Three-quarters of a pound of grated bread, half a pound of best figs, six ounces of suet, six ounces of moist sugar, a teacupful of milk, and a little nutmeg. The figs and suet must be chopped very fine. Mix the bread and suet first, then the figs, sugar, and nutmegs, one egg beaten well, and lastly the milk. Boil in a mould four hours. To be eaten with sweet sauce.

1280. Plain Suet Pudding.

Take of flour, one pound and a half; bicarbonate of soda, three drachms; or two teaspoonfuls of baking powder; beef suet, four ounces; powdered ginger, half a drachm; water or milk, one pint. Mix according to the directions given for the tea cake (_par_. 2099) and boil or steam for two hours.

1281. Barley Pudding.

Take a quarter of a pound of Scotch or pearl barley. Wash, and simmer it in a small quant.i.ty of water; pour off the water, and add milk and flavouring as for rice puddings. Beat up with sugar and nutmeg, and mix the milk and barley in the same way. It may be more or less rich of eggs, and with or without the addition of b.u.t.ter, cream, or marrow.

Put it into a b.u.t.tered deep dish, leaving room for six or eight ounces of currants, and an ounce of candied peel, cut up fine, with a few apples cut in small pieces. An hour will bake it.

1282. Carrot Pudding.

Grate a raw red carrot; mix with double the weight of bread-crumbs or biscuit, or with the same weight of each: to a pound and a half of this mixture, put a Pint of new milk or cream, or half a pint of each, four or six ounces of clarified b.u.t.ter, three or four eggs well beaten, sugar to taste, a little nutmeg, and a gla.s.s of brandy; line or edge a dish with puff paste; pour in the mixture; put slices of candied lemon or orange peel on the top, and bake in a moderately hot oven.

1283. Potato Pudding.

Boil mealy potatoes in their skins, according to the plan laid down (_par_. 1104) skin and mash them with a little milk, pepper and salt: this will make a good pudding to bake under roast meat. With the addition of a bit of b.u.t.ter, an egg, milk, pepper, and salt, it makes an excellent batter for a meat pudding baked.

Grease a baking dish; put a layer of potatoes, then a layer of meat cut in bits, and seasoned with pepper, salt, a little allspice, either with or withouf chopped onions; a little gravy of roast meat is a great improvement: then put another layer of potatoes, then meat, and cover with potatoes. Put a b.u.t.tered paper over the top, to prevent it from being burnt, and bake it from an hour to an hour and a half.

1284. Almond Pudding.

A large cupful of finely-minced beef suet, a teacupful of milk, four ounces of bread-crumbs, four ounces of well-cleaned currants, two ounces of almonds, half a pound of stoned raisins, three well-beaten eggs, and the whites of another two; sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and a small gla.s.s of rum. b.u.t.ter a shape, and place part of the raisins neatly in rows. Blanch the almonds; reserve the half of them to be placed in rows between the raisins just before serving. Mix all the remaining ingredients well together, put into the shape, and boil three hours.

1285. Sauce for Almond Pudding.

One teaspoonful of milk, and two yolks of eggs well beaten, and some sugar; place on the fire and stir till it _just comes to the boil_: then let it cool. When lukewarm, stir into it a gla.s.s of sherry or currant wine, and serve in a sauce tureen. This sauce is a great improvement to raisin pudding.

1286. Peas Pudding.

Dry a pint or quart of split peas thoroughly before the fire; then tie them up loosely in a cloth, put them into warm water, boil them a couple of hours, or more, until quite tender; take them up, beat them well in a dish with a little salt, the yolk of an egg, and a bit of b.u.t.ter. Make it quite smooth, tie it up again in a cloth, and boil it an hour longer. This is highly nourishing.

[LET TRUTH BE OUR GUIDE.]

1287. Apple Dumplings.

Paste the same as for apple pudding, divide into as many pieces as dumplings are required; peel and core the apples; roll out your paste large enough; put in the apples; close the dumplings, tie each in a cloth very tightly. Boil them one hour; when you take them up, dip them quickly in cold water, and put them in a cup while you untie them; they will turn out without breaking.

