Puddings Boiled and Baked

For boiled puddings a regular pudding-boiler holding from three pints to two quarts is best, a tin pail with a very tight-fitting cover answering instead, though not as good. For large dumplings a thick pudding-cloth—the best being of Canton flannel, used with the nap-side out—should be dipped in hot water, and wrung out, dredged evenly and thickly with flour, and laid over a large bowl. From half to three-quarters of a yard square is a good size. In filling this, pile the fruit or berries on the rolled-out crust which has been laid in the middle of the cloth, and gather the edges of the paste evenly over it. Then gather the cloth up, leaving room for the dumpling to swell, and tying very tightly. In turning out, lift to a dish; press all the water from the ends of the cloth; untie and turn away from the pudding, and lay a hot dish upon it, turning over the pudding into it, and serving at once, as it darkens or falls by standing.

In using a boiler, butter well, and fill only two-thirds full that the mixture may have room to swell. Set it in boiling water, and see that it is kept at the same height, about an inch from the top. Cover the outer kettle that the steam may be kept in. Small dumplings, with a single apple or peach in each, can be cooked in a steamer. Puddings are not only much more wholesome, but less expensive than pies.

APPLE DUMPLING.

Make a crust, as for biscuit, or a potato-crust as follows: Three large potatoes, boiled and mashed while hot. Add to them two cups of sifted flour and one teaspoonful of salt, and mix thoroughly. Now chop or cut into it one small cup of butter, and mix into a paste with about a teacupful of cold water. Dredge the board thick with flour, and roll out,—thick in the middle, and thin at the edges. Fill, as directed, with apples pared and quartered, eight or ten good-sized ones being enough for this amount of crust. Boil for three hours. Turn out as directed, and eat with butter and sirup or with a made sauce. Peaches pared and halved, or canned ones drained from the sirup, can be used. In this case, prepare the sirup for sauce, as on p. 172. Blueberries are excellent in the same way.

ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING, OR CHRISTMAS PUDDING.

One pound of raisins stoned and cut in two; one pound of currants washed and dried; one pound of beef-suet chopped very fine; one pound of bread-crumbs; one pound of flour; half a pound of brown sugar; eight eggs; one pint of sweet milk; one teaspoonful of salt; a tablespoonful of cinnamon; two grated nutmegs; a glass each of wine and brandy.

Prepare the fruit, and dredge thickly with flour. Soak the bread in the milk; beat the eggs, and add. Stir in the rest of the flour, the suet, and last the fruit. Boil six hours either in a cloth or large mold. Half the amounts given makes a good-sized pudding; but, as it will keep three months, it might be boiled in two molds. Serve with a rich sauce.

ANY-DAY PLUM PUDDING.

One cup of sweet milk; one cup of molasses; one cup each of raisins and currants; one cup of suet chopped fine, or, instead, a small cup of butter; one teaspoonful of salt, and one of soda, sifted with three cups of flour; one teaspoonful each of cinnamon and allspice.

Mix milk, molasses, suet, and spice; add flour, and then the fruit. Put in a buttered mold, and boil three hours. Eat with hard or liquid sauce. A cupful each of prunes and dates or figs can be substituted for the fruit, and is very nice; and the same amount of dried apple, measured after soaking and chopping, is also good. Or the fruit can be omitted altogether, in which case it becomes "Troy Pudding."

BATTER PUDDING, BOILED OR BAKED.

Two cups of flour in which is sifted a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, two cups of sweet milk, four eggs, one teaspoonful of salt. Stir the flour gradually into the milk, and beat hard for five minutes. Beat yolks and whites separately, and then add to batter. Have the pudding-boiler buttered. Pour in the batter, and boil steadily for two hours. It may also be baked an hour in a buttered pudding-dish. Serve at once, when done, with a liquid sauce.

SUNDERLAND PUDDINGS.

Are merely puffs or pop-overs eaten with sauce. See p. 209.

BREAD PUDDING.

One cup of dried and rolled bread-crumbs, or one pint of fresh ones; one quart of milk; two eggs; one cup of sugar; half a teaspoonful of cinnamon; a little grated nutmeg; a saltspoonful of salt.

Soak the crumbs in the milk for an hour or two; mix the spice and salt with the sugar, and beat the eggs with it, stirring them slowly into the milk. Butter a pudding-dish; pour in the mixture; and bake half an hour, or till done. Try with a knife-blade, as in general directions. The whites may be kept out for a meringue, allowing half a teacup of powdered sugar to them. By using fresh bread-crumbs and four eggs, this becomes what is known as "Queen of Puddings." As soon as done, spread the top with half a cup of any acid jelly, and cover with the whites which have been beaten stiff, with a teacupful of sugar. Brown slightly in the oven. Half a pound of raisins may be added.

BREAD-AND-BUTTER PUDDING.

