Chapter X: Part 10

Squeeze with your fingers the pulp from each grape. Put the pulps on the fire, and boil them until they are tender; then press them through a colander, so that the seeds may be taken out; now add the skins to the pulps and juice. Put a cupful of sugar to each cupful of fruit, and boil all together until of a thick consistency. Green-grape preserves are also nice. In managing the green grapes, halve them, and extract the seeds with a small knife. Put also a cupful of sugar to a cupful of fruit. Many prefer the green to the ripe grape preserves.

APPLE GINGER.

Boil ginger-root, tied in a thin muslin bag, in clear water until the water is well flavored; make a sirup of this water and sugar, adding to it a little lemon-juice, and allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of apples. When the sirup is skimmed clear, boil in it a few quarters of the apples at a time, until they become clear--no longer. Replace the apples in the sirup when it becomes cold. The golden pippins should be used. This preserve can be made without ginger.

CANDIED FRUITS.

Boil peaches, plums, pears, apricots, cherries, or almost any fruit dressed, in a thick sirup made with a tea-cupful of water to each pound of sugar, until tender--no longer. Let them remain two days in the sirup; then take them out, drain them, and sprinkle sugar over each piece separately. Dry them slowly in the sun or in an oven not too warm.

MARMALADES.

To produce the best marmalades, choose ripe and luscious fruits. Cut them into pieces, and put them into the preserving-kettle with layers of sugar, placing fruit at the bottom.

For marmalades of peach, pear, green grape, pine-apple, quince, or plum, allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. If the fruit is not very juicy, add a little water. Be careful that the marmalade does not burn. When the whole begins to look clear, and becomes thick by cooling a portion of it on a plate, it is done, and may be put into jars at once.

QUINCE MARMALADE.

Save the water in which the quinces for preserving were boiled; add to it the skins and cores, rejecting those which are worm-eaten or discolored. After boiling about half an hour, strain through a colander, allowing the pulp only to pass. To this juice add the reserved quince quarters and the sugar (three-fourths of a pound of sugar to one pound of fruit). Let all boil together slowly for about an hour and a half, stirring occasionally, and breaking the quinces into small pieces. When done, pour it into glasses or bowls. The marmalade will harden, and each mold will form a convenient little dish for lunch.

PEACH MARMALADE

is made as above. Yet more flavor may be obtained by boiling the pits until their flavor is extracted; then remove them, and continue boiling the water until you have sufficient to add to the peaches.

ORANGE MARMALADE.

Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Cut the peels so that they may be removed in four pieces. Boil these peels in a large quantity of water for two hours; then cut them into fine shreds. While these are boiling, press the inside of the oranges through a sieve fine enough to prevent the seeds and skin from passing through. For every five oranges, add the grated rind and juice of one lemon. Put all into a preserving-kettle with the sugar. When done, the marmalade should be quite thick and solid. Cover closely in little preserving-jars.

RASPBERRY JAM.

Use three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. First boil the fruit a few minutes with very little water; then add the sugar. Boil three-quarters of an hour, stirring well. Fill little jars or glasses, covering them first with papers soaked in brandy, and then with second papers moistened with the whites of eggs, and pressed against the sides of the glasses to exclude the air.

GREENGAGE JAM.

Use three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Skin and stem ripe greengages, and boil them quickly for three-quarters of an hour with the sugar, and only enough water to keep them from burning at first. Skim, and stir very frequently.

BRANDY PEACHES.

Use cling-stone peaches. Rub off the down from each one, and prick it to the stone with a silver fork. Make a sirup with half a pound of sugar for each pound of peaches, and half a tea-cupful of water for each pound of sugar; also add a little white of egg slightly beaten. Skim, when it boils, as long as the scum rises. Then put in the peaches, boiling them slowly until they are just tender, and no longer; then take them carefully out. Remove the sirup from the fire, and add to it half a pint of the best brandy to a pound of peaches. Now pour this over the peaches. Can them, or put them into jars, well secured.

Apricots and greengages brandied are made in the same way.

TO JELLY FRUITS.

To make jelly clear, the fruit must be quite fresh, and all blemishes removed. Have the flannels used for straining perfectly clean and white. Nearly all jellies are made in the same way, whether currant, plum, Siberian crab-apple, gooseberry, quince, apple, peach, or grape. Some add less sugar to the sweeter fruits. The first five fruits mentioned are exceedingly easy to jelly; the grape is often quite vexatious, with its perverse inclinations. Cherries will not jelly without gelatine.

After having freed the fruit from all blemishes, put them into a porcelain preserving-kettle, with only enough clear water to keep them from burning at first. Let them boil slowly until quite soft; then, putting them into a flannel cloth, press from them all the juice possible. Strain the juice two or three times through a clean cloth; then return it to the clean preserving-kettle, adding a cup of sugar for every cup of juice, and the beaten white of an egg for the whole. The rule is to boil the sirup (without stirring) very rapidly for twenty minutes, not counting the minutes until it begins to boil. The safest rule is to boil it until it runs a little thick upon the spoon; then let it run through the jelly-bag without pressing it. If there is any fear of the jelly becoming too hard before it all runs through, place it near the fire. The most convenient jelly-strainer is made by fastening the four corners of a flannel cloth to a filter-stool (see page 57). If the first dripping of the jelly is not entirely clear, return it to the strainer until it runs perfectly limpid. Put the jelly into glasses; and, after it has become quite firm, cut out little papers to fit the tops, which should be dipped in brandy. Place over these second papers larger ones, which have been dipped in the whites of eggs. Press the edges against the sides of the glasses, to exclude the air.

CURRANT JELLY.

