeg, are usually considered improvements to an apple pudding;
the juice, and the grated rind of a lemon may be added with good effect,
when the fruit is laid into the crust, especially in spring, when the
apples generally will have become insipid in their flavour. For tables
of any pretension, sugar must be added to them when they are made; but
many varieties of apple do not so readily form a smooth light pulp when
it is enclosed with them in the paste. A small jar of apricot jam is
always an admirable addition to an apple tart or pudding; and a small
glass of wine when the fruit is not juicy, will assist to bring it to
the right consistence. When puddings are preferred boiled in moulds or
basins, these must be thickly buttered before the paste is laid into
them, and the puddings must be turned from them gently, that they may
not burst.
Currant, gooseberry, or cherry pudding, 1 to 1-1/4 hour. Greengage,
damson, mussel, or other plum, 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Apple pudding, from 1 to
2 hours, according to its size, and the time of year.
_Obs._—If made of codlings, an apple pudding will require only so much
boiling as may be needed for the crust. These are sometimes mixed with
Morella cherries rolled in plenty of sugar, and the two fruits mixed are
excellent, but the Morellas by themselves are better.
A COMMON APPLE PUDDING.
Make a light crust with one pound of flour, and six ounces of very
finely minced beef-suet; roll it thin, and fill it with one pound and a
quarter of good boiling apples; add the grated rind and strained juice
of a small lemon, tie it in a cloth, and boil it one hour and twenty
minutes before Christmas, and from twenty to thirty minutes longer after
Christmas. A small slice of fresh butter, stirred into it when it is
sweetened will, to many tastes, be an acceptable addition; grated
nutmeg, or a little cinnamon in fine powder, may be substituted for the
lemon-rind when either is preferred. To convert this into a richer
pudding use half a pound of butter for the crust, and add to the apples
a spoonful or two of orange or quince marmalade.
Crust: flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz. Fruit, pared and cored, 1-1/2 lb.;
juice and rind of 1 small lemon (or some nutmeg or cinnamon in powder).
Richer pudding: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; in addition to fruit, 1
or 2 tablespoonsful of orange or quince marmalade.
HERODOTUS’ PUDDING.
(_A Genuine Classical Receipt._)
“Prepare and mix in the usual manner one pound of fine raisins stoned,
one pound of minced beef-suet, half a pound of bread-crumbs, four figs
chopped small, two tablespoonsful of moist sugar (_honey_, in the
original), two wineglassesful of sherry, and the rind of half a large
lemon (grated). Boil the pudding for _fourteen hours_.”
_Obs._—This receipt is really to be found in Herodotus. The only
variations made in it are the substitution of sugar for honey, and
sherry for the wine of ancient Greece. We are indebted for it to an
accomplished scholar, who has had it served at his own table on more
than one occasion; and we have given it on his authority, without
testing it: but we venture to suggest that _seven_ hours would boil it
quite sufficiently.
THE PUBLISHER’S PUDDING.
This pudding can scarcely be made _too rich_. First blanch, and then
beat to the smoothest possible paste, six ounces of fresh Jordan
almonds, and a dozen bitter ones; pour very gradually to them, in the
mortar, three quarters of a pint of boiling cream; then turn them into a
cloth, and wring it from them again with strong expression. Heat a full
half pint of it afresh, and pour it, as soon as it boils, upon four
ounces of fine bread-crumbs, set a plate over, and leave them to become
nearly cold; then mix thoroughly with them four ounces of maccaroons,
crushed tolerably small; five of finely minced beef-suet, five of
marrow, cleared very carefully from fibre, and from the splinters of
bone which are sometimes found in it, and shred not very small, two
ounces of flour, six of pounded sugar, four of dried cherries, four of
the best Muscatel raisins, weighed after they are stoned, half a pound
of candied citron, or of citron and orange rind mixed, a quarter
saltspoonful of salt, half a nutmeg, the yolks only of seven full-sized
eggs, the grated rind of a large lemon, and last of all, a glass of the
best Cognac brandy, which must be stirred briskly in by slow degrees.
Pour the mixture into a _thickly_ buttered mould or basin, which
contains a full quart, fill it to the brim, lay a sheet of buttered
writing-paper over, then a well-floured cloth, tie them securely, and
boil the pudding for four hours and a quarter; let it stand for two
minutes before it is turned out; dish it carefully, and serve it with
the German pudding-sauce of page 403.
Jordan almonds, 6 oz.; bitter almonds, 12; cream, 3/4 pint;
bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; cream wrung from almonds, 1/2 pint; crushed
macaroons, 4 oz.; flour 2 oz.; beef-suet, 5 oz.; marrow, 5 oz.; dried
cherries, 4 oz.; stoned Muscatel raisins, 4 oz.; pounded sugar, 6 oz.;
candied citron (or citron and orange-rind mixed), 1/2 lb.; pinch of
salt; 1/2 nutmeg; grated rind, 1 lemon; yolks of eggs, 7; best cognac, 1
wineglassful; boiled in mould or basin,: 4-1/4 hours.
_Obs._—This pudding, which, if well made, is very light as well as rich,
will be sufficiently good for most tastes without the almonds: when they
are omitted, the boiling cream must be poured at once to the
bread-crumbs.
HER MAJESTY’S PUDDING.
Infuse in a pint of new milk half a pod of vanilla, cut into short
lengths, and bruised; simmer them gently together for twenty minutes,
and strain the milk through muslin to half a pint of cream; put these
again on the fire in a clean saucepan, with three ounces of fine sugar,
and pour them when they boil, to the beaten yolks of eight very fresh
eggs. Stir the mixture often until it is nearly or quite cold, and boil
it as _gently as possible_ for an hour in a well-buttered mould or basin
that will just hold it. Let it stand for five minutes at least before it
is turned out; dish it carefully, strew, and garnish it thickly with
branches of preserved barberries, or send it to table with a rich syrup
of fresh fruit, or with clear fruit-jelly, melted. We have had often a
_compôte_ (see Sweet Dishes, page 153) of currants, cherries, or plums
served, and greatly relished with this pudding, which we can recommend
to our readers as an extremely delicate one. The flavouring may be
varied with bitter almonds, lemon-rind, noyau, or aught else which may
be better liked than the vanilla.
New milk, 1 pint; vanilla, 1/2 pod: 20 minutes Cream, 1/2 pint; sugar, 3
oz.; yolks of eggs, 8: 1 hour.
