Dr. Allinson's cookery book Part 25

EVE PUDDING.

1/2 lb. each of apples and breadcrumbs, and 1/2 lb. of currants and sultanas mixed, 5 eggs well beaten, sugar to taste, the grated rind and juice of 1 lemon, and 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter. Peel, core, and chop small the apples, mix them with the breadcrumbs, sugar, currants, and sultanas (washed and picked), the lemon juice and rind, and the b.u.t.ter, previously melted; whip up the eggs and mix them well with the other ingredients; turn the mixture into a b.u.t.tered mould, tie with a cloth, and steam the pudding for 3 hours.

BREAD AND CAKES

THE ADVANTAGES OF WHOLEMEAL BREAD.

People are now concerning themselves about the foods they eat, and inquiring into their properties, composition, and suitability. One food that is now receiving a good deal of attention is bread, and we ought to be sure that this is of the best kind, for as a nation we eat daily a pound of it per head. We consume more of this article of food than of any other, and this is as it ought to be, for bread is the staff of life, and many of the other things we eat are garnishings. It is said we cannot live on bread alone, but this is untrue if the loaf is a proper one; at one time our prisoners were fed on it alone, and the peasantry of many countries live on very little else.

Not many years ago books treating of food and nutrition always gave milk as the standard food, and so it is for calves and babies.

Nowadays we use a grain food as the standard, and of all grains wheat is the one which is nearest perfection, or which supplies to the body those elements that it requires, and in best proportions. A perfect food must contain carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and mineral matter in definite quant.i.ties; there must be from four to six parts of carbonaceous or heat and force-forming matter to one of nitrogen, and from two to four per cent. of mineral matter; also a certain bulk of innutritious matter for exciting secretion, for separating the particles of food so that the various gastric and intestinal juices may penetrate and dissolve out all the nutriment, and for carrying off the excess of the biliary and other intestinal secretions with the faeces.

A grain of wheat consists of an outer hard covering or skin, a layer of nitrogenous matter directly under this, and an inner kernel of almost pure starch. The average composition of wheat is this:--

Nitrogen 12 Carbon 72 Mineral Matter 4 Water 12 --- 100

From this a.n.a.lysis we observe that the nitrogenous matter is to the carbonaceous in the proportion of one-sixth, which is the composition of a perfect food. Besides taking part in this composition, the bran, being in a great measure insoluble, pa.s.ses in bulk through the bowels, a.s.sisting daily laxation--a most important consideration. If wheat is such a perfect food, it must follow that wholemeal bread must be best for our daily use. That such is the case, evidence on every side shows; those who eat it are healthier, stronger, and more cheerful than those who do not, all other things being equal. Wholemeal bread comes nearer the standard of a perfect food than does the wheaten grain, as in fermentation some of the starch is destroyed, and thus the proportion of nitrogen is slightly increased.

The next question is, how shall we prepare the grain so as to make the best bread from it? This is done by grinding the grain as finely as possible with stones, and then using the resulting flour for bread-making. The grain should be first cleaned and brushed, and pa.s.sed over a magnet to cleanse it from any bits of steel or iron it may have acquired from the various processes it goes through, and then finely ground. To ensure fine grinding, it is always advisable to kiln-dry it first. When ground, nothing must be taken from it, nor must anything be added to the flour, and from this bread should be made. Baking powder, soda, and tartaric acid, or soda and hydrochloric acid, or ammonia and hydrochloric acid, or other chemical agents, must never be used for raising bread, as these substances are injurious, and affect the human system for harm. The only ferment that should be used is yeast; of this the French variety is best. If brewer's yeast is used it must be first well washed, otherwise it gives a bitter flavour to the loaf. A small quant.i.ty of salt may be used, but not much, otherwise it adds an injurious agent to the bread.

BARLEY BANNOCKS.

Put 1/2 pint of milk into a saucepan allow it to boil; then sprinkle in barley meal, stirring it constantly to prevent lumps till the mixture is quite thick and almost unstirrable. Turn the ma.s.s out on a meal-besprinkled board and leave to cool. When cool enough to knead, work it quite stiff with dry meal, take a portion off, roll it as thin as a wafer, and bake it on a hot girdle; when done on one side, turn and cook on the other. The girdle is to be swept clean after each bannock. Eat hot or cold with b.u.t.ter.

BUN LOAF.

1 lb. Allinson wholemeal flour, 1/2 lb. b.u.t.ter, 1/2 lb. brown sugar, 1/4 lb. currants, 1/4 lb. raisins, 1/4 lb. candied peel, 4 eggs, 1/2 teacupful of milk. Mix the flour, sugar, currants, raisins, candied peel (cut in thin strips), the b.u.t.ter and eggs well together; mix with the milk; pour into a b.u.t.tered tin, and bake in a moderate oven for 2 hours.

BUNS (1).

