Part 40

Stir into a cupful of yellow corn-meal a half teaspoonful of salt; pour gradually upon the salted meal two cupfuls of boiling water, and beat until free of lumps. Have ready heated in a large double boiler five cupfuls of milk, and into this stir the scalded meal. Boil for an hour. Whip four eggs very light, and into them a gill of molasses, a tablespoonful of melted butter, and a quarter of a teaspoonful, each, of powdered cinnamon and nutmeg. Now remove the boiled meal from the fire and add it very slowly, beating steadily, to the egg mixture. Turn all into a deep, greased pudding-dish and bake, covered, for nearly an hour. Uncover and brown. Serve the pudding from the dish in which it was baked. Eat with hard sauce flavored with lemon juice.

Baked Indian puddings

Make a mush as directed in last recipe. Beat light three eggs and one cupful of molasses, one tablespoonful of softened butter, one teaspoonful of soda. Ginger to taste. Stir in mush enough to make a thick batter. Butter and heat a dozen pâté-pans, fill only half-full with the mixture, put a raisin on top of each, and bake to a nice brown. Run a knife inside of the pans and turn out upon a hot dish. Serve with hard sauce flavored with vanilla.

Macaroni pudding

Break a half pound of spaghetti into bits of uniform length, and cook in a double boiler until tender. Have heated a pint and a half of rich milk, and thicken this slightly with a half teaspoonful of corn-starch rubbed into a teaspoonful of butter. When the milk is of the consistency of cream, drain the macaroni and stir into it this white sauce. Put into a double boiler and heat for five minutes. Turn into a deep dish, sprinkle lightly with powdered cinnamon, and serve with butter and sugar.

Bread-crumb pudding

Soak a pint of fine dry bread-crumbs for two hours in a quart of milk, then beat in two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a half teaspoonful of powdered nutmeg, the whipped yolks and the stiffened whites of four eggs. Bake in a buttered pudding-dish and eat hot with hard sauce.

Cottage pudding (excellent)

Sift three cupfuls of flour twice with one teaspoonful of baking-powder and a little salt. Rub to a cream a cupful of powdered sugar and a heaping tablespoonful of butter. Beat two eggs light—yolks and whites separately. Mix the yolks with the creamed butter and sugar, then one cupful of milk; lastly, the prepared flour, alternately with the frothed whites. Bake, covered, in a buttered mold until a straw comes out clean from the thickest part.

Eat with hard, or with liquid sauce.

Bread and fig pudding

Cut figs into small dice. Make a custard by heating a cupful of milk and pouring it upon four eggs beaten light with six tablespoonfuls of sugar, then cooking it until it is just thick enough to coat the spoon. Dip crustless slices of bread for a second in milk; put a layer of them into a pudding-dish, cover with the fig-dice, and pour over all the hot custard. Then put in more bread, more figs and custard, and proceed until the dish is full. Wait a moment for the bread to absorb some of the custard, and pour the rest of the hot liquid into the dish until it is full to the brim. Cover the dish and bake until the custard is set; uncover and brown. Serve as soon as baked. Eat with a hard sauce.

Peach scallop

Peel and chop enough peaches to make two cupfuls. Put a layer of them into the bottom of a greased pudding-dish, sprinkle thickly with sugar, add a layer of stale sponge cake-crumbs, then more sugared peaches, and so on until the dish is full. Sprinkle with sugar and crumbs, and bake for three-quarters of an hour. Eat hot with hard sauce.

Date pudding

Substitute dates, stoned and minced, for figs in the next-to-the-last recipe.

Queen of puddings

Beat the yolks of four eggs light, add a cupful of sugar, a tablespoonful of softened butter, and when these are well-mixed, four cupfuls of milk. Lastly, beat in two cupfuls of dried crumbs, and turn into a buttered pudding-dish. Bake like a custard. When baked, spread over the top strawberries, sliced peaches or jelly of any sweet kind, and cover the whole with the whites of the eggs beaten stiff with half a cupful of sugar. Brown lightly in the oven. Sift powdered sugar over fresh fruit if it is used, and always over the meringue. Eat warm with sugar and cream, or very cold with the same.

An old-fashioned bread pudding

Soak a pint of fine crumbs in a quart of milk, and when they have soaked for two hours, stir in four well-beaten egg yolks, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a scant half teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little boiling water and a pinch of nutmeg. Last of all, fold in lightly the stiffened whites of the eggs. Bake in a well-greased pudding-dish, cover for half an hour, then uncover and brown. Send to the table as soon as done and eat with hot wine sauce.

