Nelson's Home Comforts Part 5

Choose a large nut, with the milk in it, grate it finely, mix it with an equal weight of finely-sifted sugar, half its weight of b.u.t.ter, the yolks of four eggs, and the milk of the nut. Let the b.u.t.ter be beaten to a cream, and when all the other ingredients are mixed with it, add the whites of the eggs, whisked to a strong froth. Line a tart-dish with puff-paste, put in the pudding mixture and bake slowly for an hour.

b.u.t.ter a sheet of paper and cover the top of the pudding, as it should not get brown.

RASPBERRY AND CURRANT PUDDING.

Stew raspberries and currants with sugar and water, taking care to have plenty of juice. Cut the crumb of a stale tin-loaf in slices about half-an-inch thick and put in a pie-dish, leaving room for the bread to swell, with alternate layers of fruit, until the dish is full. Then put in as much of the juice as you can without causing the bread to rise.

When it is soaked up put in the rest of the juice, cover with a plate, and let the pudding stand until the next day. When required for use turn out and pour over it a good custard or cream. The excellence of this pudding depends on there being plenty of syrup to soak the bread thoroughly. This is useful when pastry is objected to.

THE CAPITAL PUDDING.

Shred a quarter of a pound of suet, mix it with half a pound of flour, one small teaspoonful each of baking-powder and carbonate of soda, then add four tablespoonfuls of strawberry or raspberry jam, and stir well with a gill of milk. Boil for four hours in a high mould, and serve with wine or fruit sauce. The latter is made by stirring jam into thin b.u.t.ter sauce.

ITALIAN FRITTERS.

Cut slices of very light bread half-an-inch thick, with a round paste-cutter, divide them into neat shapes all alike in size. Throw them into boiling fat and fry quickly of a rich golden brown, dry them on paper, place on a dish, and pour over orange or lemon syrup, or any kind of preserve made hot. Honey or golden syrup may be used for those who like them.

d.u.c.h.eSS OF FIFE'S PUDDING.

Boil two ounces of rice in a pint of milk until quite tender. When done, mix with it a quarter of an ounce of Nelson's Gelatine soaked in a tablespoonful of water. Line the inside of a plain mould with the rice, and when it is set fill it up with half-a-pint of cream, whipped very stiff and mixed with some nice preserve, stewed fruit, or marmalade.

After standing some hours turn out the pudding, and pour over it a delicate syrup made of the same fruit as that put inside the rice.

WELSH CHEESECAKE.

Dry a quarter of a pound of fine flour, mix with two ounces of sifted loaf-sugar, and add it by degrees to two ounces of b.u.t.ter beaten to a cream; then work in three well-beaten eggs, flavour with Nelson's Essence of Lemon. Line patty-pans with short crust, put in the above mixture, and bake in a quick oven.

FRIAR'S OMELET.

Make six moderate-sized apples into sauce, sweeten with powdered loaf-sugar, stir in two ounces of b.u.t.ter, and when cold, mix with two well-beaten eggs. b.u.t.ter a tart-dish, and strew the bottom and sides thickly with bread-crumbs, then put in the apple-sauce, and cover with bread-crumbs to the depth of a quarter of an inch, put a little dissolved b.u.t.ter on the top, and bake for an hour in a good oven. When done, turn it out, and sift sugar over it.

COMPOTE OF APPLES WITH FRIED BREAD.

Bake a dozen good cooking apples, sc.r.a.pe out the pulp, boil this with half-a-pound of sugar to a pound of pulp, until it becomes stiff. It must be stirred all the time it is boiling. When done, place the compote in the centre of the dish, piling it up high. Have ready some triangular pieces of fried bread, arrange some like a crown on the top, the remainder at the bottom of the compote. Have ready warmed half a pot of apricot marmalade mixed with a little plain sugar-syrup, and pour it over the compote, taking care that each piece of bread is well covered.

APPLE FOOL.

Bake good sharp apples; when done, remove the pulp and rub it through a sieve, sweeten and flavour with Nelson's Essence of Lemon; when cold add to it a custard made of eggs and milk, or milk or cream sweetened will be very good. Keep the fool quite thick. Serve with rusks or sponge finger biscuits.

APPLE MERINGUE.

Beat up two packets of Nelson's Alb.u.men with six small teaspoonfuls of water, and stir them into half-a-pound of stiff apple-sauce flavoured with Nelson's Essence of Lemon. Put the meringue on a bright tin or silver dish, pile it up high in a rocky shape, and bake in a quick oven for ten minutes.

STEWED PEARS WITH RICE.

Put four large pears cut in halves into a stewpan with a pint of claret, Burgundy, or water, and eight ounces of sugar, simmer them until perfectly tender. Take out the pears and let the syrup boil down to half; flavour it with vanilla. Have ready a teacupful of rice, nicely boiled in milk and sweetened, spread it on a dish, lay the pears on it, pour the syrup over, and serve. This is best eaten cold.

COMPOTE OF PRUNES.

Wash the fruit in warm water, put it on to boil in cold water in which lump sugar has been dissolved. To a pound of prunes put half-a-pound of sugar, a pint of water, with the thin rind and juice of a lemon. Let them simmer for an hour, or until so tender that they will mash when pressed. Strain the fruit and set it aside. Boil the syrup until it becomes very thick and is on the point of returning to sugar, then pour it over the prunes, turn them about so that they become thoroughly coated, taking care not to break them, let them lie for twelve hours, then pile up on a gla.s.s dish for dessert.

