The Book of Household Management Part 162

1330. INGREDIENTS.--3/4 lb. of suet crust No. 1-1/2 pint of Orleans or any other kind of plum, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar.

_Mode_.--Line a pudding-basin with suet crust rolled out to the thickness of about 1/2 inch; fill the basin with the fruit, put in the sugar, and cover with crust. Fold the edges over, and pinch them together, to prevent the juice escaping. Tie over a floured cloth, put the pudding into boiling water, and boil from 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Turn it out of the basin, and serve quickly.

_Time_.--2 to 2-1/2 hours.

_Average cost_, 10d.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_, with various kinds of plums, from the beginning of August to the beginning of October.

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

PLUMS.--Almost all the varieties of the cultivated plum are agreeable and refres.h.i.+ng: it is not a nouris.h.i.+ng fruit, and if indulged in to excess, when unripe, is almost certain to cause diarrhoea and cholera. Weak and delicate persons had better abstain from plums altogether. The modes of preparing plums are as numerous as the varieties of the fruit. The objections raised against raw plums do not apply to the cooked fruit, which even the invalid may eat in moderation.

PLUM TART.

1331. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of good short crust No. 1211, 1-1/2 pint of plums, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLUM TART.]

_Mode_.--Line the edges of a deep tart-dish with crust made by recipe No. 1211; fill the dish with plums, and place a small cup or jar, upside down, in the midst of them. Put in the sugar, cover the pie with crust, ornament the edges, and bake in a good oven from 1/2 to 3/4 hour. When puff-crust is preferred to short crust, use that made by recipe No.

1206, and glaze the top by brus.h.i.+ng it over with the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth with a knife; sprinkle over a little sifted sugar, and put the pie in the oven to set the glaze.

_Time_.--1/2 to 3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 1s.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_, with various kinds of plums, from the beginning of August to the beginning of October.

POTATO PASTY.

1332. INGREDIENTS.--1-1/2 lb. of rump-steak or mutton cutlets, pepper and salt to taste, 1/3 pint of weak broth or gravy, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, mashed potatoes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: POTATO-PASTY PAN.]

_Mode_.--Place the meat, cut in small pieces, at the bottom of the pan; season it with pepper and salt, and add the gravy and b.u.t.ter broken, into small pieces. Put on the perforated plate, with its valve-pipe screwed on, and fill up the whole s.p.a.ce to the top of the tube with nicely-mashed potatoes mixed with a little milk, and finish the surface of them in any ornamental manner. If carefully baked, the potatoes will be covered with a delicate brown crust, retaining all the savoury steam rising from the meat. Send it to table as it comes from the oven, with a napkin folded round it.

_Time_.--40 to 60 minutes. _Average cost_, 2s.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.

POTATO PUDDING.

1333. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of mashed potatoes, 2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 eggs, 1/4 pint of milk, 3 tablespoonfuls of sherry, 1/4 saltspoonful of salt, the juice and rind of 1 small lemon, 2 oz. of sugar.

_Mode_.--Boil sufficient potatoes to make 1/2 lb. when mashed; add to these the b.u.t.ter, eggs, milk, sherry, lemon-juice, and sugar; mince the lemon-peel very finely, and beat all the ingredients well together. Put the pudding into a b.u.t.tered pie-dish, and bake for rather more than 1/2 hour. To enrich it, add a few pounded almonds, and increase the quant.i.ty of eggs and b.u.t.ter.

_Time_.--1/2 hour, or rather longer. _Average cost_, 8d.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.

TO ICE OR GLAZE PASTRY.

1334. To glaze pastry, which is the usual method adopted for meat or raised pies, break an egg, separate the yolk from the white, and beat the former for a short time. Then, when the pastry is nearly baked, take it out of the oven, brush it over with this beaten yolk of egg, and put it back in the oven to set the glaze.

1335. To ice pastry, which is the usual method adopted for fruit tarts and sweet dishes of pastry, put the white of an egg on a plate, and with the blade of a knife beat it to a stiff froth. When the pastry is nearly baked, brush it over with this, and sift over some pounded sugar; put it back into the oven to set the glaze, and, in a few minutes, it will be done. Great care should be taken that the paste does not catch or burn in the oven, which it is very liable to do after the icing is laid on.

