Part 12

Remove the stalks from 1 lb. of fresh strawberries, place them in a glass dish and scatter over 2 tablespoonfuls of pounded sugar; prepare 1 pint of custard with Allinson custard powder according to recipe given above, and while still hot pour carefully over the fruit, set aside to cool, and just before serving (which must not be until the custard has become quite cold) garnish the top with a few fine strawberries.

APPLE COOKERY

APPLES (BUTTERED).

1 lb. of apples, 2 oz. of butter, ground cinnamon and sugar to taste. Pare, core, and slice the apples; heat the butter in a frying-pan, when it boils turn in the apples and fry them until cooked; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and serve on buttered toast.

APPLE CAKE

6 oz. each of Allinson fine wheatmeal and white flour, 4-1/2 oz. of butter, 1 egg, a little cold water, 1-1/2 lbs. of apples, 1 heaped-up teaspoonful of cinnamon, and 3 oz. of castor sugar. Rub the butter into the meal and flour, beat up the egg and add it, and as much cold water as is required to make a smooth paste; roll out the greater part of it 1/4 inch thick, and line a flat buttered tin with it. Pare, core, and cut the apples into thin divisions, arrange them in close rows on the paste point down, leaving 1 inch of edge uncovered; sift the sugar and cinnamon over the apples; roll out thinly the rest of the paste, cover the apples with it, turn up the edges of the bottom crust over the edges of the top crust, make 2 incisions in the crust, and bake the cake until brown in a moderately hot oven; when cold sift castor sugar over it, slip the cake off the tin, cut into pieces, and serve.

APPLE CHARLOTTE.

2 lbs. of good cooking apples, 2 oz. of chopped almonds, 4 oz. of currants and sultanas mixed, 1 stick of cinnamon about 3 inches long, sugar to taste, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and Allinson bread and butter cut very thinly. Pare, core, and cut up the apples, and stew them with a teacupful of water and the cinnamon, until the apples have become a pulp; remove the cinnamon, and add sugar, lemon juice, the almonds, and the currants and sultanas, previously picked, washed, and dried; mix all well and allow the mixture to cool; butter a pie-dish and line it with thin slices of bread and butter, then place on it a layer of apple mixture, repeat the layers, finishing with slices of bread and butter; bake for 3/4 hour in a moderate oven.

APPLES (DRYING).

Those who have apple-trees are often at a loss to know what to do with the windfalls. The apples come down on some days by the bushel, and it is impossible to use them all up for apple pie, puddings, or jelly. An excellent way to keep them for winter use is to dry them. It gives a little trouble, but one is well repaid for it, for the home-dried apples are superior in flavour to any bought apple-rings or pippins. Peel your apples, cut away the cores and all the worm-eaten parts--for nearly the whole of the windfalls are more or less worm-eaten. The good parts cut into thin pieces, spread them on large sheets of paper in the sun. In the evening (before the dew falls), they should be taken indoors and spread on tins (but with paper underneath), on the cool kitchen stove, and if the oven is only just warm, placed in the oven well spread out; of course they require frequent turning about, both in the sun and on the stove. Next day they may again be spread in the sun, and will probably be quite dry in the course of the day. Should the weather be rainy, the apples must be dried indoors only, and extra care must then be taken that they are neither scorched nor cooked on the stove. Whilst cooking is going on they will dry nicely on sheets of paper on the plate-rack. When the apples are quite dry, which is when the outside is not moist at all, fill them into brown paper bags and hang them up in an airy, dry place. The apples will be found delicious in flavour when stewed, and most acceptable when fresh fruit is scarce. I have dried several bushels of apples in this way every year.

APPLE DUMPLINGS.

Core as many apples as may be required. Fill the holes with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon; make a paste for a short crust, roll it out, and wrap each apple in it. Bake the dumplings about 30 or 40 minutes in the oven, or boil them the same time in plenty of water, placing the dumplings in the water when it boils fast. Serve with cream or sweet white sauce.