1 lb. flour, 1/4 lb. sugar, 4 oz. currants, 2 oz. b.u.t.ter, or vege-b.u.t.ter, 1 teacupful of milk, 1 oz. French yeast, 2 eggs, a little salt. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and currants in a basin, warm the b.u.t.ter and milk slightly, mix it smoothly with the yeast, then add the eggs well beaten; pour this on the flour, stirring well together till it is all moistened; when thoroughly mixed, set it to rise by the fire for 1/2 hour; make into buns, set to rise by the fire for 10 minutes, brush the tops over with egg, and bake from 10 to 15 minutes.

BUNS (2).

1/2 pint water, 1/2 pint milk, 1 oz. yeast, 1 oz. sugar, 6 oz.

Allinson's wholemeal, 1 egg (not necessary). Warm water and milk to 105 degrees, dissolve sugar and yeast in it and stir in the meal, leave well covered up in a warm place for 45 minutes. Then have ready 1 3/4 lbs. Allinson's wholemeal, 1/4 lb. vege-b.u.t.ter, 5 oz. sugar, 1/2 lb. currants, pinch of salt. Melt down vege-b.u.t.ter to oil, make bay of meal, sprinkle currants round, stir the sugar and salt with the ferment till dissolved, then mix in the melted b.u.t.ter and make up into a dough with the meal and currants. Keep in warm place for 45 minutes, then knock gas out of dough and leave 1/2 hour more; shape buns, place on warm greased tin, prove 15 minutes and bake in moderately warm oven for 20 minutes.

BUNS (PLAIN).

1 lb. flour, 6 oz. b.u.t.ter, or vege-b.u.t.ter, 1/4 lb. sugar, 1 egg, 1/4 pint milk, 15 drops essence of lemon. Warm the b.u.t.ter without oiling it, beat it with a wooden spoon, stir the flour in gradually with the sugar, and mix the ingredients well together; make the milk lukewarm, beat up with it the egg and lemon and stir to the flour; beat the dough well for 10 minutes, divide into 24 pieces, put into patty pans, and bake in a brisk oven for from 20 to 30 minutes.

b.u.t.tER BISCUITS.

1/2 lb. b.u.t.ter, 2 lbs. fine wholemeal flour, 1/2 pint milk. Dissolve the b.u.t.ter in the milk, which should be warmed, then stir in the meal and make into a stiff, smooth paste, roll it out very thin, stamp it into biscuits, p.r.i.c.k them out with a fork, and bake on tins in a quick oven for 10 minutes.

b.u.t.tERMILK CAKE.

2 lbs. Allinson wholemeal flour, 2 lbs. currants, 1/2 lb. sugar, 12 oz. b.u.t.ter, 2 oz. candied lemon peel, 1 pint b.u.t.termilk. Beat the b.u.t.ter to a cream, add the sugar, then the meal, fruit, and milk, mix thoroughly; b.u.t.ter a cake tin, pour in the mixture, and bake in a slow oven for 3 1/2 hours.

b.u.t.tERMILK CAKES.

2 lbs. wholemeal flour, 1 pint b.u.t.termilk, 1 teaspoonful salt. Mix the meal well with the salt, add the b.u.t.termilk and pour on the flour; beat well together, roll it out, cut into cakes, and bake for from 15 to 20 minutes in a quick oven.

CHOCOLATE BISCUITS.

2 oz. of powdered chocolate, 2 oz. of white sugar, 2 whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Mix all together, and drop in biscuits on white or wafer paper. Bake 16 minutes in a moderate oven.

CHOCOLATE CAKE (1).

1/2 lb. of fine wheatmeal, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 5 eggs, 1/2 lb. of castor sugar, 1-1/2 oz. of Allinson cocoa, 1 dessertspoonful of vanilla essence. Proceed as in recipe of "Madeira Cake," adding the cocoa and flavouring with vanilla.

CHOCOLATE CAKE (2).

Work 4 oz. of b.u.t.ter to a cream, add a 1/4 lb. of castor sugar, 3 eggs, and a little milk. Mix together 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, a heaped tablespoonful of cocoa. Add to the b.u.t.ter mixture, and bake on a shallow tin or plate in a quick oven. The cake can be iced when done, and cut, when cold, into diamond-shaped pieces or triangles.

CHOCOLATE MACAROONS.

1/2 lb. of ground sweet almonds, 1 oz. of cocoa, 1 dessertspoonful of vanilla essence, 1/2 lb. of castor sugar, the white of 4 eggs. Whip the white of the eggs to a stiff froth, add the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and almond meal, and proceed as in the previous recipe.

CINNAMON MADEIRA CAKE.

1/2 lb. of fine wheatmeal, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 1/2 lb. of sugar, 1/4 lb. of currants and sultanas mixed (washed and picked) 5 eggs, 1 dessertspoonful of ground cinnamon. Proceed as in recipe for "Madeira Cake," adding the fruit, and cinnamon as flavouring.

COCOANUT BISCUITS.

2 breakfastcupfuls of wheatmeal, 2 teacupfuls of grated cocoanut, 3 dessertspoonfuls of sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of orange water, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, a little milk. Mix the ingredients, adding a little milk to moisten the paste, mix it well, roll the paste out 1/4 in. thick, cut out with a biscuit cutter. p.r.i.c.k the biscuits, and bake them in a moderate oven a pale brown.

COCOANUT DROPS.