_Obs._—The cook must be reminded that unless the eggs be stirred briskly
as the boiling milk is gradually poured to them, they will be likely to
curdle. A buttered paper should always be put over the basin before the
cloth is tied on, for all custard puddings.
COMMON CUSTARD PUDDING.
Whisk three eggs well, put them into a pint basin, and add to them
sufficient milk to fill it: then strain, flavour, and sweeten it with
fine sugar; boil the pudding very softly for an exact half hour, let it
stand a few minutes, dish, and serve it with sugar sifted over, and
sweet sauce in a tureen, or send stewed gooseberries, currants, or
cherries to table with it. A small quantity of lemon-brandy, or of
ratifia can be added, to give it flavour, when it is made, or the sugar
with which it is sweetened may be rasped on a lemon or an orange, then
crushed and dissolved in the milk; from an ounce and a half to two
ounces will be sufficient for general taste.
PRINCE ALBERT’S PUDDING.
Beat to a cream half a pound of fresh butter and mix with it by degrees
an equal weight of pounded loaf-sugar, dried and sifted; add to these,
after they have been well beaten together, first the yolks, and then the
whites of five fresh eggs, which have been thoroughly whisked apart; now
strew lightly in, half a pound of the finest flour, dried and sifted,
and last of all, half a pound of jar raisins, weighed after they are
stoned. Put these ingredients, perfectly mixed, into a well-buttered
mould, or floured cloth, and boil the pudding for three hours. Serve it
with punch sauce. We recommend a little pounded mace, or the grated rind
of a small lemon, to vary the flavour of this excellent pudding; and
that when a mould is used, slices of candied peel should be laid rather
thickly over it after it is buttered. Fresh butter, pounded sugar,
flour, stoned raisins, each 1/2 lb.; eggs, 5: 3 hours.
GERMAN PUDDING, AND SAUCE. (VERY GOOD.)
Stew, until very tender and dry, three ounces of whole rice in a pint
and a quarter of milk; when a little cooled, mix with it three ounces of
beef-suet finely chopped, two ounces and a half of sugar, an ounce of
candied orange or lemon-rind, six ounces of sultana raisins, and three
large eggs well beaten, and strained. Boil the pudding in a buttered
basin, or in a well-floured cloth, for two hours and a quarter, and
serve it with the following sauce:—Dissolve an ounce and a half of sugar
broken small in two glasses of sherry, or of any other white wine, and
stir them when quite hot, to the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs; then
stir the sauce in a small saucepan held high above the fire until it
resembles custard, but by no means allow it to boil, or it will
instantly curdle; pour it over the pudding, or, if preferred, send it to
table in a tureen. We think a full teaspoonful of lemon-juice added to
the wine an improvement to this sauce which is excellent; and we can
recommend the pudding to our readers.
Milk, 1-1/4 pint; rice, 3 oz.; 1 hour, or more. Suet, 3 oz.; sugar,
2-1/2 oz.; candied peel, 1 oz.; sultana raisins, 6 oz.; eggs, 3 large:
2-1/4 hours, Sauce: sherry, 2 glasses; sugar, 1-1/2 oz.; yolks of eggs,
3; little lemon-juice.
We have already, in a previous part of the volume, directed that the
German sauce should be milled to a fine froth, and poured upon the
pudding with which it is served: when this is not done, the quantity
should be increased.
THE WELCOME GUEST’S OWN PUDDING. (LIGHT AND WHOLESOME.)
(_Author’s Receipt._)
Pour, quite boiling, on four ounces of fine bread-crumbs, an exact
half-pint of new milk, or of thin cream; lay a plate over the basin and
let them remain until cold; then stir to them four ounces of dry crumbs
of bread, four of very finely minced beef-kidney suet, a small pinch of
salt, three ounces of coarsely crushed ratifias, three ounces of candied
citron and orange-rind sliced thin, and the grated rind of one large or
of two small lemons. Clear, and whisk four large eggs well, throw to
them by degrees four ounces of pounded sugar, and continue to whisk them
until it is dissolved, and they are very light; stir them to, and beat
them well up with the other ingredients; pour the mixture into a thickly
buttered mould, or basin which will contain nearly a quart, and which it
should fill to within half an inch of the brim; lay first a buttered
paper, then a well floured pudding-cloth over the top, tie them tightly
and very securely round, gather up and fasten the corners of the cloth,
and boil the pudding for two hours at the utmost. Let it stand for a
minute or two before it is dished, and serve it with simple wine sauce,
or with that which follows; or with pine-apple or any other _clear_
fruitsauce. (For these last, see page 405).
Boil very gently, for about ten minutes, a full quarter of a pint of
water, with the very thin rind of half a fresh lemon, and an ounce and a
half of lump sugar; then take out the lemon peel, and stir in a small
teaspoonful of arrow-root, smoothly mixed with the strained juice of the
lemon (with or without the addition of a little orange juice); take the
sauce from the fire, throw in nearly half a glass of pale French
brandy,[146] or substitute for this a large wineglassful of sherry, or
of any other white wine which may be preferred, but increase a little,
in that case, the proportion of arrow-root.
Footnote 146:
Maraschino, or any delicately flavoured liqueur, may be substituted
for this with much advantage.
To convert the preceding into _Sir Edwin Landseer’s pudding_, ornament
the mould tastefully with small leaves of thin citron-rind and split
muscatel raisins in a pattern, and strew the intermediate spaces with
well cleaned and well dried currants mingled with plenty of candied
orange or lemon-rind shred small. Pour gently in the above pudding
mixture, when quite cold, after having added one egg-yolk to it, and
steam or boil it the same length of time.
A CABINET PUDDING.
Split and stone three dozens of fine jar raisins, or take an equal
number of dried cherries, and place either of them regularly in a sort
of pattern, in a thickly-buttered plain quart mould or basin; next,
slice and lay into it three penny sponge-cakes; add to these two ounces
of ratifias, four macaroons, an ounce and a half of candied citron
sliced thin, the yolks of four eggs with the whites of three only,
thoroughly whisked, mixed with half a pint of new milk, then strained to
half a pint of sweet cream, and sweetened with two ounces and a half of
pounded sugar: these ought to fill the mould exactly. Steam the pudding,
or boil it very gently for one hour; let it stand a few minutes before
it is dished, that it may not break; and serve it with good wine or
brandy sauce.
