Part 6
=Pies.=—Pie, and the extent to which it is consumed in this country, have long been a subject upon which Europeans travelling here have exercised their descriptive and imaginative powers. It seems to be a cardinal belief on the other side that no meal is furnished here without a superabundance of pie; that, even at the best inns and restaurants in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, pie is devoured at breakfast, luncheon, dinner, and supper; that no American would sit down to a table where he could not see plenty of pie; that all the States are closely connected and bound together by a prejudice in favor of pie; that it was love of pie rather than force of patriotism which, in the civil war, preserved the Union. Sala is one of the latest Englishmen to descant on the omnipresence and national omnivorousness of pie. He devotes ample space to it in one of his recent letters to the London _Telegraph_; admits that he has eaten it, and that it is so very toothsome that it is difficult to resist its temptations. He has done what a great many of our own people never do. Hundreds of families in this and in other cities do not see a pie from beginning to end of the year. Thousands of natives have never tasted pie. In the large towns of the Middle States it is but seldom put on the table. New England, indeed, is the region to which pie is indigenous, though even there it is confined mainly to the rural districts. It appears odd, however, that Englishmen should so animadvert on our pies, as if they had never tasted or heard of such things. They have any quantity of pies at home, but these are meat pies, commonly of pork and mutton, and as hostile to gastric conditions as bad pastry and poor baking can conveniently make them. They have, too, any number of fruit pies, giving them the name of tarts, not to be compared with our pies. The gooseberry tart, almost as much a British dish as plum-pudding, is eaten from Cornwall to Northumberland, and that its eaters survive it proves the strength and elasticity of the national stomach. It is usually as heavy as lead and a guarantee of indigestion. The French also have numberless pies under the disguise of _tartes_, but no better than, often not so good as, ours. In truth, the American pie is widely prevalent in the Old World, where, as a rule, it is inferior to the native article.
NEW YORK TIMES.
=Puff Paste.=—Good sweet, salt butter, which has been washed in cold water, squeezed between the hands to free it from the salt, and afterwards wrung in a cloth to take away all the moisture, is the best material that can be used. The consistency of the butter is of much importance. If it is too hard it will not easily mix with the flour, but if it is too soft the paste will be entirely spoilt in consequence of the butter breaking through the edges while it is being rolled. As the difficulty experienced is generally to get the butter sufficiently cool, it is a good plan to place it upon ice before using it for the pastry. In hot weather the paste should be placed in a cool place a few minutes between each turn. If very flaky pastry is required, the paste may be brushed lightly over each time it is rolled with white of egg. Sift one pound of flour; put it on the pastry-board. Make a hole in the centre; add half a teaspoonsful salt and little less than half a pint of ice-water. The exact quantity of water cannot be given, owing to the difference in flour, but experience will soon enable you to determine when the paste is sufficiently stiff. Mix it in gradually with a knife, then work it lightly with the hands to form a smooth paste. Have ready three-quarters of a pound of butter. Flatten the paste till it is an inch thick; lay the butter in the centre, and fold over the four sides of the paste so as to form a square and completely hide the butter. Leave this to cool a few minutes, then dredge the board and the paste with flour, and roll the paste out very thin, and be especially careful that the butter does not break through the flour. Fold over a third of the length from one end, and lay the other third upon it. This folding into three is called giving one turn. Let the paste rest for a few minutes, then give it two more turns; rest again, and give it two more. This will be in all five turns, and these will generally be found sufficient. If, however, the pastry is to be used for patties, etc., six or seven turns will be required. Gather the paste together, and it is ready for use, and should be baked as soon as possible; and remember to dredge a little flour over it, the board, and rolling-pin every time it is rolled, to keep it from sticking. French cooks mix the yolks of two eggs with flour and water in the first instance. If a very rich paste is required a pound of butter to a pound of flour may be used.
CASSELL.
=Paste.=—One pound of flour, half a pound of butter, half a pound of lard. With a little water make a dough of the flour and lard; then roll it; spread a portion of the butter over it; fold and roll again; add more butter, and so on until you have used the half pound all up.
You cannot make good paste out of poor flour. The “Perfection New Process Flour” will give you entire satisfaction.
