Part 26

Stew the gooseberries ten minutes—very slowly, not to break them. Cut your slices of bread to fit your pudding-dish, and toast to a light brown on both sides. (Cut off all the crust before toasting.) Dip each slice, while hot, in milk, and spread with the melted butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with them; put next a layer of the gooseberries, sprinkled thickly with sugar; more toast, more berries, and so on, until the dish is full. Cover closely and steam in a moderate oven twenty or twenty-five minutes. Turn out upon a hot dish and pour over it a good pudding-sauce.

This is considered a wholesome breakfast dish, and is certainly good. In this case omit the sauce, sift powdered sugar over the top, and eat with the same.

NEWARK PUDDING.

1 cup fine bread-crumbs soaked in a pint of the milk. 1 quart of milk. 5 eggs. 2 tablespoonfuls rice-flour. ½ lb. raisins seeded, cut in two, and dredged with flour. Vanilla or bitter almond extract. 2 tablespoonfuls melted butter, and a half-teaspoonful soda.

Beat the yolks light; add the soaked bread-crumbs and milk; stir to a smooth batter, put in the rice-flour, wet up first with cold milk; the reserved pint of milk, the seasoning, butter, the fruit, lastly the whites whipped stiff. Bake an hour in a buttered mould; turn out and pour sauce over it, serving hard sauce also with it.

_Or,_

You may boil the mixture two hours in a floured cloth or buttered mould.

BAKED PLUM PUDDING.

1¼ lb. of flour. 1 lb. raisins seeded, cut in two, and dredged with flour. ½ lb. suet, freed from strings and powdered. 1 cup sugar. 2 oz. citron, shred fine. 5 eggs—whites and yolks beaten separately. Nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves—one teaspoonful each. Milk to make a thick batter of the flour. Begin with two cups, and add more if necessary.

Beat the yolks and sugar together; add the suet and spice, then the flour, moistening the mixture gradually with milk until you can move the spoon in it. Dredge the fruit and put in by degrees; finally, stir in the beaten whites. Beat all very hard and long before baking in a buttered mould. It will require _at least_ an hour and a half in a moderate oven.

Turn out, and eat with rich sweet sauce.

BELLE’S DUMPLINGS.

1 quart _prepared_ flour. 2½ tablespoonfuls lard and butter mixed. 2 cups of milk, or enough to make a soft dough.

Roll out a quarter of an inch thick, cut into oblong pieces, rounded at the corners; put a great spoonful damson, cherry, or other tart preserve in the middle and roll into a dumpling. Bake three-quarters of an hour, brush over with beaten egg while hot, set back in the oven three minutes to glaze.

Eat hot with brandy or wine sauce.

_Or,_

You may make a roll-pudding of it by rolling out the paste into an oblong sheet, spreading thickly with the preserves, folding it up as one would a travelling-shawl to be put into a strap, pinching the ends together that the juice may not escape, and boiling in a floured cloth fitted to the shape of the “roley-poley.” Boil an hour and a half.

BOILED PUDDINGS.

You can boil puddings in a bowl, a mould, or a cloth. The mould should have a closely-fitting top, and be buttered well—top and all—before the batter or dough is put in. These moulds are usually made with hasps or other fastening. In lack of this, you had better tie down the cover securely. I once boiled a pudding in a tin pail, the top of which I made more secure by fitting it over a cloth floured on the inside, lest the pudding should stick. The experiment succeeded admirably, and I commend the suggestion to those who find, after the pudding is mixed, that their mould leaks, or the bowl that did duty as a substitute has been broken, and nothing said to “the mistress” about it. If you use a bowl, butter it, and tie a floured cloth tightly over the top. If a cloth, have it clean and sweet, and flour bountifully on the inside. In all, leave room for batter, bread, rice, and cracker puddings to swell. Tie the string very tightly about the mouth of the bag, which must be made with _felled_ seams at sides and bottom, the better to exclude the water.

The water must be boiling when the pudding goes in, and not stop boiling for one instant until it is done. If it is in a bag, this must be turned several times, _under water_, to prevent sticking or scorching to the sides of the pot. The bag must also be entirely covered, while the water should not quite reach to the top of a mould. If you use a basin, dip the cloth in boiling water before dredging with flour on the inside.

When the time is up, take mould, basin, or cloth from the boiling pot, and plunge _instantly_ into cold water; then turn out without the loss of a second. This will prevent sticking, and leave a clearer impression of the mould upon the contents.

Boiled puddings should be served as soon as they are done, as they soon become heavy.