Follow the preceding directions. A jelly of prettier color is obtained by mixing the white and red currants. Some take the trouble to make jelly from the white and red currants separately, then harden it in successive layers in the glasses. In this way, the jelly has to be made on different days, allowing time for each layer to harden. Another pretty arrangement is to melt the jelly the day before it is served at the table, and put it into a little jelly-mold. The next day it will be quite hard enough to turn out.

CURRANT JELLY (_from Scribner’s Monthly_).

“This receipt has three advantages: First, it never fails, as the old plan is sure to do five times out of eight; secondly, it requires but half the usual quantity of sugar, and so retains the grateful acidity and peculiar flavor of the fruit; thirdly, it is by far less troublesome than the usual method. Weigh the currants without taking the trouble to remove the stems; do not wash them, but carefully remove leaves and whatever may adhere to them. To each pound of fruit allow half the weight of granulated or pure loaf sugar. Put a few currants into a porcelain-lined kettle, and press them with a potato-masher, or any thing convenient, in order to secure sufficient liquid to prevent burning; then add the remainder of the fruit, and boil freely for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Take out and strain carefully through a three-cornered bag of strong, close texture, putting the liquid into either earthen or wooden vessels--never in tin, as the action of the acid on tin materially affects both color and flavor. When strained, return the liquid to the kettle, without the trouble of measuring, and let it boil thoroughly for a moment or so, and then add the sugar. The moment the sugar is entirely dissolved, the jelly is done, and must be immediately dished, or placed in glasses. It will jelly upon the side of the cup as it is taken up, leaving no doubt as to the result. Gather the fruit early, as soon as fully ripe, since the pulp softens and the juice is less rich if allowed to remain long after ripening. In our climate, the first week in July is usually considered the time to make currant jelly. Never gather currants or other soft or small seed fruit immediately after a rain for preserving purposes, as they are greatly impoverished by the moisture absorbed. In preserving all fruits of this class, if they are boiled until tender or transparent in a small quantity of water, and the sugar is added afterward, the hardness of the seeds, so objectionable in small fruits, will be thus avoided. A delicious jam may be made of blackberries, currants, and raspberries, or with currants with a few raspberries to flavor, by observing the above suggestion, and adding sugar, pound for pound, and boiling about twenty minutes.”

MRS. WALWORTH’S CURRANT JELLY.

This jelly took the premium at the fair, for it was not only of fine flavor, but of crystal clearness.

An equal proportion of red and white currants was placed in the whitest of porcelain kettles, with a very little clear water, just enough to keep the fruit from burning at first, and was boiled twenty minutes, then poured into a jelly-bag; this was not squeezed or touched until a quantity of clear liquid had run through. (The bag afterward can be well pressed, and the second juice can be made into an inferior jelly.) To each pint of the first clear liquid was added a pound of loaf-sugar; it was then returned to the porcelain kettle (well cleaned), and, after it came to the boiling-point, was boiled twenty-five minutes. The jelly was again passed through the bag, after being well cleaned.

COMPOTES

are fresh fruits boiled when needed, with very little sugar. I consider it a pity to cook or stew peaches, when they are so much better fresh, with sugar sprinkled over them and half-frozen. And what a destruction of fine pears! However, _compotes_ are much appreciated and used in France. I value _compotes_ of apples, however, and also of inferior hard pears. The first two of the receipts are from Professor Blot.

SIRUP FOR COMPOTES.

A pound of sugar in a porcelain stew-pan, with a pint of water, a wine-glass of brandy, and a small piece of grated cinnamon. Set it on a slow fire, skimming off the foam; boil it for ten minutes; then, after cooling, bottle it, and by cooking well it will keep for months in a cool, dry place.

COMPOTE OF PEACHES AND APRICOTS.

Cut the fruit in two; take out the stones; throw them into boiling water (a very little lemon added) for two minutes; then throw them into cold or ice water, taking them out immediately. This makes them white. Then peel them. Put a pint of water into a porcelain pan, and set it on a good fire; when boiling-hot, put in the apricots or peaches, and skim off the foam; as soon as soft, take them out, place them on a dish, and pour over sirup.

COMPOTE OF APPLES.

Quarter, peel, core, and cook apples in a stew-pan, with a little water and sugar. Take out the apples when cooked. Boil down the sirup (adding sliced lemon and some raisins) to a jelly; then pour it over the apples. Brandy added improves it.

A BEAUTIFUL STUFFED COMPOTE.

Choose large fine pippins of equal size; pare them, and take out the cores, leaving the apples entire; cook them about three parts done in sirup; drain and bake them a few moments in a quick oven. When they are done and still hot, fill the interior with peach marmalade. Now roll each apple in jelly produced by boiling down the sirup used to boil the apples; this will give the apples a beautiful gloss. Dish them in pyramidal form; put cream, or whipped cream, or a little maraschino, around the base. Or, form them into a dome, and pour over them a _méringue_ of beaten whites of eggs and sugar, sticking regularly over the top sweet almonds cut into four lengths (same size); put it into the oven to brown. This looks like the apple hedgehog. Or, pour among the apples, before pouring over the _méringue_, a marmalade of apples or boiled rice.

PICKLES AND CATCHUPS.

PICKLES, FOR COUNTRY USE (_Mrs. Shaw_).

Make a brine strong enough to bear the weight of an egg. Into this put cucumbers fresh from the garden. They will keep in this brine indefinitely. Whenever fresh pickles are wanted, take out as many as are desired from the brine, and let them soak in fresh water two days, changing the water once. Now put two quarts of the best cider vinegar (to fifty cucumbers) on the fire in a porcelain kettle, with one ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of mustard-seed, one ounce of ginger sliced, half an ounce of mace, a small stalk of horse-radish, a piece of alum the size of a large pea, and half a cup of sugar. Tie up the spices in three muslin bags. Boil all together ten minutes; then pour all over the pickles. It is not necessary to scald the cucumbers, yet many do so, putting them into the kettle, with the vinegar and spices when cold, and covering the bottom, sides, and top closely with cabbage leaves, which improve the color. If they are not green enough at the first scalding, scald them a second time, with fresh leaves around.

