Part 5

Take as many eggs as you think proper; break them into a pan, with some salt and chopped parsley; beat them well, and season them according to taste. Have ready some onion, chopped small; put some butter into a fryingpan, and when it is hot, put in your chopped onion, giving them two or three turns; then add your eggs to it, and fry the whole of a nice brown. You must only fry one side; serve the fried side uppermost.

TO POACH EGGS.

But, after all, what would you have me do, When, out of twenty, I can please not two? One likes the pheasant's wing, and one the leg; The vulgar boil, the learned _poach an egg_; Hard task to hit the palate of such guests, When Oldfield loves what Dartineuf detests. POPE.

The cook who wishes to display her skill in poaching, must endeavor to procure eggs that have been laid a couple of days; those that are new laid are so milky, that, take all the care you can, your cooking of them will seldom procure you the praise of being a prime poacher. You must have fresh eggs, or it is equally impossible. The beauty of a poached egg is for the yolk to be seen blushing through the white, which should only be just sufficiently hardened to form a transparent veil for the egg. Have some boiling water in a teakettle; pass as much of it through a clean cloth as will half fill a stewpan; break the egg into a cup, and when the water boils remove the stewpan from the stove, and gently slip the egg into it; it must stand till the white is set; then put it on a very moderate fire, and as soon as the water boils, the egg is ready. Take it up with a slicer, and neatly place it on a piece of toast.

BOILED EGGS.

On holydays, an _egg or two_ at most; But her ambition never reached to roast. CHAUCER.

The fresher laid the better. Put them into boiling water; if you like the white just set, about two minutes' boiling is enough. A new-laid egg will take a little more. If you wish the yolk to be set, it will take three, and to boil it hard for a salad, ten minutes. A new-laid egg will require longer boiling than a stale one by half a minute.

FRIED EGGS.

Go work, hunt, exercise (he thus begun), Then scorn a homely dinner if you can; _Fried eggs_, and herbs, and olives, still we see: This much is left of old simplicity. POPE.

Eggs boiled hard, cut into slices, and fried, may be served as a second course dish, to eat with roast chicken.

EGGS AND BREAD.

Never go to France, Unless you know the lingo; If you do, like me, You'll repent, by jingo. Starving like a fool, And silent as a mummy, There I stood alone, A nation with a dummy.

Signs I had to make For every little notion; Limbs all going like A telegraph in motion; If I wanted _bread_, My jaws I set a-going, And asked for _new laid eggs_ By clapping hands and crowing.

Put half a handful of breadcrumbs into a saucepan, with a small quantity of cream, sugar, and nutmeg, and let it stand till the bread has imbibed all the cream; then break ten eggs into it, and having beaten them up together, fry it like an omelet.

OMELETTE SOUFFLÉ.

"Where is my favorite dish?" he cried; "Let some one place it by my side!" DONNE.

Beat up the yolks of eight eggs, and the whites of four (set aside the remaining whites), with a spoonful of water, some salt, sugar, and the juice of a lemon; fry this, and then put it on a dish. Whip the four whites which were set aside to a froth with sugar, and place it over the fried eggs; bake it for a few minutes.

DESSERTS.

PUFF PASTE.

The _puffs_ made me light, And now that's all over, I'm pretty well, thank you. MOORE.

Weigh an equal quantity of flour and butter, rub rather more than half the flour into one-third of the butter; add as much cold water as will make it into a stiff paste; work it until the butter be completely mixed with the flour, make it round, beat it with the rolling-pin, dust it, as also the rolling-pin with flour, and roll it out towards the opposite side of the slab, or paste-board, making it of an equal thickness, then with the point of a knife, put little bits of butter all over it, dust flour over it and under it, fold in all the sides, and roll it up, dust it again with flour, beat it a little, and roll out, always rubbing the rolling-pin with flour, and throwing some underneath the paste to prevent its sticking to the board.

It should be touched as little as possible with the hands.

