DIRECTIONS IN REGARD TO PUDDINGS

In making bags for puddings that are to be boiled, the muslin should be close to keep out the water. It should always be dipped in water (cold) and wrung out, then thoroughly floured on the inside ; turn it and put in your pudding, leaving sufficient room for the pudding to swell. Suet and Indian meal puddings re- quire more room than others. Always put an old plate of some kind in the bottom of the pot to prevent sticking and burning. Have the pot well filled with boiling water, as cold would ruin the pudding. Keep the pot well filled, and if water must be added, use boiling water. Do not let it stop boiling, as it is an injury to the pudding. Turn the pudding over after it has been in a few minutes ; always keep the pot cov- ered. Dip the bag in cold water a moment before turning the pudding out. Be sure all eggs used are fresh, generally beat the whites and yelks separately. Do not put eggs into hot milk. All butter used in cooking should be sweet and good. In boiling cus-

244 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

tards, always set the vessel in another containing boil- ing water, it prevents sticking and burning.

Fruit and other materials used in puddings should always be, if possible, prepared before the time of using. In families where they can get such things in quantities, it will be found a great convenience to make a business of preparing currants and raisins at least. Take three or four pounds of dried currants, put them into a sieve, and set that into a large clean tin or other pan, and pour over the currants sufficient warm (not hot) water to cover them ; let them remain ten or fifteen minutes, then take your hands and rub them well to remove all dirt and sand. Pour off that water and add more. Let the currants remain in the sieve, continue pouring on clean water till your fruit is clean, which will be seen by the color of the water. The use of the sieve is of great assistance, as it pre- vents the loss of fruit, and all the dirt is sure to be washed away, leaving the fruit cleaner than could be made in any other way. When clean, take the sieve from the water ; shake it well, and and let it set till the water has all dropped off; then wipe in a clean cloth and put them in a large dripping pan, set them in the stove oven ; watch them closely, stirring till the water is dried out and they appear fresh and full; then take them out; let them get cold, and put them away in either glass or earthen jars. In this way they can be used with less trouble. It takes but a very short time to prepare them, and is of great assistance, as they are always ready on short notice.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 245

Raisins should, if possible, be stemmed an'd put away in tin boxes. Every housekeeper knows, no doubt, the inconvenience of having to wait to wash and clean currants, and stem and stone raisins, es- pecially if the pudding or fruit cake is needed the same day. In a short winter day it is almost impossible to get them prepared in time, especially if the pudding is to take three hours to boil or steam, or the cake three or four hours to bake; ^ hence the necessity ol taking one spare hour in the morning and preparing the fruits ready for the " time of need." If once tried it will never be abandoned I am sure. I give this as my own way of preparation. All spices should kept on hand in such quantities as .economy shall direct. Each bottle or box should be labelled and kept covered or corked tight. Cream tartar, soda, tartaric acid, and indeed all such things, should be carefully labelled to prevent mistakes. By using these precautions time and inconvenience will both be saved.

IBrandy or Wine Sauce.

To a quarter of a pound of butter put a quarter of a pound of sugar and a gill of brandy or wine ; grate half a nutmeg into it ; make it hot and serve, or it may be beaten well together and used cold.

Lemon Sauce.

Make as directed for the above sauce, using the lemon juice instead of the wine or brandy.

246 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

Cold Sauce.

Four ounces butter, Six ounces sugar, White of one egg whipped, One glass of wine, Cream, butter and sugar together. Add the lemon essence, then the white of egg.

Sauce for Pudding.

Half pound sugar,

Quarter pound butter,

Two eggs well beaten together. Set the vessel in boiling water till it boils about two minutes. In making butter and sugar sauce, stir in a little lemon essence before putting in anything else. It makes it very light.

Sauce for Boiled Hice.

Beat the yelks of three eggs into sugar enough to make it sweet ; add a teacupful of cream and the grated rind and juice of two lemons. When lemon cannot be had use dried lemon peel and a little tartaric acid. This is a nice sauce for other puddings, especially for corn starch puddings.

Pudding Sauce.

One cupful brown or white sugar,

A piece of butter the size of an egg.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 247

Beat all together to a cream, add half a wine glass of boiling water. Flavor to suit the taste.

Liquid Sauce.

Six tablespoonsful sugar,

Ten tablespoonsful water,

Four tablespoonsful butter,

Two tablespoonsful wine.