A baked Charlotte

Slice stale cake as neatly as may be. Spread each piece with jam or jelly; pack closely in a greased pudding-dish; pour over it a raw custard made by beating an egg very light and stirring it into a large cupful of milk. No sugar is needed. Bake, covered, for half an hour. Eat hot with lemon sauce, or very cold with cream.

Apple meringue pudding

Four cupfuls of well-sweetened apple sauce, run through a colander and beaten with an egg-whisk until light and creamy. One cupful of fine bread-crumbs; three eggs; one glass of sherry; one tablespoonful of butter (melted); juice of a lemon and half the grated rind; mace and cinnamon to taste. Mix crumbs, apple sauce and melted butter well together, add the seasoning, the lemon, and finally the beaten yolks of the eggs. Beat hard for one minute, turn into a buttered pudding-dish and bake, covered, for half an hour. Draw to the oven door and spread with a meringue made of the stiffened whites of the eggs. Eat ice-cold with cream.

Chocolate pudding

Make a good custard of a quart of milk, the yolk of five eggs and a cupful of sugar. Have ready two tablespoonfuls of cornstarch wet with cold milk. When the custard is hot, take from the fire, stir this in, with four tablespoonfuls of grated, unsweetened chocolate. Turn into a buttered pudding-dish and bake, covered, for half an hour. Draw to the door of the oven and spread with a stiff meringue made of the whites whipped light with two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Return to the oven for one minute, or until the meringue is “set.”

Eat cold with whipped cream.

Summer squash pudding

Stew the squash, drain and rub through your vegetable press. To each pint add one cupful of sugar, one-half teaspoonful of mace and a little salt, and slowly pour over and mix in one quart of boiling milk. Set aside until perfectly cold, when add the yolks of five well-beaten eggs and a cupful of thick cream; bake in a pudding-dish in a moderate oven until firm in the center.

Draw to the oven door and cover with the whites of three eggs beaten to a meringue with a cup of fine macaroon-crumbs. Shut the oven and brown lightly.

Eat cold. It will be found very nice.

Cornstarch pudding

Dissolve three tablespoonfuls of corn-starch in a cupful of milk, then set aside until cool. Now beat in three tablespoonfuls of sugar and three beaten eggs with a teaspoonful of melted butter. Stir until thick and smooth. Scald a pint of milk and add to it the corn-starch and cold milk. Season with vanilla, and bake in a buttered pudding-dish. Serve cold with sweetened cream.

Bread-and-milk pudding

Soak two cupfuls of fine crumbs in a quart of milk for an hour. Stir in a tablespoonful of melted butter and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Now beat in three well-whipped eggs; turn into a buttered pudding-dish and bake until set. Eat hot with sugar and butter, or cream and sugar.

Bread-crumb pudding

Soak three cupfuls of fine crumbs for an hour in a quart of milk. Beat into the soaked crumbs four eggs, whipped light, a tablespoonful of melted butter and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake, covered, for twenty minutes; uncover and brown. Eat at once with hard sauce flavored with vanilla.

Polly’s pudding

(A Virginia recipe)

Make a custard of two cupfuls of hot milk poured gradually upon the yolks of three eggs beaten light with four tablespoonfuls of sugar. Butter a pudding-dish and sprinkle the bottom with finely-minced candied lemon peel, minced crystallized fruit, and a very little shredded suet, then a layer of fine crumbs. Cover each layer with a few spoonfuls of the warm custard as you go on until the dish is full. Cover and bake half an hour; spread with a meringue made of the whites and a tablespoonful of sugar and color lightly. Eat cold.

Rice pudding without eggs

(Contributed)

Put into a baking-dish one cupful of rice; sweeten with a cupful of sugar; season with a teaspoonful, each, of salt, grated nutmeg and cinnamon. Scatter through the rice one-half cupful of seeded raisins and pour over it six cupfuls of milk. If the pudding looks dry, add another cupful of milk fifteen minutes before taking from the oven.

Rice pudding with eggs

(Contributed)

Boil until soft one cupful of rice in plenty of hot water. Drain and while hot add one tablespoonful of butter. When cold add to it one cupful of sugar, one teaspoonful of grated nutmeg and one teaspoonful of ground cinnamon. Beat four eggs very light, whites and yolks separately, and add them to the rice. Then add one cupful of seeded raisins. Stir in one cupful of sweet milk gradually, turn into a buttered baking-dish and bake in a hot oven.