PYRAMID PASTE.

You that from pliant _paste_ would fabrics raise, Expecting thence to gain immortal praise, Your knuckles try, and let your sinews know Their power to knead, and give the form to dough; From thence of course the figure will arise, And elegance adorn the surface of your pies. KING.

Make a rich puff paste, roll it out a quarter of an inch thick, cut it into five or seven pieces with scalloped tin cutters, which go one within another; leave the bottom and top piece entire, and cut a bit out of the centre of the others. Place them upon buttered baking tins, and bake them of a light brown. Build them into a pyramid, laying a different preserved fruit upon each piece of paste, and on the top a whole apricot with a sprig of myrtle stuck in it.

FRUIT PIES.

Unless some _sweetness_ at the bottom lie, Who cares for all the crinkling of the pie! KING.

Fruit pies for family use are generally made with common paste. Allow three quarters of a pound of butter to a pound and a half of flour. Peaches and plums for pies should be cut in half, and the stones taken out. Cherries also should be stoned, and red cherries only should be used for pies. Apples should be cut into very thin slices, and are much improved by a little lemon-peel. Apples stewed previous to baking, should not be done till they break, but only till they are tender. They should then be drained in a cullender, and chopped fine with a knife or edge of a spoon. In making pies of juicy fruit, it is a good way to set a small teacup on the bottom crust, and lay the fruit round it. The juice will collect under the cup, and not run out at the edges or top of the pie. The fruit should be mixed with a sufficient quantity of sugar, and piled up in the middle, so as to make the pie highest in the centre.

The upper crust should be pricked with a fork. The edges should be nicely crimped with a knife. If stewed fruit is put in warm, it will make the paste heavy. If your pies are made in the form of shells, the fruit should always be stewed first, or it will not be sufficiently done, as the shells (which should be made of puff paste) must not bake so long as covered pies.

Fruit pies with lids should have loaf sugar grated over them.

MINCE PIES.

When Terence spoke, oraculous and sly, He'd neither grant the question nor deny, Pleading for tarts, his thoughts were on _mince pie_.

My poor endeavors view with gracious eye, To make these lines above a _Christmas pie_.

Two pounds of boiled beef's heart or fresh tongue, or lean fresh beef 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 cinnamon, powdered, a quarter of an ounce of mace, powdered, a teaspoonful of salt, two large oranges, and half a pound of citron cut in slips. Pack it closely into stone jars, and tie them over with paper. When it is to be used, add a little more wine.

PLUM PUDDING.

All you who to feasting and mirth are inclined, Come, here is good news for to pleasure your mind. Old Christmas is come, for to keep open house: He scorns to be guilty of starving a mouse. Then come, boys, and welcome, for diet the chief,-- _Plum pudding_, goose, capon, minced pies, and roast beef. The cooks shall be busied, by day and by night, In roasting and _boiling_, for taste and delight. Provision is making for beer, ale, and wine, For all that are willing or ready to dine. Meantime goes the caterer to fetch in _the chief_,-- _Plum pudding_, goose, capon, minced pies, and roast beef. ANCIENT CHRISTMAS CAROL.

One quarter of a pound of beef suet; take out the strings and skin; chop it to appear like butter; stone one pound of raisins, one pound of currants, well washed, dried, and floured, one pound loaf sugar, rolled and sifted, one pound of flour, eight eggs well beaten; beat all well together for some time, then add by degrees two glasses of brandy, one wine, one rose-water, citron, nutmeg, and cinnamon; beat it all extremely well together, tie it in a floured cloth very tight, let it boil four hours constantly; let your sauce be a quarter pound of butter, beat to a cream, a quarter pound loaf sugar pounded and sifted; beat in the butter with a little wine and sugar and nutmeg.

COCOANUT PUDDING.

Whatever was the _best pie_ going, In _that_ Ned--trust him--had his finger. MOORE.