Many of the baked puddings I have described are quite as good boiled. As a safe rule, _double the time of baking if you boil_.

BERRY PUDDING.

1 pint of milk. 2 eggs. 1 saltspoonful salt. ¼ teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water. ½ teaspoonful cream-tartar, sifted through a cup of flour, and added to enough flour to make a thick batter. 1 pint blackberries, raspberries, currants, or huckleberries, well dredged with flour—stirred in at the last.

HUCKLEBERRY PUDDING. ✠

1 pint milk. 2 eggs. 1 quart flour—or enough for thick batter. 1 gill baker’s yeast. 1 saltspoonful salt. 1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in boiling water. Nearly a quart of berries—well dredged with flour.

Make a batter of eggs, milk, flour, yeast, salt, and soda, and set it to rise in a warm place about four hours. When you are ready to boil it, stir in the dredged fruit quickly and lightly. Boil in a buttered mould or a floured cloth for two hours.

This will be found lighter and more wholesome than boiled pastry.

Eat hot with sweet sauce.

FRUIT VALISE PUDDING. ✠

1 quart flour. 1 tablespoonful lard, and same of butter. 1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water. 2 teaspoonful cream-tartar—sifted through the flour. 1 saltspoonful salt. 2 cups milk, or enough to make the flour into soft dough. 1 quart berries, chopped apples, sliced peaches, or other fruit; jam, preserves, canned fruit, or marmalade may be substituted for the berries.

Roll out the crust less than half an inch thick—indeed, a quarter of an inch will do—into an oblong sheet. Cover thickly with the fruit and sprinkle with sugar. Begin at one end and roll it up closely, the fruit inside. In putting this in, leave a narrow margin at the other end of the roll, which should be folded down closely like the flap of a pocket-book. Pinch the ends of the folded roll together, to prevent the escape of the fruit, and baste up in a bag, the same size and shape as the “valise.” Flour the bag well before putting in the pudding, having previously dipped it—the cloth—into hot water, and wring it out.

Boil an hour and a half. Serve hot with sauce, and cut crosswise in slices half an inch thick.

BOILED APPLE DUMPLINGS. (No. 1.) ✠

Make a paste according to the above receipt; cut in squares, and put in the centre of each an apple, pared and cored. Bring the corners together; enclose each dumpling in a small square cloth, tied up bag-wise, leaving room to swell. Each cloth should be dipped in hot water, wrung out and floured on the inside before the apple is put in.

Boil one hour.

APPLE DUMPLINGS. (No. 2.) ✠

1 quart flour. ¼ lb. suet. 1 teaspoonful salt. ½ teaspoonful soda dissolved in hot water. 1 teaspoonful cream-tartar sifted in the flour. Cold water enough to make into a tolerably stiff paste.

Roll out, cut into squares, put in the middle of each a fine, juicy apple, pared and cored. Fill the hole left by the core with marmalade, or with sugar wet with lemon-juice. Stick a clove in the sugar. Close the paste, tie up in the cloths, when you have wet them with hot water and floured them, and boil one hour.

A pleasing idea for dumpling cloths is to crochet them in a close stitch with stout tidy cotton. They are easily done, wash and wear well, and leave a very pretty pattern upon the paste when they are opened. Crochet them round, with a cord for drawing run into the outer edge.

BOILED FRUIT PUDDING.

Prepare a paste in accordance with either of the foregoing receipts, but roll into one sheet. Lay apples, peaches, or berries in the centre, paring and slicing the fruit; sprinkle with sugar, and close the paste over them as you would a dumpling. Dip a stout cloth in hot water, flour the inside, put in the pudding, tie tightly, and boil two hours and a half.

Eat hot with sauce.

RICE DUMPLINGS. ✠

1 lb. rice boiled without stirring, until soft, and at the top dry. 12 pippins, pared and cored. Strawberry marmalade or crab-apple jelly.

Let the rice cool upon a sieve or coarse cloth, that it may dry at the same time. Dip your dumpling cloths in hot water; wring them out and flour well inside. Put a handful of the cold rice upon each, spreading it out into a smooth sheet. Lay in the centre an apple; fill the hole left by the core with marmalade or jelly; draw up the cloth carefully to enclose the apple with a coating of rice; tie, and boil one hour.

Turn over with care; pour sweet sauce or rich sweetened cream over them, and send around more in a boat with them.

