The accompanying design will show how it should be made.
PASTRY-BAG.
This pastry-bag is essential and useful for kitchen and pastry use, being both facile and economical, but care must be taken to wash it thoroughly, and immediately after using it, and to let it dry perfectly, otherwise it will soon become useless.
1080. How to Clean and Prepare Sultana Currants and Raisins for Pastry.
—To avoid the trouble of preparing them each time they are needed, it were better to clean many at a time, for they will keep in perfect condition for five or six months, if put away in a well-closed tin box. Procure ten pounds of currants or Sultana raisins, lay them on a table, and should they be damp, dredge a little flour over to prevent them adhering to the hands. Rub them thoroughly, then take a wire sieve, No. 3 (or as fine a one as will prevent them passing through), place the currants on it, and shake them well for two or three minutes, so that they be perfectly free from flour and stalks. Lay the sieve containing the currants in a large dish-pan, filling it to the level of the sieve with hot water, then, with a skimmer, stir them, so that they get washed thoroughly for at least five minutes. Lift up the sieve, and let them drain in the same for three minutes. Cover an iron oven-pan with a sheet of brown paper, pour the currants on it, spreading them out evenly, and set it in a very slow oven for ten minutes; remove, and lay them aside in the warmest spot on the kitchen shelf, and leave them to dry thoroughly for at least two days. If in the country, the pan can be left out in the sun during the day. When dry, lay them on the table, and should any more foreign matter be found among them, pick it out carefully with the fingers, and examine them well to see whether they be free of stones, stalks, stems, sand, &c. When finished, put them away in a closed tin box, and they will then be ready for use.
1081. How to Clean Malaga Raisins.
—Have as many Malaga raisins as deemed necessary, but it were better to purchase five pounds at a time. Lay the raisins on a table, have a bowl of cold water on the right hand, and the raisins in front; pick off the dry stalks adhering to them, then, either using a small knife or the fingers, pick out the seeds, taking care to wet the fingers in the bowl of water, so as to prevent them sticking while seeding them. Close up again, giving them their original form; when finished, put them in a tin can, cover well, and place in a moderate temperature for use when required. Raisins prepared in this way will surely keep six months.
1082. Mince Pie.
—Put into a vessel two ounces of currants, prepared as for [No. 1080], two ounces of Sultana, and three ounces of Malaga raisins, as for [No. 1081], one ounce of finely chopped citron, two ounces of well-chopped, cold, boiled beef, and two ounces of beef-suet, also chopped very fine. Mix the whole well together for five minutes, then add one ounce of powdered sugar, a saltspoonful of salt, one drachm of ground allspice, half a drachm of ground cloves, half a drachm of ground cinnamon, and mix together for one minute. Peel, core, and chop up very fine three large, sound apples, add them to the preparation, then pour in half a gill each of brandy and sherry wine, mixing again for three minutes. Take half a pound of pie-paste as for [No. 1077], cut out a piece of three ounces, roll it round-shaped, ten inches in diameter, and lightly butter a pie-plate nine and a half inches in diameter. Arrange the paste over, and pour the preparation in the centre, flattening it evenly, and leaving an inch space clear around the edge of the plate; take the remaining five ounces of paste, roll it out round-shaped, the same as before, fold it in two, and, with a knife, make incisions in the centre, of half an inch each. Moisten lightly the edge of the plate with a little beaten egg, then cover with the paste, pressing down with the hand all around the edge, so as to inclose the preparation entirely, then moisten the surface slightly with the beaten egg. Place in a moderate oven, and let bake for fifty minutes; remove it to the oven-door, sprinkle plenty of powdered sugar over, return it to the oven, closing the door for two minutes, so that the sugar melts entirely, then slide it carefully onto a dessert-dish, and serve either hot or cold.