Take the thin brown skin off of a quarter pound of cocoa, wash it in cold water, and wipe it dry; grate it fine, stir three and half ounces of butter and a quarter pound of powdered sugar, to a cream; add half teaspoonful of rose-water, half glass of wine and of brandy mixed, to them. Beat the white of six eggs till they stand alone, and then stir them into the butter and sugar; afterwards sprinkle in the grated nut, and stir hard all the time. Put puff paste into the bottom of the dish, pour in the mixture, and bake it in a moderate oven, half an hour. Grate loaf sugar over it when cold.

APPLE PUDDING.

Where London's column, pointing to the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies, There dwelt a citizen of sober fame, A plain, good man, and Balaam was his name; Religious, punctual, frugal, and so forth, His word would pass for more than he was worth; One solid dish his week-day meal affords, And _apple pudding_ solemnized the Lord's. POPE.

Make a batter of two eggs, a pint of milk and three or four spoonfuls of flour; pour it into a deep dish, and having pared six or eight apples, place them whole in the batter, and bake them.

HASTY PUDDING.

But man, more fickle, the bold license claims, In different realms, to give thee different names. _Thee_, the soft nations round the warm Levant Polanta call; the French, of course, Polante. E'en in thy native regions, how I blush To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee _mush_! All spurious appellations, void of truth; I've better known thee from my earliest youth: Thy name is _Hasty Pudding_! Thus our sires Were wont to greet thee from the fuming fires; And while they argued in thy just defence, With logic clear, they thus explained the sense: "In _haste_ the boiling caldron, o'er the blaze, Receives and cooks the ready-powdered maize; In haste 'tis served, and then in equal _haste_, With cooling milk, we make the sweet repast. No carving to be done, no knife to grate The tender ear, and wound the stony plate; But the smooth spoon, just fitted to the lip, And taught with art the yielding mass to dip, By frequent journeys to the bowl well stored, Performs the _hasty_ honors of the board." Such is thy name, significant and clear,-- A name, a sound, to every Yankee dear; But most to me, whose heart and palate chaste Preserve my pure, hereditary taste. BARLOW.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

The strong table groans Beneath the smoking sirloin, stretch'd immense From side to side; in which with desperate knife They deep incisions make, and talk the while Of England's glory, ne'er to be defaced While hence they borrow vigor; or amain Into the _pudding_ plunged at intervals, If stomach keen can intervals allow, Relating all the glories of the chase. THOMSON.

This pudding is especially an excellent accompaniment to a sirloin of beef. Six tablespoonfuls of flour, three eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, and a pint of milk, make a middling stiff batter; beat it up well; take care it is not lumpy. Put a dish under the meat; let the drippings drop into it, till it is quite hot and well greased; then pour in the batter. When the upper surface is browned and set, turn it, that both sides may be brown alike. A pudding an inch thick will take two hours. Serve it under the roast beef, that the juice of the beef may enter it. It is very fine.

SUET PUDDING.

Sir Balaam now, he lives like other folks; He takes his chirping, and cracks his jokes. Live like yourself, was soon my lady's word; And lo! _suet pudding_ was seen upon the board. POPE.

Suet, a quarter of a pound; flour, three tablespoonfuls; eggs two, and a little grated ginger; milk, half a pint. Mince the suet as fine as possible; roll it with the rolling-pin, so as to mix it well with the flour; beat up the eggs, mix them with the milk, and then mix them all together; wet your cloth well in boiling water, and boil it an hour and a quarter. Mrs. Glasse has it: "When you have made your water boil, then put your pudding into your pot."

OATMEAL PUDDING.

Of oats decorticated take two pounds, And of new milk enough the same to drown; Of raisins of the sun, stoned, ounces eight; Of currants, cleanly picked, an equal weight; Of suet, finely sliced, an ounce at least; And six eggs, newly taken from the nest: Season this mixture well with salt and spice; 'Twill make a pudding far exceeding rice; And you may safely feed on it like farmers, For the recipe is learned Dr. Harmer's.

