Part 74

_Orange Tart._--Take 4 Seville oranges, squeeze the juice and pulp from them; boil the oranges until quite tender, add double their weight of sugar and pound fruit and sugar to a paste. With a teaspoonful of butter and the juice of the oranges, beat well together adding the pulp, also freed from pips and pith, line a shallow pie-dish with a light paste, put in the orange paste, bake it and cover with custard or cream.

_Orange Tartlets._--Line some patty-pans with sweet short paste, fill them with uncooked rice, and bake to a light brown colour; remove the rice, and fill each tartlet with oranges prepared as for a compote, only cut into smaller pieces; pour syrup over before sending to table, or else sift sugar over, as preferred.

_Orchard-street Pudding._-½ lb. breadcrumbs, 6 oz. beef suet chopped very fine, 3 tablespoonfuls marmalade, rind and juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoonful soda carbonate, 3 tablespoonfuls sugar, 3 eggs well whipped, a little grated nutmeg, the whole to be thoroughly mixed, put into a mould, and boil 3½ hours. It should be served with wine sauce.

_Oswego Pudding._--Pour ½ teacupful boiling milk over 6 Oswego biscuits; beat them up with ½ oz. sugar and 1 oz. butter; stir in a well-beaten egg the last thing, and bake in a small greased pie-dish for 15 minutes. This makes a very light little pudding for 2 people, and without the butter is good for invalids.

_Pancakes._--(_a_) Mix 2 tablespoonfuls flour with ½ pint cream, add 2 eggs, and beat the whole well till quite smooth; put in a tablespoonful of powdered sugar, a little powdered cinnamon, and a little grated nutmeg.

(_b_) Make a thin batter with 1 pint cream and some flour, put in ½ lb. fresh butter melted, 8 eggs well beaten, ½ nutmeg grated, and a little salt.

(_c_) Mix 1 pint milk with as much flour as will make a thin batter; add a glass of pale brandy, a little grated nutmeg, a little powdered ginger, and a pinch of salt; then add 4 eggs, beat all well together till smooth.

(_d_) Put into a basin 4 eggs, 4 tablespoonfuls flour, 1 of pale brandy, 1 of olive oil, and 2 of orange-flower water; mix the whole into a smooth paste, then dilute it to the proper thickness with either milk or water.

Warm a perfectly clean small frying pan, put into it a piece of butter the size of a cobnut, and as soon as, by tilting the pan, the butter has been made to spread all over the pan pour into it a ladleful of any of the above batters; again tilt the pan quickly so as to spread the batter evenly all over it, and directly the batter is well set run a knife round the pancake and turn it over for a minute; then roll it up and put it in the screen or the oven to keep hot while the next pancake is cooked in the same manner; serve on a napkin with lemon quarters as a garnish. By using lard instead of butter this process of frying pancakes is rendered somewhat easier.

_Paradise Pudding._--Put into a basin ½ lb. breadcrumbs, 4 apples, pared, cored, and minced, 4 oz. currants, 4 oz. sugar, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste, the rind of half a lemon, beat up 4 eggs; mix all well together, and stir in half a wineglassful of brandy; put into a buttered mould, and steam for 2 hours; serve with sweet sauce. Beer can be used instead of brandy, but not milk, as it makes the pudding heavy.

_Paste for Patties._--(_a_) Take 1 lb. fine flour; pass it through a wire sieve on to a pastry slab; add a pinch of salt and 2-3 drops of lemon juice; wet it with cold water into a paste about the same consistence as the butter about to be used; flatten the paste with the hands; place on it 1 lb. butter that has been worked well in a dry cloth; fold up the sides and ends of the paste, and roll it out the length of ½ yd.; fold it in 3, turn it round, and roll it the other way; leave it 20 minutes, then roll it twice more, and so on until it has been rolled 6 times; this done, roll the paste to the thickness of ½ in.; cut it with a plain round cutter dipped in boiling water, turn each patty over, place them on a baking tin, egg the top, and with a small cutter make a deep incision to form the cover. Bake in a quick oven.

(_b_) Puff.--Take 1 lb. best flour, rub it through a sieve, place it a little distance from the fire for a short time to get thoroughly dry; then rub in the half of ¾ lb. butter, the juice of ½ lemon, mix it lightly up together; roll it out as thin as a crown piece, put a layer of butter all over it, double it in 4, and roll it out again, do this twice, by which time all the butter will be in. Then fold it up and put it down in a plate on the stones of the larder for ½ hour to get cold. After this roll it out 3 times, and it is fit for use.