This receipt is especially desirable for people living in the country, because, having many vines, the cucumbers of any size preferred can be picked each day, washed, and put into the brine.

INDIAN PICKLE.

Ingredients: To every gallon of vinegar put four ounces of curry powder, four ounces of mustard powder, three ounces of bruised ginger, two drams of Cayenne pepper, two ounces of turmeric, two ounces of garlic, half a pound of onions (skinned), and a quarter of a pound of salt.

Put all into a stone jar. Cover it with a bladder wet with the pickle, and keep it warm by the fire for three days, shaking it well three times a day. Any thing may be put into this preparation, excepting red cabbage and walnuts. Gather every thing fresh, such as small cucumbers, green grapes, green tomatoes, cauliflowers, small onions, nasturtiums, string-beans, etc., etc. Wipe them, cut them when too large, and throw them fresh into the vinegar.

CHOWCHOW PICKLE (_Miss Beltzhoover_).

Ingredients: One peck of green tomatoes, half a peck of ripe tomatoes, half a dozen onions, three heads of cabbage, one dozen green peppers, and three red peppers.

Chop them any size you choose, then sprinkle half a pint of salt over them. Put them into a coarse cotton bag. Let them drain twenty-four hours. Put them into a kettle, with three pounds of brown sugar, half a tea-cupful of grated horse-radish, one table-spoonful each of ground black pepper, ground mustard, white mustard, mace, and celery seed. Cover all with vinegar, and boil till clear.

TO PICKLE CAULIFLOWERS.

Cut the cauliflowers into little flowerets of equal size. Throw them into boiling salted water. Place them at the back of the range, and when they are just about to boil take them off and drain them. Put them into jars. Boil (about fifteen minutes) enough vinegar to well cover them, seasoning it with one ounce of nutmeg, one ounce of mustard-seed, and half an ounce of mace to three quarts of vinegar. Pour this hot over the cauliflowers, adding a little sweet-oil the last thing, to cover the top. Cover them, while warm, with a bladder or fine leather over their corks.

PICKLED WALNUTS.

Ingredients: One hundred walnuts, salt and water, one gallon of vinegar, two ounces of whole black pepper, half an ounce of cloves, one ounce of allspice, one ounce of root ginger sliced, one ounce of mace.

Gather the walnuts in July, when they are full grown. They should be soft enough to be pierced all through with a needle. Prick them all well through. Let them remain nine days in brine (four pounds of salt to each gallon of water), changing the brine every third day. Drain them, and let them remain in the sun two or three days until they become black. Put them into jars, not quite filling them. Boil the vinegar and spices together ten minutes, and pour the liquid over the walnuts. They will be fit for use in a month, and will keep for years.

PICKLED GREEN TOMATOES AND ONIONS (_Mrs. Monks_).

Chop one peck of green tomatoes, and half a peck of onions. Let them stand two days in layers of salt. Bring vinegar (enough just to cover them) to the boiling-point. Put in the vegetables, mixed with cloves (one ounce), allspice (one ounce), white mustard-seed (two ounces), and red peppers (five large ones shredded). When well scalded, they are ready to be put in jars.

PICKLED ONIONS.

Select small silver-skinned onions. After taking off the outside skins, remove with a knife one more skin, when each onion should look quite clear. Put them into strong brine for three days. Bring vinegar to a boil with one or two blades of mace and some whole red peppers. Pour it hot over the onions well drained from the brine.

PICKLED BELL PEPPERS.

Cut a slit in the side of each pepper, and take out all the seeds. Let them soak in brine (strong enough to float an egg) two days. Then, washing them in cold water, put them into a stone jar. Pour over them vinegar boiled with cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg. Whenever they are wanted to be served, stuff each one with a boiled tongue cut into dice, and mixed with a _Mayonnaise_ dressing. Or little mangoes may be made, stuffing each one with pickled nasturtiums, grapes, minced onions, red cabbage or cucumbers, seasoned with mustard-seed, root ginger, and mace.

RIPE CUCUMBER PICKLES.

Pare and seed ripe cucumbers. Slice each cucumber lengthwise into four pieces, or cut it into fancy shapes, as preferred. Let them stand twenty-four hours covered with cold vinegar. Drain them: then put them into fresh vinegar, with two pounds of sugar, and one ounce of cassia-buds to one quart of vinegar. Boil all together twenty minutes. Cover them closely in a jar.

SWEET PICKLED PEACHES.

To seven pounds of peaches allow three and three-quarter pounds of sugar, one quart of vinegar, two ounces of cloves, and two ounces of stick-cinnamon. Pare the peaches, and stick one or two cloves into each one. Boil the sugar and vinegar, with several sticks of cinnamon, for five minutes, then put in the peaches. When cooked till thoroughly done, take them out. Boil the sirup, reducing it to nearly half, and pour it over the peaches.

STRAWBERRY PICKLE.

Ingredients: Seven pounds of strawberries, three and a half pounds of brown sugar, one and a half pints of cider vinegar, one ounce of cloves, one ounce of stick-cinnamon. Place the strawberries and spices in alternate layers in a deep dish. Boil the sugar and vinegar three minutes, and pour it over them, letting them remain until the next day. The second day pour the liquor off and boil it again three minutes, returning it, as before, to the strawberries. Let them remain until the third day, when boil all together over a slow fire for half an hour. Put it away in jars.

TOMATO CATCHUP.