SUET DUMPLINGS (_plain._)

2 cups fine bread-crumbs, soaked in a very little milk. 1 cup beef suet, freed from strings, and powdered. 4 eggs, whites and yolks separated, and beaten very light. 1 tablespoonful sugar. 1 teaspoonful cream-tartar, sifted into the flour. ½ teaspoonful soda dissolved in boiling water 1 teaspoonful salt. Enough milk to mix into a stiff paste.

Make into large balls with floured hands; put into dumpling cloths dipped into hot water and floured inside; leave room to swell, and tie the strings very tightly.

Boil three-quarters of an hour. Serve hot with wine sauce.

FRUIT SUET DUMPLINGS

Are made as above, with the addition of ½ lb. raisins, seeded, chopped, and dredged with flour, and ¼ lb. currants, washed, dried, and dredged.

Boil one hour and a quarter.

BOILED INDIAN MEAL PUDDING.

1 quart milk. 1 quart Indian meal. 3 eggs. 3 heaping tablespoonfuls sugar, and 1 teaspoonful salt. ½ lb. beef suet, chopped into powder.

Scald the milk, and while boiling hot stir in the meal and suet with the salt. When cold add the yolks, beaten light with the sugar, then the whites. Dip your bag in hot water, flour it, and fill half-full with the mixture, as it will swell very much. Boil five hours.

Eat very hot with butter and sugar.

CABINET PUDDING.

½ lb. flour. ¼ lb. butter. 5 eggs, 1½ lb. sugar. ½ lb. raisins, seeded and cut in three pieces each. ¼ lb. currants, washed and dried. ½ cup cream or milk. ½ lemon—juice and rind grated.

Cream the butter and sugar; add the beaten yolks, then the milk and the flour, alternately, with the whites. Lastly, stir in the fruit, well dredged with flour, turn into a buttered mould, and boil two hours and a half at least.

Serve hot, with cabinet pudding sauce over it. (_See Sweet Sauces._)

EVE’S PUDDING.

1 heaping cup of fine dry bread-crumbs. ½ lb. pared and chopped apples. ½ lb. raisins, seeded and chopped. 6 oz. currants, washed and dried. 6 eggs. 1 teaspoonful nutmeg, and same of allspice. 1 glass brandy. 1 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoonful salt. ½ lb. suet, chopped to powder.

Work the sugar into the beaten yolks; then the suet and crumbs, with the chopped apples; next the brandy and spice, then the whipped whites; lastly the fruit, well dredged with flour.

Boil in a buttered bowl or mould three hours. Eat hot with sauce.

THE QUEEN OF PLUM PUDDINGS.

1 lb. butter. 1 lb. of suet, freed from strings and chopped fine. 1 lb. of sugar. 2½ lbs. of flour. 2 lbs. of raisins, seeded, chopped, and dredged with flour. 2 lbs. of currants, picked over carefully after they are washed. ¼ lb. of citron, shred fine. 12 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately. 1 pint of milk. 1 cup of brandy. ½ oz. of cloves. ½ oz. of mace. 2 grated nutmegs.

Cream the butter and sugar; beat in the yolks when you have whipped them smooth and light; next put in the milk; then the flour, alternately with the beaten whites; then the brandy and spice; lastly the fruit, well dredged with flour. Mix all thoroughly; wring out your pudding-cloth in hot water; flour well inside, pour in the mixture, and boil five hours.

I can confidently recommend this as the best plum pudding I have ever tasted, even when the friend at whose table I had first the pleasure of eating it imitated the example of “good King Arthur’s” economical spouse, and what we “couldn’t eat that night,” “next _day_ fried,” by heating a little butter in a frying-pan, and laying in slices of her pudding, warmed them into almost their original excellence. It will keep a long time—in a _locked_ closet or safe.

ORANGE ROLEY-POLEY. ✠

Make a light paste as for apple dumplings or valise pudding, roll in an oblong sheet, and lay oranges (sweet ones), peeled, sliced, and seeded, thickly all over it. Sprinkle with white sugar; scatter a teaspoonful or two of the grated yellow peel over all and roll up closely, folding down the end to secure the syrup. Boil in a pudding-cloth one hour and a half.

Eat with lemon sauce.

CHERRY OR CURRANT PYRAMID. ✠

Wash and stone the cherries, or pick the currants from their stems. Make some good light crust, roll it out a quarter of an inch thick, and cut for the bottom a round piece about the size of a tea-plate. You can use the top of a tin pail for a cutter. Spread your fruit upon this, and sprinkle with sugar, leaving a half inch margin all around. Roll out a second sheet an inch less in diameter than the first, lay it carefully upon the fruit, and turn up the margin of the lower piece over the edge of this. Spread this, in turn, with fruit and sugar, and cover with a third and lessening round; proceeding in this order until the sixth and topmost cover is not more than three inches across. Have ready a conical cap of stout muslin adapted to the proportions and dimensions of your pile; dip it in boiling water, flour inside, and draw gently over all. It should be large enough to meet and tie under the base without cramping the pyramid.