APPLE FOOL.

2 lbs. of apples, 1/2 lb. of dates, 3/4 pint of milk, 1/4 pint of cream, 6 cloves tied in muslin, and a little sugar. Pare, core, and cut up the apples, stone the dates, and gently stew the fruit with a teacupful of water and the cloves until quite tender; when sufficiently cooked, remove the cloves, and rub the fruit through a sieve; gradually mix in the milk, which should be boiling, then the cream; serve cold with sponge-cake fingers.

APPLE FRITTERS.

3 good juicy cooking apples, 3 eggs, 6 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1/2 pint of milk, and sugar to taste. Pare and core the apples, and cut them into rounds 1/4 inch thick; make a batter with the milk, meal, and the eggs well beaten, adding sugar to taste. Have a frying-pan ready on the fire with boiling oil, vege-butter, or butter, dip the apple slices into the batter and fry the fritters until golden brown; drain them on blotting paper, and keep them hot in the oven until all are done.

APPLE JELLY.

1 pint of water to each 1 lb. of apples. Wash and cut up the apples, and boil them in the water until tender; then pour them into a jelly bag and let drain well; take 1 lb. of loaf sugar to each pint of juice, and the juice of 1 lemon to each quart of liquid. Boil the liquid, skimming carefully, until the jelly sets when cold if a drop is tried on a plate. It may take from 2 hours to 3 hours in boiling.

APPLE PANCAKES.

Make the batter as directed in the recipe for "Apple Fritters," peel 2 apples, and cut them in thin slices, mix them with the batter, add sugar and cinnamon to taste, a little lemon juice if liked, and fry the pancakes in the usual way.

APPLE PUDDING.

1-1/2 lbs. of apples, 1 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, sugar to taste, 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, and 2-1/2 oz. of butter or vege-butter. Pare, core, and cut up the apples; make a paste of the meal, butter and a little cold water; roll the paste out, line a pudding basin with the greater part of it, put in the apples, and sprinkle over them the cinnamon and 4 oz. of sugar--a little more should the apples be very sour; cover the apples with the rest of the paste, and press the edges together round the sides; tie a cloth over the basin and boil the pudding for 2-1/2 to 3 hours in a saucepan with boiling water.

APPLE PUDDING (Nottingham).

6 baking apples, 2 oz. of sugar, 1 heaped up teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, 3/4 pint of milk, 3 eggs, 6 oz. of Allinson wholemeal, and 1 oz. of butter. Core the apples, mix the sugar and cinnamon, and fill the hole where the core was with it; put the apples into a buttered pie-dish; make a batter of the milk, eggs, and meal, melt the butter and mix it into the batter; pour it over the apples, and bake the pudding for 2 hours in a moderate oven.

APPLE SAGO.

5 oz. of sago, 1-1/2 lbs. of apples, the juice of a lemon, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, and sugar to taste. Wash the sago and cook it in 1-1/2 pints of water, to which the cinnamon is added; meanwhile have the apples ready, pared, cored, and cut up; cook them in very little water, just enough to keep the apples from burning; when they are quite soft rub them through a sieve and mix them with the cooking sago, adding sugar and lemon juice; let all cook gently for a few minutes or until the sago is quite soft; put the mixture into a wetted mould, and turn out when cold.

APPLE SAUCE.

1 lb. of good cooking apples, sugar to taste. Pare, core, and cut in pieces the apples, cook them in a few spoonfuls of water to prevent them burning; when quite soft rub the apple through a sieve, and sweeten the sauce to taste. Rubbing the sauce through a sieve ensures the sauce being free from pieces should the apple not pulp evenly.

APPLE TART (OPEN).

