PUDDINGS.
General Directions—To Clean Currants—Mix Batter—Boiling Puddings—Baking—Plum Pudding—Cottage—Suet—Sponge—Almond—Vermicelli—Rice in Shape—Rice Pudding—Snow Balls—Flour—Flummery—Bread Puddings—Batter—Indian Meal—Arrowroot—Sago—Tapioca—Potato —Apple—Charlotte —Eve’s Pudding—Cherry—Blackberry—Apricot—Quince —Lemon—Orange—Cocoanut—Bird’s Nest—Custard Pudding—Dumplings.
General Directions for making Puddings.—Many of the directions for making pastry apply also to the preparation of puddings.
The freshness of all ingredients of puddings is of much importance; as fresh-ground flour, pure milk, new-laid or sweet eggs, fresh suet, and fresh butter, or washed salt butter.
Suet makes light pudding crust: beef suet is best, next mutton, and then veal. Beef marrow is sometimes substituted for suet in puddings, which it much enriches. Dripping may also be used for common crust; but neither dripping nor butter will make crust so light as suet.
Dried fruits for puddings should be carefully picked, and sometimes washed. Currants may be plumped out by pouring boiling water upon them; they should be dried on a sieve or cloth before the fire. It is a good plan to pick them, in large quantities, upon a tinned sheet, as, in rubbing them on it, any stone or grit may be detected by its noise.
Raisins should be stoned with clean hands; if done with a knife-point, much of the pulp is liable to be removed with the stones. The best raisins for puddings are the large, rich kinds; the sultana kind, free from stones, is neither so well-flavored nor luscious. Raisins should generally be once cut, not chopped small, for puddings.
Candied peels, as citron, lemon, and orange, should be cut small, but not minced.
Fresh fruits should be picked free from stalks, and wiped, if required.
Rice, sago, tapioca, &c., should be soaked half an hour, and well washed and picked, before they are mixed into puddings; and mustiness should be guarded against.
To Clean Currants for Puddings or Cakes.—Put them into a cullender, strew a handful of flour over them, and rub them with the hands to separate the lumps, and to detach the stalks; work them round in the cullender, and shake it well, when the small stalks and stones will fall through it. Next pour plenty of cold water over the currants, drain, and spread them on a soft cloth, press it over them to absorb the moisture, and then say them on a very clean oven-tin, or a large dish, and dry them very gradually (or they will become hard), either in a cool oven, or before the fire, taking care in the latter case that they are not placed sufficiently near it for the ashes to fall amongst them. When they are perfectly dry, clear them entirely from the remaining stalks, and from every stone that may be amongst them. The best mode of detecting these, is to lay the fruit at the far end of a large white dish, or sheet of paper, and to pass it lightly, and in very small portion, with the fingers, towards oneself, examining it closely as this is done.
To Mix Batter for Puddings.—Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and stir them together; whisk the eggs thoroughly, strain them through a fine hair sieve, and add them very gradually to the flour; for if too much liquid be poured to it at once it will be full of lumps, and it is easy, with care, to keep the batter perfectly smooth. Beat it well and lightly, with the back of a strong wooden spoon, and after the eggs are added, thin it with milk to a proper consistency. The whites of the eggs beaten separately to a solid froth, and stirred gently into the mixture the instant before it is tied up for boiling, or before it is put into the oven to be baked, will render it remarkably light. When fruit is added to the batter, it must be made thicker than when it is served plain, or it will sink to the bottom of the pudding. Batter should never stick of the knife when it is sent to table; it will do this both when a sufficient number of eggs are not mixed with it, and when it is not enough cooked. About 4 eggs to the half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly.
Do not break many eggs into a bowl together; for, if there be one bad one, it will spoil those previously in the bowl; but break them one at a time into a basin, beat all together with a whisk or fork, and strain through a sieve, when the whites of eggs only are required, the yolks, if not broken, will keep good for two or three days, if they be covered up.
Warmed butter will not oil, if mixed with a little milk or wine. Salt improves the flavor of every pudding mixture, even if it be sweet: a pinch of salt will improve a plum pudding.
Batter pudding, to be made very light, should only haveth whites of eggs in it, and milk enough to make it the thickness of a custard: a pudding made with a pint of milk requires an hour’s boiling.
Puddings are better for being mixed some time before boiling or baking, if they be well stirred before they are tied up or put into the dish: it is, however, advisable to add the eggs only just before.
Of Boiling Puddings.—It is not requisite to flour a pudding cloth, but merely to dip it in boiling water, and immediately put the pudding into it.
Puddings are boiled in cloths,* or in moulds tied in cloths they should be tied tightly, and the moulds be buttered before the puddings are put into them. They should not be tied up, or put into moulds or dishes, till the minute before they are to be put into the sauce-pan or oven.
Liquid puddings are best boiled by placing the mould or basin in a stew-pan, with hot water enough to boil the pudding without boiling over.
As a general rule, however, puddings are lighter when boiled in a cloth only: in some cases, as rice, or bread pudding, the cloth should be tied loosely; if of flour-crust, tightly.