Heat the water and sugar very hot ; stir in the butter till it is melted. Be careful and not let it boil. Flavor to suit the taste.

Butter and Sugar Sauce.

This is made by beating to a cream two cupsful white sugar and half a cupful of sweet butter. For plain batter puddings it may be thinned with a few spoonsful boiling water. Flavor to suit the taste. Nutmeg is very nice, though lemon juice or wine may be used.

Pudding Sauce.

One cupful brown sugar,

Two tablespoonsful of cream,

One ounce butter.

Stir the butter and sugar thoroughly ; then add a little of the cream at a time to keep them from separ- ating ; add wine to the taste in the same manner, (not quite a wineglassful.) Let the mixture melt; it will be a white froth when done. Enough for five persons.

248 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

Brandy Sauce.

Heat over steam half apint of brandy ; beat together to a cream two cupsful of sugar, and half a cupful of butter and two well-beaten eggs stirred into it ; then add the brandy, mixing thoroughly. Keep hot till needed.

Wine Sauce.

"Wine sauce may be made in the same proportion as the above, using a cupful of wine ; heat over steam, but do not stir while melting.

Wine Sauce.

Piece of butter size of an egg,

One cupful powdered sugar, stirred till very

Three-fourths of a cupful boiling water, One wineglassful of wine turned on to the sugar and butter, and stir briskly.

Mrs. JR/s Pudding Sauce.

Two eggs,

Two cupsful sugar,

One cupful butter,

One glassful of wine.

Beat all well together till creamy, and set over the fire a few minutes to scald through once, or set it in the tea kettle top to heat through.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 249

Sweet Sauce.

"Work a teacupful of sugar into a teacupful of butter with a teaspoonful of flour and half a nutmeg, grated ; when it is a smooth paste, stir gradually into it half a pint of boiling water; set it over the fire for ten min- utes, stir it all the time. This sauce is nice with al- most any kind of puddings or dumplings ; wine or brandy can be added, that is a matter of choice.

Chinese Fun.

(MRS. E. B. PEASE.) One cupful of chopped suet, Three cupsful flour, One cupful molasses, One cupful sour milk, One teaspoonful soda in the milk, A little salt, One cupful raisins,

One teaspoonful each of ginger, cloves and cin- namon.

Steam three hours if all in one pan ; if in small cups, steam two hours.

Mich Lemon Sauce.

Boil a nice large lemon in plenty of water, until you can run a straw through it, then cut it in slices, and each slice into quarters ; put to them and the juice a teacupful of sugar, the same of butter, with a large teaspoonful of flour worked into it; put all to- —20

250 ILLINOIS COOK. BOOK.

gether and stir in gradually half a pint of boiling water ; grate half a nutmeg ; put this over the fire ten minutes, stirring all the time.

Cheap Dessert.

Cook one teacupful of rice; when done to a jelly add a tablespoonful of currant jelly and half a teacupful of fruit juice ; boil a few minutes ; mould, and eat with cream and white sugar.

Potato Pudding.

One quart soft mashed potatoes,

Half a pound melted butter,

Six eggs, beat light.

Mix the butter with half a pound sugar; stir in the eggs, adding half a pound currants or raisins; put in a thick cloth and boil half an hour. To be eaten with wine sauce.

Brown Pudding.

Three cupsful flour, One cupful molasses, One cupful raisins, Three-quarters of a cupful suet, One cupful sour milk, One teaspoonful soda, One teaspoonful salt. To steam three hours.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 251

A Baked Indian Pudding.

Cut up a quarter of a pound of butter in a pint of molasses, and warm them together till the butter is melted ; boil one quart of milk, and while scalding hot pour it over a pint of sifted corn meal, and stir in the molasses and butter, and let it steep for an hour cov- ered over ; take off the cover and let it cool ; when cool beat six eggs, and into it add a tablespoonful of mixed cinnamon and nutmeg and the grated peel of a lemon ; stir the whole very hard, and put it into a buttered dish and bake it two hours. Serve with any kind of sauce.

German Puffs.

Sift half a pound of flour; cut up into a quart of rich milk half a pound of fresh butter, set near the fire till melted ; beat eight eggs very light and stir gradual- ly into the milk and butter alternately with the flour ; add a grated nutmeg and a teaspoonful of cinnamon; mix the whole to a fine smooth batter; butter some large cups and fill them a little more than half full ; set them immediately in a quick oven, and bake a quarter of an hour ; when done, turn them out into a dish and grate sugar over them. Serve with sauce.