Jar raisins, or dried cherries, 3 dozens (quart mould or basin); sponge
biscuits, 3; macaroons, 4; ratifias, 2 oz.; candied citron, 1-1/2 oz.;
yolks of 4 eggs, whites of 3; new milk, 1/2 pint; cream, 1/2 pint;
sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; steamed, or boiled, 1 hour.
_Obs._—We have given this receipt, for which we are indebted to a
friend, without any variation from the original, because on testing it
we have found it very exact with regard to quantity and time; but though
an extremely delicate and excellent pudding, a little flavouring would,
we think, improve it: a small portion of the milk may be omitted, and
its place supplied by ratifia, lemon-brandy, or aught else that is
preferred.
A VERY FINE CABINET PUDDING.
Butter thickly a mould of the same size as for the preceding pudding,
and ornament it tastefully with dried cherries, or with the finest
muscatel raisins opened and stoned; lay lightly into it a quarter-pound
of sponge biscuit cut in slices, and intermixed with an equal weight of
ratifias; sweeten with three ounces of sugar in lumps, and flavour
highly with vanilla, or with the thin rind of half a fine lemon, and six
sound bitter almonds bruised (should these be preferred), three-quarters
of a pint, or rather more, of thin cream, or of cream and new milk
mixed; strain and pour this hot to the well-beaten yolks of six eggs and
the whites of two, and when the mixture is nearly cold, throw in
gradually a wineglassful of good brandy; pour it gently, and by degrees,
into the mould, and steam or boil the pudding very softly for an hour.
Serve it with well made wine sauce. Never omit a buttered paper over any
sort of custard-mixture; and remember that quick boiling will destroy
the good appearance of this kind of pudding. The liquid should be quite
cold before it is added to the cakes, or the butter on the mould would
melt off, and the decorations with it; preserved ginger, and candied
citron in slices, may be used to vary these, and the syrup of the former
may be added to give flavour to the other ingredients.
Dried cherries, 3 to 4 oz.; sponge-biscuits, 1/4 lb.; ratifias, 4 oz.;
thin cream, or cream and milk, 3/4 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; vanilla, 1/2 pod
(or thin rind of 1/2 lemon and 6 bitter almonds bruised); yolks of 6
eggs, whites of 2; brandy, 1 wineglassful (preserved ginger and candied
citron at choice): steamed, or gently boiled, 1 hour.
SNOWDON PUDDING.
(_Genuine Receipt._)
Ornament a well buttered mould or basin with some fine raisins split
open and stoned, but not divided, pressing the cut side on the butter to
make them adhere; next, mix half a pound of _very_ finely minced
beef-kidney suet, with half a pound of bread-crumbs, and an ounce and a
half of rice-flour, a pinch of salt, and six ounces of lemon marmalade,
or of orange when the lemon cannot be procured; add six ounces of pale
brown sugar, six thoroughly whisked eggs, and the grated rinds of two
lemons. Beat the whole until all the ingredients are perfectly mixed,
pour it gently into the mould, cover it with a buttered paper and a
floured cloth, and boil it for one hour and a half. It will turn out
remarkably well if carefully prepared. Half the quantity given above
will fill a mould or basin which will contain rather more than a pint,
and will be sufficiently boiled in ten minutes less than an hour. To
many tastes a slight diminution in the proportion of suet would be an
improvement to the pudding; and the substitution of pounded sugar for
the brown, might likewise be considered so. Both the suet and eggs used
for it, should be as fresh as possible.
This pudding is constantly served to travellers at the hotel at the foot
of the mountain from which it derives its name. It is probably well
known to many of our readers in consequence. Wine sauce, arrow-root,
German sauce, or any other of the sweet pudding sauces to be found in
the preceding pages of this chapter, may be poured over, or sent to
table with it.
VERY GOOD RAISIN PUDDINGS.
To three quarters of a pound of flour add four ounces of fine crumbs of
bread, one pound of beef-suet, a pound and six ounces of raisins,
weighed after they are stoned, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt,
rather more of ginger, half a nutmeg, an ounce and a half of candied
peel, and four large or five small eggs beaten, strained, and mixed with
a cupful of milk, or as much more as will make the whole of the
consistence of a _very_ thick batter. Pour the mixture into a
well-floured cloth of close texture, which has previously been dipped
into hot water, wrung, and shaken out. Boil the pudding in plenty of
water for four hours and a half. It may be served with very sweet wine,
or punch sauce; but if made as we have directed, will be much lighter
than if sugar be mixed with the other ingredients before it is boiled;
and we have found it generally preferred to a richer plum-pudding.
No. 1. Flour, 3/4 lb.; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; beef-suet, 1 lb.; stoned
raisins, 1 lb. 6 oz.; candied peel, 1-1/2 oz.; 1/2 nutmeg; eggs, 4
large, or 5 small; little salt and ginger: 4-1/2 hours.
_Superior Raisin Pudding._—No. 2. Bread-crumbs and flour each 4 oz.;
suet, 12 oz.; _stoned_ raisins, 1 lb.; salt, third of saltspoonful; 1/2
nutmeg; ginger, 1/2 teaspoonful; half as much mace; sugar, 4 oz.;
candied citron or orange-rind, 2 oz.; eggs, 4; milk or brandy, 3 to 5
tablespoonsful: to be well mixed and beaten together and boiled 4 hours.
_Obs._—The remains of this pudding will answer well for the receipt
which follows. Sultana raisins can be used for it instead of Malaga, but
they are not so sweet.
THE ELEGANT ECONOMIST’S PUDDING.
Butter thickly a plain mould or basin, and line it entirely with slices
of cold plum or raisin pudding, cut so as to join closely and neatly
together; fill it quite with a good custard; lay, first a buttered
paper, and then a floured cloth over it, tie them securely, and boil the
pudding gently for an hour; let it stand for ten minutes after it is
taken up before it is turned out of the mould. This is a more tasteful
mode of serving the remains of a plum-pudding than the usual one of
broiling them in slices, or converting them into fritters. The German
sauce, well milled or frothed, is generally much relished with sweet
boiled puddings, and adds greatly to their good appearance; but common
wine or punch sauce, may be sent to table with the above quite as
appropriately.
Mould or basin holding 1-1/2 pint, lined with thin slices of
plum-pudding; 3/4 pint new milk boiled gently 5 minutes with grain of
salt, 5 bitter almonds, bruised; sugar in lumps, 2-1/2 oz.; thin rind of
1/2 lemon, strained and mixed directly with 4 large well-beaten eggs;
poured into mould while just warm; boiled gently 1 hour.
