A COMMON APPLE PUDDING

Make a light crust with one pound of flour, and six ounces of very finely minced beef-suet; roll it thin, and fill it with one pound and a quarter of good boiling apples; add the grated rind and strained juice of a small lemon, tie it in a cloth, and boil it one hour and twenty minutes before Christmas, and from twenty to thirty minutes longer after Christmas. A small slice of fresh butter, stirred into it when it is sweetened will, to many tastes, be an acceptable addition; grated nutmeg, or a little cinnamon in fine powder, may be substituted for the lemon-rind when either is preferred. To convert this into a richer pudding use half a pound of butter for the crust, and add to the apples a spoonful or two of orange or quince marmalade.

Crust: flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz. Fruit, pared and cored, 1-1/2 lb.; juice and rind of 1 small lemon (or some nutmeg or cinnamon in powder).

Richer pudding: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; in addition to fruit, 1 or 2 tablespoonsful of orange or quince marmalade.

HERODOTUS’ PUDDING.

(_A Genuine Classical Receipt._)

“Prepare and mix in the usual manner one pound of fine raisins stoned, one pound of minced beef-suet, half a pound of bread-crumbs, four figs chopped small, two tablespoonsful of moist sugar (_honey_, in the original), two wineglassesful of sherry, and the rind of half a large lemon (grated). Boil the pudding for _fourteen hours_.”

_Obs._—This receipt is really to be found in Herodotus. The only variations made in it are the substitution of sugar for honey, and sherry for the wine of ancient Greece. We are indebted for it to an accomplished scholar, who has had it served at his own table on more than one occasion; and we have given it on his authority, without testing it: but we venture to suggest that _seven_ hours would boil it quite sufficiently.

THE PUBLISHER’S PUDDING.

This pudding can scarcely be made _too rich_. First blanch, and then beat to the smoothest possible paste, six ounces of fresh Jordan almonds, and a dozen bitter ones; pour very gradually to them, in the mortar, three quarters of a pint of boiling cream; then turn them into a cloth, and wring it from them again with strong expression. Heat a full half pint of it afresh, and pour it, as soon as it boils, upon four ounces of fine bread-crumbs, set a plate over, and leave them to become nearly cold; then mix thoroughly with them four ounces of maccaroons, crushed tolerably small; five of finely minced beef-suet, five of marrow, cleared very carefully from fibre, and from the splinters of bone which are sometimes found in it, and shred not very small, two ounces of flour, six of pounded sugar, four of dried cherries, four of the best Muscatel raisins, weighed after they are stoned, half a pound of candied citron, or of citron and orange rind mixed, a quarter saltspoonful of salt, half a nutmeg, the yolks only of seven full-sized eggs, the grated rind of a large lemon, and last of all, a glass of the best Cognac brandy, which must be stirred briskly in by slow degrees. Pour the mixture into a _thickly_ buttered mould or basin, which contains a full quart, fill it to the brim, lay a sheet of buttered writing-paper over, then a well-floured cloth, tie them securely, and boil the pudding for four hours and a quarter; let it stand for two minutes before it is turned out; dish it carefully, and serve it with the German pudding-sauce of page 403.

Jordan almonds, 6 oz.; bitter almonds, 12; cream, 3/4 pint; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; cream wrung from almonds, 1/2 pint; crushed macaroons, 4 oz.; flour 2 oz.; beef-suet, 5 oz.; marrow, 5 oz.; dried cherries, 4 oz.; stoned Muscatel raisins, 4 oz.; pounded sugar, 6 oz.; candied citron (or citron and orange-rind mixed), 1/2 lb.; pinch of salt; 1/2 nutmeg; grated rind, 1 lemon; yolks of eggs, 7; best cognac, 1 wineglassful; boiled in mould or basin,: 4-1/4 hours.

_Obs._—This pudding, which, if well made, is very light as well as rich, will be sufficiently good for most tastes without the almonds: when they are omitted, the boiling cream must be poured at once to the bread-crumbs.

HER MAJESTY’S PUDDING.

Infuse in a pint of new milk half a pod of vanilla, cut into short lengths, and bruised; simmer them gently together for twenty minutes, and strain the milk through muslin to half a pint of cream; put these again on the fire in a clean saucepan, with three ounces of fine sugar, and pour them when they boil, to the beaten yolks of eight very fresh eggs. Stir the mixture often until it is nearly or quite cold, and boil it as _gently as possible_ for an hour in a well-buttered mould or basin that will just hold it. Let it stand for five minutes at least before it is turned out; dish it carefully, strew, and garnish it thickly with branches of preserved barberries, or send it to table with a rich syrup of fresh fruit, or with clear fruit-jelly, melted. We have had often a _compôte_ (see Sweet Dishes, page 153) of currants, cherries, or plums served, and greatly relished with this pudding, which we can recommend to our readers as an extremely delicate one. The flavouring may be varied with bitter almonds, lemon-rind, noyau, or aught else which may be better liked than the vanilla.

New milk, 1 pint; vanilla, 1/2 pod: 20 minutes Cream, 1/2 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; yolks of eggs, 8: 1 hour.

_Obs._—The cook must be reminded that unless the eggs be stirred briskly as the boiling milk is gradually poured to them, they will be likely to curdle. A buttered paper should always be put over the basin before the cloth is tied on, for all custard puddings.