Steam Pudding.

( MISS CARRIE HURST. )

Three pints sweet milk, Three eggs,

252 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

One teaspoonful soda,

Two teaspoonsful cream tartar,

Flour enough to make a little stiffer than batter pudding,

A very little salt,

Currants or raisins if you like. Fill the cups half full ; put them in a steamer and steam half an hour; eat with sauce; make with equal quantities of sugar and butter, with nutmeg and brandy.

Florentine Pudding.

( SALLIE FOREMAN. )

One quart sweet milk,

Five tablespoonsful white sugar,

Three tablespoonsful corn starch,

Three eggs.

Mix the corn starch and three spoonsful of the sugar and the yelks of the eggs and the milk; put on and boil until thick; then take off and put in a baking dish; after it is slightly browned, take the whites of the three eggs and the other two spoonsful of sugar and beat well and put on the top, and bake a light brown. Flavor to suit the taste ; eat with cream.

German Pudding.

Two eggs,

One cupful sugar,

One cupful milk,

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 258

Three cupsful flour, Two teaspoonsful cream tartar, One teaspoonful soda. Bake and serve with sauce.

Batter Pudding.

(MRS. DR. GRISSOM, KY. )

Two tablesoonpsful of flour to one egg, and rnilk to make as thin as possible; of course you can make this as large as you want, but this is the proportion ; beat all together, add a little salt.

Batter Pudding.

Nine eggs,

Ten tablespoonsful flour,

One quart milk.

found Pudding9 (Steamboat.)

One pound white sugar and three-quarters of a pound butter, beat together; add five eggs, continue beating; add half a pound of flour; then add the other flve eggs, one at a time, still beating them slowly together; add the other half pound flour; put the whole into a mould with a tight cover and steam, in- stead of baking, for one hour, fast, or one hour and a half, slowly. By adding beef suet instead of butter, with raisins, currants and citron, it makes an excellent plum pudding. The sauce is made by taking a little good butter and an equal quantity of sugar beat to- gether. Flavor to suit the taste.

254 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

Chocolate Custard, (Very Nice.)

One-quarter pound Baker's prepared cocoa to one quart milk. Mix the milk and scraped chocolate to a thick paste. Boil one-quarter of an hour ; while warm stir in three tablespoonsful of sugar, and set it away to cool. Beat eight eggs well and stir into this mix- ture. Bake in cups, and serve with a macaroon on top of each cup.

Almond Custard, (Rich.)

Boil in half a pint of milk one handful of bitter almonds, blanched and broken up. When highly flavored, strain this milk and set it aside. Boil one quart of milk by itself; when cold, add eight well- beaten eggs, the flavored milk and half a pint of powdered sugar; stir well. Bake in cups, and when cold serve with macaroons laid on each cup.

Pandoudy. ' r * 51 ! v

( MRS. CRAVEN. )

Pare, core and slice thin some sour, juicy apples ; butter a deep dish, and put in a- layer of apples ; sweeten with brown sugar, and flavor with lemon peel ; strew over a layer of bread crumbs and bits of butter; repeat this till the dish is full, finishing with a layer of bread crumbs. Bake till the apples are soft. A little cider improves this very much. To be eaten with sweetened cream.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 255

Tapioca Pudding.

Three tablespoonsful of tapioca soaked in cold water till it is swelled enough ; then add one quart of milk, and put it in a double kettle, or in a pitcher, and set into boiling water, and when the tapioca is suf- ficiently tender add the yelks of three eggs, a small teacupful of sugar, a little salt ; stir this into the boil- ing milk ; flavor with vanilla ; then pour half in a dish ; add the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth ; then pour the remainder on the top. You can make it in the morning, as it is to be eaten cold, and is very nice.

Hice Pudding.

One pound washed rice to one quart rich milk, One-quarter pound sugar, One teaspoonful powdered cinnamon. A little salt.

Bake two hours. A little cream added is an im- provement.

Plum Pudding.

Pick and stone half a pound of raisins, wash and dry the same quantity of currants ; chop, not too fine, three-quarters of a pound of beef suet, .put in a con- venient basin with six ounces of sugar, two ounces of candied peel sliced, three ounces of flour, three ounces of bread crumbs, a little grated nutmeg, four eggs, a gill of water, or perhaps a little more, to form a nice consistence ; butter a mould, put a piece of white pa-

256 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

per over the top and round the sides ; tie it in a cloth, boil for four hours in plenty of water ; when done, re- move the cloth, turn it out of the mould, take the pa- per off the sides and top, and serve with sweet sauce round. It may also be boiled in a cloth.