Fill a pudding-dish two-thirds full with very thin slices of bread and butter. A cupful of currants or dried cherries may be sprinkled between the slices. Make a custard of two eggs beaten with a cup of sugar; add a quart of milk, and pour over the bread. Cover with a plate, and set on the back of the stove an hour; then bake from half to three-quarters of an hour. Serve very hot, as it falls when cool.

BREAD-AND-APPLE PUDDING.

Butter a deep pudding-dish, and put first a layer of crumbs, then one of any good acid apple, sliced rather thin, and so on till the dish is nearly full. Six or eight apples and a quart of fresh crumbs will fill a two-quart dish. Dissolve a cup of sugar and one teaspoonful of cinnamon in one pint of boiling water, and pour into the dish. Let the pudding stand half an hour to swell; then bake till brown,—about three-quarters of an hour,—and eat with liquid sauce. It can be made with slices of bread and butter, instead of crumbs.

BIRD'S-NEST PUDDING.

Wash one teacupful of tapioca, and put it in one quart of cold water to soak for several hours. Pare and core as many good apples as will fit in a two-quart buttered pudding-dish. When the tapioca is softened, add a cupful of sugar, a pinch of salt, and half a teaspoonful of cinnamon, and pour over the apples. Bake an hour, and eat with or without sauce.

TAPIOCA PUDDING.

One quart of milk; one teacupful of tapioca; three eggs; a cup of sugar; a teaspoonful of salt; a tablespoonful of butter; a teaspoonful of lemon extract.

Wash the tapioca, and soak in the milk for two hours, setting it on the back of the stove to swell. Beat eggs and sugar together, reserving whites for a meringue if liked; melt the butter, and add, and stir into the milk. Bake half an hour. Sago pudding is made in the same way.

TAPIOCA CREAM.

One teacupful of tapioca washed and soaked over-night in one pint of warm water. Next morning add a quart of milk and a teaspoonful of salt, and boil in a milk-boiler for two hours. Just before taking it from the fire, add a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of vanilla, and three eggs beaten with a cup of sugar. The whites may be made in a meringue. Pour into a glass dish which has had warm water standing in it, to prevent cracking, and eat cold. Rice or sago cream is made in the same way.

PLAIN RICE PUDDING.

One cup of rice; three pints of milk; one heaping cup of sugar; one teaspoonful of salt.

Wash the rice well. Butter a two-quart pudding-dish, and stir rice, sugar, and salt together. Pour on the milk. Grate nutmeg over it, and bake for three hours. Very good.

MINUTE PUDDING.

One quart of milk; one pint of flour; two eggs; one teaspoonful of salt.

Boil the milk in a double boiler. Beat the eggs, and add the flour slowly, with enough of the milk to make it smooth. Stir into the boiling milk, and cook it half an hour. Eat with liquid sauce or sirup. It is often made without eggs.

CORN-STARCH PUDDING.

One quart of milk; four tablespoonfuls of corn-starch; one cup of sugar; three eggs; a teaspoonful each of salt and vanilla.

Boil the milk; dissolve the corn-starch in a little cold milk, and add. Cook five minutes, and add the eggs and flavoring beaten with the sugar. Turn into a buttered dish, and bake fifteen minutes, covering then with a meringue made of the whites, or cool in molds, in this case using only the whites of the eggs. The yolks can be made in a custard to pour around them. A cup of grated cocoanut can be added, or two teaspoonfuls of chocolate stirred smooth in a little boiling water.

GELATINE PUDDING.

Four eggs; one pint of milk; one cup of sugar; a saltspoonful of salt; a teaspoonful of lemon or vanilla; a third of a box of gelatine.

Soak the gelatine a few minutes in a little cold water, and then dissolve it in three-quarters of a cup of boiling water. Have ready a custard made from the milk and yolks of the eggs. Beat the yolks and sugar together, and stir into the boiling milk. When cold, add the gelatine water and the whites of the eggs beaten very stiff. Pour into molds. It is both pretty and good.

CABINET PUDDING.

One quart of milk; half a package of gelatine; a teaspoonful each of salt and vanilla; a cup of sugar.

Boil the milk; soak the gelatine fifteen minutes in a little cold water; dissolve in the boiling milk, and add the sugar and salt. Now butter a Charlotte-Russe mold thickly. Cut slips of citron into leaves or pretty shapes, and stick on the mold. Fill it lightly with any light cake, either plain or rich. Strain on the gelatine and milk, and set in a cold place. Turn out before serving. Delicate crackers may be used instead of cake.

CORN-MEAL OR INDIAN PUDDING.

One quart of milk; one cup of sifted corn meal; one cup of molasses (not "sirup"); one teaspoonful of salt.

Stir meal, salt, and molasses together. Boil the milk, and add slowly. Butter a pudding-dish, and pour in the mixture; adding, after it is set in the oven, one cup of cold milk poured over the top. Bake three hours in a moderate oven.

Taken from:

THE EASIEST WAY IN HOUSEKEEPING AND COOKING.
Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes

BY
HELEN CAMPBELL,
Copyright 1903