Part 29

COMPANY DINNERS--WINTER.--1. Mulligatawny soup; fresh cod-fish fried; boiled ham; roast turkey with cranberry sauce; fowls stewed whole; oyster pie; potatoe snow; turnips; parsnips; winter-squash--Cocoa-nut pudding; lemon pudding; mince-pie; calves’ feet jelly.

2. Clear gravy soup; stewed rock-fish; roasted ham; boiled turkey with oyster sauce; venison pie; brown fricassee; sweet potatoes; turnips; parsnips; beets--Orange pudding; almond pudding; meringued apples; chocolate cream.

3. Venison soup; fresh cod-fish boiled; smoked tongue; pair of roast geese with apple sauce; oyster pie; French stew of rabbits; turnips; potatoe snow; parsnips; onion custard; beets--Transparent pudding; orange tarts; mince-pie; floating island.

4. Mock turtle soup; boiled rock-fish; ham pie; smoked tongue; roast turkey with cranberry sauce; boiled fowls with celery sauce; oyster loaves; sweetbread croquettes; turnips; parsnips; beets; maccaroni--Charlotte russe; mince-pie; calves’ feet jelly; blanc-mange.

5. Rich brown soup; fresh cod-fish stewed; boiled ham; venison roasted; red-head ducks with currant jelly; oyster patties; veal rissoles; turnips; parsnips; beets; winter-squash; cold-slaw--Mince-pudding; omelet soufflé; orange flummery; vanilla ice-cream.

6. Rich white soup; fresh cod-fish fried; roasted ham; venison pie; boiled turkey with oyster sauce; partridges in pears; chicken rice pudding; potatoe snow; beets; turnips; winter-squash; stewed red cabbage--Plum pudding; chocolate blanc-mange; cocoa-nut cream; apple-jelly.

7. Meg Merrilies soup; stewed rock-fish; boiled ham; canvas-back ducks roasted; French oyster pie; fricasseed chickens; veal olives; winter-squash; potatoe snow; beets; turnips; maccaroni--Orange pudding; cocoa-nut pudding; cake syllabub; chocolate ice-cream.

8. Maccaroni soup; fresh cod-fish stewed; smoked tongue; canvas-back ducks stewed; partridge pie; fricasseed fowls; stewed sweetbreads with oysters; turnips; potatoe snow; parsnips; beets; cold-slaw--Orleans pudding; Italian charlotte; apple compote; orange-jelly.

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_Christmas dinners._--Mock turtle soup; stewed rock-fish; roasted ham; roasted venison with currant-jelly; boiled turkey with oyster sauce; roast geese with apple sauce; French oyster pie; fricasseed chickens; potatoe snow; parsnips; beets; winter-squash; cold-slaw--Plum pudding; mince-pies; orange tarts; cream cocoa-nut pudding; Spanish blanc-mange; apple-jelly; vanilla ice-cream.

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_New Year’s dinner._--Venison soup; stewed fresh cod; boiled ham; roasted turkey with cranberry sauce; roast goose with apple sauce; partridge pie; winter-squash; beets; potatoe snow; cold-slaw--Columbian pudding; lemon tarts; charlotte polonaise; vanilla blanc-mange; trifle.

LARGE DINNER PARTIES.--1. _Spring._--Rich brown soup at one end; rich white soup at the other; two dishes of sheep’s-head fish, one baked, one stewed, or else baked salmon-trout and cream trout; roasted ham; smoked tongue; chickens stewed whole; roast ducks with cranberry-jelly; sweetbreads with oysters; terrapin veal; white fricassee; brown fricassee; sweetbread croquettes; lobster rissoles; oyster loaves; lobster patties; asparagus loaves; French spinach; French peas; cauliflower maccaroni; stewed beans; fried cauliflower; fried artichokes; stewed spinach; asparagus omelet; cauliflower omelet--Columbian pudding; orange tarts; lemon tarts; charlotte polonaise; green custard; red custard; pistachio cream; maccaroon blanc-mange; vanilla blanc-mange; gooseberry-water ice; currant-water ice; almond ice-cream; calves’ feet jelly.