_Sufficient_--Allow 1 egg and 1-1/8 oz. of sugar to glaze 3 tarts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUGAR CANES.]

SUGAR has been happily called "the honey of reeds." The sugar-cane appears to be originally a native of the East Indies.

The Chinese have cultivated it for 2,000 years. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Jews knew nothing about it. The Greek physicians are the first who speak of it. It was not till the year 1471 that a Venetian discovered the method of purifying brown sugar and making loaf sugar. He gained an immense fortune by this discovery. Our supplies are now obtained from Barbadoes, Jamaica, Mauritius, Ceylon, the East and West Indies generally, and the United States; but the largest supplies come from Cuba.

Sugar is divided into the following cla.s.ses:--Refined sugar, white clayed, brown clayed, brown raw, and mola.s.ses. The sugarcane grows to the height of six, twelve, or even sometimes twenty feet. It is propagated from cuttings, requires much hoeing and weeding, giving employment to thousands upon thousands of slaves in the slave countries, and attains maturity in twelve or thirteen months. When ripe, it is cut down close to the stole, the stems are divided into lengths of about three feet, which are made up into bundles, and carried to the mill, to be crushed between rollers. In the process of crus.h.i.+ng, the juice runs down into a reservoir, from which, after a while, it is drawn through a siphon; that is to say, the clear fluid is taken from the sc.u.m. This fluid undergoes several processes of drying and refining; the methods varying in different manufactories. There are some large establishments engaged in sugar-refining in the neighbourhoods of Blackwall and Bethnal Green, London. The process is mostly in the hands of German workmen. Sugar is adulterated with fine sand and sawdust. Pure sugar is highly nutritious, adding to the fatty tissue of the body; but it is not easy of digestion.

BAKED RAISIN PUDDING.

(_Plain and Economical_.)

1336. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of flour, 3/4 lb. of stoned raisins, 1/2 lb. of suet, a pinch of salt, 1 oz. of sugar, a little grated nutmeg, milk.

_Mode_.--Chop the suet finely; stone the raisins and cut them in halves; mix these with the suet, add the salt, sugar, and grated nutmeg, and moisten the whole with sufficient milk to make it of the consistency of thick batter. Put the pudding into a b.u.t.tered pie-dish, and bake for 1-1/2 hour, or rather longer. Turn it out of the dish, strew sifted sugar over, and serve. This is a very plain recipe, and suitable where there is a family of children. It, of course, can be much improved by the addition of candied peel, currants, and rather a larger proportion of suet: a few eggs would also make the pudding richer.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 9d.

_Sufficient_ for 7 or 8 persons. _Seasonable_ in winter.

INTRODUCTION OF SUGAR.--Sugar was first known as a drug, and used by the apothecaries, and with them was a most important article. At its first appearance, some said it was heating; others, that it injured the chest; others, that it disposed persons to apoplexy; the truth, however, soon conquered these fancies, and the use of sugar has increased every day, and there is no household in the civilized world which can do without it.

BOILED RAISIN PUDDING.

(_Plain and Economical_.)

1337. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of flour, 1/2 lb. of stoned raisins, 1/2 lb.

of chopped suet, 1/2 saltspoonful of salt, milk.

_Mode_.--After having stoned the raisins and chopped the suet finely, mix them with the flour, add the salt, and when these dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed, moisten the pudding with sufficient milk to make it into rather a stiff paste. Tie it up in a floured cloth, put it into boiling water, and boil for 4 hours: serve with sifted sugar. This pudding may, also, be made in a long shape, the same as a rolled jam-pudding, and will then not require so long boiling;--2-1/2 hours would then be quite sufficient.

_Time_.--Made round, 4 hours; in a long shape, 2-1/2 hours.

_Average cost_, 9d.

_Sufficient_ for 8 or 9 persons. _Seasonable_ in winter.