The Virginia Housewife Part 16

TO BOIL RICE.

Put two cups full of rice in a bowl of water, rub it well with the hand, and pour off the water; do this until the water ceases to be discoloured; then put the rice into two and a half cups of cold water; add a tea-spoonful of salt, cover the pot close, and set it on a brisk fire; let it boil ten minutes, pour off the greater part of the water, and remove the pot to a bed of coals, where it must remain a quarter of an hour to soak and dry.

RICE JOURNEY, OR JOHNNY CAKE.

Boil a pint of rice quite soft, with a tea-spoonful of salt; mix with it while hot a large spoonful of b.u.t.ter, and spread it on a dish to cool; when perfectly cold, add a pint of rice flour and half a pint of milk--beat them all together till well mingled. Take the middle part of the head of a barrel, make it quite clean, wet it, and put on the mixture about an inch thick, smooth with a spoon, and baste it with a little milk; set the board aslant before clear coals; when sufficiently baked, slip a thread under the cake and turn it: baste and bake that side in a similar manner, split it, and b.u.t.ter while hot. Small h.o.m.ony boiled and mixed with rice flour, is better than all rice; and if baked very thin, and afterwards toasted and b.u.t.tered, it is nearly as good as ca.s.sada bread.

PUDDINGS, &c.

OBSERVATIONS ON PUDDINGS AND CAKES.

The salt should always be washed from b.u.t.ter, when it is to be used in any thing that has sugar for an ingredient, and also from that which is melted to grease any kind of mould for baking--otherwise, there will be a disagreeable salt taste on the outer side of the article baked.

Raisins should be stoned and cut in two, and have some flour sifted over them--stir them gently in the flour, and take them out free from lumps; the small quant.i.ty that adheres to them, will prevent their sticking together, or falling in a ma.s.s to the bottom. Eggs must be fresh, or they will not heal well: it is better to separate the yelks from the whites always, though it is a more troublesome process; but for some things it is essential to do so: when they are to be mixed with milk, let it cool after boiling, or the eggs will poach; and only set it on the fire a few minutes, to take off the raw taste of the eggs, stirring it all the time. Currants require washing in many waters to cleanse them; they must be picked and well dried, or they will stick together.

Almonds should be put in hot water till the skins will slip off, which is called blanching; they must always be pounded with rose or orange flower water, to prevent their oiling. When cream is used, put it in just before the mixture is ready; much beating will decompose it. Before a pudding or cake is begun, every ingredient necessary for it must be ready; when the process is r.e.t.a.r.ded by neglecting to have them prepared, the article is injured. The oven must be in a proper state, and the paste in the dishes or moulds, ready for such things as require it.

Prompt.i.tude is necessary in all our actions, but never more so than when engaged in making cakes and puddings. When only one or two eggs are to be used, cooks generally think it needless to beat them--it is an error: eggs injure every thing, unless they are made light before they are used. Cloths for boiling puddings should be made of German sheeting; an article less thick, will admit the water, and injure the pudding.

RICE MILK FOR A DESSERT.

Boil half a pint of rice in water till tender, pour off the water, and add a pint of milk with two eggs beaten well, stirred into it; boil all together two or three minutes; serve it up hot, and eat it with b.u.t.ter, sugar, and nutmeg. It may be sweetened and cooled in moulds, turned out in a deep dish, and surrounded with rich milk, with raspberry marmalade stirred into it, and strained to keep back the seeds--or the milk may be seasoned with wine and sugar.

TO MAKE PUFF PASTE.

Sift a quart of flour, leave out a little for rolling the paste, make up the remainder with cold water into a stiff paste, knead it well, and roll it out several times; wash the salt from a pound of b.u.t.ter, divide it into four parts, put one of them on the paste in little bits, fold it up, and continue to roll it till the b.u.t.ter is well mixed; then put another portion of b.u.t.ter, roll it in the same manner; do this till all the b.u.t.ter is mingled with the paste; touch it very lightly with the hands in making--bake it in a moderate oven, that will permit it to rise, but will not make it brown. Good paste must look white, and as light as a feather.

TO MAKE MINCEMEAT FOR PIES.

Boil either calves or hogs' feet till perfectly tender, rub them through a colander; when cold, pa.s.s them through again, and it will come out like pearl barley; take one quart of this, one of chopped apples, the same of currants, washed and picked, raisins stoned and cut, of good brown sugar, suet nicely chopped, and cider, with a pint of brandy; add a tea-spoonful of pounded mace, one of cloves and of nutmegs; mix all these together intimately. When the pies are to be made, take out as much of this mixture as may be necessary; to each quart of it, add a tea-spoonful of pounded black pepper, and one of salt; this greatly improves the flavour, and can be better mixed with a small portion than with the whole ma.s.s. Cover the moulds with paste, put in a sufficiency of mince-meat, cover the top with citron sliced thin, and lay on it a lid garnished around with paste cut in fanciful shapes. They may be eaten either hot or cold, but are best when hot.