Boil one bushel of tomatoes in a porcelain kettle until soft; press them through a sieve; then add half a gallon of vinegar, two ounces of cloves, one and a half pints of salt, one ounce of Cayenne pepper, five heads of garlic (skinned and chopped), two ounces of whole pepper, one pound of allspice, five ounces of mace, and five ounces of celery seed. Mix all together; and boil until it is reduced to half. Strain, and bottle it.

TOMATO CATCHUP (_Mrs. Cramer, of Troy_).

Ingredients: One peck of tomatoes, two quarts of vinegar, five table-spoonfuls of mustard, five table-spoonfuls of salt, four table-spoonfuls of black pepper, two table-spoonfuls of cloves, three table-spoonfuls of allspice, and two tea-spoonfuls of red pepper.

Let it boil an hour. Strain it through a sieve.

GOOSEBERRY CATCHUP (_Mrs. Shaw_).

Ingredients: Three pounds of fruit, four pounds of sugar, one pint of vinegar, two ounces of cloves, and two ounces of cinnamon.

Boil all four hours. Bottle it.

CUCUMBER CATCHUP.

Grate the cucumbers, and strain off the water through a colander. Add six large onions (chopped very fine) to a gallon of the grated and strained cucumbers. Add vinegar, salt, Cayenne pepper, and horse-radish to taste. Bottle it without cooking.

CHEESE.

In England, and at almost every well-appointed table in America, cheese is a positive necessity to a good table. Brillat Savarin, in his “Physiologie du Gout,” says, “Un beau dîner sans vieux fromage est une jolie femme à qui il manque un œil.”

Among the best cheeses of England are the Stilton and Cheshire; of France, are those of Neufchatel, Brie (_fromage de Brie_), and the _fromage de Roquefort_. The _fromage de Roquefort_ is, perhaps, one of the most popular of all cheeses. The Gruyère cheese of Switzerland is also a well-known cheese. It is made from new milk, and flavored with a powdered herb. In serving this cheese, French mustard, pepper, and salt are usually passed at the same time. The Roquefort cheese is made of a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk: the first communicates consistence and quality; the latter, whiteness and a peculiar flavor. The Parmesan (an Italian cheese) is made of skimmed milk. It is a high-flavored and hard cheese, and is not sent to market until it is six months old, and is often kept for three or four years. It is extensively used, grated, for cooking. The Stilton cheese is made by adding the cream of the preceding evening’s milk to the morning’s milking, producing a very rich and creamy quality. This cheese is preferred by epicures when it is old, after having been buried for some time in tin cans to become moldy. The Cheshire is made with rich new milk. This cheese can be appreciated without cultivating a taste for it.

Our American cheeses, since the introduction of the factory system, are exported in immense quantities to England, where they are much sought for, and considered by epicures as great luxuries. This is generally astonishing to Americans abroad, who, at home, often consider it only in rule to offer guests cheese of foreign manufacture. I think, however, in comparison with our own, the celebrated foreign cheeses have one advantage. The latter take the name of the exact locality where they are manufactured; consequently, when people speak of a Stilton or of a _fromage de Brie_ they know exactly of what they are talking; not so of American cheese. American cheese means that which may be superior, good, bad, or indifferent: it is too general a name. America has hundreds of cheese manufactories, and not a famous one; although many of them make that which would do credit to America as the greatest cheese-making country in the world, if only these best specimens were more generally known.

I have taken great pains in trying to decide which of many samples is the best American cheese, and have decided upon one made in Otsego County, New York, which is called the “English dairy” cheese. Before proceeding any further, I shall enter my protest against that name. Why do they not call it Otsego cheese? If it were eaten in London, an Englishman would certainly flatter himself that it was made in England. If they will only change the name, then, I will take more pleasure in saying that the Otsego cheese is undoubtedly one of the best specimens of American cheeses. It has a dark-yellow color, is very rich, and highly flavored.

The pastures of Otsego County are exceptionally fine, and its general advantages of climate, etc., render its locality one of the best adapted for the manufacture of cheese.

One of the best specimens of cheese of a milder character, white and well-flavored, is made at Milan, Cayuga County, New York, the name of which might be Cayuga cheese.

Perhaps the cheapest of the foreign famous cheeses is the Neufchatel. It comes in little rolls about an inch thick and three inches long, is enveloped in tin-foil, and costs about twenty cents a roll. Two rolls are quite sufficient for a large dinner. It is a delicious cheese. Care must be taken, however, when purchasing, to ascertain that it is not musty.

The tariff may be saved by purchasing the Neufchatel manufactured in New Jersey and Westchester County, New York. As for that, the Stilton made in Cayuga County can hardly be detected from the Leicestershire manufacture itself; and, in fact, nearly all the famous cheeses are very perfectly imitated in America, so that those who choose may indulge in foreign names and encourage home manufacture at the same time.

In serving Stilton cheese, the top should be cut off to form a cover, and then the cheese should be neatly surrounded with a napkin. Whenever the cheese is taken from the table, the cover should be replaced.

Cheeses are generally cut into little squares and passed in a glass cheese-dish. No morsel of dried cheese should ever be thrown away, as it can be used grated for macaroni, cheese omelets, etc.

Cheese should form a course at dinner. For further particulars concerning cheese as a course, see page 345.

WELSH RARE-BIT.

Toast carefully thin square or diamond-shaped slices of bread, with the crust removed. While hot, butter them slightly; then dip them for a moment in a pan containing enough hot water to half cover them; they should be only slightly moistened. Now place each slice on a separate hot plate, allowing one slice for each person at table; sprinkle over a little salt, and pour over them enough melted cheese to cover them. Select rich, new cheese, as it is more easily melted. It can be melted in a little cup. It should not be made until almost ready to serve, as the moment it is finished it should be eaten; otherwise the cheese will harden, the toast will become cold, and the dish altogether will be quite ruined.