Puddings should be put into plenty of boiling water, which should be kept filled up, if requisite: if the fire be very fierce the pudding may stick to the bottom of the sauce-pan and burn; to prevent which, before putting in the water, place a plate or dish, hollow downwards, in the sauce-pan.
Upon taking out a pudding boiled in a cloth, dip it into cold water before you untie it, when it will not stick to the cloth or mould.
Of Baking Puddings.—All of the custard kind, whether made of eggs and milk only, or of sago, arrow-root, rice, ground or in grain, vermicelli, &c., require a very gentle oven, and are spoiled by fast-baking. Those made of batter, on the contrary, should be put into one sufficiently brisk to raise them quickly, but without scorching them. Such as contain suet and raisins must have a well-heated, but not a fierce oven; for as they must remain long in it to be thoroughly done, unless carefully managed, they will either be much too highly colored, or too dry.
By whisking to a solid froth the whites of the eggs used for any pudding, and stirring them softly into it at the instant of placing it in the oven, it will be rendered exceedingly light, and will rise very high in the dish; but as it will partake then of the nature of a soufflé, it must be despatched with great expedition to table from the oven, or it will become flat before it is served.
When a pudding is sufficiently browned on the surface (that is to say, of a fine equal amber-color) before it is baked through, a sheet of writing paper should be laid over it, but not before it is set: when quite firm in the centre, it will be done.
Potato, batter, plum, and every other kind of pudding in deed, which is sufficiently solid to allow of it, should be turned reversed on to a clean hot dish from the one in which it is baked, and strewed with sifted sugar, before it is sent to table.
Puddings without Eggs.—Very good puddings may be made without eggs: but they should have very little liquid added to them, and must boil longer than puddings with eggs. A spoonful of yeast will serve instead of 2 eggs, and a pinch of soda will make it still lighter. Two large spoonsful of snow will supply the place of 1 egg, and make a pudding equally good This is a useful piece of information, as snow generally falls in the season when eggs are dear. The sooner it is used after it falls the better; but it may be taken up from a clean spot, and kept in a cool place some hours, without losing its good qualities.
Obs.—to avoid repetition, let it be observed that, when pudding-sauce is ordered, wine, sugar, and very thick melted butter, boiled up together, is the sauce intended. Or, instead of the wine, add more sugar, and a little vinegar or lemon-juice.
Plum Pudding.—Suet, chopped fine, six ounces; Malaga raisins, stoned, six ounces; currants, nicely washed and picked, eight ounces; bread-crumbs, three ounces; flour, three ounces; eggs, three; sixth of a nutmeg; small blade of mace; same quantity of cinnamon, pounded as fine as possible; half a tea-spoonful of salt; half a pint of milk, or rather less; sugar, four ounces; to which may be added, candied lemon, one ounce; citron, half an ounce. Beat the eggs and spice well together; mix the milk with them by degrees, then the rest of the ingredients; dip a fine close linen cloth into boiling water, and put it in a hair sieve; flour it a little, pour in the mixture, and tie it up close; put it into a sauce-pan containing six quarts of boiling water; keep a kettle of boiling water along side of it, and fill up your pot as it wastes; be sure to keep it boiling six hours at least.
Cottage Christmas Pudding.—A pound and a quarter of flour, fourteen ounces of suet, a pound and a quarter of stoned raisins, four ounces of currants, five of sugar, a quarter-pound of potatoes smoothly mashed, half a nutmeg, a quarter-tea-spoonful of ginger, the same of salt, and of cloves in powder; mix these ingredients thoroughly, add four well-beaten eggs with a quarter-pint of milk, tie the pudding in a well-floured cloth, and boil it for four hours.
Flour, one pound and a quarter; suet, 14 ounces; raisins stoned, 20 ounces; currants, 4 ounces; sugar, 5 ounces, potatoes, quarter of a pound; half a nutmeg; ginger, salt, cloves, quarter of a tea-spoonful each; eggs, 4; milk, half a pint:—4 hours.
Small Light Plum Pudding.—Put half a pint of fine bread crumbs into a basin, and pour on them a quarter-pint of boiling milk; put a plate over, and let them soak for half an hour; then mix with them half a pint of suet chopped extremely small, rather more of stoned raisins, three tea-spoonsful of sugar, one of flour, three eggs, a tiny pinch of salt, and sufficient grated lemon-peel or nutmeg to flavor it lightly. Tie the pudding in a well-floured cloth, and boil it for 2 hours.
Bread-crumbs, half a pint; milk, quarter of a pint; suet, half a pint; raisins, nearly three-quarters of a pint; sugar, 3 tea-spoonsful, and 1 of flour; eggs, 3; little salt and nutmeg:—2 hours.
Another Pudding, light and wholesome.—With three ounces of the crumbs of a stale loaf finely grated and soaked in a quarter pint of boiling milk, mix six ounces of suet minced very small, one ounce of dry bread-crumbs, ten ounces of stoned raisins, a little salt, the grated rind of a china-orange, and three eggs, leaving out one white. Boil the pudding for two hours, and serve it with very sweet sauce; put no sugar in it.