2 lbs. of apples, 1 cupful of currants and sultanas, 2 oz. of chopped almonds, sugar to taste, 1 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon or the rind of 1/2 lemon (which latter should be removed after cooking with the apples), 12 oz. or Allinson fine wheatmeal, and 4-1/2 oz. of butter. Pare, core, and cut up the apples; stew them in very little water, only just enough to keep from burning; when nearly done add the currants, sultanas, almonds, cinnamon, and sugar; let all simmer together until the apples have become a pulp; let the fruit cool; make a paste of the meal, butter, and a little water; roll it out and line a round, flat dish with it, and brush the paste over with white of eggs; turn the apple mixture on the paste; cut the rest of the paste into strips 3/8 of an inch wide, and lay them over the apples in diamond shape, each 1 inch from the other, so as to make a kind of trellis arrangement of the pastry. If enough paste is left, lay a thin strip right round the dish to finish off the edge, mark it nicely with a fork or spoon, and bake the tart for 3/4 hour. Serve with white sauce or custard.

APPLES (RICE)

2 lbs. of apples, 1/2 lb. of rice, the rind of 1/2 lemon (or a piece of stick cinnamon if preferred), 4 oz. of sultanas, sugar to taste, 1 oz. of butter, and, if the apples are not sour, the juice of a lemon. Boil the rice in 3 pints of water with the lemon rind, then add the apples, pared, cored, and sliced, the sultanas, butter, lemon juice, and sugar; let all simmer gently for 1/2 hour, or until quite tender; if too dry add a little more water; remove the lemon rind before serving.

EVE PUDDING.

1/2 lb. each of apples and breadcrumbs, and 1/2 lb. of currants and sultanas mixed, 5 eggs well beaten, sugar to taste, the grated rind and juice of 1 lemon, and 2 oz. of butter. Peel, core, and chop small the apples, mix them with the breadcrumbs, sugar, currants, and sultanas (washed and picked), the lemon juice and rind, and the butter, previously melted; whip up the eggs and mix them well with the other ingredients; turn the mixture into a buttered mould, tie with a cloth, and steam the pudding for 3 hours.

BREAD AND CAKES

THE ADVANTAGES OF WHOLEMEAL BREAD.

People are now concerning themselves about the foods they eat, and inquiring into their properties, composition, and suitability. One food that is now receiving a good deal of attention is bread, and we ought to be sure that this is of the best kind, for as a nation we eat daily a pound of it per head. We consume more of this article of food than of any other, and this is as it ought to be, for bread is the staff of life, and many of the other things we eat are garnishings. It is said we cannot live on bread alone, but this is untrue if the loaf is a proper one; at one time our prisoners were fed on it alone, and the peasantry of many countries live on very little else.

Not many years ago books treating of food and nutrition always gave milk as the standard food, and so it is for calves and babies. Nowadays we use a grain food as the standard, and of all grains wheat is the one which is nearest perfection, or which supplies to the body those elements that it requires, and in best proportions. A perfect food must contain carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and mineral matter in definite quantities; there must be from four to six parts of carbonaceous or heat and force-forming matter to one of nitrogen, and from two to four per cent. of mineral matter; also a certain bulk of innutritious matter for exciting secretion, for separating the particles of food so that the various gastric and intestinal juices may penetrate and dissolve out all the nutriment, and for carrying off the excess of the biliary and other intestinal secretions with the fæces.

A grain of wheat consists of an outer hard covering or skin, a layer of nitrogenous matter directly under this, and an inner kernel of almost pure starch. The average composition of wheat is this:--

Nitrogen 12 Carbon 72 Mineral Matter 4 Water 12 --- 100

From this analysis we observe that the nitrogenous matter is to the carbonaceous in the proportion of one-sixth, which is the composition of a perfect food. Besides taking part in this composition, the bran, being in a great measure insoluble, passes in bulk through the bowels, assisting daily laxation--a most important consideration. If wheat is such a perfect food, it must follow that wholemeal bread must be best for our daily use. That such is the case, evidence on every side shows; those who eat it are healthier, stronger, and more cheerful than those who do not, all other things being equal. Wholemeal bread comes nearer the standard of a perfect food than does the wheaten grain, as in fermentation some of the starch is destroyed, and thus the proportion of nitrogen is slightly increased.