This is a favorite dish for gentlemen’s suppers or for lunch; yet it is sometimes served at dinner for a cheese course by itself, or for decorating a platter of macaroni with cheese.

This simple receipt is decidedly the best one, I think; yet some spread also a little mustard over the toast, and others add a little ale to the melted cheese. Sometimes the toast may be dipped into ale instead of hot water, and some serve a poached egg on each slice of Welsh rare-bit; still others mix the yolks of eggs into the cheese when melted.

The Welsh rare-bit makes a decidedly pretty course, served in little chafing-dishes in silver, or plated silver, about four inches square, one of which, standing in a plate, is to be served to each person at table. The reservoir contains boiling-hot water; the little platter holds the slice of Welsh rare-bit, which is thus kept hot.

COTTAGE CHEESE.

Place a pan of clabbered sour milk over the fire, and let it become well scalded; then, pouring it into a clean cloth, squeeze out all the water, leaving the clabber quite dry. Put this into a kitchen basin, and work it with the hands, making it a little moist by adding cream. Add also a little butter and plenty of salt; mold it into little balls.

RAMEKINS (_Ramequins à la Ude, Cook to Louis XVI._).

Ingredients: Four ounces of grated high-flavored cheese, two ounces of butter, two ounces of bread (without crust), a scant gill of milk, one-third of a tea-spoonful of mustard, one-third of a tea-spoonful of salt, small pinch of Cayenne pepper, yolks of two eggs, whites of three.

Crumb the bread, and boil it soft in the milk; add the butter, mustard, salt, pepper, cheese, and the yolks of the eggs; beat thoroughly; then stir in the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Pour this into little round paper cases (see page 61), which require only a few minutes to make; fill each one about three-quarters full; bake the paste about five or six minutes, when it should be puffed high above the edge of the paper. Serve the ramekins immediately, or they will fall. A good cheese course for dinner, and nice for lunch or supper.

RAMEKINS, WITH ALE (_Warne_).

Ingredients: Four ounces of cheese, two ounces of fresh butter, half a French roll, two eggs, half a cupful of cream, half a wine-glassful of good ale.

Boil the roll and cream together until quite smooth; rub the grated cheese and the butter smoothly together; then mix all, adding the ale and the yolks of the eggs well beaten. When the paste is smooth, stir in the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth; put the mixture into paper cases; bake about fifteen minutes, and serve very hot.[I]

PASTRY RAMEKINS (_Warne_).

Ingredients: Some good cheese, puff paste, the yolk of one egg.

Take some puff paste, and roll it out rather thin; strew over it some good grated cheese, and fold it over; repeat this three times, rolling it out each time; then cut the ramekins with a paste-cutter in any form you please, brush them over with the yolk of a well-beaten egg, and bake them in a quick oven for about fifteen minutes. When done, serve them quickly on a hot napkin.

SWEET SAUCES FOR PUDDINGS.

BUTTER SAUCE (_Mrs. Youmans_).

Ingredients: Three-quarters of a cupful of butter, one and a half cupfuls of powdered sugar, four table-spoonfuls of boiling-hot starch, made of flour or corn starch, with either brandy, maraschino, wine, lemon-juice and zest, vanilla, or other flavoring preferred. Stir the butter with a fork to a light cream; add the sugar, and continue to beat it for one or two minutes. Just before serving, stir in with an egg-whisk the boiling starch and the flavoring.

SIRUP SAUCES.

Boil two cupfuls of sugar with two or three table-spoonfuls of water, until it thickens slightly; take it from the fire; stir in a piece of butter the size of a hickory-nut, and either lemon-juice, fruit-juice, or, in winter, fruit sirups, wine, brandy, or any of the flavoring extracts.

A PLAIN AND CHEAP SAUCE.

Ingredients: Three and a half cupfuls of water, one cupful of sugar, a small piece of butter, a table-spoonful of either corn starch or flour, flavoring of either brandy, vanilla, lemon, or wine (with or without a little nutmeg), or zest and cinnamon.

When the water boils, stir in the corn starch or flour (rubbed smooth with a little cold water), sugar, and, if used, the yellow rind of a lemon and the cinnamon, and cook well for two or three minutes; take the pan from the fire, and stir in the butter and flavoring (if the lemon and cinnamon are not used).

SAME SAUCE, RICHER (_Mrs. Osborne_).

Ingredients: One pint of water, three table-spoonfuls of flour or corn starch, half a cupful of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, two eggs, half of a nutmeg, half a pint of Madeira or sherry.

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; add the eggs well beaten, then the nutmeg; heat the wine as hot as possible without boiling; bring the water to a boil in another vessel, and stir in the corn starch or flour (rubbed smooth with a little cold water), and cook it well for about two minutes. Mix well the ingredients off the fire.

WHIPPED-CREAM SAUCE (_Mrs. Embry, Kentucky_).

Mix a plateful of whipped cream (flavored with wine or vanilla), the beaten whites of two or three eggs, and pulverized sugar to taste, all together. Pile a bank of this mixture in the centre of a platter, and form a circle of little fruit puddings or Swedish puddings (steamed in cups or little molds), _blanc-manges_, corn-starch puddings, etc., around it; or place a large pudding in the centre, with a circle of the sauce around.

FRUIT SAUCES.

The French bottled apricots, greengage plums, or strawberries make delicious sauces for a Bavarian cream, _blanc-mange_, _charlotte-russe_, or corn-starch pudding. They may simply be poured around the pudding on a platter, or the juice may, be thickened by boiling it with a very little corn-starch, then adding the fruit to it when cold.

