COMMON PASTE FOR PIES

A pound and a half of sifted flour. Three quarters of a pound of butter--washed.

_This will make one large pie or two small ones_.

Sift the flour into a pan. Cut the butter into two equal parts. Cut one half of the butter into the flour, and cut it up as small as possible. Mix it well with the flour, wetting it gradually with a little cold water.

Spread some flour on your paste-board, take the lump of paste out of the pan, flour your rolling-pin, and roll out the paste into a large sheet. Then stick it over with the remaining half of the butter in small pieces, and laid at equal distances. Throw on a little flour, fold up the sheet of paste, flour it slightly, and roll it out again. Then fold it up, and cut it in half or in four, according to the size of your pies. Roll it out into round sheets the size of your pie-plates, pressing rather harder on the rolling-pin.

Butter your pie-plates, lay on your under crust, and trim the edge. Fill the dish with the ingredients of which the pie is composed, and lay on the lid, in which you must prick some holes, or cut a small slit in the top. Crimp the edges with a sharp knife.

Heap up the ingredients so that the pie will be highest in the middle.

Some think it makes common paste more crisp and light, to beat it hard on both sides with the rolling-pin, after you give it the first rolling, when all the butter is in.

If the butter is very fresh, you may mix with the flour a salt-spoonful of salt.

MINCE PIES

One pound and a half of boiled beef's heart, or fresh tongue--chopped when cold. Two pounds of beef suet, chopped fine. Four pounds of pippin apples, chopped. Two pounds of raisins, stoned and chopped. Two pounds of currants, picked, washed, and dried. Two pounds of powdered sugar. One quart of white wine. One quart of brandy. One wine-glass of rose-water. Two grated nutmegs. Half an ounce of powdered cinnamon A quarter of an ounce of powdered cloves A quarter of an ounce of powdered mace A teaspoon of salt. Two large oranges. Half a pound of citron, cut in slips.

Parboil a beef's heart, or a fresh tongue. After you have taken off the skin and fat, weigh a pound and a half. When it is cold, chop it very fine. Take the inside of the suet; weigh two pounds, and chop it as fine as possible. Mix the meat and suet together, adding the salt. Pare, core, and chop the apples, and then stone and chop the raisins. Having prepared the currants, add them to the other fruit, and mix the fruit with the meat and suet. Put in the sugar and spice, and the grated peel and juice of the oranges. Wet the whole with the rose water and liquor, and mix all well together.

Make the paste, allowing for each pie, half a pound of butter and three quarters of a pound of sifted flour. Make it in the same manner as puff-paste, but it will not be quite so rich. Lay a sheet of paste all over a soup-plate. Fill it with mince-meat, laying slips of citron on the top. Roll out a sheet of paste, for the lid of the pie. Put it on, and crimp the edges with a knife. Prick holes in the lid.

Bake the pies half an hour in a brisk oven.

Keep your mince meat in a jar tightly covered. Set it in a dry, cool place, and occasionally add more brandy to it.

Instead of the heart or tongue, you may, if you choose, use part of a round of fresh beef.

PLUM PUDDING

One pound of raisins, stoned and cut in half. One pound of currants, picked, washed and dried. One pound of beef suet chopped fine. One pound of grated stale bread, or, half a pound of flour and half a pound of bread. Eight eggs. A quarter of a pound of sugar. A glass of brandy. A pint of milk. A glass of wine. Two nutmegs, grated. A table-spoonful of mixed cinnamon and mace. A salt-spoonful of salt.

You must prepare all your ingredients the day before (except beating the eggs) that in the morning you may have nothing to do but to mix them, as the pudding will require six hours to boil.

Beat the eggs very light, then put to them half the milk and beat both together. Stir in gradually the flour and grated bread. Next add the sugar by degrees. Then the suet and fruit alternately. The fruit must be well sprinkled with flour, lest it sink to the bottom. Stir very hard. Then add the spice and liquor, and lastly the remainder of the milk. Stir the whole mixture very well together. If it is not thick enough, add a little more grated bread or flour. If there is too much bread or flour, the pudding will be hard and heavy.

Dip your pudding-cloth, in boiling water, shake it out and sprinkle it slightly with flour. Lay it in a pan and pour the mixture into the cloth. Tie it up carefully, allowing room for the pudding to swell.

Boil it six hours, and turn it carefully out of the cloth.

Before you send it to table, have ready some blanched sweet almonds cut in slips, or some slips of citron, or both. Stick them all over the outside of the pudding.

Eat it with wine, or with a sauce made of drawn butter, wine and nutmeg.

The pudding will be improved if you add to the other ingredients, the grated rind of a large lemon or orange.

LEMON PUDDING

One small lemon, with a smooth thin rind. Three eggs. A quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar. A quarter of a pound of fresh butter--washed. A table-spoonful of white wine and brandy, mixed. A tea-spoonful of rose-water.

Five ounces of sifted flour, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter for the paste.

Grate the yellow part of the rind of a small lemon. Then cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice into the plate that contains the grated rind, carefully taking out all the seeds. Mix the juice and rind together.

Put a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep earthen pan, and cut up in it a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter. If the weather is very cold, set the pan near the fire, for a few minutes, to soften the butter, but do not allow it to melt or it will be heavy. Stir the butter and sugar together, with a stick or wooden spoon, till it is perfectly light and of the consistence of cream.

Put the eggs in a shallow broad pan, and beat them with an egg-beater or rods, till they are quite smooth, and as thick as a boiled custard. Then stir the eggs, gradually, into the pan of butter and sugar. Add the liquor and rose water by degrees, and then stir in, gradually, the juice and grated rind of the lemon. Stir the whole very hard, after all the ingredients are in.

Have ready a puff-paste made of five ounces of sifted flour, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. The paste must be made with as little water as possible. Roll it out in a circular sheet, thin in the centre, and thicker towards the edges, and just large enough to cover the bottom, sides, and edges of a soup-plate. Butter the soup-plate very well, and lay the paste in it, making it neat and even round the broad edge of the plate. With a sharp knife, trim off the superfluous dough, and notch the edges. Put in the mixture with a spoon, and bake the pudding about half an hour, in a moderate oven. It should be baked of a very light brown. If the oven is too hot, the paste will not have time to rise well. If too cold, it will be clammy. When the pudding is cool, grate loaf-sugar over it.

Before using lemons for any purpose, always roll them awhile with your hand on a table. This will cause them to yield a larger quantity of juice.