PUDDING À LA SCOONES.
Take of apples finely minced, and of currants, six ounces each; of suet,
chopped small, sultana raisins, picked from the stalks, and sugar, four
ounces each, with three ounces of fine bread-crumbs, the grated rind,
and the strained juice of a small lemon, three well-beaten eggs, and two
spoonsful of brandy. Mix these ingredients perfectly, and boil the
pudding for two hours in a buttered basin; sift sugar over it when it is
sent to table, and serve wine or punch sauce apart.
INGOLDSBY CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS.
Mix very thoroughly one pound of finely-grated bread with the same
quantity of flour, two pounds of raisins stoned, two of currants, two of
suet minced small, one of sugar, half a pound of candied peel, one
nutmeg, half an ounce of mixed spice, and the grated rinds of two
lemons; mix the whole with sixteen eggs well beaten and strained, and
add four glasses of brandy. These proportions will make three puddings
of good size, each of which should be boiled six hours.
Bread-crumbs, 1 lb.; flour, 1 lb.; suet, 2 lbs.; currants, 2 lbs.;
raisins, 2 lbs.; sugar, 1 lb.; candied peel, 1/2 lb.; rinds of lemons,
2; nutmegs, 1; mixed spice, 1/2 oz.; salt, 1/4 teaspoonsful; eggs, 16;
brandy, 4 glassesful: 6 hours.
_Obs._—A fourth part of the ingredients given above, will make a pudding
of sufficient size for a small party: to render this _very rich_, half
the flour and bread-crumbs may be omitted, and a few spoonsful of
apricot marmalade well blended with the remainder of the mixture.[147]
Footnote 147:
Rather less liquid will be required to moisten the pudding when this
is done, and four hours and a quarter will boil it.
SMALL AND VERY LIGHT PLUM PUDDING.
With three ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf finely grated and soaked
in a quarter of a pint of boiling milk, mix six ounces of suet minced
very small, one ounce of dry bread-crumbs, ten ounces of stoned raisins,
a little salt, the grated rind of a china-orange, and three eggs,
leaving out one white. Boil the pudding for two hours and serve it with
very sweet sauce; put no sugar in it.
VEGETABLE PLUM PUDDING.
(_Cheap and good._)
Mix well together one pound of smoothly-mashed potatoes, half a pound of
carrots boiled quite tender, and beaten to a paste, one pound of flour,
one of currants, and one of raisins (full weight after they are stoned),
three quarters of a pound of sugar, eight ounces of suet, one nutmeg,
and a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt. Put the pudding into a
well-floured cloth, tie it up very closely, and boil it for four hours.
The correspondent to whom we are indebted for this receipt says, that
the cost of the ingredients does not exceed half a crown, and that the
pudding is of sufficient size for a party of sixteen persons. We can
vouch for its excellence, but as it is rather apt to break when turned
out of the cloth, a couple of eggs would perhaps improve it. It is
excellent cold. Sweetmeats, brandy, and spices can be added at pleasure.
Mashed potatoes, 1 lb.; carrots, 8 oz.; flour, 1 lb.; suet, 1/2 lb.;
sugar, 3/4 lb.; currants and raisins, 1 lb. each; nutmeg, 1; little
salt. 4 hours.
THE AUTHOR’S CHRISTMAS PUDDING.
To three ounces of flour and the same weight of fine, lightly-grated
bread-crumbs, add six of beef kidney-suet, chopped small, six of raisins
weighed after they are stoned, six of well-cleaned currants, four ounces
of minced apples, five of sugar, two of candied orange rind, half a
teaspoonful of nutmeg mixed with pounded mace, a very little salt, a
small glass of brandy, and three whole eggs. Mix and beat these
ingredients well together, tie them tightly in a thickly-floured cloth,
and boil them for three hours and a half. We can recommend this as a
remarkably light small rich pudding: it may be served with German, wine,
or punch sauce.
Flour, 3 oz.; bread-crumbs, 3 oz.; suet, stoned raisins, and currants,
each, 6 oz.; minced apples, 4 oz.; sugar, 5 oz.; candied peel, 2 oz.;
spice, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, few grains; brandy, small wineglassful;
eggs, 3; 3-1/2 hours.
A KENTISH WELL PUDDING.
Make into a firm smooth paste, with cold water, one pound of flour, six
ounces of finely-minced beef-suet, three quarters of a pound of
currants, and a small pinch of salt, thoroughly mixed together. Form
into a ball six ounces of good butter, and enclose it securely in about
a third of the paste (rolled to a half inch of thickness), in the same
way that an apple-dumpling is made; roll out the remainder of the paste,
and place the portion containing the butter in the centre of it, with
the part where the edge was drawn together turned downwards: gather the
outer crust round it, and after having moistened the edge, close it with
great care. Tie the pudding tightly in a well-floured cloth, and boil it
for two hours and a half. It must be dished with caution that it may not
break, and a small bit must be cut directly from the top, as in a meat
pudding. (_See page_ 400).
This is a very favourite pudding in some parts of England; the only
difficulty in making or in serving it, is to prevent the escape of the
butter, which, if properly secured, will be found in a liquid state in
the inside, on opening it. Some timid cooks fold it in three coverings
of paste, the better to guard against its bursting through; but there is
no danger of this if the edges of the crust be well closed. When suet is
objected to, seven ounces of butter may be substituted for it. The
currants are occasionally omitted.
Flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz.; currants, 3/4 lb.; salt, small pinch; ball of
butter 6 oz.: 2-1/2 hours.
ROLLED PUDDING.
Roll out thin a bit of light puff paste, or a good suet crust, and
spread equally over it to within an inch of the edge, any kind of fruit
jam. Orange marmalade, and mincemeat make excellent varieties of this
pudding, and a deep layer of fine brown sugar, flavoured with the grated
rind and strained juice of one very large, or of two small, lemons,
answers for it extremely well. Roll it up carefully, pinch the paste
together at the ends, fold a cloth round, secure it well at the ends,
and boil the pudding from one to two hours, according to its size and
the nature of the ingredients. Half a pound of flour made into a paste
with suet or butter, and covered with preserve, will be quite
sufficiently boiled in an hour and a quarter.
A BREAD PUDDING.