Suet Pudding.—Suet, quarter of a lb; flour, 3 table-spoonsful; 2 eggs; a little grated ginger, and half a pint of milk. Mince the suet as fine as possible, roll it with the rolling-pin, so as to mix it well with the flour; beat up the eggs, mix them with the milk, and then mix all together; wet your cloth well in boiling water, flour it, tie it loose, put it into boiling water, and boil it an hour and a quarter.
Mrs. Glasse has it, “when you have made your water boil, then put your pudding into your pot,”
Sponge Cake Pudding.—Melt some butter and rub with it the mould in which the pudding is to be made; rub it very evenly with a feather or brush. Sift on the butter some pounded sugar, and take care that all parts of the mould are equally covered with it so as to look white. Stone some raisins and currants, and put them according to fancy in the carvings of the mould. Take some sponge cake, the staler the better, cut it up in small pieces, and fill the mould lightly with it, mixing through it currants and raisins rubbed in flour. Beat separately the whites and yolks of four eggs, mixing with the yolks four table-spoonsful of sugar, pour on them one and a half pint of cold milk, and pour this over the sponge cake. It should fill the mould entirely; grate the peel of one lemon in the custard. Set the mould in a sauce-pan of cold water; let the water cover one-third of the mould, and place it over the fire; when the water begins to boil, set it on one side the fire so that the custard will cook slowly, or it will turn. When nearly done put it again over the fire, but do not let it brown. It will bake in a quarter of an hour.
To make a sauce for it, beat the yolks of two eggs in half pint of new milk, and sugar to your taste; strain it through a cloth or sieve, and flavor it with rose-water, bitter almonds, or any thing that is preferred. Turn the pudding into a dish, and pour the sauce around it.
Sponge Cake Pudding, No. 2.—Beat three eggs very light, leaving out the whites of two; add three table-spoonsful of sifted flour; three table-spoonsful of pounded white sugar; gradually stir one and a half pint of new milk. Boil it over a slow fire, stirring it constantly to prevent it from burning. Pour part of the mixture in a deep dish. Dip slices of sponge cake into wine, and lay them over the mixture. Pour in the rest of the mixture. Sprinkle over the top powdered cinnamon or nutmeg. Flavor with vanilla or lemon. It is eaten cold.
Almond Pudding.—Blanch three-quarters of a pound of sweet and 3 oz. bitter almonds, and beat them to a fine paste, mixing them well, and adding by degrees a tea-cupful or more of rose-water. Boil in a pint of rich milk a few sticks of cinnamon broken up, and a few blades of mace. When the milk has come to a boil, take it off the fire; strain it into a pan, and soak in it five stale rusks cut into slices. They must soak till quite dissolved. Stir to a cream three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter mixed with the same quantity of powdered loaf-sugar. Beat ten eggs very light, yolks and whites, and then stir alternately into the butter and sugar the rusk, eggs, and almonds. Set it on a stove, and stir the whole together till very smooth and thick. Put it into a buttered dish, and bake it three quarters of an hour
Half the quantity of materials will be sufficient for an elegant table.
Or:—Take two and half ounces of white bread-crumbs, and steep them in a pint of cream; then pound half a pint of blanched almonds to a paste with some water. Beat the yolks of six eggs and the whites of three; mix all together, and add three ounces of sugar and one ounce of beaten butter; put all over the fire; stir it until it thickens, and then bake it in a puff-paste.
Vermicelli Pudding.—Wash three ounces of vermicelli; boil it for fifteen minutes in a pint of milk, with a bit of cinnamon and lemon-peel. When nearly cold, pick out the cinnamon and peel, sweeten it, and add the well-beaten yolks of six, and the whites of two eggs. Mix it well, and bake it in a buttered dish for half an hour.
It may be boiled for one hour and a half, and served with a sweet sauce.
Whole Rice in a Shape.—Wash a large tea-cupful of rice in several waters; put it into a stew-pan with cold water to cover it; when it boils add 2 cupsful of rich milk or thin cream, boil it till the rice is soft; put it into a mould and press it down tight: when cold turn it out and serve with sweetmeat or jelly round it. If put into a cylindrical mould, the centre should be filled with fruit or sweetmeat.
Rice Pudding, Baked or Boiled.—Wash in cold water and pick very clean 6 oz. of rice; boil it in 1 quart of milk, with a bit of cinnamon, very gently, till it is quite tender; it will take about an hour; be careful and stir it often. Take it from the fire, pick out the cinnamon, and stir in a tea-cupful of sugar, half a cup of butter, 3 eggs well beaten, a little powdered nutmeg—stir it till it is quite smooth. You can line a pie-dish with puff paste, or bake it in a buttered dish, which is better. About three-quarters of an hour will bake it.
If you wish it more like custard, add another egg end half a pint of milk.
