The Book of Household Management Part 159

of sliced candied citron, 1 oz. of sliced candied orange-peel, and the same quant.i.ty of lemon-peel, 1 teacupful of brandy, 2 tablespoonfuls of orange marmalade.

_Mode_.--Grate the rinds of the lemons; squeeze out the juice, strain it, and boil the remainder of the lemons until tender enough to pulp or chop very finely. Then add to this pulp the apples, which should be baked, and their skins and cores removed; put in the remaining ingredients one by one, and, as they are added, mix everything very thoroughly together. Put the mincemeat into a stone jar with a closely-fitting lid, and in a fortnight it will be ready for use.

_Seasonable_.--This should be made the first or second week in December.

MINCE PIES.

1311. INGREDIENTS.--Good puff-paste No. 1205, mincemeat No. 1309.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MINCE PIES.]

_Mode_.--Make some good puff-paste by recipe No. 1205; roll it out to the thickness of about 1/4 inch, and line some good-sized pattypans with it; fill them with mincemeat, cover with the paste, and cut it off all round close to the edge of the tin. Put the pies into a brisk oven, to draw the paste up, and bake for 25 minutes, or longer, should the pies be very large; brush them over with the white of an egg, beaten with the blade of a knife to a stiff froth; sprinkle over pounded sugar, and put them into the oven for a minute or two, to dry the egg; dish the pies on a white d'oyley, and serve hot. They may be merely sprinkled with pounded sugar instead of being glazed, when that mode is preferred. To re-warm them, put the pies on the pattypans, and let them remain in the oven for 10 minutes or 1/4 hour, and they will be almost as good as if freshly made.

_Time_.--25 to 30 minutes; 10 minutes to re-warm them.

_Average cost_, 4d. each.

_Sufficient_--1/2 lb. of paste for 4 pies. _Seasonable_ at Christmas time.

MONDAY'S PUDDING.

1312. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of cold plum-pudding, brandy, custard made with 5 eggs to every pint of milk.

_Mode_.--Cut the remains of a _good_ cold plum-pudding into finger-pieces, soak them in a little brandy, and lay them cross-barred in a mould until full. Make a custard with the above proportion of milk and eggs, flavouring it with nutmeg or lemon-rind; fill up the mould with it; tie it down with a cloth, and boil or steam it for an hour.

Serve with a little of the custard poured over, to which has been added a tablespoonful of brandy.

_Time_.--1 hour.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the pudding, 6d.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

NESSELRODE PUDDING. (_A fashionable iced pudding--Careme's Recipe_.)

1313. INGREDIENTS.--40 chestnuts, 1 lb. of sugar, flavouring of vanilla, 1 pint of cream, the yolks of 12 eggs, 1 gla.s.s of Maraschino, 1 oz. of candied citron, 2 oz. of currants, 2 oz. of stoned raisins, 1/2 pint of whipped cream, 3 eggs.

_Mode_.--Blanch the chestnuts in boiling water, remove the husks, and pound them in a mortar until perfectly smooth, adding a few spoonfuls of syrup. Then rub them through a fine sieve, and mix them in a basin with a pint of syrup made from 1 lb. of sugar, clarified, and flavoured with vanilla, 1 pint of cream, and the yolks of 12 eggs. Set this mixture over a slow fire, stirring it _without ceasing_, and just as it begins to boil, take it off and pa.s.s it through a tammy. When it is cold, put it into a freezing-pot, adding the Maraschino, and make the mixture set; then add the sliced citron, the currants, and stoned raisins (these two latter should be soaked the day previously in Maraschino and sugar pounded with vanilla); the whole thus mingled, add a plateful of whipped cream mixed with the whites of 3 eggs, beaten to a froth with a little syrup. When the pudding is perfectly frozen, put it into a pineapple-shaped mould; close the lid, place it again in the freezing-pan, covered over with pounded ice and saltpetre, and let it remain until required for table; then turn the pudding out, and serve.

_Time_.--1/2 hour to freeze the mixture.

_Seasonable_ from October to February.

BAKED ORANGE PUDDING.

1314. INGREDIENTS.--6 oz. of stale sponge cake or bruised ratafias, 6 oranges, 1 pint of milk, 6 eggs, 1/2 lb. of sugar.

_Mode_.--Bruise the sponge cake or ratafias into fine crumbs, and pour upon them the milk, which should be boiling. Rub the rinds of 2 of the oranges on sugar, and add this, with the juice of the remainder, to the other ingredients. Beat up the eggs, stir them in, sweeten to taste, and put the mixture into a pie-dish previously lined with puff-paste. Bake for rather more than 1/2 hour; turn it out of the dish, strew sifted sugar over, and serve.