The American canned May-duke cherries (Shrivers) make a good pudding sauce. Boil the juice, and add the slight corn-starch thickening and a little sugar; when cold, add the cherries. It makes a good sauce poured around these puddings.

Fresh red cherries, stewed, sweetened, passed through a sieve, and slightly thickened with corn starch, make another pudding sauce. The Colorado wild raspberries make a fine berry pudding, with the same kind of berry sauce around it. Marmalades and preserves, if not too stiff, make pretty garnishes as well as good sauces.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE (_for Baked Puddings_).

Ingredients: Half a cupful of butter, one cupful of sugar, the beaten white of an egg, and one cupful of strawberries (mashed).

Rub butter and sugar to a cream; add the beaten white of the egg, and the strawberries thoroughly mashed.

BOILED CUSTARD

makes a good sauce. If served with plum-pudding, flavor it with brandy; if served with rice-pudding (in mold) or corn starch or other puddings, flavor it with lemon, vanilla, chocolate, or coffee, etc., etc.

A GOOD SAUCE FOR PUDDINGS (_Miss Amelia Foote_).

Ingredients: Half a cupful of butter, one cupful of sugar, white of one egg, two table-spoonfuls of wine, a little vanilla, and half a wine-glassful of boiling water.

Beat the butter and sugar for about fifteen minutes; then add the flavoring. Just before sending to the table, add the egg, beaten to a froth, and stir in the boiling water, beating it to a foam; or it may be flavored with brandy or wine, without the vanilla.

SABYLLON.

This is a French pudding sauce, and an exceedingly good one. It is so rich that one or two table-spoonfuls poured over a fruit, batter, bread, or almost any kind of pudding, are sufficient. The amount of sauce in the receipt is, therefore, enough for six or seven persons.

Put two yolks and one whole egg, also a scant half tea-cupful of sugar, into a little stew-pan; beat them well for a few minutes. Then put the saucepan into another, containing boiling water, over the fire; beat the eggs briskly with the egg-whisk while you gradually pour in a scant half tea-cupful of sherry; when the sherry is all in, the egg will begin to thicken; then take it from the fire, and add the juice of a quarter of a small lemon.

CARAMEL SAUCE (_New York Cooking-school_).

Dissolve six ounces of cut loaf-sugar in half a pint of boiling water; add a stick of cinnamon, a little lemon-zest, and two cloves, and boil it ten minutes. Next put two ounces of loaf-sugar, dissolved in a table-spoonful of boiling water, on a moderate fire, and stir it until it assumes a light-brown color; pour the other boiled sugar over this; give it one boil, remove it from the fire, and add two or three table-spoonfuls of sherry.

PUDDINGS AND CUSTARDS.

PLUM-PUDDING, WITH RUM OR BRANDY (_Gouffé_).

Take three-quarters of a pound of chopped suet, three-quarters of a pound of stoned raisins, three-quarters of a pound of currants, quarter of a pound of citron, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, three-quarters of a pound of bread-crumbs, two apples cut into small dice, and the grated peel of a lemon; mix the whole in a basin, with three pounded cloves, a pinch of salt, six eggs, and half a gill of rum or brandy. Butter a pudding-mold, fill it with the mixture, and tie a cloth over the top. Place a plate at the bottom of a kettle which is three-parts full of boiling water. Put the pudding in, and boil for four hours, keeping the pot replenished with boiling water. Turn out the pudding on a hot dish; sprinkle over it sugar. Pour over half a pint of warm rum or brandy, and light it when putting the pudding on the table.

_German Sauce._--Made with eight yolks of eggs, quarter of a pound of sugar, three gills of Madeira, and the grated peel of half a lemon. Stir it over the fire until the spoon is coated. Serve in a boat. Or serve a common brandy sauce, or the same kind of sauce flavored with rum, if rum should be used in the pudding.

PLUM-PUDDING (_Mrs. General Sherman_).

Ingredients: One cupful of butter, one cupful of sugar, half a cupful of cream, half a cupful of rum, one cupful of ale, one cupful of suet (chopped), one cupful of fruit (currants and raisins), half a cupful of candied orange cut fine, six eggs well beaten, two grated nutmegs, one tea-spoonful of ground cinnamon, half a tea-spoonful of ground cloves, bread-crumbs.

Beat the butter and sugar together to a cream. The bread-crumbs should be dried thoroughly, and passed through a sieve. Beat all well together before adding the bread-crumbs, then add enough of them to give proper consistency. Put the pudding into a tin mold (not quite filling it), and boil it four hours.

_The Sauce._--Use equal quantities of butter and sugar. Cream the butter, then add the sugar, beating them both until very light. Add then the beaten yolk of an egg, and a little grated nutmeg. Heat on the fire a large wine-glassful of sherry wine diluted with the same quantity of water, and when just beginning to boil, stir it into the butter and sugar.

PUDDING WITH REMAINS OF PLUM-PUDDING.

Line a _charlotte_ mold or basin with slices of cold plum-pudding, cut so that they will fit closely together. Fill the inside with a sufficient quantity of gelatine pudding (see page 272). Set it in a cool place to stiffen. Turn out the _charlotte_ on a dish, with a brandy sauce on the bottom.

PLAINER FRUIT PUDDING.

Ingredients: One cupful of sugar, one-quarter of a pound of raisins, one cupful of butter, one half-pound of English currants, three and a half cupfuls of flour, a little citron sliced, four eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately. Put one tea-spoonful of saleratus with, one half-cupful of cream. Flour the raisins, currants, and citron before adding to the mixture.

Boil it three hours in a floured cloth, or in buttered forms, large or small. Pour some brandy on top, and set it on fire just before taking to the dining-room. Serve with brandy-sauce.

SUET-PUDDING (_Mrs. Gratz Brown_).