Bird’s nest pudding

(Contributed)

Put into a buttered baking-dish six or seven pared and cored apples. Mix to a smooth paste with cold milk five tablespoonfuls of flour, and add the yolks of three eggs well beaten. Then add one teaspoonful of salt and the whites of the eggs well beaten. Then more milk, using one pint in all. Pour this mixture over the apples and bake one hour in a moderate oven. Serve with any good sauce.

Minute pudding

(Contributed)

Beat two eggs very light and add a pint of flour and enough of a pint of milk to make it smooth. Put the remainder of the milk into a buttered saucepan; add a little salt, and when it comes to a boil add lightly the egg and flour mixture. Let it cook well and serve immediately with the following simple sauce: Rich milk or cream sweetened to taste and flavored with nutmeg.

Cracker pudding

Soak two cupfuls of crushed crackers, very fine, in a quart of hot milk, and stir in a double boiler over the fire until it smokes. Then put in a tablespoonful of butter, a saltspoonful of baking-powder and four beaten eggs. Turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake until the custard is set. Send to table at once, and eat with hard sauce.

Frumenty

(Old English recipe)

Cook a cupful of raw rice with two cupfuls of hot water in the inner vessel of a double boiler for half an hour. Then turn it into three cupfuls of milk heated in the double boiler, and cook until very tender. Stir in one level teaspoonful of salt and one level tablespoonful of butter. Beat two eggs light with two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and stir this into the hot rice when you take it from the fire.

Rub to a light cream two tablespoonfuls of brown sugar with one of butter and season with cinnamon. Turn the hot rice into a deep dish, spread this sauce smoothly over the top, and serve.

This dish, made with cracked wheat instead of rice, was what King Arthur’s cook was bearing across the courtyard when Tom Thumb, dropped by the bird of prey, fell plump into it. It is sometimes called “fermenty.”

Sago pudding

Soak half a cupful of sago in a cupful of cold water for two hours. Drain, put into the inner vessel of a farina kettle with a quart of hot milk, and simmer until the sago is clear, stirring up from the bottom several times. Add, then, a tablespoonful of butter, four of sugar, a good pinch of salt and three eggs beaten light. Beat all well and turn into a buttered bake-dish. Bake in a quick oven twenty minutes.

Eat hot with sauce, or cold with cream.

Apple soufflé pudding

Four eggs; one pint of milk; two tablespoonfuls of butter; six large apples, juicy and tart; a pinch of soda in the milk; two tablespoonfuls of flour.

Heat the milk; stir the butter over the fire until hot, then add the flour and mix to a paste; add the hot milk to this, stir until smooth, and pour gradually over the beaten yolks. Into this grate the pared apples, one by one, mixing well and quickly, that they may keep their color. Now, fold in the whites, beaten to a standing froth, pour into a buttered pudding-dish and bake very quickly.

Serve before it falls, and eat with hard or liquid sauce.

Apple puff

Peel and grate enough apples to make two cupfuls. Beat the whites of five eggs very stiff with four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar; stir in quickly the grated apples, and two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice. Turn into a pudding-dish and bake for half an hour. Eat as soon as baked with a hot custard sauce.

Cocoanut soufflé

Bring a pint of milk to the scalding point, and stir into it a cupful of grated cocoanut. Set aside until cold, then add five eggs, beaten very light, and a teaspoonful of essence of bitter almonds. Bake in a soufflé-dish until “set.” Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

Rice soufflé

Make a white sauce of a cupful of milk thickened with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed into one of butter. Let this cool, then beat into it a teacupful of cold boiled rice, the whipped yolks and the stiffened whites of five eggs. Turn into a greased pudding mold and bake until set. Serve immediately. Eat with cream and sugar.

Rhubarb soufflé

Soak half a cupful of bread-crumbs for an hour in a cupful of milk. Beat six eggs light, yolks and whites separate. Stir the thickened yolks into the soaked crumbs; add a cupful of stewed and sweetened rhubarb, and, last of all, fold in the whites. Turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake, covered, for half an hour; then uncover and brown. Send to the table as soon as it is removed from the oven, and serve immediately with sweetened whipped cream.