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2. _Summer._--Turtle soup; fresh salmon stewed; salmon steaks; baked turtle; boiled ham; baked tongue; roast ducks with cherry-jelly; chicken curry; chicken patties; sweetbreads and cauliflowers; tomatoe sweetbreads; lobster pie; stewed lobster; birds in a grove; thatched house pie; plovers roasted; rice pie; mushroom omelets; broccoli and eggs; fried artichokes; stewed peas; stewed beans; stewed beets; potatoe snow; lettuce peas; scolloped tomatoes; mashed sweet potatoes; stuffed egg-plants; stewed egg-plant; Sydney Smith’s salad--Pine-apple tarts; lady’s pudding; transparent pudding; marmalade puddings; French charlotte; Italian charlotte; iced jelly; vanilla blanc-mange; almond blanc-mange; orange ice-cream; strawberry ice-cream.

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3. _Autumn._--Meg Merrilies soup; sea-bass with tomatoes; salmon-trout; roasted ham; smoked tongue; roast fowls; partridge pie; birds with mushrooms; partridges in pears; terrapin; young geese with apple sauce; tongue pie; chicken gumbo; woodcocks roasted; rice croquettes; Columbus eggs; onion custard; mushroom omelet; cauliflower omelet; scolloped tomatoes; baked egg-plant; potatoe snow; lima beans; fried sweet potatoes; mashed sweet potatoes--Cream cocoa-nut pudding; chocolate pudding; sweet omelet; preserved pine-apple; preserved citron-melon; Spanish blanc-mange; calves’ feet jelly; meringued apples; orange-water ice; peach ice-cream; biscuit ice-cream.

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4. _Winter._--Mock turtle soup; oyster soup; rock-fish stewed; fresh cod-fish fried; boiled ham; baked tongue; roast turkey with cranberry-jelly; boiled turkey with oyster sauce; roasted canvas-back ducks with currant-jelly; stewed canvas-back ducks; partridges in pears; salmi of partridges; French oyster pie; turnips; potatoe snow; winter-squash; fried salsify; fried celery; onion custard--Plum pudding; mince-pie; charlotte polonaise; charlotte russe; calves’ feet jelly; pistachio cream; cocoa-nut cream; chocolate ice-cream; orange ice-cream.

TEA PARTIES.--Have black tea, green tea, and coffee. Immediately after the first cups are sent in, let fresh tea be put into the pots, that the second cups may not be weaker than the first. With the cream and sugar, send round a small pot of boiling water to weaken the tea of those who do not like it strong; or for the convenience of ladies who drink only milk and water, and who otherwise may cause interruption and delay by sending out for it. When tea is handed round, it is not well to have hot cakes with it; or any thing that is buttered, or any sort of greasy relishes. Such things are frequently injurious to the gloves and dresses of the ladies, and can well be dispensed with on these occasions. It is sufficient to send round a waiter with large cakes of the _best_ sort, ready sliced but the slices not taken apart. There should be an almond sponge-cake for those who are unwilling to eat cakes made with butter.

Immediately on tea being over, let the servants go round to all the company with waiters having pitchers of cold water and glasses, to prevent the inconvenience of ladies sending out for glasses of water.

In less than an hour after tea, lemonade should be brought in, accompanied by baskets of small mixed cakes, (maccaroons, kisses, &c.,) which it is no longer customary to send in with the tea. Afterwards, let the blanc-mange, jellies, sweetmeats, ice-creams, wines, liquors, &c., be handed round. Next, (after an hour’s interval,) the terrapin, oysters, and chicken salad, &c. These are sometimes accompanied by ale, porter, or cider; sometimes by champagne. At the close of the evening, it is usual to send round a large plum-cake.

If the plan is to have a regular supper table, it is not necessary to send in any refreshments through the evening, except lemonade and little cakes.

When the company is not very numerous, and is to sit round a tea-table, waffles or other hot articles may there be introduced. Take care to set a tea-table that will certainly be large enough to accommodate all the guests without crowding them.

SUPPER DISHES FOR A LARGE COMPANY.--[392-*]Boned turkey with jelly; partridge pie; game dressed in various ways; cold ham glazed thickly all over with a mixture of bread-crumbs, cream, and yolk of egg; two smoked tongues, one placed whole in the centre of the dish, the other cut into circular slices and laid round it; cold alamode beef; French chicken salad; Italian chicken salad; marbled veal; potted lobster; pickled lobster; terrapins; cream oysters; fried oysters; pickled oysters; oyster patties; biscuit sandwiches; charlotte polonaise; charlotte russe; French charlotte; calves’ feet jelly; trifle; Spanish blanc-mange; chocolate blanc-mange; coffee blanc-mange; maccaroon blanc-mange; vanilla blanc-mange; pistachio cream; cocoa-nut cream; chocolate cream; vanilla cream; lemon custards; orange custards; green custard; red custard; meringued apples; whipt cream meringues; iced grapes; orange-water ice; damson-water ice; vanilla ice-cream; lemon ice-cream; almond ice-cream; chocolate ice-cream; biscuit ice-cream; maccaroon ice-cream; preserved pine-apple; preserved citron-melon; preserved limes; preserved oranges; brandy peaches; brandy green gages; port wine-jelly; pink champagne-jelly; frozen punch, &c.; plum-cake; lady-cake; almond sponge-cake; frothed chocolate with dry toast.

