THE PUDDING

Add to the rice 3oz. of sugar, 4 tablespoonsful of flour, half a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon; stir it on the fire carefully for five or ten minutes; put it in a tin or a pie-dish, and bake. By boiling the rice a quarter of an hour longer, it will be very good to eat without baking. Cinnamon may be omitted.

NO. 23A.--BATTER PUDDING.

Break two fresh eggs in a basin, beat them well, add one tablespoonful and a half of flour, which beat up with your eggs with a fork until no lumps remain; add a gill of milk, a teaspoonful of salt, butter a teacup or a basin, pour in your mixture, put some water in a stew-pan, enough to immerge half way up the cup or basin in water; when boiling put in your cup or basin and boil twenty minutes, or till your pudding is well set; pass a knife to loosen it, turn out on a plate, pour pounded sugar and a pat of fresh butter over, and serve. A little lemon, cinnamon, or a drop of any essence may be introduced. A little light melted butter, sherry, and sugar, may be poured over. If required more delicate, add a little less flour. It may be served plain.

NO. 24.--BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.

Butter a tart-dish well, and sprinkle some currants all round it, then lay in a few slices of bread and butter; boil one pint of milk, pour it on two eggs well whipped, and then on the bread and butter; bake it in a hot oven for half an hour. Currants may be omitted.

NO. 25.--BREAD PUDDING.

Boil one pint of milk, with a piece of cinnamon and lemon-peel; pour it on two ounces of bread-crumbs; then add two eggs, half an ounce of currants, and a little sugar: steam it in a buttered mould for one hour.

NO. 26.--CUSTARD PUDDING.

Boil one pint of milk, with a small piece of lemon-peel and half a bay-leaf, for three minutes; then pour these on to three eggs, mix it with one ounce of sugar well together, and pour it into a buttered mould: steam it twenty-five minutes in a stew-pan with some water (see No. 115), turn out on a plate and serve.

NO. 27.--RICH RICE PUDDING.

Put in ½lb. of rice in a stew-pan, washed, 3 pints of milk, 1 pint of water, 3oz. of sugar, 1 lemon peel, 1oz. of fresh butter; boil gently half an hour, or until the rice is tender; add 4 eggs, well beaten, mix well, and bake quickly for half an hour, and serve: it may be steamed if preferred.

NO. 28--STEWED MACARONI.

Put in a stewpan 2 quarts of water, half a tablespoonful of salt, 2oz. of butter; set on the fire; when boiling, add 1lb. of macaroni, broken up rather small; when boiled very soft, throw off the water; mix well into the macaroni a tablespoonful of flour, add enough milk to make it of the consistency of thin melted butter; boil gently twenty minutes; add in a tablespoonful of either brown or white sugar, or honey, and serve.

A little cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon-peel, or orange-flower water may be introduced to impart a flavour; stir quick. A gill of milk or cream may now be thrown in three minutes before serving. Nothing can be more light and nutritious than macaroni done this way. If no milk, use water.

NO. 29.--MACARONI PUDDING.

Put 2 pints of water to boil, add to it 2oz. of macaroni, broken in small pieces; boil till tender, drain off the water and add half a tablespoonful of flour, 2oz. of white sugar, a quarter of a pint of milk, and boil together for ten minutes; beat an egg up, pour it to the other ingredients, a nut of butter; mix well and bake, or steam. It can be served plain, and may be flavoured with either cinnamon, lemon, or other essences, as orange flower-water, vanilla, &c.

NO. 30.--SAGO PUDDING.

Put in a pan 4oz. of sago, 2oz. of sugar, half a lemon peel or a little cinnamon, a small pat of fresh butter, if handy, half a pint of milk; boil for a few minutes, or until rather thick, stirring all the while; beat up 2 eggs and mix quickly with the same; it is then ready for either baking or steaming, or may be served plain.

NO. 31.--TAPIOCA PUDDING.

Put in a pan 2oz. of tapioca, 1½ pint of milk, 1oz. of white or brown sugar, a little salt, set on the fire, boil gently for fifteen minutes, or until the tapioca is tender, stirring now and then to prevent its sticking to the bottom, or burning; then add two eggs well beaten; steam or bake, and serve. It will take about twenty minutes steaming, or a quarter of an hour baking slightly. Flavour with either lemon, cinnamon, or any other essence.

NO. 32.--BOILED RICE SEMI-CURRIED, FOR THE PREMONITORY SYMPTOMS OF DIARRHŒA.

Put 1 quart of water in a pot or saucepan; when boiling, wash ½lb. of rice and throw it into the water; boil fast for ten minutes; drain your rice in a colander, put it back in the saucepan, which you have slightly greased with butter; let it swell slowly near the fire, or in a slow oven till tender; each grain will then be light and well separated.