Sweeten a pint of new milk with three ounces of fine sugar, throw in a
few grains of salt, and pour it boiling on half a pound of fine and
lightly-grated bread-crumbs; add an ounce of fresh butter, and cover
them with a plate; let them remain for half an hour or more, and then
stir to them four large well-whisked eggs, and a flavouring of nutmeg or
of lemon-rind; pour the mixture into a thickly-buttered mould or basin,
which holds a pint and a half, and which ought to be quite full; tie a
paper and a cloth tightly over, and boil the pudding for exactly an hour
and ten minutes. This is quite a plain receipt, but by omitting two
ounces of the bread, and adding more butter, one egg, a small glass of
brandy, the grated rind of a lemon, and as much sugar as will sweeten
the whole richly, a very excellent pudding will be obtained; candied
orange-peel also has a good effect when sliced thinly into it; and half
a pound of currants is generally considered a further improvement.
New milk, 1 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; salt, few grains; bread-crumbs, 1/2 lb.;
eggs, 4 (5, if very small); nutmeg or lemon-rind at pleasure: 1 hour and
10 minutes.
Or: milk, 1 pint; bread-crumbs, 6 oz.; butter, 2 to 3 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.;
eggs, 5; brandy, small glassful; rind, 1 lemon. Further additions at
choice: candied peel, 1-1/2 oz.; currants, 1/2 lb.
A BROWN BREAD PUDDING.
To half a pound of stale brown bread, finely and lightly grated, add an
equal weight of suet chopped small, and of currants cleaned and dried,
with half a saltspoonful of salt, three ounces of sugar, the third of a
small nutmeg grated, two ounces of candied peel, five well-beaten eggs,
and a glass of brandy. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and boil the
pudding in a cloth for three hours and a half. Send port wine sauce to
table with it. The grated rind of a large lemon may be added to this
pudding with good effect.
Brown bread, suet, and currants, each 8 oz.; sugar, 3 oz.; candied peel,
2 oz.; salt, 1/2 saltspoonful; 1/3 of small nutmeg; eggs, 5; brandy, 1
wineglassful: 3-1/2 hours.
A GOOD BOILED RICE PUDDING.
Swell gradually,[148] and boil until quite soft and thick, four ounces
and a half of whole rice in a pint and a half of new milk; sweeten them
with from three to four ounces of sugar, broken small, and stir to them
while they are still quite hot, the grated rind of half a large lemon,
four or five bitter almonds, pounded to a paste, and four large
well-whisked eggs; let the mixture cool, and then pour it into a
thickly-buttered basin, or mould, which should be quite full; tie a
buttered paper and a floured cloth over it, and boil the pudding exactly
an hour; let it stand for two or three minutes before it is turned out,
and serve it with sweet sauce, fruit syrup, or a _compôte_ of fresh
fruit. An ounce and a half of candied orange-rind will improve it much,
and a couple of ounces of butter may be added to enrich it, when the
receipt without is considered too simple. It is _excellent_ when made
with milk highly flavoured with cocoa-nut, or with vanilla.
Footnote 148:
That is to say, put the rice into the milk while cold, heat it
_slowly_, and let it only simmer until it is done.
Whole rice, 4-1/2 oz.; new milk (or cocoa-nut-flavoured milk), 1-1/2
pint; sugar, 3 to 4 oz.; salt, a few grains; bitter almonds, 4 to 6;
rind of 1/2 lemon; eggs, 4: boiled 1 hour.
CHEAP RICE PUDDING.
Wash six ounces of rice, mix it with three quarters of a pound of
raisins, tie them in a well-floured cloth, giving them plenty of room to
swell; boil them exactly an hour and three quarters, and serve the
pudding with very sweet sauce: this is a nice dish for the nursery. A
pound of apples pared, cored, and quartered, will also make a very
wholesome pudding, mixed with the rice, and boiled from an hour and a
quarter to an hour and a half; and _sultana_ raisins and rice will give
another good variety of this simple pudding.
Rice, 6 oz.; raisins, 1/2 lb.: 2 hours. Or, rice, 6 oz.; apples, 1 lb.:
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour.
RICE AND GOOSEBERRY PUDDING.
Spread six ounces of rice equally over a moist and well-floured
pudding-cloth, and place on it a pint of green gooseberries, measured
after the heads and stalks have been taken off. Gather the cloth up
carefully round the fruit, give room for the rice to swell, and boil the
pudding for an hour and a quarter. Very sweet sauce, or plenty of sugar,
should be eaten with it.
Rice, 6 oz.; green gooseberries, 1 pint: 1-1/2 hour.
FASHIONABLE APPLE DUMPLINGS.
These are boiled in small _knitted_ or closely-netted cloths (the former
have, we think, the prettiest effect), which give quite an ornamental
appearance to an otherwise homely dish. Take out the cores without
dividing the apples, which should be large, and of a good boiling kind,
and fill the cavities with orange or lemon marmalade; enclose them in a
good crust rolled thin, draw the cloths round them, tie them closely,
and boil them for three quarters of an hour. Lemon dumplings may be
boiled in the same way.
3/4 to 1 hour, if the apples be _not_ of the best boiling kind.
ORANGE SNOW-BALLS.
Take out the unhusked grains, and wash well half a pound of rice; put it
into plenty of water, and boil it rather quickly for ten minutes; drain
and let it cool. Pare four large, or five small oranges, and clear from
them entirely the thick white inner skin; spread the rice, in as many
equal portions as there are oranges, upon some pudding or dumpling
cloths; tie the fruit separately in these, and boil the snow-balls for
an hour and a half; turn them carefully on to a dish, and strew plenty
of sifted sugar over them. The oranges carefully pared may be enclosed
in a thin paste and boiled for the same time. Rice, 8 oz.; China
oranges, 5: 1-1/2 hour.
APPLE SNOW-BALLS.
Pare and core some large pudding-apples, without dividing them, prepare
the rice as in the foregoing receipt, enclose them in it, and boil them
for one hour: ten minutes less will be sufficient should the fruit be
but of moderate size. An agreeable addition to them is a slice of fresh
butter, mixed with as much sugar as can be smoothly blended with it, and
a flavouring of powdered cinnamon, or of nutmeg: this must be sent to
table apart from them, not in the dish.
LIGHT CURRANT DUMPLINGS.
For each dumpling take three tablespoonsful of flour, two of
finely-minced suet, and three of currants, a slight pinch of salt, and
as much milk or water as will make a _very_ thick batter of the
ingredients. Tie the dumplings in well-floured cloths, and boil them for
a full hour: they may be served with very sweet wine sauce.
LEMON DUMPLINGS. (LIGHT AND GOOD.)