EVE'S PUDDING.

If you want a good pudding, mind what you are taught: Take eggs, six in number, when bought for a groat; The fruit with which Eve her husband did cozen, Well pared and well chopped, take at least half a dozen; Six ounces of bread--let the cook eat the crust-- And crumble the soft as fine as the dust; Six ounces of currants from the stalks you must sort, Lest they husk out your teeth, and spoil all the sport; Six ounces of sugar won't make it too sweet, And some salt and some nutmeg will make it complete. Three hours let it boil, without any flutter, And Adam won't like it without sugar and butter. ANONYMOUS.

CHARLOTTE DES POMMES.

_Charlotte_, from rennet apples first did frame _A pie_, which still retains her name. Though common grown, yet with white sugar stewed, And butter'd right, its goodness is allowed. KING.

Pare, core, and mince fifteen French rennet apples; put them into a frying-pan with some powdered loaf sugar, a little pounded cinnamon, grated lemon-peel, and two ounces and a half of fresh butter; fry them a quarter of an hour over a quick fire, stirring them constantly. Butter the shape the size the Charlotte is intended to be; cut strips of bread long enough to reach from the bottom to the rim of the shape, so that the whole be lined with bread; dip each bit into melted butter, and put a layer of fried apples, and one of apricot jam or marmalade, and then one of bread dipped into butter; begin and finish with it. Bake it in an oven for an hour. Turn it out to serve.

BATTER PUDDING.

A frugal man, upon the whole, Yet loved his friend, and had a soul; Knew what was handsome, and would do't On just occasion, coûte qui coûte. He brought him bacon (nothing lean); _Pudding_, that might have pleased a dean; Cheese, such as men of Suffolk make, But wished it Stilton for his sake. POPE.

Take six ounces of flour, a little salt, and three eggs; beat it well with a little milk, added by degrees, till the batter becomes smooth; make it the thickness of cream; put it into a buttered and floured bag; tie it tightly; boil one and a half hour, or two hours. Serve with wine sauce.

APPLE DUMPLINGS.

By the rivulet, on the rushes, Beneath a canopy of bushes, Colin Blount and Yorkshire Tray Taste the _dumplings_ and the whey. SMART.

Pare and scoop out the core of six large baking apples; put part of a clove and a little grated lemon-peel inside of each, and enclose them in pieces of puff paste; boil them in nets for the purpose, or bits of linen, for an hour. Before serving, cut off a small bit from the top of each, and put a teaspoonful of sugar and a bit of fresh butter; replace the bit of paste, and strew over them pounded loaf sugar.

SWEETMEAT FRITTERS.

If chronicles may be believed, So loved the pamper'd gallant lived, That with the nuns he always dined On rarities of every kind; Then hoards, occasionally varied, Of biscuits, _sweetmeats_, nuts, and fruits.

Cut small any sort of candied fruit, and heat it with a bit of fresh butter, some good milk, and a little grated lemon-peel; when quite hot, stir in enough of flour to make it into a stiff paste; take it off the fire, and work in eight or ten eggs, two at a time. When cold, form the fritters, fry, and serve them with pounded loaf sugar strewed over them.

FRITTERS.

Methinks I scent some _rich repast_: The savor strengthens with the blast. GAY.

Take a dozen apricots, or any other fruit preserved in brandy; drain them in half; then wrap them in wafers, cut round, and previously moistened. Make the batter by putting a glass and a half of water, a grain of salt, and two ounces of fresh butter, into a saucepan. When it boils, stir in sufficient quantity of flour to make it rather a firm batter; keep it stirring three minutes; then pour it into another vessel: dip the fruit in this batter, and fry them; sprinkle them with sugar, then serve.

CREAMS.

ICE CREAM.

After dreaming some hours of the land of Cocaigne, That Elysium of all that is friand and nice, Where for hail they have bonbons, and claret for rain, And the skaters in winter show off on _cream ice_. MOORE.