TO MAKE JELLY FROM FEET.

Boil four calfs' feet, that have been nicely cleaned, and the hoofs taken off; when the feet are boiled to pieces, strain the liquor through a colander, and when cold, take all the grease off, and put the jelly in a skillet, leaving the dregs which will be at the bottom. There should be from four feet, about two quarts of jelly: pour into it one quart of white wine, the juice of six fresh lemons strained from the seeds, one pound and a half of powdered loaf sugar, a little pounded cinnamon and mace, and the rind thinly pared from two of the lemons; wash eight eggs very clean, whip up the whites to a froth, crush the sh.e.l.ls and put with them, mix it with the jelly, set it on the fire, stir it occasionally till the jelly is melted, but do not touch it afterwards. When it has boiled till it looks quite clear on one side, and the dross acc.u.mulates on the other, take off carefully the thickest part of the dross, and pour the jelly in the bag; put back what runs through, until it becomes quite transparent--then set a pitcher under the bag, and put a cover all over to keep out the dust: the jelly looks much prettier when it is broken to fill the gla.s.ses. The bag should be made of cotton or linen, and be suspended in a frame made for the purpose. The feet of hogs make the palest coloured jelly; those of sheep are a beautiful amber-colour, when prepared.

A SWEETMEAT PUDDING.

Make a quart of flour into puff paste; when done, divide it into three parts of unequal size; roll the largest out square and moderately thin, spread over it a thin layer of marmalade, leaving a margin all round about an inch broad; roll the next largest in the same manner, lay it on, cover that with marmalade, leaving a margin; then roll the smallest, and put it on the other two, spreading marmalade; fold it up, one fold over the other, the width of your hand--press the ends together, tie it in a cloth securely, and place it in a kettle of boiling water, where it can lie at length without doubling; boil it quickly, and when done, pour melted b.u.t.ter with sugar and wine in the dish.

TO MAKE AN ORANGE PUDDING.

Put two oranges and two lemons, into five quarts of water--boil them till the rinds are quite tender; take them out, and when cold, slice them thin, and pick out the seeds; put a pound of loaf sugar into a pint of water--when it boils, slice into it twelve pippins pared and cored--lay in the lemons and oranges, stew them tender, cover the dish with puff paste, lay the fruit in carefully, in alternate layers--pour on the syrup, put some slips of paste across, and bake it.

AN APPLE CUSTARD.

Pare and core twelve pippins, slice them tolerably thick, put a pound of loaf sugar in a stew pan, with a pint of water and twelve cloves: boil and skim it, then put in the apples, and stew them till clear, and but little of the syrup remains--lay them in a deep dish, and take out the cloves; when the apples are cold, pour in a quart of rich boiled custard--set it in water, and make it boil till the custard is set--take care the water does not get into it.

BOILED LOAF.

Pour a quart of boiling milk over four little rolls of bread--cover them up, turning them occasionally till saturated with the milk; tie them very tight in cloths, and boil them an hour; lay them in the dish, and pour a little melted b.u.t.ter over them; for sauce, have b.u.t.ter in a boat, seasoned with wine, sugar, and grated nutmeg.

TRANSPARENT PUDDING.

Beat eight eggs very light, add half a pound of pounded sugar, the same of fresh b.u.t.ter melted, and half a nutmeg grated; sit it on a stove, and keep stirring till it is as thick as b.u.t.tered eggs--put a puff paste in a shallow dish, pour in the ingredients, and bake it half an hour in a moderate oven; sift sugar over it, and serve it up hot.

FLUMMERY.

One measure of jelly, one of cream, and half a one of wine; boil it fifteen minutes over a slow fire, stirring all the time; sweeten it, and add a spoonful of orange flower or rose water; cool it in a mould, turn it in a dish, and pour around it cream, seasoned in any way you like.

BURNT CUSTARD.

Boil a quart of milk--and when cold, mix with it the yelks of eight eggs; stir them together over the fire a few minutes; sweeten it to your taste, put some slices of savoy cake in the bottom of a deep dish, and pour on the custard; whip the whites of the eggs to a strong froth, lay it lightly on the top, sift some sugar over it, and hold a salamander over it until it is a light brown; garnish the top with raspberry marmalade, or any kind of preserved fruit.

AN ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING.

Beat eight eggs very light, add to them a pound of flour sifted, and a pound of powdered sugar; when it looks quite light, put in a pound of suet finely shred, a pint of milk, a nutmeg grated, and a gill of brandy; mix with it a pound of currants, washed, picked, and dried, and a pound of raisins stoned and floured--tie it in a thick cloth, and boil it steadily eight hours.

MARROW PUDDING.

Grate a large loaf of bread, and pour on the crumbs a pint of rich milk boiling hot; when cold, add four eggs, a pound of beef marrow sliced thin, a gill of brandy, with sugar and nutmeg to your taste--mix all well together, and either bake or boil it; when done, stick slices of citron over the top.