ON JELLY-MAKING.

It is within the memory of many persons that jelly was only to be made from calves' feet by a slow, difficult, and expensive process. There is, indeed, a story told of the wife of a lawyer, early in this century, having appropriated some valuable parchment deeds to make jelly, when she could not procure calves' feet. But the secret that it could be so made was carefully guarded by the possessors of it, and it was not until the introduction of Nelson's Gelatine that people were brought to believe that jelly could be made other than in the old-fashioned way.

Even now there is a lingering superst.i.tion that there is more nourishment in jelly made of calves' feet than that made from Gelatine.

The fact is, however, that Gelatine is equally nutritious from whatever source it is procured. Foreign Gelatine, as is well known, does sometimes contain substances which, if not absolutely deleterious, are certainly undesirable; but Messrs. Nelson warrant their Gelatine of equal purity with that derived from calves' feet.

It is unnecessary to enlarge on the economy both in time and money of using Gelatine, or the more certain result obtained from it. If the recipe given for making "a quart of jelly" is closely followed, a most excellent and brilliant jelly will be produced. Many cooks get worried about their jelly-bags, and are much divided in opinion as to the best kind to use. It is not a point of great consequence whether a felt or close flannel is selected. We incline to the latter, which must be of good quality, and if the material is not thick it should be used double.

When put away otherwise than perfectly clean and dry, or when stored in a damp place, flannel bags are sure to acquire a strong mouldy flavour, which is communicated to all jelly afterwards strained through them.

The great matter, therefore, to observe in respect of the jelly-bag, is that it be put away in a proper condition, that is, perfectly free from all stiffness and from any smell whatever.

As soon as the bag is done with, turn it inside out, throw it into a pan of boiling water, stir it about with a spoon until it is cleansed. Then, have another pan of boiling water, and again treat the bag in the same manner. Add as much cold water as will enable you to wring the bag out dry, or it can be wrung out in a cloth. This done, finally rinse in hot water, wring, and, if possible, dry the bag in the open air. See that it is perfectly free from smell; if not, wash in very hot water again. Wrap the bag in several folds of clean paper and keep it in a dry place.

A thing to be observed is that, if the jelly is allowed to come very slowly to boiling-point it will be more effectually cleared, as the impurities of the sugar and the thicker portions of the lemons thus rise more surely with the egg than if this part of the process is too rapidly carried out. In straining, if the jelly is well made, it is best to pour all into the bag at one time, doing it slowly, so as not to break up the sc.u.m more than necessary. Should the jelly not be perfectly bright on a first straining, it should be kept hot, and slowly poured again through the bag. The contents of the bag should not be disturbed, nor should the slightest pressure be applied, as this is certain to cloud the jelly. If brandy is used, it should be put in after the jelly is strained, as by boiling both the spirit and flavour of it are lost.

IN ORDER THAT JELLY MAY TURN OUT WELL, DO NOT PUT IT INTO THE MOULD UNTIL IT IS ON THE POINT OF SETTING. If attention is paid to this there will never be any difficulty in getting jelly to turn out of a mould, and putting it into hot water or using hot cloths will be unnecessary. A mould should be used as cold as possible, because then when the jelly comes into contact with it, it is at once set and cannot stick. Any kind of mould may be used. If the direction to put the jelly in _when just setting_ is followed, it will turn out as well from an earthenware as from a copper mould.

It should be unnecessary to say that the utmost cleanliness is imperative to insure the perfection of jelly. So delicate a substance not only contracts any disagreeable flavour, but is rendered cloudy by the least touch of any greasy spoon, or by a stewpan which has not been properly cleansed.

HOW TO USE GELATINE.

There are a few points connected with the use of Gelatine for culinary purposes which cannot be too strongly impressed upon housekeepers and cooks.

1. Gelatine should always be soaked in cold water till it is thoroughly saturated--say, till it is so soft that it will tear with the fingers--whether this is specified in the recipe or not.

2. Nelson's Gelatine being cut very fine will soak in about an hour, but whenever possible it is desirable to give it a longer time. When convenient, it is a good plan to put Gelatine to soak over-night. It will then dissolve in liquid below boiling-point.

When jelly has to be cleared with white of egg do not boil it longer than necessary. Two minutes is quite sufficient to set the egg and clarify the jelly.

Use as little Gelatine as possible; that is to say, never use more than will suffice to make a jelly strong enough to retain its form when turned out of the mould. The prejudice against Gelatine which existed in former years was doubtless caused by persons unacquainted with its qualities using too large a quant.i.ty, and producing a jelly hard, tough, and unpalatable, which compared very unfavourably with the delicate jellies they had been accustomed to make from calves' feet, the delicacy of which arose from the simple fact that the Gelatine derived from calves' feet is so weak that it is almost impossible to make the jellies too strong.

Persons accustomed to use Gelatine will know that its "setting" power is very much affected by the temperature. In the recipes contained in the following pages the quant.i.ty of Gelatine named is that which experience has shown to be best suited to the average temperature of this country.