Mix, with ten ounces of fine bread-crumbs, half a pound of beef suet,
chopped extremely small, one large tablespoonful of flour, the grated
rinds of two small lemons, or of a very large one, four ounces of
pounded sugar, three large or four small eggs beaten and strained, and
last of all, the juice of the lemons, or part of it, also strained.
Divide these into four equal portions, tie them in well-floured cloths,
and boil them an hour. The dumplings will be extremely light and
delicate: if wished _very_ sweet, more sugar must be added to them. The
syrup of preserved ginger would be both a wholesome and appropriate
sauce for them.
SUFFOLK, OR HARD DUMPLINGS.
Mix a little salt with some flour, and make it into a smooth and rather
lithe paste, with cold water or skimmed milk; form it into dumplings,
and throw them into boiling water: in half an hour they will be ready to
serve. A better kind of dumpling is made by adding sufficient milk to
the flour to form a thick batter, and then tying the dumplings in small
well-floured cloths. In Suffolk farmhouses, they are served with the
dripping-pan gravy of roast meat, and they are sometimes made very small
indeed, and boiled with stewed shin of beef.
NORFOLK DUMPLINGS.
Take a pound of dough from a baking of very light white bread, and
divide it into six equal parts; mould these into dumplings, drop them
into a pan of fast boiling water, and boil them quickly from twelve to
fifteen minutes. Send them to table the _instant_ they are dished, with
wine sauce or raspberry vinegar. In some counties they are eaten with
melted butter, well sweetened, and mixed with a little vinegar. They
must never be cut, but should be torn apart with a couple of forks.
SWEET BOILED PATTIES. (GOOD.)
Mix into a very smooth paste, three ounces of finely-minced suet with
eight of flour, and a light pinch of salt; divide it into fourteen balls
of equal size, roll them out quite thin and round, moisten the edges,
put a little preserve into each, close the patties very securely to
prevent its escape, throw them into a pan of boiling water, and in from
ten to twelve minutes lift them out, and serve them instantly.
Butter-crust may be used for them instead of suet but it will not be so
light.
Flour, 8 oz.; suet, 3 oz.; _little_ salt; divided into fourteen
portions: boiled 10 to 12 minutes.
BOILED RICE TO BE SERVED WITH STEWED FRUITS, PRESERVES, OR RASPBERRY
VINEGAR.
Take out the discoloured grains from half a pound of good rice; and wash
it in several waters; tie it very loosely in a pudding cloth, put it
into cold water; heat it slowly, and boil it for quite an hour, it will
then be quite solid and resemble a pudding in appearance. Sufficient
room must be given to allow the grain to swell to its full size, or it
will be hard; but too much space will render the whole watery. With a
little experience, the cook will easily ascertain the exact degree to be
allowed for it. Four ounces of rice will require quite three quarters of
an hour’s boiling; a little more or less of time will sometimes be
needed, from the difference of quality in the grain. It should be put
into an abundant quantity of water, which should be cold and then very
slowly heated.
Carolina rice, 1/2 lb.: boiled 1 hour. 4 oz.: 3/4 hour.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXI.
=Baked Puddings.=
[Illustration:
Pudding garnished with Preserves.
]
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
[Illustration:
Baked Pudding Mould.
]
WE have little to add here to the remarks which will be found at the
commencement of the preceding Chapter, as they will apply equally to the
preparation of these and of boiled puddings.
All of the custard kind, whether made of eggs and milk only, or of sago,
arrow-root, rice, ground or in grain, vermicelli, &c., require a very
gentle oven, and are spoiled by fast-baking. Those made of batter on the
contrary, should be put into one sufficiently brisk to raise them
quickly but without scorching them. Such as contain suet and raisins
must have a well-heated but not a fierce oven; for as they must remain
long in it to be thoroughly done, unless carefully managed they will
either be much too highly coloured or too dry.
By whisking to a solid froth the whites of the eggs used for any
pudding, and stirring them softly into it at the instant of placing it
in the oven it will be rendered exceedingly light, and will rise very
high in the dish; but as it will partake then of the nature of a
_soufflé_, it must be despatched with great expedition to table from the
oven, or it will become flat before it is served.
When a pudding is sufficiently browned on the surface (that is to say,
of a fine equal amber-colour) before it is baked through, a sheet of
writing paper should be laid over it, but not before it is _set_: when
quite firm in the centre it will be done.
Potato, batter, plum, and every other kind of pudding indeed which is
sufficiently solid to allow of it, should be turned on to a clean hot
dish from the one in which it is baked, and strewed with sifted sugar
before it is sent to table.
Minute directions for the preparation and management of each particular
variety of pudding will be found in the receipt for it.
A BAKED PLUM PUDDING EN MOULE, OR MOULDED.
Mingle thoroughly in a large pan or bowl half a pound of the nicest
beef-kidney suet minced very small, half a pound of carefully stoned
raisins, as many currants, four ounces of pounded sugar, half a pound of
flour, two ounces of candied citron and lemon or orange rind, four large
well whisked eggs, a small cup of milk, a glass of brandy, a tiny pinch
of salt, and some nutmeg or powdered ginger. Beat the whole up lightly,
pour it into a well-buttered mould or cake-tin and bake it in a moderate
oven from an hour and a half to two hours. Turn it from the mould and
send it quickly to table with _Devonshire cream_, or melted apricot
marmalade for sauce.
THE PRINTER’S PUDDING.
Grate very lightly six ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf, and put it
into a deep dish. Dissolve in a quart of cold new milk four ounces of
good Lisbon sugar; add it to five large, well-whisked eggs, strain, and
mix them with the bread-crumbs; stir in two ounces of a fresh
finely-grated cocoa-nut; add a flavouring of nutmeg or of lemon-rind,
and the slightest pinch of salt; let the pudding stand for a couple of
hours to soak the bread; and bake it in a gentle oven for three-quarters
of an hour: it will be excellent if carefully made, and not too quickly
baked. When the cocoa-nut is not at hand, an ounce of butter just
dissolved, should be poured over the dish before the crumbs are put into
it; and the rind of an entire lemon may be used to give it flavour; but
the cocoa-nut imparts a peculiar richness when it is good and fresh.
Bread-crumbs, 6 oz.; new milk, 1 quart; sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 5;
cocoa-nut, 2 oz. (or rind, 1 large lemon, and 1 oz. butter); slightest
pinch of salt: to stand 2 hours. Baked in gentle oven full 3/4 hour.