The next question is, how shall we prepare the grain so as to make the best bread from it? This is done by grinding the grain as finely as possible with stones, and then using the resulting flour for bread-making. The grain should be first cleaned and brushed, and passed over a magnet to cleanse it from any bits of steel or iron it may have acquired from the various processes it goes through, and then finely ground. To ensure fine grinding, it is always advisable to kiln-dry it first. When ground, nothing must be taken from it, nor must anything be added to the flour, and from this bread should be made. Baking powder, soda, and tartaric acid, or soda and hydrochloric acid, or ammonia and hydrochloric acid, or other chemical agents, must never be used for raising bread, as these substances are injurious, and affect the human system for harm. The only ferment that should be used is yeast; of this the French variety is best. If brewer's yeast is used it must be first well washed, otherwise it gives a bitter flavour to the loaf. A small quantity of salt may be used, but not much, otherwise it adds an injurious agent to the bread.

BARLEY BANNOCKS.

Put 1/2 pint of milk into a saucepan allow it to boil; then sprinkle in barley meal, stirring it constantly to prevent lumps till the mixture is quite thick and almost unstirrable. Turn the mass out on a meal-besprinkled board and leave to cool. When cool enough to knead, work it quite stiff with dry meal, take a portion off, roll it as thin as a wafer, and bake it on a hot girdle; when done on one side, turn and cook on the other. The girdle is to be swept clean after each bannock. Eat hot or cold with butter.

BUN LOAF.

1 lb. Allinson wholemeal flour, 1/2 lb. butter, 1/2 lb. brown sugar, 1/4 lb. currants, 1/4 lb. raisins, 1/4 lb. candied peel, 4 eggs, 1/2 teacupful of milk. Mix the flour, sugar, currants, raisins, candied peel (cut in thin strips), the butter and eggs well together; mix with the milk; pour into a buttered tin, and bake in a moderate oven for 2 hours.

BUNS (1).

1 lb. flour, 1/4 lb. sugar, 4 oz. currants, 2 oz. butter, or vege-butter, 1 teacupful of milk, 1 oz. French yeast, 2 eggs, a little salt. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and currants in a basin, warm the butter and milk slightly, mix it smoothly with the yeast, then add the eggs well beaten; pour this on the flour, stirring well together till it is all moistened; when thoroughly mixed, set it to rise by the fire for 1/2 hour; make into buns, set to rise by the fire for 10 minutes, brush the tops over with egg, and bake from 10 to 15 minutes.

BUNS (2).

1/2 pint water, 1/2 pint milk, 1 oz. yeast, 1 oz. sugar, 6 oz. Allinson's wholemeal, 1 egg (not necessary). Warm water and milk to 105 degrees, dissolve sugar and yeast in it and stir in the meal, leave well covered up in a warm place for 45 minutes. Then have ready 1 3/4 lbs. Allinson's wholemeal, 1/4 lb. vege-butter, 5 oz. sugar, 1/2 lb. currants, pinch of salt. Melt down vege-butter to oil, make bay of meal, sprinkle currants round, stir the sugar and salt with the ferment till dissolved, then mix in the melted butter and make up into a dough with the meal and currants. Keep in warm place for 45 minutes, then knock gas out of dough and leave 1/2 hour more; shape buns, place on warm greased tin, prove 15 minutes and bake in moderately warm oven for 20 minutes.

BUNS (PLAIN).

1 lb. flour, 6 oz. butter, or vege-butter, 1/4 lb. sugar, 1 egg, 1/4 pint milk, 15 drops essence of lemon. Warm the butter without oiling it, beat it with a wooden spoon, stir the flour in gradually with the sugar, and mix the ingredients well together; make the milk lukewarm, beat up with it the egg and lemon and stir to the flour; beat the dough well for 10 minutes, divide into 24 pieces, put into patty pans, and bake in a brisk oven for from 20 to 30 minutes.