If you boil it, you can add whatever fruit you like; 3 oz. of currants, or raisins, or apples minced fine; it will take an hour to boil it. Serve with wine sauce, or butter and sugar.
A Good Boiled Rice Pudding.—Swell gradually, and boil until quite soft and thick, 4½ oz. of whole rice, in 1½ pint of new milk; sweeten them with from 3 to 4 oz. of sugar, broken small, and stir to them, while they are still quite hot, the grated rind of half a large lemon, 4 or 5 bitter almonds, pounded to a paste, and 4 large well-whisked eggs; let the mixture cool, and then pour it into a thickly-buttered basin, or mould, which should be quite full; tie a buttered paper and a floured cloth over it, and boil the pudding exactly an hour; let it stand for 2 or 3 minutes before it is turned out, and serve it with sweet sauce, fruit syrup, or a compote of fresh fruit. An ounce and a half of candied orange rind will improve it much, and a couple of ounces of butter may be added to enrich it, when the receipt without is considered too simple.
Whole rice, 4½ oz.; new milk, 1½ pint; sugar, 3 or 4 oz.; salt, a few grains; bitter almonds, 4 to 6; rind of half a lemon; eggs 4: boiled 1 hour.
An Easter Pudding.—To 4 oz. of fresh rice flour, add by slow degrees half a pint of cold new milk, being careful to keep the mixture free from lumps. Pour it into a pint of boiling milk, and stir it without intermission over a very clear and gentle fire for 3 or 4 minutes; then throw in 2 oz. of fresh butter, and 2 of pounded sugar, and continue the boiling for 8 or 10 minutes longer. Let the rice cool down, and give it an occasional stir, to prevent the surface from hardening. When it has stood for 15 or 20 minutes, pour to it a gill of cold milk, and stir well into it a few grains of salt, the grated rind of a large sound lemon, 5 full-sized, or 6 small eggs, properly cleared and well whisked, first by themselves and then with 2 additional ounces of pounded sugar. Beat up these ingredients thoroughly together, pour them into a deep dish which has been rubbed with butter, and in which about a table-spoonful should be left liquified, that it may rise to the surface of the pudding; strew lightly upon it 4 oz. of clean, dry currants, and bake it gently from three-quarters to a full hour.
A Plain Rice Pudding.—Well wash and pick 8 oz. of rice, and put it into a deep dish, with 2 quarts of milk; add to this 2 oz. of butter, 4 oz. of sugar, and a little cinnamon or nutmeg, ground; mix them well together, and bake in a very slow oven. It will take about 2 hours.
Rice Snow Balls.—Boil some rice in milk till it is swelled and soft; pare and carefully scoop out the core of 5 or 6 good sized apples, put into each a little grated lemon-peel and cinnamon; place as much of the rice upon a bit of linen as will entirely cover an apple, and tie each closely. Boil them 2 hours, and serve them with melted butter, sweetened with sugar.
Rice Flour Pudding.—Thicken 1 pint of new milk with 3 table-spoonsful of ground rice; mix half a pound of butter with three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and put them into the milk; take 10 eggs, leaving out the whites of 5; beat them light, and add them to the other ingredients. Bake it in pastry or not, as you please.
Rice Flummery.—Put 1 quart of milk on to boil, and when it is about to begin to boil, sweeten, and flavor it with rose water to your taste. Take the half of one of the papers of rice flour, and mix it very smoothly with half a pint of cold milk. As soon as the milk already flavored begins to boil, stir the flour and milk in until it becomes quite thick. Then put it in moulds and let it cool.
Bread Pudding.—Sweeten a pint of new milk with three ounces of fine sugar, throw in a few grains of salt, and pour it boiling on half a pound of fine and lightly-grated breadcrumbs; add an ounce of fresh butter, and cover them with a plate; let them remain for half an hour or more, and then stir to them four large well-whisked eggs, and a flavoring of nutmeg, or of lemon-rind; pour the mixture into a thickly-buttered mould or basin, which holds a pint and a half, and which ought to be quite full; tie a paper and a cloth tightly over, and boil the pudding exactly an hour and ten minutes. This is quite a plain receipt, but by omitting two ounces of the bread, and adding more butter, one egg, a small glass of brandy, the grated rind of a lemon and as much sugar as will sweeten the whole richly, a very excellent pudding will be obtained; candied orange-peel also has a good effect when sliced thinly into it; and half a pound of currants is generally considered a further improvement.
New milk, 1 pint; sugar, 3 ounces; salt, few grains; bread-crumbs, half a pound; eggs, 4 (5, if very small); nutmeg or lemon-rind at pleasure: 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Or: Milk, 1 pint; bread-crumbs, 6 ounces; butter, 2 to 3 ounces; sugar, 4 ounces; eggs, 5; brandy, small-glassful; rind, 1 lemon. Further additions at choice: candied peel, 1 ounce and a half; currants, half a pound.