Boil two hours, and eat with sweet sauce.

FRITTERS, PANCAKES, ETC.

Have plenty of nice sweet lard in which to fry fritters, and test the heat by dropping in a teaspoonful before you risk more. If right, the batter will rise quickly to the surface in a puff-ball, spluttering and dancing, and will speedily assume a rich golden-brown. Take up, as soon as done, with a skimmer, shaking it to dislodge any drops of lard that may adhere; pile in a hot dish, sift sugar over them, and send instantly to the table. Fry as many at a time as the kettle will hold, and send in hot fresh ones while the batter lasts. A round-bottomed saucepan or kettle, rather wide at top, is best for frying them.

Use a frying-pan for pancakes; heat it; put in a teaspoonful or two of lard and run it quickly over the bottom; then pour in a large ladleful of batter—enough to cover the bottom of the pan with a thin sheet. Turn with a tin spatula, very carefully, to avoid tearing it. The frying-pan should be a small one. Have ready a hot dish; turn out the pancake upon it, cover with powdered sugar, and roll up dexterously like a sheet of paper. Send half a dozen to table at once, keeping them hot by setting the dish in the oven until enough are baked.

I am thus explicit in these general instructions to save myself the trouble, and the reader the tedium, of a repetition under each receipt.

In olden times it was a boast of notable cooks that they could toss a pancake from the pan out of the top of the chimney with such accuracy of calculation, that it would turn itself on the way back, and settle in its place, ready, like St. Lawrence, to have the other side fried. _I_ never saw a pancake tossed, although in my childish days I saw hundreds fried by the honorable tribe—now so fast passing away—of Old Virginia cooks. I do not advise this acrobatic system of culinary exploit, especially for beginners. Indeed, I doubt if the pancakes would be found equal to the journey in these days of tight chimney-throats and cooking stoves. They must be out of practice as well as their manufacturers. Be careful not to have too much grease in the pan.

FRITTERS (_No. 1._) ✠

1 pint flour. 4 eggs. 1 teaspoonful salt. 1 pint boiling water.

Stir the flour into the water by degrees, and stir until it has boiled three minutes. Let it get almost cold, when beat in the yolks, then the whites of the eggs, which must be previously whipped _stiff_.

FRITTERS (_No. 2._)

6 eggs. 1 quart milk. 3 cups flour. ½ teaspoonful soda dissolved in hot water. 1 teaspoonful cream-tartar sifted into the flour. A little salt.

Beat the yolks and whites separately, of course; stir the milk in with the former, then the soda, the flour, and salt, finally the whites. Beat very hard, and fry _at once_, in great ladlefuls.

APPLE FRITTERS. ✠

A batter according to the preceding receipt. 3 large juicy apples, pared and quartered. 1 glass brandy. 1 tablespoonful white sugar. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon.

Put the brandy, a very little water, the sugar, and the spice into a covered saucepan with the apples. Stir gently until half done; drain off the liquor, every drop; mince the apple when cold, and stir into the batter.

_Or,_

You may parboil the apples in clear water, with a very little sugar, and proceed as just directed.

JELLY FRITTERS.

1 scant cup sponge-cake crumbs—very fine and dry. 1 cup boiling milk. 4 eggs. 2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar. 1 teaspoonful corn-starch, wet in a little cold milk. 2 tablespoonfuls currant or cranberry jelly.

Soak the cake-crumbs in the boiling milk, and stir in the corn-starch. Heat all together to a boil, stirring all the time. Beat the yolks light, and add to this as it cools, with the sugar. Whip in the jelly, a little at a time, and put in the whites—beaten to a stiff froth—at the last.

Fry immediately.

BREAD FRITTERS.

1 quart milk—boiling-hot. 2 cups fine bread-crumbs (aërated bread is best). 3 eggs. 1 teaspoonful nutmeg. 1 tablespoonful butter—melted. 1 saltspoonful salt, and the same of soda, dissolved in hot water.

Soak the bread in the boiling milk ten minutes, in a covered bowl. Beat to a smooth paste; add the whipped yolks, the butter, salt, soda, and finally the whites, whipped stiff.

