“Yes, I will write out the recipes and send Marta with them.”
“And the apple pudding.”
“Ah, yes, you have suet in the house? Well, make a crust exactly as you did for the pot-pie; roll it out half an inch thick. Grease a bowl well and lay the paste in it, letting what is to spare hang over the sides; fill it with pared and cored apples cut small, and put over them two table-spoonfuls of sugar and a little water. Wet the border of the paste and gather up the overhanging sides, pinching them all together, so that there is no chance for juice to escape. Then dip the centre of a cloth in boiling water, flour it and put it over the pudding, tie it firmly with string just under the flare of the bowl, so that it will not slip up; bring the four corners of the cloth up over the top of the pudding and tie them.
“Before you begin to make the pudding, set a pot, that is large enough to boil it in, on the stove, half full of water; when it is fast boiling, put the pudding in and let it boil up quickly again, and boil for an hour and a half without stopping.”
“But I suppose the water must not cover over the top of it.”
“Oh, indeed, yes; so long as the water boils there is no danger of its getting into the pudding. As soon as it stops it begins to soak; that is why so many boiled puddings are heavy and soggy.”
“Well, I never knew that. I knew they were often heavy, but not why. I rather supposed it was because they were boiled in too much water, and so it got into them.”
They had talked along the quiet village streets, until Molly’s door was reached, and half an hour afterwards Marta ran across the road with the two following recipes:—
Pot-Roast or Braised Beef.—Remove the skin and some of the fat from the flank of beef (put both in the oven with half a pint of water to “try out”), sprinkle the beef with two level tea-spoonfuls of salt and half a salt-spoonful of pepper, a table-spoonful of finely-chopped parsley, if you have it, and a scant tea-spoonful of thyme, also, if you have it. Roll up the beef tightly with these flavorings inside, flour the meat and put in a thick saucepan or pot with a wine-glass of vinegar and two cloves. Cover very closely, and if the lid of the saucepan does not fit well put a clean cloth over it. Let it so remain till nearly browned, turning it about occasionally. Have ready a carrot and half an onion sliced, and when the meat has been slowly cooking nearly two hours, put them to it with half a pint of boiling water and a dessert-spoonful of Worcestershire or any nice table sauce, if you have it, and simmer very slowly two hours longer; then take up the meat, remove the strings, carefully skim all fat from the gravy which pour over it.
In summer put a pint of young peas into the gravy; fried potatoes are very good with this dish.