Brown Bread Pudding.—To half a pound of stale brown bread, finely and lightly grated, add an equal weight of suet, chopped small, and of currants cleaned and dried, with half a salt-spoonful of salt, three ounces of sugar, the third of a small nutmeg grated, two ounces of candied peel, five well-beaten eggs, and a glass of brandy. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and boil the pudding in a cloth for three hours and a half. Send wine sauce to table with it. The grated rind of a large lemon may be added with good effect.
Brown bread, suet, and currants, each 8 ounces; sugar, 3 ounces; candied peel, 2 ounces; salt, third of a salt-spoonful; half of a small nutmeg; eggs, 5; brandy, 1 wine-glassful: 3 hours and a half.
Plain Bread Pudding.—Pour a quart of boiling milk over 4 ounces of bread crumbs, cover it till cold, and mix with 3 well-beaten eggs, a tea-cup of sugar, and half the peel of a grated lemon, or a little pounded cinnamon; bake it in a buttered dish, and serve with sweet sauce.
Bread-and-Butter Pudding.—Butter a quart dish, and lay in it slices of thin bread-and-butter, strewing in a few currants; then beat 4 eggs in a basin, add 4 ounces of sugar, half a nutmeg, grated, and stir in a pint of milk; fill up the dish, and bake three-quarters of an hour. A stale French roll, cut in slices and buttered, is superior to household bread-and-butter for this pudding.
The Penny Pudding.—Take a penny roll with the crust rasped, one egg, half a pint of milk, and rather less than two ounces of loaf sugar Put the roll and sugar into a basin, pour upon them the cold milk, and let it soak an hour; then beat up the egg with the roll, sugar, and milk; put it into either a half-pint shape, or a cloth; and boil it twenty-five minutes if in a shape, or twenty minutes if in a cloth. Serve it up with sweet white wine sauce.
It may be made double the size, by using twice the quantity of everything; and it will only take five minutes longer to boil it.
Common Batter Pudding.—Beat four eggs thoroughly, mix with them half a pint of milk, and pass them through a sieve, add them by degrees to half a pound of flour, and when the batter is perfectly smooth, thin it with another half pint of milk. Shake out a wet pudding-cloth, flour it well, pour the batter in, leave it room to swell, tie it securely, and put it immediately into plenty of fast-boiling water. An hour and ten minutes will boil it. Send it to table the instant it is dished, with wine sauce, a hot compote of fruit, or raspberry vinegar: this last makes a delicious pudding sauce. Unless the liquid be added very gradually to the flour, and the mixture be well stirred and beaten as each portion is poured to it, the batter will not be smooth: to render it very light, a portion of the whites of the eggs, or the whole of them, should be whisked to a froth and stirred into it just before it is put into the cloth.
Flour, half pound; eggs, four; salt, three-quarters tea-spoonful; milk, one pint: one hour and ten minutes.
Obs.—Modern taste is in favor of puddings boiled in moulds, but, as we have already stated, they are seldom or ever so light as those which are tied in cloths only. Where appearance is the first consideration, we would recommend the use of the moulds, of course.
Another Batter Pudding.—Mix the yolks of three eggs smoothly with three heaped table-spoonsful of flour, thin the batter with new milk until it is of the consistency of cream. whisk the whites of eggs apart, stir them into the batter, and boil the pudding in a floured cloth or buttered basin for an hour. Before it is served, cut the top quickly into large dice, half through the pudding, pour over it a small jarful of fine currant, raspberry, or strawberry jelly, and send it to table without delay.
Flour, three table-spoonsful; eggs, three; salt, half tea-spoonful; milk, from half to a whole pint: one hour
Obs.—For a very large pudding, double the quantity of ingredients and the time of boiling will be required.
Batter Fruit Pudding.—Butter thickly a basin which holds a pint and a half, and fill it nearly to the brim with good boiling apples pared, cored, and quartered; pour over them a batter made with four table-spoonsful of flour, two large or three small eggs, and half a pint of milk. Tie a buttered and floured cloth over the basin, which ought to be quite full, and boil the pudding for an hour and a quarter. Turn it into a hot dish when done, and strew sugar thickly over it: this, if added to the batter at first, renders it heavy. Morella cherries make a very superior pudding of this kind; and green gooseberries, damsons, and various other fruits, answer for it extremely well: the time of boiling it must be varied according to their quality and its size.
Baked Batter Pudding.—Beat separately yolks and whites of three eggs; mix three table-spoonsful of flour with half pint of milk, a small piece of butter and some salt; stir in the eggs. Bake in a quick oven, and eat with any sweet sauce.
Indian Meal Pudding, baked.—Scald a quart of milk (skim med milk will do), and stir in seven table-spoonsful of sifted Indian meal, a tea-spoonful of salt, a tea-cupful of molasses or treacle, or coarse moist sugar, and a table-spoonful of powdered ginger or sifted cinnamon: bake three or four hours. If whey is wanted, pour in a little cold milk after it is all mixed.