[392-* From these may be selected supper dishes for a small assemblage, or for a company of moderate size.]

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An elegant supper table may be decorated with a profusion of real flowers tastefully disposed in pyramids and other forms; or with the sugar temples, obelisks, pagodas, baskets, &c., made by the confectioners. Unless at a very large and splendid supper it is bad taste to introduce these sugar ornaments.

OYSTER SUPPERS.--It is customary at oyster suppers to have a great portion of the oysters roasted in the shell and brought in on large dishes “hot and hot.” Near every two chairs should be placed a small bucket to receive the shells. An oyster knife, and a clean coarse towel must be laid beside every plate, for the purpose of opening the oysters; an office that is usually performed by the gentlemen. The oysters should all be of the largest and best kind. Besides those that are roasted, there should be other dishes of them, fried, stewed, and pickled. Also, oysters in pies or patties;--cold-slaw; beets; pickles; and celery; bread in the form of rolls; and butter made up into handsome basket or pine-apple shapes. Ale and porter are frequently introduced at oyster suppers.

ADDITIONAL RECEIPTS.

BUENA VISTA CAKE.--Put half a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep pan, and cut up in it half a pound of fresh butter. Stir them together hard, till perfectly light. Add a nutmeg powdered. (This cake should be highly-flavoured with nutmeg.) Beat four eggs in a shallow pan, till they are very thick and smooth. Then stir them, gradually, into the pan of beaten butter and sugar; in turn with three-quarters of a pound of sifted flour. Add a wine-glass of rose-water. Have ready three large wine-glasses of cream or rich milk, divided equally in two portions, and put into two cups. Take one yeast-powder, of the very best sort; dissolve in one cup of the cream, the contents of the blue paper, (or the carbonate of soda,) and in the other cup the contents of the white paper, (tartaric acid,) and mix the first with the cake-batter; and then, immediately after, stir in the other, lightly and slowly. Transfer the batter to a large well-buttered square pan, and set it immediately into a brisk oven. Bake it steadily an hour, or more. If not thoroughly baked, it will be heavy. When cool, cut it into squares, and sift powdered sugar over it. It will be still better to ice it, adding rose-water or lemon-juice to the icing. It is best when fresh, the day it is baked; though very good the following day.

This cake will be found excellent, if the foregoing directions are _exactly_ followed. If wanted fresh for tea, at a short notice, it can be made and baked in two hours. For instance, if commenced at five o’clock in the afternoon it may be on the table at seven. The above quantity of ingredients will make enough to fill a large cake-basket.

If you wish to have a large Buena Vista cake baked in a loaf, take double the above quantity of ingredients, viz., one pound of butter, one pound of powdered sugar, a pound and a half of flour; eight eggs, two nutmegs, and two wine-glasses of rose water; six wine-glasses of cream or milk, and two yeast-powders; that is, two of the blue papers and two of the white. Put the mixture into a circular pan, and setting it directly in a brisk oven bake it from four to five hours in proportion to its thickness, keeping up a steady heat all the time. When done, ice and ornament it; flavouring the icing with rose or lemon. One of the decorations should be the words Buena Vista.

All cakes that have milk or cream in them require longer baking than those that have not; and the heat of the oven must be well kept up.

YEAST-POWDERS.--Get at a druggist’s a pound of super-carbonate of soda, and three-quarters of a pound of tartaric acid. Both these articles must be of the very best quality. Prepare an equal number of square blue papers, and square white papers; nicely folded. To be very accurate, weigh the articles alternately. In every blue paper put a hundred grains of the super-carbonate of soda, and in each white paper ninety grains of tartaric acid; and then fold them up so as to secure their contents. If you have not suitable scales and weights, you may guess tolerably well at the proportions of the articles by measuring a full tea-spoonful of the soda for each blue paper, and three-quarters of a tea-spoonful of the acid for each white paper. Put them up in boxes, and keep them in a dry place. The contents of one blue paper and of one white paper are considered as one yeast-powder; half the contents of each paper are called half a yeast-powder.