(_c_) Dripping.--Have cool hands, a cool room, fresh well-clarified beef dripping, and dry flour. Be as particular about making the pastry as if it were being made with the best butter. Cooks so often fail to make good pastry with dripping because they do not take pains with it. To every lb. of flour allow 6 oz. dripping and 1 teaspoonful baking powder. Put the flour into a basin with the baking powder and a pinch of salt; rub into it the dripping, which should be broken up into small pieces; when well rubbed in, moisten with about 1 gill water, enough to make a smooth, stiff paste. Flour the paste-board and the rolling-pin, and roll the paste out on the paste-board, fold it over again and roll again, repeating 3 times, handling it as lightly as possible. It is then ready.

_Peach Cheese._--Take a number of green peaches, rub them carefully in a cloth to remove all dust. Put them into a stewpan with a small quantity of water--about ½ pint to 1 lb. of fruit (for large quantities a smaller proportion of water might be used). When the peaches are perfectly soft, rub them through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon, laying aside some of the stones, which should be broken, and their kernels added to the peach pulp. Weigh the pulp, stir it over the fire until quite hot, add half its weight in sugar, some lemon juice, and a little grated peel; stir the whole on the fire until well thickened, put into shapes. It should be quite hard when cold, and turn out easily. If the pulp be very watery, boil for 20 minutes before adding the sugar. This preserve will keep for a long time if sufficiently cooked, only perfectly sound fruit should be used. It is not necessary to peel the peaches.

_Peach Compote._--(_a_) Put into a casserole for every dozen peaches ¼ lb. sugar and a glass of water; bring it to the boil, and skim well; add the peaches, peeled, and either whole or in halves, without their stones in either case. Let them boil a few minutes until they feel done; then arrange them in a glass dish, reduce the syrup, and pour it over them.

(_b_) Boil 4 lb. sugar in 2½ pints water; let it simmer 10 minutes after coming to the boil; fill bottles with fruit, shaking it down; when the syrup is cold, fill up each bottle with enough to cover the fruit; cork them well at once; stand the bottles in a boiler of cold water, and let it come to the boil slowly; after which simmer a few minutes; let the bottles get cold in the water; keep them in a cool place.

_Peach Cream._--Steep ½ oz. isinglass in ½ pint cream, and stir over the fire until dissolved. When almost cold, mix with it the strained juice from a tin of peaches, and the juice of a small lemon. Pour ¾ of this cream into a glass dish, and allow it to set. Colour the convex sides of the halves of peaches delicately with cochineal. Place them with the coloured sides upwards upon the set cream. Pour the remainder of the cream carefully between the fruit. Allow this also to set, and the dish will be ready to serve. ¾ pint blancmange, with the yolks of 3 eggs stirred to it while scalding hot, make a fair substitute for the cream.

_Peach Toast._--Cut some round slices off some milk rolls, remove the crust and fry them a pale yellow in fresh butter. Take a tin of preserved peaches, turn out the liquor into a saucepan, add a little sugar and a glass of white wine; boil it up, put in the peaches, simmer a few minutes, drain them, and place half a peach, concave side uppermost, on each piece of bread, put a piece of currant jelly in the cavity of each peach, pour the syrup round, and serve.

_Pears, Stewed._--Peel the pears, and cut them into halves, without removing the stalks, and carefully take out the cores; then put them into a jar, with a lid, which should fit closely--empty salt jars answer the purpose perfectly; add a small quantity of lemon peel and 1 or 2 cloves. Pour over them a syrup of sugar and water, in the proportion of ½ lb. loaf sugar to every pint of water. After closing the jar, put into the oven, which must not be too hot. Let the pears bake till tender--about 5-6 hours; then turn them out of the jar to cool. To keep them, put them into clean jars or bottles when quite cold, and tie them down carefully like jam. If they do not keep, the fault will probably lie with the fruit. The proper baking pears should be used, and they must not be too ripe. If gently cooked, the colour will be good without any addition, but, if necessary, about 3 drops cochineal may be added when the fruit is nearly done.

_Peripatetic Pudding._--Take 6 sponge cakes and 6 eggs, ¼ lb. sifted sugar, ½ lb. fresh butter, ½ lb. marmalade, and 2 glasses of sweet wine. Mix these ingredients well together, and paper the mould. Bake for ½ hour.