_Time_.--Rather more than 1 hour. _Average cost_, 1s, 6d.

_Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 persons. _Seasonable_ from November to May.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ORANGE.]

ORANGE (_Citrus Aurantium_).--The princ.i.p.al varieties are the sweet, or China orange, and the bitter, or Seville orange; the Maltese is also worthy of notice, from its red blood-like pulp.

The orange is extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, and in Devonshire, on walls with a south aspect, it bears an abundance of fruit. So great is the increase in the demand for the orange, and so ample the supply, that it promises to rival the apple in its popularity. The orange-tree is considered young at the age of a hundred years. The pulp of the orange consists of a collection of oblong vesicles filled with a sugary and refreshing juice. The orange blossom is proverbially chosen for the bridal wreath, and, from the same flower, an essential oil is extracted hardly less esteemed than the celebrated ottar of roses. Of all marmalades, that made from the Seville orange is the best. The peel and juice of the orange are much used in culinary preparations. From oranges are made preserves, comfitures, jellies, glaces, sherbet, liqueurs, and syrups. The juice of the orange in a gla.s.s _d'eau sucree_ makes a refreshing and wholesome drink. From the clarified pulp of the orange the French make a delicious jelly, which they serve in small pots, and call _creme_. The rasped peel of the orange is used in several sweet _entremets_, to which it communicates its perfume.

The confectioner manufactures a variety of dainties from all parts of the orange. Confections of orange-peel are excellent tonics and stomachics. Persons with delicate stomachs should abstain from oranges at dessert, because their acidity is likely to derange the digestive organs.

SMALL DISHES OF PASTRY FOE ENTREMETS, SUPPER-DISHES, &c.

FANCHONNETTES, or CUSTARD TARTLETS.

1315. INGREDIENTS.--For the custard, 4 eggs, 3/4 pint of milk, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 oz. of pounded sugar, 3 dessertspoonfuls of flour, flavouring to taste; the whites of 2 eggs, 2 oz. of pounded sugar.

_Mode_.--Well beat the eggs; stir to them the milk, the b.u.t.ter, which should be beaten to a cream, the sugar, and flour; mix these ingredients well together, put them into a very clean saucepan, and bring them to the simmering point, but do not allow them to boil. Flavour with essence of vanilla, bitter almonds, lemon, grated chocolate, or any flavouring ingredient that may be preferred. Line some round tartlet-pans with good puff-paste; fill them with the custard, and bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes; then take them out of the pans; let them cool, and in the mean time whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth; stir into this the pounded sugar, and spread smoothly over the tartlets a little of this mixture. Put them in the oven again to set the icing, but be particular that they do not scorch: when the icing looks crisp, they are done. Arrange them, piled high in the centre, on a white napkin, and garnish the dish, and in between the tartlets, with strips of bright jelly, or very firmly-made preserve.

_Time_.--20 minutes to bake the tartlets; 5 minutes after being iced.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the paste, 1s.

_Sufficient_ to fill 10 or 12 tartlets.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.--The icing may be omitted on the top of the tartlets, and a spoonful of any kind of preserve put at the bottom of the custard instead: this varies both the flavour and appearance of this dish.

ALMOND FLOWERS.

1316. INGREDIENTS.--Puff-paste No. 1205; to every 1/2 lb. of paste allow 3 oz. of almonds, sifted sugar, the white of an egg.

_Mode_.--Roll the paste out to the thickness of 1/4 inch, and, with a round fluted cutter, stamp out as many pieces as may be required. Work the paste up again, roll it out, and, with a smaller cutter, stamp out some pieces the size of a shilling. Brush the larger pieces over with the white of an egg, and place one of the smaller pieces on each. Blanch and cut the almonds into strips lengthwise; press them slanting into the paste closely round the rings; and when they are all completed, sift over some pounded sugar, and bake for about 1/4 hour or 20 minutes.

Garnish between the almonds with strips of apple jelly, and place in the centre of the ring a small quant.i.ty of strawberry jam; pile them high on the dish, and serve.

_Time_.--1/4 hour or 20 minutes.

_Sufficient_.--18 or 20 for a dish.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

FLUTED ROLLS.