Yeast-powders of themselves have not sufficient power to raise bread or cakes so as to make them light enough to be wholesome. They should only be employed when real yeast, or eggs, are also used. Then they add greatly to the lightness of the cake. They are also an improvement to batter puddings. They must always be added at the last.

To use them, dissolve first the soda in a wine-glass and a half of milk or lukewarm water, and when thoroughly melted, stir it into the batter. Then melt in another cup the acid, with a similar quantity of milk or water, and stir it in at the last.

These powders entirely destroy the flavour of lemon or orange-juice. But they will convert sour milk into sweet. A yeast-powder added to buckwheat batter that has already been raised by real yeast, will render it surprisingly light. One blue and one white powder will suffice for two quarts of batter.

FINE WAFER CAKES.--Wash and squeeze half a pound of fresh butter in a pan of cold water. Then take it out, and cut it up in another pan, into which you have sifted half a pound of powdered white sugar; and stir them together with a spaddle (a round stick flattened at one end) till they are very light and creamy. Then stir in half a grated nutmeg, a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace, a glass of sherry or Madeira, and a glass of rose or lemon brandy. Put the whites of four eggs into a deep plate, beat them to a stiff froth with a whisk, and add the beaten white of eggs gradually to the mixture. Lastly, stir in as much sifted flour as will make a light soft dough or paste. Divide it into equal portions; flour your hands, and roll each portion in your palms till it becomes round like a small dumpling. Then having heated the wafer-iron, butter the inside, and put in one of the dumplings, making it to fit well. Put the wafer-iron into a clear hot fire, and bake each cake five minutes. When done, take them out carefully and lay them separately on an inverted sieve to cool.

This mixture may be more easily baked in thin flat cakes. Roll out the dough into a thin sheet, and then cut it into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler, or with a tin cutter of that circumference. Butter large square iron pans, and lay the cakes in them, but not so close as to touch. Put them into a quick oven, and bake them brown.

LANCASTER GINGERBREAD.--Cut up a quarter of a pound of fresh butter into two pounds of sifted flour; rub it well in, and add a small teacup of ground ginger, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir in a pint and a half of West India molasses, and milk enough to make it into a thick batter. Lastly, add a tea-spoonful of soda dissolved in a little tepid water; and immediately after dissolve in another cup a salt-spoonful of tartaric acid, and stir that in. Stir the whole very hard. Butter square pans, put into them the mixture, and bake it well; seeing that the oven is not so hot as to scorch it. It requires very long baking. When cool, cut it into squares.

Never put allspice into gingerbread or any other cake. It communicates a disagreeably bitter taste. Allspice is now rarely used for any purpose; cloves being far better. Either of them will considerably darken the colour of the cake.

WARM ICING FOR CAKES.--Beat to a stiff froth the whites of four eggs; then beat into them, gradually, (a spoonful at a time,) a pound of finely-powdered loaf-sugar. Next put the beaten white of egg and sugar into a very clean porcelain-lined kettle, (or something that will not discolour it,) and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. Then remove it from the fire; and while it is warm, stir in the juice of two large lemons or oranges, or a tea-spoonful of extract of roses, or a wine-glass of rose-water, or a large table-spoonful of extract of vanilla. Have ready your cake, which must first be dredged with flour all over, and the flour wiped off with a clean cloth. This will make the icing stick. With a spoon, place a large portion of the warm icing on the centre of the top of the cake; and then with a broad-bladed knife, (dipped now and then into a bowl of cold water) spread it thick and evenly all over the surface. When done, let it dry gradually. It is best that the cake, when iced, should be warm from the oven.

This warm icing is now much in use. It spreads easily; rises up high and thick in cooling; and has a fine gloss on the surface.

To give it a fine red or pink colour, use cochineal. For green colouring, pound in a mortar some raw spinach till you have extracted a tea-cup full of green juice. Put the juice into a very clean porcelain or earthen pan, set it over the fire, and give it one boil up, (not more,) and when cold it will be fit for use. This is the best way of preparing green colouring for all culinary purposes.

