A Friend in the Kitchen; Or, What to Cook and How to Cook It. / Sixteenth Edition

by Anna L. Colcord

SAUCES FOR DESSERTS

ARROWROOT SAUCE

Heat one cup of water to boiling; then add one teaspoonful of sugar, and one small tablespoonful of arrowroot mixed smooth in a little cold water, stirring briskly. In a few minutes remove from the fire, and flavor with lemon or almond. Nice for puddings.

BOILED CUSTARD SAUCE

Beat together in a saucepan, two eggs, one tablespoonful of sugar, and one-half teaspoonful of cornstarch. Place over the fire one cupful of milk, and as soon as it begins to boil pour it over the eggs in the saucepan. Stir well, place over the fire to boil until it thickens, then pour into a pitcher, and flavor if desired.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Mix two tablespoonfuls of shaved chocolate with two cupfuls of sweet milk, and heat to boiling; then add the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, stirring briskly; boil a few minutes until thickened, and remove from the fire; add the whites of the eggs, which have been beaten to a stiff froth, and two tablespoonfuls of white sugar. Nice with cornstarch blanc-mange.

ORANGE SAUCE

Heat a pint of water to boiling, and thicken with a tablespoonful of cornstarch; add a cupful of orange juice extracted from good sweet oranges, a small piece of the yellow rind for flavoring, and sugar to sweeten; the beaten yolk of an egg may be added if desired; remove the orange rind before serving.

LEMON SAUCE

To a pint of boiling water add a slice or two of lemon, and thicken with a small tablespoonful of cornstarch; remove the lemon, cook a few minutes until clear, then add two thirds of a cup of sugar, the juice of one lemon, and a beaten egg if desired; boil up, cool, and serve.

FRUIT SAUCE

Obtain the juice of raspberries, strawberries, grapes, currants, or any larger fruit, by simmering for a short time with a little water, and straining through a thin cloth; heat the juice to scalding, then slightly thicken with cornstarch rubbed smooth in a little cold water, allowing a tablespoonful of cornstarch for each pint of juice; cook a few minutes till thickened, and sweeten to taste. Three or four tablespoonfuls of fruit jelly dissolved in a pint of hot water makes a good substitute for fruit juice if the latter is not available.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

Beat one and one-half cups of powdered sugar and one tablespoonful of butter to a cream. Then add the stiffly beaten white of one egg and beat till very light. Set in a cool place, and when ready to serve, add one pint of mashed strawberries.

WHIPPED CREAM

Beat one cup of cold sweet cream with a Dover egg-beater until stiff; then beat in two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, and one-half teaspoonful extract of vanilla; set in a cool place till ready to serve. Have the cream cold, and not too thick, or it will turn to butter while beating. A nice sauce for desserts.

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[PIES]

“To keep in health this rule is wise,

Eat only when you need and relish food,

Chew thoroughly, that it may do you good,

Have it well cooked, unspiced, and undisguised.”

Food for repentance—mince pie eaten late at night.

He who eats till he is sick must fast till he is well.—Selected.

How many homes are cursed by discomfort and ill health, and thoughts and bitter words, simply because the wife does not know how to cook.—The Young Woman.

One of the greatest objections to pies is that they are generally made too rich. When a large amount of grease is employed in making the crust, and the filling is seasoned heavily with spices and various condiments, they can hardly fail to be unwholesome.

But pies need not be made in this way. If proper ingredients are used, and simplicity is studied in making them, there is no reason why they should be seriously objectionable.

Pie Dish

There are two styles of pie in general use,—one, the English style, baked in a deep dish, frequently with only a top crust; the other, the American, baked in a shallow dish, usually with two crusts, an upper and an under. Custard, cream, lemon, and pumpkin pies, however, have only an under crust. Most of the recipes here given are for the shallow pies with two crusts.

Custard, pumpkin, and other pies in which milk and eggs are used, should be baked in a slow oven. They will also be improved if the milk used be hot. To stir beaten eggs into the hot milk, add a few spoonfuls of cold milk to the eggs, then pour into the hot milk, a little at a time, stirring well.

The filling for pies should always be prepared before making the crust, unless the crust is to be baked first. All the material should be cold, except for custard and pumpkin pies, and should be put together quickly, handling as little as possible, and without kneading the dough.

Rolling-pin

When the paste is ready, take sufficient for one crust, and roll out on a floured board quickly and lightly until about an eighth of an inch in thickness, and a little larger than the pie dish, as it will shrink when lifted from the board. When rolled thin, flour or oil the pie dish, cover smoothly with the crust, and fill, adding sugar as required. Sprinkle a little flour over the sugar; this thickens the juice slightly, and prevents the upper crust from becoming soggy. For custard or fruit pies with wet fillings, brush the bottom crust with the white of an egg before putting in the filling. The crust will then remain dry and tender.

Pie

If there is to be a top crust, roll it out in the same manner, and make a few ornamental cuts in the center to allow the steam to escape. Wet the edge of the lower crust, and lift on the upper crust, pressing the edges together so that the juice may not escape. Trim away the overhanging portions, and with the thumb and fingers press the edge into a scalloped or ornamental wall, as shown in the accompanying cut. Especially should this be done when only an under crust is used, that the pie may be handled with greater ease. It also adds to the appearance of the pie. Pies are generally better eaten the same day they are baked.