_Obs_.—When a very sweet pudding is liked, the proportion of sugar may
be increased.
ALMOND PUDDING.
On two ounces of fine bread-crumbs pour a pint of boiling cream, and let
them remain until nearly cold, then mix them very gradually with half a
pound of sweet and six bitter almonds pounded to the smoothest paste,
with a little orange-flower water, or with a few drops of spring water,
just to prevent their oiling; stir to them by degrees the well-beaten
yolks of seven and the whites of three eggs, six ounces of sifted sugar,
and four of clarified butter; turn the mixture into a very clean
stewpan, and stir it without ceasing over a slow fire until it becomes
thick, but on no account allow it to boil. When it is tolerably cool add
a glass of brandy, or half a one of noyau, pour the pudding into a dish
lined with very thin puff paste, and bake it half an hour in a moderate
oven.
Bread-crumbs, 2 oz.; cream, 1 pint; pounded almonds, 1/2 lb.; bitter
almonds, 6; yolks of 7, whites of 3 eggs; sugar, 6 oz.; butter, 4 oz.;
brandy, 1 wineglassful, or 1/2 glass of noyau: 1/2 hour, moderate oven.
THE YOUNG WIFE’S PUDDING.
(_Author’s Receipt._)
Break separately into a cup four perfectly sweet eggs, and with the
point of a small three-pronged fork clear them from the specks. Throw
them, as they are done, into a large basin, or a bowl, and beat them up
lightly for four or five minutes, then add by degrees two ounces and a
half of pounded sugar, with a very small pinch of salt, and whisk the
mixture well, holding the fork rather loosely between the thumb and
fingers; next, grate in the rind of a quite fresh lemon, or substitute
for it a tablespoonful of lemon-brandy, or of orange-flower water, which
should be thrown in by degrees, and stirred briskly to the eggs. Add a
pint of cold new milk, and pour the pudding into a well buttered dish.
Slice some stale bread, something more than a quarter of an inch thick,
and with a very small cake-cutter cut sufficient rounds from it to cover
the top of the pudding; butter them thickly with good butter; lay them,
with the dry side undermost, upon the pudding, sift sugar thickly on
them, and set the dish gently into a Dutch or American oven, which
should be placed at the distance of a foot or more from a moderate fire.
An hour of _very slow_ baking will be just sufficient to render the
pudding firm throughout; but should the fire be fierce, or the oven
placed too near it, the receipt will fail.
_Obs._—We give minute directions for this dish, because though simple,
it is very delicate and good, and the same instructions will serve for
all the varieties of it which follow. The cook who desires to succeed
with them, must take the trouble to regulate properly the heat of the
oven in which they are baked. When it is necessary to place them in that
of the kitchen-range the door should be left open for a time to cool it
down (should it be very hot), before they are placed in it; and they may
be set upon a plate or dish reversed, if the iron should still remain
greatly heated.
THE GOOD DAUGHTER’S MINCEMEAT PUDDING.
(_Author’s Receipt._)
Lay into a rather deep tart-dish some thin slices of French roll very
slightly spread with butter and covered with a thick layer of mincemeat;
place a second tier lightly on these, covered in the same way with the
mincemeat; then pour gently in a custard made with three well-whisked
eggs, three-quarters of a pint of new milk or thin cream, the slightest
pinch of salt, and two ounces of sugar. Let the pudding stand to soak
for an hour, then bake it gently until it is quite firm in the centre:
this will be in from three-quarters of an hour to a full hour.
MRS. HOWITT’S PUDDING.
(_Author’s Receipt._)
Butter lightly, on both sides, some evenly cut slices of roll, or of
light bread freed from crust, and spread the tops thickly but uniformly
with good orange-marmalade. Prepare as much only in this way as will
cover the surface of the pudding without the edges of the bread
overlaying each other, as this would make it sink to the bottom of the
dish. Add the same custard as for the mincemeat-pudding, but flavour it
with French brandy only. Let it stand for an hour, then place it gently
in a slow oven and bake it until it is quite _set_, but no longer. It is
an excellent and delicate pudding when properly baked; but like all
which are composed in part of custard, it will be spoiled by a fierce
degree of heat. The bread should be of a light clear brown, and the
custard, under it, smooth and firm. This may be composed, at choice, of
the yolks of four and whites of two eggs, thoroughly whisked, first
without and then with two tablespoonsful of fine sugar; to these the
milk or cream may then be added.
AN EXCELLENT LEMON PUDDING.
Beat well together four ounces of fresh butter creamed, and eight of
sifted sugar; to these add gradually the yolks of six and the whites of
two eggs, with the grated rind and the strained juice of one large
lemon:—this last must be added by slow degrees, and stirred briskly to
the other ingredients. Bake the pudding in a dish lined with very thin
puff-paste for three-quarters of an hour, in a slow oven.
Butter, 4 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; yolks of 6, whites of 2 eggs; large
lemon, 1: 3/4 hour, slow oven.
LEMON SUET PUDDING.
To half a pound of finely grated bread-crumbs, add six ounces of fresh
beef-kidney suet, free from skin, and minced very small, a quarter of a
pound of castor sugar, six ounces of currants, the grated rind and the
strained juice of a _large_ lemon, and four full-sized or five small
well-beaten eggs; pour these ingredients into a thickly-buttered pan,
and bake the pudding for an hour in a brisk oven, but draw it towards
the mouth when it is of a fine brown colour. Turn it from the dish
before it is served, and strew sifted sugar over it or not, at pleasure:
two ounces more of suet can be added when a larger proportion is liked.
The pudding is very good without the currants.
Bread-crumbs, 8 oz.; beef-suet, 6 oz.; pounded sugar, 3-1/2 oz.; lemon,
1 _large_; currants, 6 oz.; eggs, 4 large, or 5 small: 1 hour, brisk
oven.
BAKEWELL PUDDING.
This pudding is famous not only in Derbyshire, but in several of our
northern counties, where it is usually served on all holiday-occasions.
Line a shallow tart-dish with quite an inch-deep layer of several kinds
of good preserve mixed together, and intermingle with them from two to
three ounces of candied citron or orange-rind. Beat well the yolks of
ten eggs, and add to them gradually half a pound of sifted sugar; when
they are well mixed, pour in by degrees half a pound of good clarified
butter, and a little ratifia or any other flavour that may be preferred;
fill the dish two-thirds full with this mixture, and bake the pudding
for nearly an hour in a moderate oven. Half the quantity will be
sufficient for a small dish.