CINNAMON BREAD.--On a bread-baking day, (having made more than your usual quantity of wheat bread,) when the dough has risen quite light, so as to be cracked all over the surface, take out as much as would suffice for a moderate-sized loaf, (for instance, a twelve-cent one,) and make it into a large round cake. Having dissolved a yeast-powder in two separate cups in a little lukewarm water, the carbonate of soda in one cup, and the tartaric acid in another, mix the first with the dough of the cake, and then mix in the second. Have ready a half-pint of brown sugar, moistened with fresh butter, so as to make it a thick stiff paste, and flavoured with a heaping table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Make deep cuts or incisions, at equal spaces, over the cake, and fill them with the above mixture, pressed in hard; and pinch the dough with your thumb and finger, so as to close up each cut, to prevent the seasoning from running out. Set it immediately into the oven with the other bread, and bake it thoroughly. When cool, brush it over with white of egg, in which some sugar has been melted.

This is an excellent plain cake for children, and can be prepared any bread-baking day.

It is much improved by mixing with the dough two large heaped table-spoonfuls of butter that has been melted in a teacup of warm milk, and also one or two beaten eggs. Do this before you add the yeast-powder.

SNOW CREAM.--Take a large pint of very rich cream, and half a pound of the best loaf-sugar, powdered. Rub off, on a lump of sugar, the yellow rind of three large lemons or oranges, (or, four or five, if small;) scraping it off the sugar with a teaspoon as you proceed, and transferring it to a saucer. Then powder this lump of sugar, and add it to the rest. Mix with the sugar the juice of the fruit, and the grated rind; and then mix the whole with two quarts of clean snow, in a broad pan. Set the pan into a tub, and pack it closely all round with coarse salt and snow; taking care that they do not quite reach to the edge of the pan, lest some of the salt should get in, and spoil the whole. While packed in the snow and salt, beat the mixture very hard till it is smooth and stiff. Then set it on ice; or in a very cold place, till wanted for use. Turn it out into a glass bowl.

This is a good and easy way of imitating ice-cream in families that are not provided with the regular apparatus of a freezer and moulds. The pint of cream must be very rich, and the flavouring very high. All flavouring loses much strength in freezing.

You may flavour it with vanilla, by boiling a vanilla bean in half a pint of milk, till the vanilla taste is well infused. Then strain the milk, and mix it with the cream. Or, instead of vanilla, you may boil in the milk a handful of shelled bitter almonds, or peach-kernels, to be afterwards strained out.

LEMON HONEY.--Take three large ripe lemons, (or four or five small ones,) and (having rolled them under your hand on a table, to increase the juice,) rub off on a piece of loaf-sugar the yellow rind or zest, scraping it up with a teaspoon as you proceed, and putting it aside on a saucer. Then squeeze the juice of the lemons through a strainer, upon a pound of loaf-sugar, (broken small or powdered,) and add the zest or grated rind. Cut up, among the sugar, a large quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter. Break six eggs into a shallow earthen pan, and beat them till as light as possible. Then mix in, gradually, the sugar and lemon, stirring all very hard. Put the whole into a porcelain-lined kettle; set it over a moderate fire that has no blaze, and (stirring it all the time) let it boil till it becomes of the consistence of very thick honey. If the weather is warm, you may add to its thickness by stirring in a table-spoonful of ground arrow-root, or of sifted flour. When done, put it warm into glass jars; cover them, closely, and seal the covers. It will keep in a cool dry place a month or more. If made in winter, it will continue good for two months.

ORANGE HONEY is made as above, except that you must have five or six oranges, all of the largest size, using the juice only and none of the rind. Orange peel will give it an unpleasant taste after it has been kept a few days.

RAISIN CURRANTS.--Strip as many ripe currants from the stems as will fill a quart measure when done. Put them into a porcelain-lined kettle; mash them, and add three quarters of a pound of sugar--brown will do. Prepare three quarters of a pound of the largest and best raisins, washed, drained, seeded, and cut in half. Or, use the small sultana or seedless raisins. When the currants and sugar have come to a boil, and been skimmed, mix in the raisins, gradually, and let them boil till quite soft; skimming the surface well; and after each skimming stir the whole down to the bottom of the kettle. When done, take it up in a deep dish, and set it to cool. This is a nice, plain dessert.

For a larger quantity, take two quarts of stripped currants; a pound and a half of sugar; and a pound and a half of raisins. None but raisins of the best quality should be used for this or any other purpose. Low-priced raisins are unwholesome, being always of bad quality.