BUTTER BISCUITS.

1/2 lb. butter, 2 lbs. fine wholemeal flour, 1/2 pint milk. Dissolve the butter in the milk, which should be warmed, then stir in the meal and make into a stiff, smooth paste, roll it out very thin, stamp it into biscuits, prick them out with a fork, and bake on tins in a quick oven for 10 minutes.

BUTTERMILK CAKE.

2 lbs. Allinson wholemeal flour, 2 lbs. currants, 1/2 lb. sugar, 12 oz. butter, 2 oz. candied lemon peel, 1 pint buttermilk. Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar, then the meal, fruit, and milk, mix thoroughly; butter a cake tin, pour in the mixture, and bake in a slow oven for 3 1/2 hours.

BUTTERMILK CAKES.

2 lbs. wholemeal flour, 1 pint buttermilk, 1 teaspoonful salt. Mix the meal well with the salt, add the buttermilk and pour on the flour; beat well together, roll it out, cut into cakes, and bake for from 15 to 20 minutes in a quick oven.

CHOCOLATE BISCUITS.

2 oz. of powdered chocolate, 2 oz. of white sugar, 2 whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Mix all together, and drop in biscuits on white or wafer paper. Bake 16 minutes in a moderate oven.

CHOCOLATE CAKE (1).

1/2 lb. of fine wheatmeal, 1/4 lb. of butter, 5 eggs, 1/2 lb. of castor sugar, 1-1/2 oz. of Allinson cocoa, 1 dessertspoonful of vanilla essence. Proceed as in recipe of "Madeira Cake," adding the cocoa and flavouring with vanilla.

CHOCOLATE CAKE (2).

Work 4 oz. of butter to a cream, add a 1/4 lb. of castor sugar, 3 eggs, and a little milk. Mix together 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, a heaped tablespoonful of cocoa. Add to the butter mixture, and bake on a shallow tin or plate in a quick oven. The cake can be iced when done, and cut, when cold, into diamond-shaped pieces or triangles.

CHOCOLATE MACAROONS.

1/2 lb. of ground sweet almonds, 1 oz. of cocoa, 1 dessertspoonful of vanilla essence, 1/2 lb. of castor sugar, the white of 4 eggs. Whip the white of the eggs to a stiff froth, add the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and almond meal, and proceed as in the previous recipe.

CINNAMON MADEIRA CAKE.

1/2 lb. of fine wheatmeal, 1/4 lb. of butter, 1/2 lb. of sugar, 1/4 lb. of currants and sultanas mixed (washed and picked) 5 eggs, 1 dessertspoonful of ground cinnamon. Proceed as in recipe for "Madeira Cake," adding the fruit, and cinnamon as flavouring.

COCOANUT BISCUITS.

2 breakfastcupfuls of wheatmeal, 2 teacupfuls of grated cocoanut, 3 dessertspoonfuls of sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of orange water, 2 oz. of butter, a little milk. Mix the ingredients, adding a little milk to moisten the paste, mix it well, roll the paste out 1/4 in. thick, cut out with a biscuit cutter. Prick the biscuits, and bake them in a moderate oven a pale brown.

COCOANUT DROPS.

1/2 lb. of desiccated cocoanut, 1/2 lb. of castor sugar, the whites of 3 eggs. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, add the sugar, then the cocoanut. Place little lumps of the mixture on the rice wafer paper, as in recipe for "Macaroons," and bake in a fairly hot oven.

COCOANUT ROCK CAKES.

1 lb. of fine wholemeal flour, 6 oz. of desiccated cocoanut, 3 oz. of butter, 3 eggs, a little cold milk, 6 oz. castor sugar. Rub the butter into the meal, add the sugar, cocoanut, and the well-beaten eggs. Mix, and add only just enough milk to make the mixture keep together. Put small lumps on a floured baking tin, and bake in a quick oven.