Boiled Maize Pudding.—Stir Indian meal and warm milk together “pretty stiff;” a little salt and two or three “great spoonsful of molasses added; also a spoonful of ginger, or any other spice that may be preferred. Boil it in a tight-covered pan, or in a very thick cloth; if the water gets in, it will ruin it. Leave plenty of room, for Indian meal swells very much. The milk with which it is mixed should be merely warmed; if it be scalding hot, the pudding will break to pieces. Some chop suet very fine, and warm in the milk; others warm thin slices of apple to be stirred into the pudding. Water will answer instead of milk.
Hasty Pudding.—Boil water, a quart, 3 pints, or 2 quarts, according to the size of your family; sift your meal, stir 5 or 6 spoonsful of it thoroughly into a bowl of water; when the water in the kettle boils, pour into it the contents of the bowl; stir it well, and let it boil up thick; put in salt to suit your own taste, then stand over the kettle, and sprinkle in meal, handful after handful, stirring it very thoroughly all the time, and letting it boil between whiles. When it is so thick that you stir it with great difficulty, it is about right. It takes half an hour’s cooking. Eat it with milk or molasses. Either Indian meal or rye meal may be used. If the system is in a restricted state, nothing can be better than rye hasty pudding and West India molasses. This diet would save many a one the horrors of dyspepsia.
Obs.—When cold it is nice for breakfast, cut off in slices and browned in a frying pan, with a little butter or fresh sweet lard or dripping.
Arrow Root Pudding.—Dissolve 4 tea-cupsful of arrow-root in a quart of fresh milk. Boil it with a few bitter almonds pounded up, or peach-leaves, to give it a flavor. Stir it well while it is boiling or until it becomes a smooth batter. When it is quite cool, add 6 eggs well beaten, to the batter, then mix with it a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar—if brown is used it spoils the color. Grate some lemon-peel into the mixture and add a little of the juice. The pudding should be baked an hour and sent to the table cold. Quince, raspberry or strawberry preserves, may be served with it; and to add to the appearance, ornament the top with slices of preserves.
Another Arrow Root Pudding.—From a quart of new milk take a small tea-cupful, and mix it with 2 large spoonsful of arrow-root. Boil the remainder of the milk, and stir it amongst the arrow-root; add when nearly cold, 4 well-beaten eggs, with 2 ounces of pounded loaf sugar, and the same of fresh butter broken into small bits; season with grated nutmeg. Mix it well together, and bake it in a buttered dish 15 or 20 minutes.
Sago Pudding.—Boil 5 table-spoonsful of sago, well picked and washed, in 1 quart of milk till quite soft, with a stick of cinnamon. Then stir in 1 tea-cup of butter and 2 of powdered loaf sugar. When it is cold, add 4 eggs well beaten, and a little grated nutmeg. Mix all well together, and bake it in a buttered dish about three-quarters of an hour. Brown sugar, if dried, will answer very well to sweeten it.
Tapioca Pudding.—Soak in warm water 1 tea-cupful of tapioca; beat 4 eggs with 3 table-spoonsful of sugar; melt in half a pint of milk 1 table-spoonful of butter. Stir all together flavor to your taste, and bake in a quick oven.
Potato Pudding.—A pound of potatoes, peeled and boiled; one-third of a pound of fresh butter mashed with the potatoes; add the juice of a sour orange or of a lemon, and the peel of 1 grated, a quarter of a pound of sugar, 8 eggs, (half the whites left out) a grated nutmeg, and a gill of wine. Beat them well together, and bake in a thin crust. Add a little salt to the ingredients.
Another Potato Pudding.—Boil 3 large mealy potatoes, mash them very smoothly, with 1 ounce of butter, and 2 or 3 table-spoonsful of thick cream; add 3 well-beaten eggs, a little salt, grated nutmeg, and a table-spoonful of brown sugar. Beat all well together, and bake it in a buttered dish, for half or three-quarters of an hour in a Dutch oven. A few currants may be added to the pudding.
Sweet Potato Pudding.—Beat to a cream 1 pound of sugar, and 1 pound of butter; boil and pound fine 2 pounds of potatoes; beat the potato by degrees into the butter and sugar; add 5 eggs beaten light, 1 wine-glass of wine, 1 of brandy, and 1 of rose-water; 2 tea-spoonsful of spice, and half a pint of cream.
Bake it in a crust. This will fill 7 puddings.
Baked Apple Pudding, or Custard.—Weigh 1 lb. of good boiling apples after they are pared and cored, and stew them to a perfectly smooth marmalade, with 6 oz. of sugar, and a spoonful or two of water; stir them often that they may not stick to the pan. Mix with them while they are still quite hot, 3 oz. of butter, the grated rind and the strained juice of a lemon, and lastly, stir in by degrees the well-beaten yolks of 5 eggs, and a dessert-spoonful of flour, or in lieu of the last, 3 or 4 Naples’ biscuits, or macaroons crushed small. Bake the pudding for a full half hour in a moderate oven, or longer should it not be quite firm in the middle. A little clarified butter poured on the top, with sugar sifted over, improves all baked puddings.