=Currant-Jelly.=—Make a good crust and cover your plates with it. Pare, core, and cut up the apples in small pieces; put them on to stew in just water enough to cover them; quarter a lemon and stew with the apples. When soft mash the apples, remove the seeds if any, sweeten to taste, and flavor with nutmeg or ground cinnamon.
=Sliced Apple Pie.=—Make a good, light crust; wet the edge of the pie-plate and lay a thin strip all round. Pare, core, and slice the apples; lay them on the paste with a little sugar, the juice of half a lemon; flavor with nutmeg. Lay a top crust over the fruit, and bake nearly three-quarters of an hour.
=Apple Meringue Pie.=—Prepare the pie as in the foregoing receipt, omitting the upper crust, and while the pie is baking prepare a méringue by beating up the whites of three eggs with three ounces of powdered sugar to a stiff broth; spread two-thirds of the mixture over the fire, and put the other third into a paper funnel or cornucopia, and by squeezing it decorate the pie according to fancy; dust sugar over it. Return it to the oven to set the méringue.
=Apple-Custard Pie.=—Beat up six eggs with a cupful of sugar; add them to three cupfuls of stewed apples (cold), and add gradually a quart of milk to the mixture; season with nutmeg; cover the pie-plate with a good crust, with the edge neatly arranged; fill the pie with the custard, and bake.
=Mince-meat for Pie.=—Shred and chop very fine two pounds of beef suet; by dredging the suet occasionally with flour it chops more easily and does not clog; boil slowly, but thoroughly, two pounds of lean round of beef and chop fine (mix all the ingredients as they are prepared); stone and cut fine two pounds of raisins; wash and pick two pounds of currants; cut fine half a pound of citron; chop two pounds of apples, weighing them after they have been peeled and cored; a tablespoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, a salt-spoonful of allspice, half as much cloves, half an ounce of essence of almonds, a pint of brandy, and a pint of cider. This may be kept in a cool place all winter. If too dry add more cider.
Manufacturers are competing with each other in the preparation of mince-meat to such an extent that it is no longer economy to prepare your mince-meat at home. Most of our first-class hotels use the “Thanksgiving Brand,” a genuine New England preparation. It is put up in five or ten pound buckets, and I consider it a great saving to families, both in time and materials, to secure their meat all ready prepared, when they know they can get a reliable article.
When you are about to make mince-pies moisten the meat with cider, port, brandy, or water.
=Pumpkin Pie.=—Cut the pumpkin into strips, and stew them in water enough to cover them nicely; when done pour off the water and press the pumpkin through a sieve; add to the pulp two quarts of milk, and nine eggs to every quart of pulp; sweeten with sugar (beat the sugar and eggs together), and season liberally with ginger and nutmeg; prepare the pie-plates with a crust as for custard pies; fill the plate with the mixture, and bake in a hot oven. Serve the pies when cold. After drawing off the water from the pumpkin cover the pot with a towel and let it stand half an hour on the back part of the range to dry out the moisture.
=Fruit Pies.=—The under-paste for fruit pies may be made of flour and lard, but the top is generally made of good puff paste; it may cover the pie entirely or only in strips, according to fancy. Should the fruit require longer cooking than the paste, prepare it by stewing or simmering before filling the pies with it.
=Custard Pies.=—Line a well-buttered pie-plate with a good paste; arrange a thick pie rim round the edge of the plate; beat up four eggs with one cupful of sugar, and gradually add a pint and a half of milk; fill the pies while in the oven; grate a little nutmeg over them and bake about twenty minutes.
=Lemon Cream Pie.=—Boil a pint and a half of milk, and add three tablespoonfuls corn-starch dissolved in a little cold milk. Return the milk to the fire; take the juice of two lemons, four eggs, one cupful sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of butter. Beat these ingredients together, and add to the milk; flavor with a teaspoonful of extract of lemon and grated nutmeg; pour the mixture into the pies (prepared as for custard pies) and bake. When done remove from the oven and set it aside. Whip up the whites of four eggs to a froth, and gradually add a cupful of powdered sugar; spread two-thirds of the mixture on the pie, and put the other one-third into a cornucopia, and by squeezing it decorate the pie according to fancy. Return it to the oven a few minutes to set the méringue.