Ingredients: One cupful of suet chopped fine, one cupful of molasses, one cupful of sweet milk, one cupful of raisins, one tea-spoonful of salt, one small tea-spoonful of soda mixed in the molasses, three and a half cupfuls of flour.

Boil in a bag or form three hours; or, better, steam it. It may be steamed in tea-cups, filling them a little more than half full. Serve with brandy-sauce.

PRUNE-PUDDING (_Grace Greenwood_).

This is the same as the suet-pudding, excepting that one half-pound of prunes and one half-pound of English currants are substituted for the raisins.

EVE’S PUDDING (_Mrs. Frank Blair_).

Ingredients: Six ounces of bread-crumbs, six ounces of sugar, six ounces of raisins or currants, six ounces of butter cut in small pieces, or beef suet chopped fine, six large apples chopped, one table-spoonful of flour, six eggs, one table-spoonful of cinnamon, one tea-spoonful of ground cloves.

Flour the fruit. Mix eggs and sugar together, and the suet and apples; then mix all, adding the beaten whites of the eggs the last thing. Boil it in a form or bag three hours, or bake it two hours. Serve with brandy-sauce.

A SPICED APPLE-PUDDING.

Ingredients: Three tea-cupfuls of bread-crumbs, three tea-cupfuls of apples chopped, one tea-cupful of sugar, one-quarter of a pound of raisins, perhaps a little citron, two table-spoonfuls of brandy, one table-spoonful of ground cinnamon, half a tea-spoonful of ground cloves, one tea-spoonful of mace, two or three eggs beaten separately.

Cook the bread-crumbs a few minutes with a pint of milk before adding the other ingredients; add the whites of the eggs the last thing before baking. Bake half an hour, if the oven is quite hot. Serve with any sweet sauce.

COTTAGE-PUDDING.

Ingredients: One cupful of sugar, one and one-half cupfuls of flour, one table-spoonful of butter, one half-cupful of milk, two eggs beaten separately, one tea-spoonful of baking-powder, or one half-tea-spoonful of soda, and one tea-spoonful of cream of tartar. Brandy or wine sauce.

MINUTE-PUDDING.

Ingredients: One quart of milk, salt, two eggs, about a pint of flour.

Beat the eggs well; add the flour and enough milk to make it smooth. Butter the saucepan, and put in the remainder of the milk well salted; when it boils, stir in the flour, eggs, etc., lightly; let it cook well. It should be of the consistency of thick corn mush. Serve immediately with the following simple sauce, viz., milk sweetened to taste, and flavored with grated nutmeg.

NANTUCKET BERRY-PUDDING.

Ingredients: One pint of grated cold boiled potatoes, one pint of flour, one quarter of a pound of butter, one tea-spoonful of salt, and almost any kind of berries.

Wet these with milk or water to the consistency of soft biscuit-dough; roll it; spread with blackberries, raspberries, cherries, or stewed dry berries. Roll, fasten in a cloth, and steam it an hour and a quarter. Serve with any sweet pudding-sauce.

GELATINE-PUDDING (_Miss Colby, of Rochester_).

Separate the whites and yolks of four eggs. With the yolks make a boiled custard (with a pint of milk, and sugar to taste). Set a third of a box of gelatine to soak a few minutes in a little cold water, then dissolve it with three-fourths of a cupful of boiling water. When the custard has cooled, add the gelatine water and the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth; flavor with vanilla, stir all together, and put it into a mold or molds. It will settle into three layers, and is a very pretty pudding, tasting much like a _charlotte-russe_. A pretty effect can be obtained by using Coxe’s _pink_ gelatine.

TAPIOCA-PUDDING.

Pare and core (with a tube) six or seven apples; lay them in a buttered dish. Pour over a cupful of tapioca or sago one quart of boiling water; let it stand an hour; add two tea-cupfuls of sugar, a little lemon, vanilla, or wine; pour this over the apples, and bake an hour. Peaches (fresh or canned) may be substituted, and are an improvement.

TAPIOCA CREAM.

Soak a tea-cupful of tapioca overnight in milk. The next day, stir into it the yolks of three eggs well beaten and a cupful of sugar. Place a quart of milk on the fire, let it come to the boiling-point, and then stir in the tapioca, and let the whole cook until it has thickened; then take it off the fire, and stir in the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth. Flavor to taste. A small portion of the beaten whites of the eggs can be saved to decorate the top. Stir into the latter a little sugar, put it into a paper funnel, press it out over the top of the pudding according to fancy, and place it in the oven a few moments to color.

CABINET-PUDDING (_Mrs. Pope_).

Butter a mold well; line the bottom with raisins and with citron cut into fancy shapes; cover this with pieces of cake, then more raisins and citron, alternating with the cake, until the mold is full to within an inch and a half of the top. Mix in a bowl three table-spoonfuls of sugar and the yolks of three eggs until they are a cream; then mix in slowly a pint of milk just brought to the boiling-point. Pour this over the cake, etc., in the mold. Put this into a pan of cold water, so that the water may cover one-third of the mold. Set it over the fire until the water boils; then put the whole into the oven to bake an hour. Serve with wine-sauce.

BATTER-PUDDINGS BAKED.

Ingredients: One quart of sifted flour, butter the size of an egg, one pint of milk, half a tea-spoonful of salt, four eggs.

Scald the milk, and melt the butter in it. When partly cooled, stir in the yolks of the eggs well beaten, then the salt and flour. When quite cold, stir in lightly the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Bake in rather large patty-pans. Serve immediately with a sauce. The puddings should be light puffs. Strawberry-sauce is especially nice with these puddings.

ROLY-POLY PUDDING BOILED.