Lemon Drops.

Grate three large lemons with a large piece of double-refined sugar; then scrape the sugar into a plate, add half a teaspoonful of flour, mix well, and beat into a light paste with the white of an egg; drop it upon white paper, and put them in a moderate oven on a tin plate.

Batter Pudding.

Eight eggs,

Eight tablespoonsful flour, , One quart milk. Steam it for two hours. Sauce.

Tapioca Pudding.

Soak a teacupful of tapioca in three and a half cups- ful of boiling water and two spoonsful of white sugar ; keep it in a warm place for three hours ; fill a two quart pudding dish three-fourths full of rich, ripe tart apples, peeled and quartered; pour the tapioca over the apples, and add half a teacupful of cold milk to brown the tapioca. Bake an hour.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 257

Sago Pudding.

Pick over and wash a teacupful of sago, pour on nearly a quart of boiling water; add a half teacupful sugar, and a little milk if preferred, brown; when cold, pour it over the apples, or mix the two together in a pudding dish and bake an hour.

Blanc Mange and Fruit Pudding.

Boil for a few moments six spoonsful of dissolved corn starch in a quart of boiling water; pour it im- mediately over a quart of ripe peaches, previously peeled and quartered and placed in a dish with sugar sprinkled over them. To be eaten cold. Instead of peaches, mellow pears, apples or stewed quinces, ripe plums, cherries, marmalade or jam may be used. Instead of corn starch, five spoonsful of fine Hour, or, still better, graham flour, with, or without, an egg, may be substituted.

Sponge Pudding.

One-quarter of a pound of flour, the same of sugar ; boil with one quart of milk to a thick batter; after it is boiled add one-quarter of pound butter to it, mix well; then divide twelve eggs, mix the yelks in the batter ; beat the whites to a stiff froth ; then mix the whole together. Put it in a pan, and set the pan in which you bake it in another pan with some water, and bake it in a hot oven. To be eaten with liquid sauce.

258 ILLINOIS COOK BOOK.

Snow Pudding (Splendid.)

Half ounce of gelatine,

One pint of boiling water,

Three-quarters of pound white sugar,

The juice of two lemons.

After it is thoroughly dissolved, strain as soon as it begins to thicken, add the well-beaten whites of two eggs ; beat it for half an hour and set it on the ice after putting it in a mould. Make a rich custard ; flavor with lemon rind grated. Send to the table in the middle of the custard.

Hice Pudding.

Wash thoroughly a teacupful of best rice ; add half a cupful of white sugar, a quart of water and the same of milk. Bake slowly four hours, stirring occa- sionally, except the last hour. A cupful of raisins is an improvement.

Sweet Potato Custard.

One pound potatoes mashed and sifted fine, Half pound sugar, A small cupful of cream, One-fourth pound butter, Four eggs,

Nutmeg and lemon to suit the taste. If you have no cream put half a pound of butter. This makes two large custards.

ILLINOIS COOK BOOK. 259

Lemon Puddiag.

Take four ounces of butter, rnelt and pour it on four ounces of powdered loaf sugar; add the juice of a large lemon with the rind, grated, and the yelks of six eggs. Line the dish with paste, bake it half an hour.

Eve's Pudding.

Grate three-fourths of a pound of stale bread and mix it with three-fourths of a pound fine suet, the same quantity of chopped apples and dried currants, five eggs, and the rind of a lemon ; put it into a mould and boil it three hours ; serve it with sweet sauce.

Farina Pudding.

Sprinkle two-thirds of a teacupful of farina slowly into a quart of boiling water; add half a teacupiul of white sugar and a cupful of milk ; mix thoroughly and pour into a pudding dish, in which a quart and a half of nice tart apples, peeled and quartered, have been put, or mix the apples and farina together. Two teacupsful of pitted raisins, previously stewed, may be substituted for the apples. Bake one hour.

Apple Custard.

Peel, quarter and bake rich, tart apples, or stew them slowly in a very little water, fill a pudding dish two-thirds full. "When cold pour over a custard by stirring into a quart of boiling milk a tablespoonful of