=Lemon Cream Pie, No. 2.=—One tablespoonful of corn-starch dissolved in cold water, one cupful of boiling hot water, one tablespoonful of butter, one egg, juice and rind of one lemon. Sweeten to taste, and set aside to get cold. Fill crust with this cream, and bake in a hot oven.
M. G. H.
=Orange Pie.=—Work a teacupful of powdered sugar and a tablespoonful of butter to a cream. Mix a tablespoonful of corn-starch with a little cold water, and add a teacupful of boiling water; let it cook long enough to thicken, stirring constantly; then pour the mixture on to the butter and sugar. Grate the peel from half an orange, and chop the other half fine—first removing all the inner white skin. Add this to the former ingredients, also a beaten egg and the juice of an orange. Peel another orange, and slice it in little thin bits, being careful to remove all the seeds and the tough white skin. Line a pie-plate with nice paste and bake it until just done; then fill with the custard and orange slices, and bake long enough to cook the egg. A méringue made with the whites of two eggs, a pinch of salt, and two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, beaten to a stiff froth, will be an improvement. Spread it over the pie; sift powdered sugar on the top, and set it again in the oven until slightly colored.
=English Plum Pudding.=—Take six ounces of finely grated bread, and mix with them a pound of flour, a pound of beef suet floured and chopped fine, a teaspoonful salt, half a pound of granulated sugar, three-fourths of a pound of raisins stoned and chopped, three-fourths of a pound of washed currants, two ounces each of candied lemon and orange peel, two ounces of citron shredded, a quarter of a pound apple chopped fine, half an ounce of mixed spice, consisting of ground cloves, cinnamon, and grated nutmeg, and half a teaspoonful of fresh grated lemon-peel. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and work the mixture into a stiff batter by adding to it five eggs beaten up with half a pint of rich milk and a gill of brandy; turn the mixture into a floured towel; shape it nicely; tie it up not too tightly, but leave room enough for it to swell. Put it into a saucepan of boiling water, and keep it boiling for five hours uninterruptedly. Have a kettle of boiling water ready to add to your saucepan as fast as the water evaporates. When done sift powdered sugar over it; pour a little brandy or Jamaica rum round it; set a match to the liquor, and send it to the table with a hard or brandy sauce.
=Plum-Pudding Sauce.=—Four ounces sugar and two ounces butter, well creamed together; then beat an egg well into it, with two ounces of brandy.
=New England Plum Pudding.=—Two pounds bread, four quarts milk, three pounds raisins, two grated nutmegs, three teaspoonfuls each of cinnamon and allspice, eight eggs, one cup sugar, and one cup molasses. Bake three hours.
M. G. H.
=Plain Plum Pudding.=—Flour six ounces of suet, and chop it fine; add a quarter of a pound of currants, the same quantity of raisins, half a teaspoonful salt, and a teaspoonful Royal Baking Powder; sift a pound of flour into the mixture; mix the dry ingredients thoroughly, and stir into them nearly a pint of milk with three tablespoonfuls of molasses; add a little mixed spice; shape the pudding nicely; tie it up in a floured towel, allowing room for it to swell, and boil three hours.
=Boiled Pudding.=—Take a cupful of chopped suet, a cupful of grated bread, and a cupful of washed currants; mix with two tablespoonfuls sugar, a teaspoonful of grated lemon-peel, a salt-spoonful salt, and grated nutmeg; beat up two eggs with half a cupful of milk, and work the mixture to a light paste; wring some small cloths out of boiling water, flour them, and tie in each a small portion of the mixture; plunge them into boiling water, let them boil quickly half an hour, turn them out on a hot dish, dash sugar over them, and serve with a sauce made of sweetened melted butter, with a teaspoonful of grated lemon-peel, nutmeg to taste; a few spoonfuls of brandy will improve it.
=Batter Pudding.=—Beat the yolks and whites of four eggs separately, and mix them with six or eight ounces of flour and a salt-spoonful of salt. Make the batter of the proper consistency by adding a little more than a pint of milk; mix carefully; butter a baking-tin, pour the mixture into it, and bake three-quarters of an hour. Serve with vanilla sauce.