Make a biscuit-dough and roll it out into a square about a fourth of an inch thick. Spread over it (leaving an inch uncovered at the edges) almost any kind of fruit, or berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, etc., sweetened, or preserves. Roll it tight. Sew it in a cloth, giving room for it to swell. Boil or steam it an hour. Serve with almost any kind of pudding sauce. A nice roly-poly pudding may be made with sponge-cake baked in sheets, spread with preserves or jelly, rolled, sprinkled on top with sugar, and served with wine-sauce.

BAKED BERRY ROLLS.

Roll biscuit-dough thin, in the form of a large square, or into small squares. Spread over with berries. Roll the crust, and put the rolls into a dripping-pan close together until full; then put into the pan water, sugar, and pieces of butter. Bake them. Serve any of the pudding sauces.

SWEDISH PUDDING.

Ingredients: One half-pound of flour, one half-pound of butter, half-pound of sugar, eight eggs, a little salt.

Rub the sugar and butter to a cream; add the yolks well beaten, the salt, flour, and, lastly, the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Put the batter three-fourths of an inch deep into tea-cups. Cook by steaming them in a steamer about half an hour. The batter will fill the cups. Turn them out on a hot platter. Serve immediately with a clear brandy-sauce in the bottom of the dish. Half the above amount will be sufficient for a small family.

CHERRY-PUDDING (_Mrs. Bonner_).

Ingredients: Two eggs, one cupful of sweet milk, three tea-spoonfuls of yeast powder, flour to make a stiff batter, as many cherries or fruit of any kind as can be stirred in.

Boil or steam it two hours. Serve with fruit sauce, made as in receipt for “fruit sauces” of the same kind of fruit of which the pudding is made.

A CORN-STARCH PUDDING.

Many kinds of puddings can be made with this receipt by adding different flavorings. I consider it a great success; besides, it is very easily and quickly made. It may or may not be served with a boiled custard made with the yolks of the eggs.

Ingredients: One pint of rich milk, two table-spoonfuls of corn starch, a scant half-cupful of sugar, whites of three or four eggs, a little salt, flavoring.

Beat the eggs to a stiff froth. Dissolve the corn starch in a little of the milk. Stir the sugar into the remainder of the milk, which place on the fire. When it begins to boil, add the dissolved corn starch. Stir constantly for a few moments, when it will become a smooth paste; now stir in the beaten whites of the eggs, and let it remain a little longer to cook the eggs. It can be flavored with vanilla, and put into a form; yet it is still better as a

COCOA-NUT PUDDING.

When the preceding pudding is just finished, add half a cocoa-nut grated; put it into a mold. Serve with whipped-cream around it, or a sauce of boiled custard made with the yolks of the eggs. As only half of a cocoa-nut is used for this pudding, sprinkle sugar on the other half, and spread it on something, when it will keep a month. In that time perhaps another pudding of the same kind may be wanted. Fresh cocoa-nut is better and cheaper than the desiccated cocoa-nut. It requires the whole of a twenty-five cent package of the desiccated cocoa-nut, and only half of a fresh one, which costs but ten cents.

CHOCOLATE-PUDDING.

With still the same receipt for a corn-starch pudding, first flavor the whole with vanilla; now take out a third of the pudding; flavor the remainder in the kettle with a bar of chocolate, softened, mashed, and dissolved with a little milk. Put half of the chocolate-pudding in the bottom of a mold (which has been wet in cold water); smooth the top; next make a layer with the white pudding (the third taken out); smooth it also; next the remainder of the chocolate-pudding. Serve with whipped cream, or a boiled custard made with the yolks of the eggs and flavored with vanilla, around it; or, the one-third portion of pudding may be flavored with half a bar of chocolate, and placed in the centre of the two layers of white, as in the picture; or one can use the same receipt for a corn-starch pudding, and flavor it with chopped pine-apple, strawberries, or, in winter, with dried cherries swollen in water; or it may be flavored with chocolate, with the white centre part of cocoa-nut.

COCOA-NUT PUDDINGS, IN PAPER CASES.

Melt over the fire butter the size of an egg, with a cupful of sugar, and a table-spoonful of water. Pour them into a dish when they have boiled a couple of minutes, and let them cool; mix with them half of a cocoa-nut grated, a table-spoonful of small cuts of citron, the grated rind and juice of half a lemon, and the yolks of four eggs beaten separately; add the whites (beaten to a stiff froth) the last thing. Fill little paper cases (see page 6), and bake immediately. They may be served hot or cold. Of course it may all be baked in one dish; but it makes a very dainty course to serve one of these cases placed on a plate for each person.

EGG SOUFFLÉ, IN PAPER CASES.

Make a boiled custard of cream with half a pint of milk, yolks of two eggs, three table-spoonfuls of sugar, a heaping tea-spoonful of flour, a very little butter, salt, and a flavoring of vanilla, or any thing else, as preferred. When it has just thickened a little, take it off the fire, and let it partly cool. Add then two raw yolks of eggs and four whites beaten to a stiff froth. Butter the paper cases, fill them with this preparation, and bake them ten or fifteen minutes in a moderate oven.

SNOW-PUDDING (_Miss Amelia Foote_).

Cover one-third of a package of gelatine with a little cold water, and, when softened, stir into it a pint of boiling water; add one cupful of sugar, or sugar to taste, and either the juice of two lemons, or half a tea-cupful of wine: when cold, and beginning to thicken, add the well-beaten whites of three eggs. Beat all lightly and smoothly together, pour the mixture into a mold, and set it away until hard. Serve in the centre of a platter, with a boiled custard poured around, made with the yolks of three eggs, one pint of milk, and half a cupful of sugar.

BOILED CUSTARD (No. 1).

I will venture a receipt for boiled custard (perhaps it should be granted that every one knows how to make it), as it is so often used in making many kinds of dessert, and as an excellent sauce for several puddings.