CORNFLOUR CAKE.

1/2 lb. of cornflour, 4 eggs, 6 oz. butter, same of castor sugar; separate the yolks of eggs from the whites and beat separately for a 1/4 of an hour, cream the butter and sugar, mix with the yolks, then the whites, and lastly the flour, and whisk all together for 25 minutes, and bake for 1 hour in a moderately hot oven.

CRACKERS.

1 cupful butter, 1 teaspoonful salt, 2 quarts Allinson wholemeal flour. Rub thoroughly together with the hand, and wet up with cold water; beat well, and beat in meal to make brittle and hard; then pinch off pieces and roll out each cracker by itself, if you wish them to resemble baker's crackers.

CRISP OATMEAL CAKES.

1 lb. of oatmeal, 2 oz. of butter or oil (1 tablespoonful of oil is 1 oz.), 1 gill of cold milk. Make a dough of the butter, meal, and milk; shake meal plentifully on the board, turn the dough on to it, and having sprinkled this too with meal, work it a little with the backs of your fingers. Roll the dough out to the thickness of a crown piece, cut it in shapes, put the cakes on a hot stove, and when they are a little brown on the underside, take them off and place them on a hanger in front of the fire in order to brown the upper side; when this is done they are ready for use.

DYSPEPTICS' BREAD.

9 oz. of Allinson wholemeal, 1 egg, a scant 1/2 pint of milk and water. Separate the yolk from the white of the egg. Beat up the yolk with the milk and water, and mix this with the meal into a thick batter; whip up the white of the egg stiff, and mix it well into the batter. Grease and heat a bread tin, turn the mixture into it, and bake the loaf for 1-1/2 hours in a hot oven. This is very delicious bread, very light and digestible.

DOUGHNUTS.

1-1/2 lbs. of wheatmeal, 1/4 oz. yeast, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon, 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar, enough lukewarm milk to moisten the dough, some jam and marmalade. Dissolve the yeast in a little warm milk, mix all the ingredients, adding the dissolved yeast and enough milk to make the dough sufficiently moist to handle. Let it rise 1-1/2 hours in front of the stove. When risen roll it out 1/2 in. thick, cut out round pieces, place a little jam or marmalade in the middle, close up the dough, forming the dough nuts, and cook them in boiling oil or vege-butter until brown and thoroughly done. Eat warm.

GINGER SPONGE CAKE (a nice Cake for Children who do not like Gingerbread).

3 breakfast cups of Allinson wholemeal flour, 1 breakfast cup of sugar, 3 eggs, 6 oz. of butter or vege-butter, 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of ground ginger, 1 saltspoonful of salt, 1/2 gill milk. Beat the butter, sugar, and eggs to a cream, mix all the dry ingredients together; add gradually to the butter, &c., lastly the milk. Put into a well-greased tin, bake about 20 minutes in a quick oven. When cold cut into finger lengths or squares.

ICING FOR CAKES.

To 8 oz. of sugar take 2 whites of eggs, well beaten, and 1 tablespoonful of orange-or rosewater. Whisk the ingredients thoroughly, and when the cake is cold cover it with the mixture. Set the cake in the oven to harden, but do not let it remain long enough to discolour.

JUMBLES.

1 lb. of wheatmeal, 1 lb. of castor sugar, 1/2 pint of milk, 1/4 lb. of butter, 1 lb. ground almonds. Cream the butter, add the other ingredients, and moisten with a little rosewater. Roll out and cut the jumbles into any shape desired. Bake in a gentle oven.

LEMON CAKES.

1/2 lb. of castor sugar, 1/2 lb. of wheatmeal, sifted fine, the grated rind of a lemon, 2 oz. of butter, and 2 well-beaten eggs. Rub the butter into the meal, and mix all the ingredients well together; roll the mixture out thin, lay it on a tin, and when baked cut into diamond squares.