Apples, 1 lb; sugar, 6 oz.; water, 1 cupful; butter, 3 oz. juice and rind, 1 lemon; 5 eggs: half an hour or more.
Obs.—Many cooks press the apples through a sieve after they are boiled, but this is not needful when they are of a good kind, and stewed, and beaten smooth.
A Common Baked Apple Pudding.—Boil a pound and a quarter of apples with half a small cupful of water and 6 oz. of brown sugar; when they are reduced to a smooth pulp, stir to them 2 oz. of butter, a table-spoonful of flour, or a handful of fine bread crumbs, and 5 well-beaten eggs; grate in half a nutmeg, or flavor the pudding with pounded cinnamon, and bake it nearly three-quarters of an hour. More or less of sugar will be required for these puddings, according to the time of year, as the fruit is much more acid when first gathered than when it has been some months stored.
Apples, 1¼ lb.; water, half small cupful; sugar, 6 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 table-spoonful, or bread crumbs, 1 handful; half a nutmeg; eggs, 5: three-quarters of an hour.
Nice Apple Pudding.—Pare and core 12 large apples, put them into a sauce-pan with water sufficient to cover them, stew them till soft, and then beat them smooth, and mix in three-quarters of a pound of pounded loaf sugar, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, the juice and grated peel of 2 lemons, and the well-beaten yolks of 8 eggs; line a dish with puff paste, put in the pudding, and bake it for nearly three-quarters of an hour; before serving grate loaf sugar over the top till it looks white.
An Apple Charlotte.—Pare and slice a quantity of apples; cut off the crust of a loaf, and cut slices of bread and butter. Butter the inside of a pie dish, and place breed and butter all round; then put in a layer of apples sprinkled with lemon peel chopped very fine, and a considerable quantity of good brown sugar. Then put on a layer of bread and butter, and another of apples, lemon peel, and sugar, until the dish is full, squeezing over the juice of lemons, so that every part shall be equally flavored. Cover up the dish with the crusts of bread and the peels of the apples, to prevent it from browning or burning; bake it an hour and a quarter; then take off the peels and the crust, and turn it out of the dish.
Marlborough Pudding.—Grate enough apples to make 8 oz.; add to this 8 oz. of fine white sugar, 8 oz. of butter, 6 eggs well beaten, the juice of 2 lemons, with the grated peel of 1. Line a pie dish with fine puff paste, put the pudding in it, and bake in a quick oven.
Apple Meringues.—Fill a small pudding-dish half full of stewed or preserved apples, or any other acid fruit. Beat the whites of 6 eggs to a very stiff froth, and mix in 1 table-spoonful of sugar to each egg. Pile the egg on the fruit, and bake it in a slow oven from 1 to 2 hours. It can be eaten cold or hot.
Eve’s Pudding.—Take 6 large, fair, juicy apples; pare, core, and chop them fine; 6 oz. of bread crumbs; 6 oz. of currants; 6 eggs, and 3 oz. of sugar. Mix them well, and boil in a mould, or closely-covered pan, for 3 hours; serve with sweet sauce.
Virginia Cherry Pudding.—Beat 6 eggs light: add 2 gills of milk, 6 oz. of flour, 8 oz. of grated bread, 6 oz. of suet, chopped very fine, and half a table-spoonful of salt. Stir all well together, and add 10 oz. of dried cherries with a little mace. Boil it 4 or 5 hours. It may be baked instead of boiled
Blackberry Pudding.—Make a batter of 1 quart of flour, 3 pints of milk, and 5 eggs. Stew 3 pints of blackberries sweetened to your taste, and stir them in the batter. Bake it, and eat it with any sweet sauce.
Apricot, Peach, or Nectarine Pudding.—Scald the fruit; peel, beat, and sweeten it; beat 6 yolks and 2 whites; mix all together, with a pint of cream; put it into a dish sheeted with cream paste: as the pudding stuff requires a moderate oven, puff paste would not answer. A cook ought to attend to this, as either the paste or pudding will be spoiled unless she does.
Quince Pudding.—Pare 6 large quinces, cut out the cores and blemishes, chop them as fine as possible, and boil them 2 hours with as little water as possible, stirring them frequently that they may not burn. Drain off the water and mix them, when cold, with a pint of cream and half a pound of powdered sugar. Beat the yolks of 7 eggs, using the whites of 2, and stir them gradually into the mixture, to which add a glass of rose-water. Stir the whole together for some time and bake it in a buttered dish an hour, or if the oven is not very hot, an hour and a half. Serve it cold.
Lemon Pudding.—Melt six ounces of butter, and pour it over the same quantity of powdered loaf sugar, stirring it well till cold. Then grate the rind of a large lemon, and add it with 8 eggs well beaten, and the juice of 2 lemons; stir the whole till it is completely mixed together, and bake the pudding with a paste round the dish.
Or:—Take one pound and a half of bread-crumbs, quarter of a pound of finely-chopped suet, the rind of 2 lemons grated, and the juice of 1; 2 eggs well beaten; mix the whole with quarter of pound of sugar sifted, and boil it three-quarters of an hour.