Here _ice, like crystal firm_, and never lost, Tempers hot July with December's frost. WALLER.

Put a quart of rich cream into a broad pan; then stir in half a pound of powdered loaf sugar by degrees, and when all is well mixed, strain it through a sieve. Put it into a tin that has a close cover, and set it in a tub. Fill the tub with ice broken into small pieces, and strew among the ice a large quantity of salt, taking care that none of the salt gets into the cream. Scrape the cream down with a spoon as it freezes round the edges of the tin. While the cream is freezing, stir in gradually the juice of two large lemons or the juice of a pint of mashed strawberries or raspberries. When it is all frozen, dip the tin in lukewarm water; take out the cream, and fill your glasses, but not till a few minutes before you want to use it, as it will melt very soon.

If you wish to have it in moulds, put the cream into them as soon as it is frozen in the tin.

Set the moulds in a tub of ice and salt. Just before you want to use the cream, take the moulds out of the tub, wipe or wash the salt carefully from the outside, dip the moulds into lukewarm water, and turn out the cream. You may flavor a quart of ice cream with two ounces of sweet almonds, and one ounce of bitter almonds, blanched, and beaten in a mortar with a little rose-water to a smooth paste.

Stir in the almond gradually, while the cream is freezing.

WHIPPED CREAM.

Pudding our parson eats, the squire loves hare, But _whipped cream_ is my Buxoma's fare, While she loves _whipped cream_, capon ne'er shall be, Nor hare, nor beef, nor pudding, food for me. GAY.

Sweeten with pounded loaf sugar a quart of cream, and to it a lump of sugar which has been rubbed upon the peel of two fine lemons or little oranges; or flavor it with orange flower water, a little essence of roses, the juice of strawberries, or any other fruit. Whisk the cream well in a large pan, and as the froth rises, take it off, and lay it on a sieve placed over another pan, and return the cream which drains from the froth till all is whisked; then heap it upon a dish, or put it into glasses.

BOILED CUSTARDS.

And _boiled custard_, take its merit in brief, Makes a noble dessert, where the dinner's roast beef.

Boil a pint of milk with lemon-peel and cinnamon; mix a pint of cream, and the yolks of five eggs well beaten; when the milk tastes of the seasoning, sweeten enough for the whole; pour it into the cream, stirring it well; then give the custard a simmer till of a proper thickness. Do not let it boil; stir the whole time one way; then season with a large spoonful of peach-water, and two teaspoonfuls of brandy or a little ratafia. If you wish your custards extremely rich, put no milk, but a quart of cream.

ORANGE CUSTARDS.

With _orange custards_ and the juicy pine, On choicest melons and sweet grapes they dine. JONSON.

Sweeten the strained juice of ten oranges with pounded loaf sugar, stir it over the fire till hot, take off the scum, and when nearly cold, add to it the beaten yolks of twelve eggs and a pint of cream; put it into a saucepan, and stir it over a slow fire till it thickens. Serve it in cups.

CUSTARDS OR CREAMS.

But nicer cates, her dainty's boasted fare, The _jellied cream_ or custards, daintiest food, Or cheesecake, or the cooling syllabub, For Thyrses she prepares. DODSLEY.

Whisk for one hour the whites of two eggs, together with two tablespoonfuls of raspberry or red currant syrup or jelly; lay it in any form of a custard or cream, piled up to imitate rock. It may be served in a cream round it.

ALMOND CREAMS.

And from _sweet kernels_ pressed, She tempers _dulcet creams_. MILTON.

Blanch and pound to a paste, with rose-water, six ounces of almonds; mix them with a pint and a half of cream which has been boiled with the peel of a small lemon; add two well-beaten eggs, and stir the whole over the fire till it be thick, taking care not to allow it to boil; sweeten it, and when nearly cold, stir in a tablespoonful of orange-flower or rose-water.

MISCELLANEOUS.