1288. Rice Dumplings.

Pick and wash a pound of rice, and boil it gently in two quarts of water till it becomes dry--keeping the pot well covered, and not stirring it. Then take it off the fire, and spread it out to cool on the bottom of an inverted sieve, loosening the grains lightly with a fork, that all the moisture may evaporate. Pare a dozen pippins, or some large juicy apples, and scoop out the core; then fill up the cavity with marmalade, or with lemon and sugar. Cover every apple all over with a thick coating of the boiled rice. Tie up each in a separate cloth, and put them into a pot of cold water. They will require about an hour and a quarter after they begin to boil, perhaps longer.

1289. Boiled Custard.

Boil half a pint of new milk, with a piece of lemon peel, two peach leaves, half a stick of ca.s.sia, a few whole allspice, from four to six ounces of white sugar. Cream may be used instead of milk; beat the yolks and white of four eggs, strain the milk through coa.r.s.e muslin, or a hair sieve; then mix the eggs and milk very gradually together, and stir it well from the bottom, on the fire, till it thickens.

1290. Baked Custard.

Boil in a pint of milk a few coriander seeds, a little cinnamon and lemon peel; sweeten with four ounces of loaf sugar, mix with it a pint of cold milk; beat eight eggs for ten minutes; add the other ingredients; pour it from one pan into another six or eight times, strain through a sieve; let it stand; skim the froth from the top, pour it into earthen cups, and bake immediately in a hot oven till they are of a good colour; ten minutes will be sufficient.

1291. French Batter.

Two ounces of b.u.t.ter cut into bits, pour on it less than a quarter of a pint of water boiling; when dissolved, add three-quarters of a pint of water cold, so that it shall not be quite milk warm; mix by degrees smoothly with twelve ounces of fine dry flour and a small pinch of salt, if the batter be for fruit fritters, but with more if for meat or vegetables. Before used, stir into it the whites of two eggs beaten to solid froth; previously to this, add a little water if too thick.

This is excellent for frying vegetables, and for fruit fritters.

1292. A Black Man's Recipe to Dress Rice.

Wash him well, much wash in cold water, the rice flour make him stick.

Water boil all ready very fast. Throw him in, rice can't burn, water shake him too much. Boil quarter of an hour or little more; rub one rice in thumb and finger, if all rub away him quite done. Put rice in cullender, hot water run away; pour cup of cold water on him, put back rice in saucepan, keep him covered near the fire, then rice all ready.

Eat him up!

1293. Yellow Rice.

Take one pound of rice, wash it clean, and put it into a saucepan which will hold three quarts; add to it half a pound of currants picked and washed, one quarter of an ounce of the best turmeric powder, previously dissolved in a cupful of water, and a stick of cinnamon; pour over them two quarts of cold water, place the saucepan uncovered on a moderate fire, and allow it to boil till the rice is dry, then stir in a quarter of a pound of sugar, and two ounces of b.u.t.ter: cover up, and place the pan near the fire for a few minutes, then mix it well and dish up. This is a favourite dish with the j.a.panese, and will be found excellent as a vegetable with roast meat, poultry, &c. It also forms a capital pudding, which may be improved by the addition of raisins, and a few blanched almonds.

[THE FALL OF THE LEAF IS A WHISPER TO THE LIVING.]

1294. Boiled Rice for Curry.

Put the rice on in _cold_ water, and let it come to a boil for a minute or so: strain it quite dry, and lay it on the hob in a stewpan without a cover to let the steam evaporate, then shake it into the dish while very hot. A squeeze of lemon juice after it boils will make it separate better.

1295. Lemon Rice.

Boil sufficient rice in milk, with white sugar to taste, till it is soft; put it into a pint basin or an earthenware blanc-mange mould, and leave it till cold. Peel a lemon very thick, cut the peel into shreds about half or three-quarters of an inch in length, put them into a little water, boil them up, and throw the water away, lest it should be bitter, then pour about a teacupful of fresh water upon them; squeeze and strain the juice of the lemon, add it with white sugar to the water and shreds, and let it stew gently at the fire for two hours. (When cold it will be a syrup.) Having turned out the jellied rice into a cutgla.s.s dish, or one of common delf, pour the syrup gradually over the rice, taking care the little shreds of the peel are equally distributed over the whole.

1296. Remains of Cold Sweet Dishes.

1297. Ripe Pudding.