The American Housewife Part 13

245. _Tomato Pie._

Take green tomatoes, turn boiling water on them, and let them remain in it a few minutes--then strip off the skin, cut the tomatoes in slices, and put them in deep pie plates. Sprinkle sugar over each layer, and a little ginger. Grated lemon peel, and the juice of a lemon, improve the pie. Cover the pies with a thick crust, and bake them slowly for about an hour.

246. _Lemon Pie._

For one pie, take a couple of good sized fresh lemons, squeeze out the juice, and mix it with half a pint of mola.s.ses, or sufficient sugar to make the juice sweet. Chop the peel fine, line a deep pie plate with your pastry, then sprinkle on a layer of your chopped lemon peel, turn in part of the mixed sugar or mola.s.ses, and juice, then cover the whole with pie crust, rolled very thin--put in another layer of peel, sweetened juice, and crust, and so on, till all the lemon is used. Cover the whole with a thick crust, and bake the pie about half an hour.

247. _Cherry and Blackberry Pie._

Cherries and blackberries for pies should be ripe. Bake them in deep pie plates, sweeten them with sugar, and put in cloves or cinnamon to the taste. Bake them about half an hour.

248. _Grape Pie._

Grapes make the best pies when very tender and green. If not very small, they should be stewed and strained, to get out the seeds, before they are made into pies--sweeten them to the taste when stewed. They do not require any spice. If made into a pie without stewing, put to each layer of grapes a thick layer of sugar, and a table-spoonful of water.

249. _Currant and Gooseberry Pie._

Currants and gooseberries are the best for pies when of a full growth, just before they begin to turn red--they are tolerably good when ripe.

Currants mixed with ripe raspberries or mulberries, make very nice pies.

Green currants and gooseberries for pies are not apt to be sweet enough without the sugar is scalded in before they are baked, as the juice of the currants is apt to run out while they are baking, and leave the fruit dry. Stew them on a moderate fire, with a tea-cup of water to a couple of quarts of currants--as soon as they begin to break, add the sugar, and let it scald in a few minutes. When baked without stewing, put to each layer of fruit a thick layer of sugar. There should be as much as a quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of currants, to make them sufficiently sweet. Green currant pies are good sweetened with mola.s.ses and sugar mixed.

250. _Prune Pie._

Prunes that are too dry to eat without stewing, can be made into good pies. Turn enough boiling water on the prunes to cover them, set them on a few coals, and let them remain till swelled out plump. If there is not water sufficient to make a nice syrup for the pies, add more, and season them with cinnamon or cloves. The juice and grated peel of a lemon gives them a fine flavor. Add sugar to the taste, and bake them in deep pie plates.

251. _Pumpkin Pie._

Halve the pumpkin, take out the seeds--rinse the pumpkin, and cut it into small strips--stew them, over a moderate fire, in just sufficient water to prevent their burning, to the bottom of the pot. When stewed soft, turn off the water, and let the pumpkin steam, over a slow fire, for fifteen or twenty minutes, taking care that it does not burn. Take it from the fire, and strain it, when cool, through a sieve. If you wish to have the pies very rich, put to a quart of the stewed pumpkin two quarts of milk, and twelve eggs. If you like them plain, put to a quart of the pumpkin one quart of milk, and three eggs. The thicker the pie is of the pumpkin, the less will be the number of eggs required for them.

One egg, with a table-spoonful of flour, will answer for a quart of the pumpkin, if very little milk is used. Sweeten the pumpkin with sugar, and very little mola.s.ses--the sugar and eggs should be beaten together.

Ginger, the grated rind of a lemon, or nutmeg, is good spice for the pies. Pumpkin pies require a very hot oven. The rim of the pies is apt to get burnt before the inside is baked sufficiently. On this account, it is a good plan to heat the pumpkin scalding hot when prepared for pies, before turning it into the pie plates. The pies should be baked as soon as the plates are filled, or the under crust to the pies will be clammy. The more the number of eggs in the pies, the less time will be required to bake them. If you have pumpkins that have begun to decay, or those that are frozen, they can be kept several months, in cold weather, by cutting the good part up, stewing it till soft, then stirring it, and adding sugar and mola.s.ses, to make it very sweet. Make it strong of ginger, then scald the seasoning in well. Keep it in a stone jar, in a cool place--whenever you wish to use any of it for pies, take out the quant.i.ty you wish, and put milk and eggs to it.

252. _Carrot Pie._

Sc.r.a.pe the skin off from the carrots, boil them soft, and strain them through a sieve. To a pint of the strained pulp put three pints of milk, six beaten eggs, two table-spoonsful of melted b.u.t.ter, the juice of half a lemon, and the grated rind of a whole one. Sweeten it to your taste, and bake it in deep pie plates without an upper crust.

253. _Potato Pie._

Boil Carolina or mealy Irish potatoes, till very soft--when peeled, mash and strain them. To a quarter of a pound of potatoes, put a quart of milk, three table-spoonsful of melted b.u.t.ter, four beaten eggs, a wine gla.s.s of wine--add sugar and nutmeg to the taste.

