Chapter XX: =Boiled Puddings.= (1)

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

Pudding Mould.
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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.