Add to the above a small tablespoonful of aromatic sauce, called “Soyer’s Relish or Sultana Sauce,” with a quarter of a teaspoonful of curry powder; mix together with a fork lightly, and serve. This quantity will be sufficient for two or three people, according to the prescriptions of the attending physician.

NO. 33.--FIGS AND APPLE BEVERAGE.

Have 2 quarts of water boiling, into which throw 6 dry figs previously opened, and 2 apples, cut into six or eight slices each; let the whole boil together twenty minutes, then pour them into a basin to cool; pass through a sieve; drain the figs, which will be good to eat with a little sugar or jam.

NO. 34.--STEWED FRENCH PLUMS.

Put 12 large or 18 small-size French plums, soak them for half an hour, put in a stew-pan with a spoonful of brown sugar, a gill of water, a little cinnamon, and some thin rind of lemon; let them stew gently twenty minutes, then put them in a basin till cold with a little of the juice. A small glass of either port, sherry, or claret is a very good addition. The syrup is excellent.

NO. 35.--FRENCH HERB BROTH.

This is a very favourite beverage in France, as well with people in health as with invalids, especially in spring, when the herbs are young and green.

Put a quart of water to boil, having previously prepared about 40 leaves of sorrel, a cabbage lettuce, and 10 sprigs of chervil, the whole well washed; when the water is boiling, throw in the herbs, with the addition of a teaspoonful of salt, and ½oz. of fresh butter; cover the saucepan close, and let simmer a few minutes, then strain it through, a sieve or colander.

This is to be drunk cold, especially in the spring of the year, after the change from winter. I generally drink about a quart per day for a week at that time; but if for sick people it must be made less strong of herbs, and taken a little warm.

To prove that it is wholesome, we have only to refer to the instinct which teaches dogs to eat grass at that season of the year. I do not pretend to say that it would suit persons in every malady, because the doctors are to decide upon the food and beverage of their patients, and study its changes as well as change their medicines; but I repeat that this is most useful and refreshing for the blood.

NO. 36.--BROWNING FOR SOUPS, ETC.

Put ½lb. of moist sugar into an iron pan and melt it over a moderate fire till quite black, stirring it continually, which will take about twenty-five minutes: it must colour by degrees, as too sudden a heat will make it bitter; then add 2 quarts of water, and in ten minutes the sugar will be dissolved. You may then bottle it for use. It will keep good for a month, and will always be found very useful.

NO. 37.--TOAST-AND-WATER.

Cut a piece of crusty bread, about a ¼lb. in weight, place it upon a toasting-fork, and hold it about six inches from the fire; turn it often, and keep moving it gently until of a light-yellow colour, then place it nearer the fire, and when of a good brown chocolate colour, put it in a jug and pour over 3 pints of boiling water; cover the jug until cold, then strain it into a clean jug, and it is ready for use. Never leave the toast in it, for in summer it would cause fermentation in a short time. I would almost venture to say that such toast-and-water as I have described, though so very simple, is the only way toast-water should be made, and that it would keep good a considerable time in bottles.

_Baked Apple Toast-and-Water._--A piece of apple, slowly toasted till it gets quite black, and added to the above, makes a very nice and refreshing drink for invalids.

_Apple Rice Water._--Half a pound of rice, boiled in the above until in pulp, passed through a colander, and drunk when cold.

All kinds of fruit may be done the same way.

Figs and French plums are excellent; also raisins.

A little ginger, if approved of, may be used.

_Apple Barley Water._--A quarter of a pound of pearl barley instead of toast added to the above, and boil for one hour, is also a very nice drink.

_Citronade._--Put a gallon of water on to boil, cut up one pound of apples, each one into quarters, two lemons in thin slices, put them in the water, and boil them until they can be pulped, pass the liquor through a colander, boil it up again with half a pound of brown sugar, skim, and bottle for use, taking care not to cork the bottle, and keep it in a cool place.

_For Spring Drink._--Rhubarb, in the same quantities, and done in the same way as apples, adding more sugar, is very cooling.

Also green gooseberries.

_For Summer Drink._--One pound of red currants, bruised with some raspberry, half a pound of sugar added to a gallon of cold water, well stirred, and allowed to settle. The juice of a lemon.

_Mulberry._--The same, adding a little lemon-peel.

A little cream of tartar or citric acid added to these renders them more cooling in summer and spring.

_Plain Lemonade._--Cut in very thin slices three lemons, put them in a basin, add half a pound of sugar, either white or brown; bruise all together, add a gallon of water, and stir well. It is then ready.

_French Plum Water._--Boil 3 pints of water; add in 6 or 8 dried plums previously split, 2 or 3 slices of lemon, a spoonful of honey or sugar; boil half an hour and serve.

For _Fig, Date, and Raisin Water_, proceed as above, adding the juice of half a lemon to any of the above. If for fig water, use 6 figs.

Any quantity of the above fruits may be used with advantage in rice, barley, or arrowroot water.