_Piedmont Tartlets._--Make a paste with 1 oz. butter, 2 oz. flour, the yolk of an egg, a little water, a pinch of salt; roll it out to the thickness of ⅛ in., and line some patty-pans with it. Take 2 oz. finely grated Parmesan cheese, beat it up in a bowl with the yolks of 2 eggs; add pepper, salt, cayenne and nutmeg, according to taste, very little of the two latter, then work in 3 tablespoonfuls cream, fill each patty-pan with the mixture and bake them in a moderate oven till done.

_Pikelets._--1½ oz. German yeast, a little flour, 1 qt. warm milk, a cupful of melted butter, a little salt. Time to bake, 5 minutes after the top has blistered. Make the milk warm, and stir it into the yeast with a little salt. Add a sufficient quantity of flour to make it into a batter. Set it to rise for ½ hour, then add a cupful of melted butter. Stir it well in, pour it into iron rings previously placed on a hot plate, and bake them very lightly on both sides. When required, toast them on each side, taking care they do not burn; butter them nicely, cut them across, and put them upon a hot plate, serving them quickly hot and hot.

_Pineapple Cream._--Dissolve 2 oz. isinglass in 1 small cupful boiling water; when dissolved add it to 1 qt. good cream, stirring it continually that it may not curdle. Then add a ¼ lb. sifted loaf sugar, and the juice of a pineapple, bruised and strained; whisk the whole thoroughly together for a few minutes; then pour into a mould, and set in ice or a very cold place until well set.

_Pineapple Fritters._--Make a thick batter with 2 eggs, 1 teacupful new milk, 2 oz. sifted flour, 3 stale penny sponge cakes, 1 doz. ratafia biscuits, and 1 teaspoonful sugar reduced to a fine powder. For these fritters use the pineapples preserved in tins. Divide the slices into small triangular pieces, dip each in the batter, and fry to a golden brown colour in plenty of boiling lard. Dish them on a folded napkin, sprinkle them lightly with powdered sugar, and serve them as quickly as possible. Send to table with them, in a tureen, a sauce made as follows: Strain the pineapple juice, which will be left in the tin, into a small enamelled saucepan, and add to it the juice of ½ lemon, 1 wineglassful white wine, and 1 teaspoonful powdered sugar. Bring this to boiling point, and thicken to the consistency of thin cream with arrowroot, mixed with a little cold water. If preferred, the pine may be minced and mixed with the batter.

_Pineapple Jelly._--Take a tin of preserved pineapple, pound the contents in a mortar, add 6 oz. sugar and ½ pint water; boil the whole for ¼ hour, then strain through a tammy; add the juice of a lemon and 1 pint clarified calvesfoot jelly. Pour into a mould, and when set turn it out by dipping the mould in warm water. Pieces of pineapple may be put in the jelly.

_Pineapple Toast._--Take a small tin of preserved pineapple and a stale sponge cake; cut the sponge cake in slices ½ in. thick, and trim them and the pineapple to the same shape; place lightly the slices of cake, on both sides, in butter. Arrange on a dish in a circle, alternately, a slice of cake and one of pineapple, take as much syrup out of the tin as may be necessary, add to it a glass of sherry or a liqueur glass of brandy; pour this over the dish and serve cold.

_Plum Pudding._--(_a_) Put 10 oz. flour into a large basin, with a tiny pinch of salt, and, having passed 1 lb. suet through the mincing machine, rub it with both hands into the flour until it is quite smooth, then add 10 oz. fine breadcrumbs, mixing each thing well as you do it. Then add the 1 lb. currants, having well washed and dried and picked them (for there are stones among them), then add 2 lb. stoned raisins, then ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. candied peel and the peel of a lemon grated, a small spoonful of spice; beat up 8 eggs, and with a little milk mix altogether well with both hands, adding half a tumbler or less of brandy; this should be mixed at night and left until the morning, with a cloth thrown over it. The next morning mix it up well with your hand, and put it into a tin form, which should be well buttered; the tin should have a well-fitting cover, which should be buttered also. Put the tin into a cloth, and tie it so well down that there should be no risk of the cover coming off; put it into a saucepan of furiously boiling water, and let it boil 8 hours, taking great care that the water never ceases boiling. The pudding is much better boiled 3 hours more the second time, the day it is eaten. Boiling in a cloth without the tin covered shape spoils the goodness of the pudding, which all goes into the water. (E. C. Scouce).