Or:—Pare 6 lemons finely, and boil the peel till it is tender; then pound it in a mortar, add the juice of 3 lemons, and quarter of pound of butter melted into a little cream, 3 sponge or ratafia cakes, the yolks of 6 eggs and the whites of 3; mix all up well together, with sugar to the taste, adding a little nutmeg and brandy.
Orange Pudding.—Beat separately, till perfectly light, 8 yolks and 4 whites of eggs; with the yolks, beat 4 ounces of grated loaf sugar; pound one ounce and a half of sugar biscuit, and with 2 table-spoonsful of orange marmalade, mix all well together; beat before the fire 4 ounces of butter; line a dish with puff-paste, and just before putting the pudding into the oven, stir in the butter. Bake it for 15 or 20 minutes.
Cocoanut Pudding.—Break the shell of a middle-sized cocoanut so as to leave the nut as whole as you can; grate it with a grater after having taken off the brown skin; mix with it 3 oz. of white sugar powdered, and about half of the peel of a lemon; mix well together with the milk, and put it into a tin lined with paste, and bake it not too brown.
Transparent Pudding.—Beat the yolks of 8 eggs, and the whites of 2, and mix with them half a pound of warmed butter, and the same of loaf sugar, pounded: butter cups or moulds, lay at the bottom orange marmalade or preserved apricots; pour the pudding upon the sweetmeat, and bake it about 20 minutes.
Bird’s Nest Pudding.—If you wish to make what is called “bird’s nest puddings,” prepare a custard,—take 8 or 10 pleasant apples, pare them, dig out the core, but leave them whole, set them in a pudding-dish, pour your custard over them, and bake them about 30 minutes.
Custard Pudding.—Mix with 1 table-spoonful of flour a pint of cream, or new milk, 3 eggs, a spoonful of rose water, 1 oz. of fresh butter broken in small bits; sweeten with pounded loaf sugar, and add a little grated nutmeg. Bake it in a buttered dish for half an hour. Before serving, you can strew over it pounded loaf sugar, and stick over it thin cut bits of citron if you wish it to look very rich.
American Custard Puddings.—Sufficiently good for common use, may be made by taking 5 eggs beaten up and mixed with a quart of milk, sweetened with sugar and spiced with cinnamon, allspice, or nutmeg. It is well to boil your milk first, and let it get cold before using it. “Boiling milk enriches it so much, that boiled skim milk is about as good as new.” (We doubt this assertion; at any rate, it can only be improved by the evaporation of the water.) Bake 15 or 20 minutes.
A Cream Pudding.—Beat up the yolks of 4 eggs and 2 whites; aid a pint of cream, and 2 oz. of clarified butter, a spoonful of flour, a little grated nutmeg, salt, and sugar; beat till smooth bake it in buttered cups or paste.
Apple Dumplings.—Pare and scoop out the core of 6 large baking apples, put part of a clove, and a little grated lemon peel, inside of each, and enclose them in pieces of puff paste; boil them in nets for the purpose, or bits of linen, for an hour. Before serving, cut off a small bit from the top of each, and put in a tea-spoonful of sugar, and a bit of fresh butter; replace the bit of paste, and strew over them pounded loaf sugar.
Fashionable Apple Dumplings.—They are boiled in small knitted or closely-netted cloths (the former have, we think, the prettiest effect) which give quite an ornamental appearance to an otherwise homely dish. Take out the cores without dividing the apples, which should be large, and of a good boiling sort, and fill the cavity with orange or lemon marmalade, enclose them in a good crust rolled thin, draw the cloths round them, tie them closely and boil them for three-quarters of an hour. Lemon dumplings may be boiled in the same way.
Three-quarters to one hour, if the apples be not of the best boiling kind.
Norfolk Dumplings.—Make a stiff pancake batter; drop this batter by small spoonsful into quick boiling water; let them boil from 2 to 3 minutes, when they will be enough done: drain, and lay a piece of fresh butter over each.
Potato Apple Dumplings.—Boil 12 (or more) white potatoes, pare them, put them hot upon your paste-board, and mash them with a rolling-pin; add a little salt. When they are sufficiently mashed, dredge in from your dredging-box enough flour to make it of the consistency of dough made of flour, and then roll it out and make up your dumplings.
Hagerstown Pudding.—In a tea-cupful of molasses put a little butter, and let it boil. Cut stale bread in slices, and let it soak in the molasses until well saturated. Serve it hot.
* To Clean Pudding Cloths.—To a pint of wood-ashes pour three quarts of boiling water, and either wash the cloths in the mixture without straining it, or give them two or three minutes boil in it first, then let the whole cool together; wash the cloths perfectly clean, and rinse them abundance of water, changing it several times, this both takes the grease off, and renders them very sweet. Two ounces of soda dissolved in a gallon of water will answer almost as well, providing the rinsing afterwards be carefully attended to.
Pudding cloths, and tapes with which they are tied, should be sweet and clean, else the outside of the pudding will have an unpleasant taste.