254. _Sweet Marlborough Pie._

Procure sweet mellow apples, pare and grate them. To a pint of the grated pulp put a pint of milk, a couple of eggs, two table-spoonsful of melted b.u.t.ter, the grated peel of a lemon, and half a wine gla.s.s of brandy. Sweeten it to the taste with nice brown sugar. The eggs should be beaten to a froth, then the sugar stirred into them, and mixed with the rest of the ingredients. A little stewed pumpkin, mixed with the apples, improves the pie. Bake the pie in deep plates, without an upper crust.

255. _Marlborough Tarts._

Take tart juicy apples--quarter them, and stew them till soft enough to rub through a sieve. To twelve table-spoonsful of the strained apple, put twelve of sugar, the same quant.i.ty of wine, six table-spoonsful of melted b.u.t.ter, four beaten eggs, the juice and grated rind of a lemon, half a nutmeg, and half a pint of milk. Turn this, when the ingredients are well mixed together, into deep pie plates that are lined with pastry, and a rim of puff paste round the edge. Bake the tarts about half an hour.

256. _Cocoanut Pie._

Cut off the brown part of the cocoanut--grate the white part, and mix it with milk, and set it on the fire, and let it boil slowly eight or ten minutes. To a pound of the grated cocoanut allow a quart of milk, eight eggs, four table-spoonsful of sifted white sugar, a gla.s.s of wine, a small cracker, pounded fine, two table-spoonsful of melted b.u.t.ter, and half a nutmeg. The eggs and sugar should be beaten together to a froth, then the wine stirred in. Put them into the milk and cocoanut, which should be first allowed to get quite cool--add the cracker and nutmeg--turn the whole into deep pie plates, with a lining and rim of puff paste. Bake them as soon as turned into the plates.

257. _Small Puffs._

To make a dozen puffs, take a pound and a quarter of flour, a pound of b.u.t.ter, and one egg. Put them together according to the directions for puff pastry, No. 238. Divide it when made into three equal portions--roll one of them out half an inch thick, cut it into cakes with a tumbler--roll out the rest of the pastry, cut it into strips with a jagging iron, and lay the strips round those that are cut with a tumbler, so as to form a rim. Lay the puffs on b.u.t.tered flat tins--bake them in a quick oven till a light brown, then fill them with any small preserved fruit you may happen to have.

258. _A Plain Custard Pie._

Boil a quart of milk with half a dozen peach leaves, or the rind of a lemon. When they have flavored the milk, strain it, and set it where it will boil. Mix a table-spoonful of flour, smoothly, with a couple of table-spoonsful of milk, and stir it into the boiling milk. Let it boil a minute, stirring it constantly--take it from the fire, and when cool, put in three beaten eggs--sweeten it to the taste, turn it into deep pie plates, and bake the pies directly in a quick oven.

259. _A Rich Baked Custard._

Beat seven eggs with three table-spoonsful of rolled sugar. When beaten to a froth, mix them with a quart of milk--flavor it with nutmeg. Turn it into cups, or else into deep pie plates, that have a lining and rim of pastry--bake them directly, in a quick oven. To ascertain when the custards are sufficiently baked, stick a clean broom splinter into them--if none of the custard adheres to the splinter, it is sufficiently baked.

260. _Boiled Custards._

Put your milk on the fire, and let it boil up--then remove it from the fire, and let it cool. Beat for each quart of the milk, if liked rich, the yelks and half the whites of six eggs, with three table-spoonsful of rolled sugar--stir them into the milk when it is cool. If you wish to have your custards very plain, four eggs to a quart of the milk is sufficient. Season the custard with nutmeg or rosewater, and set it on a few coals, and stir it constantly until it thickens, and becomes scalding hot. Take it from the fire before it gets to boiling, and stir it a few minutes, then turn it into the cups. Beat the reserved whites of the eggs to a froth, and turn them on the top of the custards just before they are to be eaten.

261. _Mottled Custards._

Stir into a quart of milk, while boiling, the beaten yelks of six eggs.

Beat the whites of the eggs with three table-spoonsful of powdered white sugar, if the custards are liked very sweet--if not, a less quant.i.ty will answer. Stir in the whites of the eggs a minute after the yelks have set, so as to be thick. Season the custard with essence of lemon or rosewater--stir it till it becomes thick and lumpy, then turn it into cups.

262. _Cream Custards._

Sweeten a pint of cream with powdered white sugar--set it on a few coals. When hot, stir in white wine until it curdles--add rosewater or essence of lemon to the taste, and turn it into cups. Another way of making them, which is very nice, is to mix a pint of cream with one of milk, five beaten eggs, a table-spoonful of flour, and three of sugar.

Add nutmeg to the taste, and bake the custards in cups or pie plates, in a quick oven.

263. _Almond Custards._