Blanch, and then pound carefully to the smoothest possible paste four ounces of fine Jordan almonds and half a dozen bitter ones, moistening them with a few drops of water to prevent their oiling. Stir to them by slow degrees a quart of boiling milk, which should be new, wring it again closely from them through a thin cloth, which will absorb it less than a tammy, and set it aside to cool. Wash thoroughly, and afterwards soak for about ten minutes seven ounces of Carolina rice, drain it well from the water, pour the almond-milk upon it, bring it very slowly to boil, and simmer it softly until it is tolerably tender, taking the precaution to stir it often at first that it may not gather into lumps nor stick to the pan. Add to it two ounces of fresh butter and four of pounded sugar, and when it is perfectly tender and dry, proceed with it exactly as for Gabrielle’s pudding, but in moulding the rice press it closely and evenly in, and hollow it in the centre, leaving the edge an inch thick in every part, that it may not break in the oven. The top must be slightly brushed with butter before it is baked, to prevent its becoming too dry, but a morsel of white blotting paper will take up any portion that may remain in it. When it is ready to serve, pour into it a large jarful of apricot jam, and send it immediately to table. If well made it will be delicious. It may be served cold (though this is less usual), and decorated with small thin leaves of citron-rind, cut with a minute paste-cutter. The same preparation may be used also for Gabrielle’s pudding, and filled with hot preserved fruit, the rice scooped from the inside being mixed with the syrup.
GOOD YORKSHIRE PUDDING.
To make a very good and light Yorkshire pudding, take an equal number of eggs and of heaped tablespoonsful of flour, with a teaspoonful of salt to six of these. Whisk the eggs well, strain, and mix them gradually with the flour, then pour in by degrees as much new milk as will reduce the batter to the consistence of rather thin cream. The tin which is to receive the pudding must have been placed for some time previously under a joint that has been put down to roast one of beef is usually preferred. Beat the batter briskly and lightly the instant before it is poured into the pan, watch it carefully that it may not burn, and let the edges have an equal share of the fire. When the pudding is quite firm in every part, and well-coloured on the surface, turn it to brown the under side. This is best accomplished by first dividing it into quarters. In Yorkshire it is made much thinner than in the south, roasted generally at an enormous fire, and not turned at all: currants there are sometimes added to it.
Eggs, 6; flour, 6 heaped tablespoonsful, or from 7 to 8 oz.; milk, nearly or quite 1 pint; salt, 1 teaspoonful: 2 hours.
Obs.—This pudding should be quite an inch thick when it is browned on both sides, but only half the depth when roasted in the Yorkshire mode. The cook must exercise her discretion a little in mixing the batter, as from the variation of weight in flour, and in the size of eggs, a little more or less of milk may be required: the whole should be rather more liquid than for a boiled pudding.
COMMON YORKSHIRE PUDDING.
Half a pound of flour, three eggs (we would recommend a fourth), rather more than a pint of milk, and a teaspoonful of salt.
NORMANDY PUDDING. (GOOD.)
Boil, until very soft and dry, eight ounces of rice in a pint and a half, or rather more, of water,[[152]] stir to it two ounces of fresh butter and three of sugar, and simmer it for a few minutes after they are added; then pour it out, and let it cool for use. Strip from the stalks as many red currants, or Kentish cherries, as will fill a tart-dish of moderate size, and for each pint of the fruit allow from three to four ounces of sugar. Line the bottom and sides of a deep dish with part of the rice; next, put in a thick layer of fruit and sugar; then one of rice and one of fruit alternately until the dish is full. Sufficient of the rice should be reserved to form a rather thick layer at the top: smooth this equally with a knife, sift sugar thickly on it, or brush it with good cream, and send the pudding to a moderate oven for half an hour, or longer, should it be large. Morella cherries, with a little additional sugar, make an excellent pudding of this kind.
[152]. A quart of milk can be substituted for this; but with the fruit, water perhaps answers better.