Mixed preserves, 1-1/2 to 2 lbs.; yolks of eggs, 10; sugar, 1/2 lb.;
butter, 1/2 lb.; ratifia, lemon-brandy, or other flavouring, to the
taste: baked, moderate oven, 3/4 to 1 hour.
_Obs._—This is a rich and expensive, but not very refined pudding. A
variation of it, known in the south as an Alderman’s Pudding, is we
think, superior to it. It is made without the candied peel, and with a
layer of apricot-jam only, six ounces of butter, six of sugar, the yolks
of six, and the whites of two eggs.
RATIFIA PUDDING.
Flavour a pint and a half of new milk rather highly with bitter almonds,
blanched and bruised, or, should their use be objected to, with three or
four bay leaves and a little cinnamon; add a few grains of salt, and
from four to six ounces of sugar in lumps, according to the taste. When
the whole has simmered gently for some minutes, strain off the milk
through a fine sieve or muslin, put it into a clean saucepan, and when
it again boils stir it gradually and quickly to six well-beaten eggs
which have been likewise strained; let the mixture cool, and then add to
it a glass of brandy. Lay a half-paste round a well-buttered dish, and
sprinkle into it an ounce of ratifias finely crumbled, grate the rind of
a lemon over, and place three ounces of whole ratifias upon them, pour
in sufficient of the custard to soak them; an hour afterwards add the
remainder, and send the pudding to a gentle oven: half an hour will bake
it.
New milk, 1-1/2 pint; bitter almonds, 6 or 7 (or bay leaves, 3 to 5, and
bit of cinnamon); sugar, 4 to 6 oz.; eggs, 6; brandy, 1 wineglassful;
ratifias, 4 oz.; rind 1/2 lemon: baked 1/2 hour.
THE ELEGANT ECONOMIST’S PUDDING.
We have already given a receipt for an exceedingly good boiled pudding
bearing this title, but we think the baked one answers even better, and
it is made with rather more facility. Butter a deep tart-dish well, cut
the slices of plum-pudding to join exactly in lining it, and press them
against it lightly to make them adhere, as without this precaution they
are apt to float off; pour in as much custard (previously thickened and
left to become cold), or any other sweet pudding mixture, as will fill
the dish almost to the brim; cover the top with thin slices of the plum
pudding, and bake it in a slow oven from thirty minutes to a full hour,
according to the quantity and quality of the contents. One pint of new
milk poured boiling on an ounce and a half of _tous-les-mois_, smoothly
mixed with a quarter of a pint of cold milk, makes with the addition of
four ounces of sugar, four small eggs, a little lemon-grate, and two or
three bitter almonds, or a few drops of ratifia, an excellent pudding of
this kind; it should be baked nearly three-quarters of an hour in a
quite slow oven. Two ounces and a half of arrow-root may be used in lieu
of the _tous-les-mois_.
RICH BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.
Give a good flavour of lemon-rind and bitter almonds, or of cinnamon, if
preferred, to a pint of new milk, and when it has simmered a sufficient
time for this, strain and mix it with a quarter of a pint of rich cream;
sweeten it with four ounces of sugar in lumps, and stir it while still
hot to five well-beaten eggs; throw in a few grains of salt, and move
the mixture briskly with a spoon as a glass of brandy is added to it.
Have ready in a thickly-buttered dish three layers of thin bread and
butter cut from a half-quartern loaf, with four ounces of currants, and
one and a half of finely shred candied peel, strewed between and over
them; pour the eggs and milk on them by degrees, letting the bread
absorb one portion before another is added: it should soak for a couple
of hours before the pudding is taken to the oven, which should be a
moderate one. Half an hour will bake it. It is very good when made with
new milk only; and some persons use no more than a pint of liquid in
all, but part of the whites of the eggs may then be omitted. Cream may
be substituted for the entire quantity of milk at pleasure.
New milk, 1 pint; rind of small lemon, and 6 bitter almonds bruised (or
1/2 drachm of cinnamon): simmered 10 to 20 minutes. Cream, 1/4 pint;
sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 6; brandy, 1 wineglassful. Bread and butter, 3
layers; currants, 4 oz.; candied orange or lemon-rind, 1-1/2 oz.: to
stand 2 hours, and to be baked 30 minutes in a moderate oven.
COMMON BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.
Sweeten a pint and a half of milk with four ounces of Lisbon sugar; stir
it to four large well-beaten eggs, or to five small ones, grate half a
nutmeg to them, and pour the mixture into a dish which holds nearly
three pints, and which is filled almost to the brim with layers of bread
and butter, between which three ounces of currants have been strewed.
Lemon-grate, or orange-flower water can be added to this pudding instead
of nutmeg, when preferred. From three quarters of an hour to an hour
will bake it.
Milk, 1-1/2 pint; Lisbon sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 4 large, or 5 small; 1/2
small nutmeg; currants, 3 oz.: baked 3/4 to 1 hour.
A GOOD BAKED BREAD PUDDING.
Pour, quite boiling, on six ounces (or three quarters of a pint) of fine
bread-crumbs and one ounce of butter, a pint of new milk, cover them
closely, and let them stand until the bread is well soaked; then stir to
them three ounces of sugar, five eggs, leaving out two of the whites,
two ounces of candied orange-rind, sliced thin, and a flavouring of
nutmeg; when the mixture is nearly or quite cold pour it into a dish,
and place lightly over the top the whites of three eggs beaten to a firm
froth, and mixed at the instant with three large tablespoonsful of
sifted sugar. Bake the pudding for half an hour in a moderate oven. The
icing may be omitted, and an ounce and a half of butter, just warmed,
put into the dish before the pudding, and plenty of sugar sifted over it
just as it is sent to the oven, or it may be made without either.
Bread, 6 oz.; butter, 1 oz.; milk, 1 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; eggs, 5 yolks,
3 whites; candied orange-rind, 2 oz.; little nutmeg. Icing, 3 whites of
eggs; sugar, 3 tablespoonsful: baked, 1/2 hour.
ANOTHER BAKED BREAD PUDDING.
Add to a pint of new milk a quarter of a pint of good cream, and pour
them boiling on eight ounces of bread-crumbs, and three of fresh butter;
when these have stood half an hour covered with a plate, stir to them
four ounces of sugar, six ounces of currants, one and a half of candied
orange or citron, and five eggs.
A GOOD SEMOULINA, OR SOUJEE PUDDING.