=Vanilla Sauce.=—Put half a pint of milk in a small saucepan over the fire; when scalding hot add the yolks of three eggs, and stir until it is as thick as boiled custard; remove the saucepan from the fire, and when cool add a tablespoonful of Thurber’s double extract of vanilla and the beaten whites of two eggs.
=Chocolate Pudding.=—One quart of milk boiled with one ounce of grated chocolate; sweeten to taste, and flavor with vanilla. Boil thoroughly, and stand aside to cool fifteen minutes; then stir in the yolks of six eggs, well beaten; bake in a pudding-dish until it stiffens like custard. Beat the whites of six eggs, with six tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, to a stiff froth, and spread over top of pudding; put in oven and brown quickly.
M. G. H.
=Crullers.=—Half a pint of buttermilk, one cupful of butter, two cupfuls sugar, and three eggs; beat up the eggs and add the sugar and milk. Dissolve half a teaspoonful of saleratus in a little hot water; add to the mixture, with a teaspoonful salt, half a nutmeg grated, and half a teaspoonful of fresh ground cinnamon. Work in as much sifted flour as will make a smooth dough; mix thoroughly; dredge the board, rolling-pin, and dough with flour; roll it out and cut it in rings or fingers, and fry in hot fat.
I have recommended buttermilk in the above receipt, knowing its excellent qualities; but the majority of housekeepers consider it utterly useless. The following from the _British Mail_ is appropriate here: “As the butter which is taken from the milk is only the carbonaceous or heat-producing element, there are still left in it all the nourishing properties which make it so valuable as food. As a drink for men at work in the hot sun buttermilk is far preferable to cider, metheglin, switchel, or any preparation of beer whatever, as it is not only cooling and refreshing, but also strength-giving. Of course there are plenty of people, who are constantly dosing themselves with blood-searchers, liver-purifiers, and stomach-invigorators, who would laugh at the mention of buttermilk as a medicine, and yet if they could be once persuaded to try drinking a glass of that fresh beverage every day they would soon find a corrective of their poor appetites and ‘clogged-up’ livers. In a little book of ‘Plain Directions for the Care of the Sick,’ written by an intelligent physician of Philadelphia, who has under his medical supervision several charitable institutions, we find buttermilk mentioned as being very useful, especially in fevers, as an article of diet for the sick.”
=Baking Powder.=—I have endeavored to recommend to my many readers a few articles used in cooking that my long experience as a caterer has taught me are the best. A good baking powder is a very important article to have in every household, but it is difficult to get a powder without the presence of alum.
The Brooklyn Board of Health, on motion of President Crane, the Sanitary Superintendent, was directed to procure samples of the various kinds of baking powders sold in Brooklyn, have them analyzed, and make a report thereon to the Board. Without going in detail into the constitution of baking powders, it will only be necessary to say that they are made with bicarbonate of soda, or carbonate of ammonia, and cream of tartar, chemically known as the bitartrate of potassa. But the lack of skill, resulting in lumps of soda in the product, led manufacturers to ascertain the proper proportion of these salts and to mix them, selling the compound as a baking powder. Some of the manufacturers, on account of the cheapness of alum, have introduced it as an ingredient into baking powder, and the report of the Brooklyn Board concludes as follows: “From a careful examination we are satisfied that the weight of evidence is against the use of alum in baking powders, and that the risks incurred in its use are too great to be incurred for the sake of cheapness alone. The mucous membrane of the stomach and the intestinal canal is a delicate structure, and materials which would produce no effect on the outside skin might irritate and inflame these organs.”
Dr. Mott, the Government Chemist, in his review of the subject, makes special mention of having analyzed the Royal Baking Powder and found it composed of pure and wholesome materials. He also advises the public to avoid purchasing baking powders as sold loose or in bulk, as he has found by analyses of many samples that the worst adulterations are practised in this form. And I may cheerfully add that our first-class hotels use only the best of everything, not only in baking powders but in every article that enters their storerooms, and that Royal Baking Powder is the only baking powder they allow used in their bakeries, it being free from alum and other unwholesome ingredients.
=Roly-Poly Pudding.=—One quart of flour, one-half pound of suet chopped fine; rub in a little salt with flour, wet with water, and then roll it out and spread any kind of fruit over it. Roll up, put in cloth, and boil one hour.