(_b_) Not too rich, and very inexpensive: ½ lb. Valencia raisins stoned, ½ lb. currants, 3 oz. flour, ½ lb. beef suet chopped very fine, ½ lb. breadcrumbs grated, 2 oz. soft sugar, 2 oz. candied peel, and the rind of a small lemon, chopped very fine, ½ nutmeg grated; mix all well in a bowl, and add a wineglass of rum or brandy, and 4 eggs well beaten. Cover over with a plate, and let it stand all night; in the morning stir it up well, and add 1 small teacupful of milk; mix thoroughly, and put it into a well-buttered mould. Lay a buttered and floured paper over the top, and tie all in a large cloth. Boil 6 hours, a week or more before it is wanted, and then at least 4 hours the day the pudding is required; serve with wine sauce.

(_c_) That will keep.--1 lb. stale bread in crumbs (very fine, must be passed through a wire sieve), 6 oz. flour, 1¼ lb. raisins, weighed after stoning; 1¼ lb. moist sugar, 2¼ lb. currants, well cleaned and dried; 1½ lb. best beef suet, finely chopped and free from skin; 3 oz. mixed candied peels, cut as thin as possible; a small teaspoonful of salt, and ½ small nutmeg grated. Mix all these dry ingredients together in a large earthen pan, then add the yolks and whites of 10 eggs well beaten together, and, lastly, 4 wineglassfuls sherry, and rather more than 3 of brandy; stir all these together very thoroughly with a wooden spoon. This quantity will make 3 puddings. Boil them 4 hours, either in basins or in earthen moulds tied over the top with a cloth. After this drain them and set them on the kitchen shelf, not too near the fire, but to keep dry. When wanted boil them for 1 hour. They will keep any time, and are as good at a year’s end, or even better, than at first.

(_d_) Plain.--Take of currants, raisins (sultanas), and sugar each 1 lb., 2 lb. breadcrumbs brown or white, 2 lb. carrots grated, 2 lb. potatoes grated, 1 lb. suet, ½ lb. lemon peel, salt to taste, 1 oz. ground ginger, 1 lb. flour, 2 or 3 eggs, 2 teaspoonfuls soda carbonate, 1 ditto tartaric acid, the two latter well mixed with the flour and breadcrumbs, dry, a little brandy and rum if liked, with milk sufficient to moisten. This will make a large pudding, but can be divided. Boil 6-8 hours.

(_e_) 4 lb. raisins, 2 lb. currants, 2 lb. beef suet, 1 lb. moist sugar, 1 lb. flour, 1 lb. breadcrumbs, 8 oz. mixed candied peel, 3 tablespoonfuls golden syrup, ½ pint brandy, 1 nutmeg, 1 teacup beer, and 13 eggs. The above ingredients should be well mixed with a wooden spoon. This quantity will make 5 or 6 puddings, and should be boiled 11 hours; they will then keep good for some months (quite 6 months), and, when one is going to be served at table, should be boiled for 2 hours.

_Plum Purée._--Stew a quantity of plums, with sugar to taste, and not too much water. When quite done pass through a hair sieve, stir well, and when cold it is ready.

_Plum Tart._--Stone some plums and stew them for an hour, with plenty of sugar and half a tumblerful of water. Make a short paste with the white of 1 and the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. sugar, a pinch of salt, a little water, and sufficient flour. Roll it out to the thickness of a penny piece, line a mould with it, uniting the joints with white of egg, fill it with rice and bake it. When done remove the rice, put it in the stewed fruit, and serve.

_Poor Knights._--(_a_) These can be made out of slices of stale bread neatly trimmed. They should be about ½ in. thick, and should either be cut in fingers, squares, or some other shape. Soak the pieces in milk long enough to soften them, but not to break. Drain the pieces and fry in boiling dripping until nicely browned on both sides. Place them on kitchen paper to drain, and then serve with jam or marmalade, put between every 2 slices; scatter some castor sugar on the top, and serve.

(_b_) The bread used in Germany for these is the “brödchen,” somewhat larger than dinner buns. These are cut into 3 rounds ½ in. thick; beat up 3 eggs in ½ pint milk, in which soak the bread till soft; then dip the pieces into brown breadcrumbs, and fry with butter over the fire till a golden colour, crisp, but not hard; put preserve between 2 pieces, sprinkle with white sugar, and serve hot. The bread from an ordinary English loaf is best, with the crust cut off before soaking.