Sweet omelet soufflé

Beat the yolks of four eggs stiff, and stir into them four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Add two teaspoonfuls of vanilla, and beat hard for five minutes. Whip the whites of six eggs to a meringue with a heaping tablespoonful of powdered sugar, and stir lightly and quickly into the yolk mixture. Turn into a buttered pudding-dish and bake in a hot oven to a delicate brown. Serve immediately.

Prune soufflé (delicious)

Soak eighteen prunes over night and stew tender. Remove the stones and chop the prunes to a smooth pulp. Make a meringue of the whites of eight eggs and seven tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Beat the prunes into this, turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake for twenty minutes. Serve immediately with whipped cream.

Lemon soufflé

Make a white roux of two tablespoonfuls of butter and the same of flour; heat a cupful of milk to the boiling point, add to the roux and set aside to cool; then add the yolks of four eggs well beaten with powdered sugar and the juice and grated rind of one lemon. Just before putting into the oven to bake, stir in lightly the beaten whites of the eggs. Bake three-quarters of an hour and serve with whipped cream flavored with lemon and slightly sweetened.

Orange soufflé

(Contributed)

Cut stale sponge cake into small cubes and saturate with orange juice. Pour into a dish and pour over it rich custard. Cover with a good meringue, brown nicely and serve.

Bread soufflé

Soak a pint of bread-crumbs for two hours in a quart of rich milk. Beat hard until you have a soft mass. Stir into this the yolks of four beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of melted butter and, last of all, the stiffened whites of six eggs. Pour into a greased pudding-dish and bake for forty minutes in a steady oven. Serve immediately with a sweet, hot custard sauce made of the remaining yolks of the eggs.

Boiled rice with milk and egg

Wash a cupful of rice and cook in an abundance of boiling water slightly salted until tender, but not pasty. Drain off every drop of the water, shaking the rice in a colander. Return the cereal to the fire in a double boiler and stir into it a quart of boiling milk, into which three beaten eggs have been gradually whipped. Cook gently for a few minutes, or until much of the milk has been absorbed. Eat with sugar and cream.

Banana soufflé

Peel and chop very fine five bananas. Into a pint of whipped cream stir five well-beaten eggs, then stir in quickly the banana pulp. Turn into a soufflé-dish, bake in a quick oven until brown and light, and serve immediately with sugar and cream.

Chocolate soufflé

(Contributed)

Cook together in a saucepan a tablespoonful of butter and two of flour, and as these thicken stir into them six tablespoonfuls of sweet milk. Beat thick and smooth, then pour upon the yolks of three eggs that have been beaten light with two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Whip hard, adding four tablespoonfuls of grated sweetened chocolate, until the mixture is lukewarm; put on the ice to cool, covering it to keep a crust from forming on top. When cold add the stiffened whites of the eggs, fold these in lightly and bake in a quick oven. Serve at once with sweetened whipped cream.

FRITTERS

In making fritters an essential to their success is that the fat in which they are fried be very deep and boiling hot. Always test it by dropping into it a small spoonful of batter. If this do not rise quickly to the surface, swell rapidly, and acquire a light brown hue, your fat is too cool. Let it stand over the hottest part of the range for a few minutes and again test it. When it is at the right temperature fry your fritters quickly, dropping in the batter by the spoonful. When done, remove the fritters with a perforated spoon, and lay them in a heated colander lined with brown paper. Transfer to a hot platter covered with a folded napkin and serve at once.

Fritters à la créme

Stir a pinch of soda into a pint of milk and heat in a double boiler. Wet two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch with cold milk, and when dissolved turn it into the hot milk. Stir until thick; remove from the fire, and beat into it a tablespoonful of melted butter, three beaten eggs and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Pour into a square pan and set aside until very cold. Cut the mixture into small triangles, dip into batter, and fry to a golden brown. Remove the fritters very carefully from the fat, as they are tender and break easily. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Apple fritters

Beat the yolks and whites of five eggs separately. Into the yolks stir three generous cupfuls of sweet milk, a pinch of salt and three scant cupfuls of flour, sifted with a teaspoonful of baking-powder. Beat for a minute, add the stiffened whites and, when these are blended, a cupful of peeled and thinly-sliced apples. When the fritters are done and transferred to a hot dish, sprinkle them liberally with powdered sugar to which a little cinnamon has been added.