M. G. H.
=Roly-Poly Lemon Pudding.=—Take the pulp from three lemons; remove the pith and add to it an equal weight of sugar; boil twenty minutes; then set the mixture to cool. Chop up seven ounces of suet, and mix it with one pound of flour, a salt-spoonful of salt, and water enough to make a paste; roll it out nearly an inch in thickness; spread the lemon mixture upon it, and roll it into a long pudding; pinch the ends together, tie it in a floured cloth, put it into boiling water, and boil constantly for two hours. Serve with wine-sauce.
=Marlborough Pudding.=—Grate apples enough to make eight ounces; add to this eight ounces of fine white sugar which has been well rubbed on the rind of a large lemon, six well-beaten eggs, three tablespoonfuls of cream, the strained juice of three lemons, eight ounces of butter; add quantity at pleasure of orange-flower water, and the grated peel of an orange and a lemon; line the pie-dish with rich puff paste, put in the mixture, and let it bake in a quick oven.
=Macaroni Pudding.=—Butter a pie-dish, and cover the bottom with two and one-half ounces uncooked macaroni; pour over it one quart of cold milk, add two tablespoonfuls of sugar, stir in two well-beaten eggs, and flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla (double extract) or any flavoring desired. Put bits of butter over top, dust a little grated nutmeg over top, and bake slowly two hours and a half.
=Steamed Arrowroot Pudding.=—Mix two tablespoonfuls of Beatty’s Bermuda arrowroot with one cupful of milk; flavor one pint and a half of milk with any desired flavoring, put it on the fire, and when it boils pour it upon the arrowroot; stir well, and when it is cool add three well-beaten eggs, one tablespoonful each of sugar and brandy; put it into a well-buttered mould, cover, and steam it one hour and a half; then turn it out on a dish, and arrange some preserves or jam neatly around it, and serve.
=Almond Pudding.=—Blanch and pound, with a little water, three ounces of sweet and four ounces of bitter almonds; add one pint of milk, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little grated nutmeg, one tablespoonful of flour mixed smoothly in a little cold milk, one tablespoonful of grated bread, two eggs well beaten, and the whites of two eggs whisked to a froth; pour the mixture into a buttered mould, cover, and boil quickly three-quarters of an hour; let it stand a few minutes before turning out of mould. Serve with vanilla sauce.
=Bachelor’s Pudding.=—Beat up three eggs, flavor with essence of lemon and grated nutmeg, and add them to four ounces each of finely-minced apples, currants, grated bread-crumbs, and two ounces of sugar; mix thoroughly and boil in a buttered mould nearly three hours. Serve with following sauce.
=Wine-Sauce.=—Boil the thin rind of half a lemon in one wineglassful of water till the flavor is extracted; then take it out and thicken the sauce by stirring into it one salt-spoonful of rice, flour, or arrowroot which has been mixed in water or milk, a walnut of butter; boil a moment, then add half a tumblerful of good wine; let the sauce get quite hot without boiling, sweeten a little, and serve with the pudding.
=Bird’s-Nest Pudding.=—Make the foundation of nest of blanc-mange or corn-starch; grate the rinds of three lemons, and arrange around the blanc-mange to represent straw; extract the contents of four eggs through a small hole and fill the egg-shells with hot blanc-mange or corn-starch; when cold break off the shells and lay the moulded eggs in nest. Serve with jam or preserves.
=Harlan’s Pudding.=—Take three ounces each of butter, sugar, and flour; whisk two eggs thoroughly, and gradually mix with them the loaf-sugar, which must be rubbed well on the rind of a lemon before it is pounded; then add the flour and the butter partially melted, a salt-spoonful of salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Butter insides of several cups; put a little jam at the bottom of each, and fill them nearly full with the mixture; bake half an hour; turn them out and serve with wine-sauce.
=Cocoanut Pudding.=—Beat two eggs with one cupful of new milk; add one-quarter of a pound of grated cocoanut; mix with it three tablespoonfuls each of grated bread and powdered sugar, two ounces of melted butter, five ounces of raisins, and one teaspoonful of grated lemon-peel; beat the whole well together; pour the mixture into a buttered dish, and bake in a slow oven; then turn it out, dust sugar over it, and serve. This pudding may be either boiled or baked.