_Porter Jelly._--Put 1 cow’s heel into 5 pints water, boil it down to 3 pints; when cold, skim off the fat. Then put it into a pan with the rind of a lemon, a little cinnamon, sugar to your taste. When quite hot, just before it boils, add 1 tumbler porter, and the white of an egg to clear it; run it through a jelly bag. This may be taken either warm or cold, and is very strengthening.

_Potato Pie._--For a pie for about 10 people, take a loin of mutton (it is more tender than beef), 4 sheep kidneys, a cow heel from the tripe shop, 20 oysters, ½ lb. mushrooms, an onion, pepper and salt. Cut the mutton into chops (taking off some of the fat, and also bones), the kidneys into about 4 pieces each, the heel into 9 portions, the onion sliced; mix all together, and put into a large pie dish; cover well with potatoes cut in pieces; a little water must also be put in, and then a good pie crust. It is a good plan to cook all in the dish a while before putting on the latter. If covered with another dish the top will not be brown. The large bones from the cow heel, mutton, trimmings of mushrooms and oysters, if well simmered, make good extra gravy, which can be poured in after the pie is cut into. The best dish is a large tin one, to be kept for the purpose. A clean table-napkin should be pinned round before sending to table.

_Potato Pudding._--Boil 4 large potatoes, and pass them through a sieve; stir into them powdered loaf sugar to taste and the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs; add a few drops of essence of lemon, then the whites of the eggs whisked to a froth; mix quickly and well; pour into a plain mould, buttered and breadcrumbed, and bake for 20 minutes in a quick oven. Serve with sweet sauce.

_President’s Pudding._--Cut some slices of stale bread, and dip each one in a custard made thus: Beat up 1 egg with a wineglassful of milk and ½ oz. pounded sugar, fry the bread quickly in butter, pile on a dish with layers of jam between the slices, pour a thin boiled custard over, and sift some sugar, then serve.

_Primrose Pudding._--Make some batter with ½ lb. flour and ¾ pint milk; break 2 eggs into the flour, and stir well, add 2 oz. moist sugar and a pinch of salt, add gradually ¾ pint milk, stirring the ingredients all the time. Stir with a wooden spoon until the batter is perfectly smooth, let it stand an hour or more; then stir into it 1 qt. or more of freshly gathered primrose petals. Pour this mixture into a well-greased basin, put a buttered paper on the top, tie down the basin with a well-floured cloth and plunge it into perfectly boiling water, move it about a little for the first few minutes, and boil 1½ hour. Cowslips, rhubarb, or gooseberries can be used in the same way.

_Prince’s Pudding._--Take 1 pint breadcrumbs (brown crumbs made by baking and rolling out crusts will do), let them be quite dry, and mix in 1 teaspoonful baking powder, 1 oz. sugar, 1 oz. flour, 1 well-beaten egg, and enough milk to moisten the whole, but not to make it thin. Grease a pie dish, and put a layer of sultana raisins at the bottom, pour in the mixture carefully, and bake ½ hour; turn it out for serving. This makes a pretty pudding if put into a fluted mould lined with raisins, and then boiled for 1 hour.

_Prune Cake._--Stone 1½ lb. prunes, crack the stones and add the kernels, blanched. Stew till soft with the rind and juice of a lemon, sugar to taste, and 1½ pint water. Stiffen with 1 oz. gelatine dissolved in a little water. It can be tinted with cochineal if desired, and is best served with custard or cream and ornamented with a few almonds.

_Prune Mould._--Take 1¼ lb. good prunes, put them on a fire, covered with cold water. Let them boil for a minute, then take them off, drain them, and take out the stones. Crack the stones, take out the kernels, and blanch them in boiling water for a minute, take off the brown skin. Dissolve half a sixpenny packet of gelatine in cold water. Put it on the fire with 4 oz. sugar. Let it boil 5 minutes; colour with cochineal and 2 glasses red wine. Place the plums, with a kernel on the outside of each, into a casserole mould, and pour in the liquid. When set turn it out, and fill the hole up in the middle with whipped cream.

_Prunes, Stewed._--Stew 1 lb. prunes with a little sugar and water till they are quite soft, take out the stones, crack them, and put back the kernels; line the inside of a mould (first decorated with split almonds) with the prunes, keep on pouring in a little jelly to make it turn out (a small breakfastcupful of jelly or dissolved gelatine will be about enough). It is best made in a mould with a hole, which should be filled with whipped cream.