QUEEN’S TOAST. ✠

Fry slices of stale baker’s bread—aërated, if you can get it—in boiling lard to a fine brown. Dip each slice quickly in boiling water to remove the grease. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and pile upon a hot plate. Before toasting, cut the slices with a round cake-cutter, taking off all the crust. They look better when piled up. Pour sweet wine sauce over them when hot, and serve at once.

JELLY-CAKE FRITTERS (_very nice_). ✠

Some stale sponge, or _plain_ cup cake, cut into rounds with a cake-cutter. Hot lard. Strawberry or other jam, or jelly. A little boiling milk.

Cut the cake carefully and fry a nice brown. Dip each slice for a second in a bowl of boiling milk, draining this off on the side of the vessel; lay on a hot dish and spread thickly with strawberry jam, peach jelly, or other delicate conserve. Pile them neatly and send around hot, with cream to pour over them.

This is a nice way of using up stale cake, and if rightly prepared, the dessert is almost equal to Neapolitan pudding.

PANCAKES.

1 pint of flour. 6 eggs. 1 saltspoonful salt, and same of soda dissolved in vinegar.

Milk to make a _thin_ batter. Begin with two cups and add until the batter is of the right consistency. Beat the yolks light, add the salt, soda, and two cups of milk, then the flour and beaten whites alternately, and thin with more milk.

JELLY OR JAM PANCAKES.

A batter as above. When the pancakes are fried, lay upon a hot plate, spread quickly with nice jam or jelly, and roll up neatly upon the preserves. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, and send around with wine sauce or sweetened cream.

SWEET, OR PUDDING SAUCES.

HARD SAUCE. ✠

Stir to a cream 1 cup of butter. 3 cups of powdered sugar. When light, beat in ¾ teacup wine. Juice of a lemon. 2 teaspoonfuls nutmeg.

Beat long and hard until several shades lighter in color than at first, and creamy in consistency. Smooth into shape with a broad knife dipped in cold water, and stamp with a wooden mould, first scalded and then dipped in cold water. Set upon the ice until the pudding is served.

BEE-HIVE SAUCE. ✠

Mix a hard sauce according to the previous receipt, and when light, set aside three or four tablespoonfuls in a plate. To the larger quantity left add gradually, cherry, currant, or cranberry juice enough to color it a good pink. Red jelly will do if berries are out of season. Beat the coloring matter in thoroughly, and shape into a conical mound. Roll half a sheet of note-paper into a long, narrow funnel, tie a string about it to keep it in shape, and fill with the uncolored sauce. Squeeze it out gently through the small end in a ridge, beginning at the base of the cone and winding about it to the top, filling your funnel as it is emptied, and guiding it carefully. The effect of the alternate white-and pink lines is very pretty.

If the pudding is one to which chocolate would be a pleasant addition, color with grated chocolate, rubbed smooth in a little of the wine, and ridge with white. Set upon the ice or upon the cellar-floor until firm. Stick a colored almond or other ornamental candy upon the top.

This bee-hive is easily made, and will set off even a plain pudding handsomely.

BRANDY SAUCE (_hard._) ✠

½ cup butter. 2 cups powdered sugar. 1 wineglass brandy. 1 teaspoonful mixed cinnamon and mace.

Warm the butter very slightly, work in the sugar, and, when this is light, the brandy and spice. Beat hard—shape into a mould and set in a cold place until wanted.

WHITE WINE SAUCE (_liquid._) ✠

½ cup butter. 2½ cups powdered sugar. 2 wineglasses pale Sherry or white wine. ½ cup boiling water. 1 teaspoonful nutmeg.

Work the butter into the sugar, moistening, as you go on, with boiling water. Beat long and hard until your bowl is nearly full of a creamy mixture. Then add gradually the wine and nutmeg, still beating hard. Turn into a tin pail, set within a saucepan of boiling water, and stir frequently until the sauce is hot, but _not_ until it boils. Take the saucepan from the fire and leave the pail standing in the water, stirring the contents now and then, until you are ready to serve the pudding.

If rightly made, this sauce will be nearly as white as milk.

LEMON SAUCE. ✠

1 _large_ cup of sugar. Nearly half a cup of butter. 1 egg. 1 lemon—all the juice and half the grated peel. 1 teaspoonful nutmeg. 3 tablespoonfuls boiling water.

Cream the butter and sugar and beat in the egg whipped light; the lemon and nutmeg. Beat hard ten minutes, and add, a spoonful at a time, the boiling water. Put in a tin pail and set within the uncovered top of the tea-kettle, which you must keep boiling until the steam heats the sauce very hot, but not to boiling. Stir constantly.

MILK PUDDING SAUCE. ✠