Orange fritters

Make a plain fritter batter with two eggs, a cupful of milk, half a teaspoonful of salt and sufficient flour to make a batter that will pour from the spoon, or coat whatever fruit is put into it. Peel the oranges and separate into sections, taking out the seeds. Dip these sections into the batter, covering well, and slide carefully into hot cottolene or other fat, browning, first on one side, then on the other. They can be served with sauce, or simply dusted with powdered sugar. If served as a dessert, use a sauce.

Apricot fritters

Peel and slice fourteen firm apricots and lay them in cold water while you make a batter of the following ingredients: Four eggs, beaten light, a half-pint of milk, a pinch of salt, and a heaping cupful of flour sifted twice with a teaspoonful of baking-powder.

Remove the apricots from the water, and pat them dry between the folds of a clean dish towel. Beat the batter hard, stir into it the fruit and fry at once. Sprinkle with sugar while hot, and serve with a lemon sauce. Canned apricots may be used for this purpose, every drop of juice being removed.

Peach fritters

Peel and slice a dozen peaches, and stir them into a batter made by beating together three whipped eggs, a cupful of rich milk, a pinch of salt and a cupful of prepared flour. Drop this mixture by the spoonful into deep, boiling fat. When the fritters are of a golden-brown color, drain in a colander and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve very hot.

Rhubarb fritters

Scrape the stalks of the rhubarb, cut into quarter-inch lengths; stew in sugar and water for ten minutes; drain and set aside to get cold.

Make a batter of a half-pint of milk, three eggs, beaten light, and a cupful of prepared flour. Beat hard and stir into this batter a cupful of the rhubarb. Drop by the spoonful into deep, boiling cottolene or other fat, and fry to a bright brown. Serve with lemon sauce.

Banana fritters (No. 1)

Whip three eggs very light and beat into them a cupful of milk and a cupful of flour that has been sifted with a teaspoonful of baking-powder and a saltspoonful of salt. Cut six bananas into small bits, stir these into the batter, and drop by the spoonful into deep, boiling cottolene or other fat. When golden brown, drain in a colander lined with tissue-paper. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve hot.

Banana fritters (No. 2)

Peel and cut bananas lengthwise into thick slices. Squeeze over them a few drops of lemon juice, then turn over and squeeze juice on the under side. Dry between soft cloths, and dip into fritter batter, coating each slice thoroughly. Fry in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat to a light brown.

Swiss fritters

Slice stale bread nearly an inch thick, cut round with a cake-cutter, and fry quickly in deep hot cottolene or other fat. Drop each round, as soon as done, into boiling water for one second, to remove superfluous grease. Spread the fritters, as fast as they are fried and dipped, with powdered sugar, wet up with lemon juice. Cover and keep hot until needed.

Almond roulettes

Make a paste of twenty-five blanched and chopped almonds, a pint of fine bread-crumbs, a teaspoonful of extract of bitter almonds, the whipped whites of two eggs and a heaping teaspoonful of cornstarch. Form into balls, and set these in the ice-box for an hour. Make a batter of a cupful of lukewarm water, a pinch of salt, the frothed white of an egg, and a cupful of prepared flour. Take the balls of nut-paste from the ice-chest, dip each ball in the batter, rolling it about until thoroughly coated, and fry in boiling butter. Serve with a cream sauce.

Sweet potato fritters

Boil, skin, and dry in an open oven. Mash while warm, and rub through a colander, or a vegetable press. Stir into a pint of potatoes a cupful of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, a little salt and two tablespoonfuls of sugar; finally, the yolks of two beaten eggs. With floured hands shape into flat cakes, dip into the frothed whites, then in cracker-crumbs, repeating the process. Leave upon ice two hours and fry in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat to a golden brown.

Eat with lemon sauce.

PANCAKES AND DUMPLINGS

Risen pancakes

Make a sponge of a quart of flour, a half-cake of compressed yeast dissolved in a little water, and a teaspoonful of salt. Set to rise all night; in the morning beat in three well-whipped eggs and a tablespoonful of melted butter. Bake on a soapstone griddle.

Jersey pancakes

Four heaping tablespoonfuls of flour, mixed with sufficient milk to make a good batter. Add the beaten yolks of four eggs, and salt to taste; lastly, add the well-beaten whites of the eggs. Melt a tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan, pour in batter until the bottom of the pan is thinly covered. Bake brown on both sides. When done, fold like an omelet, strewing sugar seasoned with powdered cinnamon between the folds.

Italian pancakes