Mince Pie.—Put a large-sized tongue into boiling water, with a little salt and pepper. A fresh tongue is better than one smoked and dried. Boil slowly till tender, then take out and dip for a minute in cold water; then peel it, beginning at the tip, as it peels easier. Cut off all the gristly parts and chop fine. Pare and chop enough of the best flavored sour apples to fill a three-pint bowl when chopped. The finer the meat and apples are chopped the better the pies will be. Pick over and rub clean one pound Sultana, or stoneless raisins, one pound Malaga, or bloom raisins, stoned and chopped, and one pound whole raisins. Slice thin half a pound citron and half a pound candied orange peel; chop and pick clean from skinny pieces three quarters of a pound of suet; add a table-spoonful salt, five grated nutmegs, one and a half table-spoonfuls ground cloves, the same of cinnamon, a pound of sugar, half a pint maple syrup, one pint cider, one of Madeira wine, one of brandy. Syrups from preserves, or small portions of jelly of any kind left over, and not sufficient to be put on the table again, are a great improvement to mince-meat for pies, beside finding an economical way of use. Put all these ingredients into a porcelain kettle, and set over the range to scald, not boil, one hour, stirring all the time; then pack in a stone jar and cover closely, ready for use.
Rice Pie.—Take cold rice, cooked with milk, add sufficient cream to make quite thin, mash it with a wooden or silver spoon till free from lumps. Beat up four eggs very light,—yelks and whites separately,—sweeten the rice to suit your taste, and pour in the egg,—the whites last; stir well, grate a little nutmeg over all; cover a deep custard or pumpkin pie-plate with pastry, pour in the rice, and bake, but not long enough to make the custard watery.
Apple Puffs.—Peel and core as many sour apples as will be needed, simmer with a little water till tender, then add a half-pound of sugar to a pound of apples, let it simmer till the apples become a kind of marmalade; take it up, and when cold put it into puff paste and bake quickly; when done ice it, return to the oven just long enough to turn the icing golden.
Marlborough Pie.—One cup stewed apples, sifted; one cup sugar, one cup cream or milk; one fourth cup butter if cream is used, if milk, one third; half a gill wine, three well-beaten eggs, whites whisked separately, and a little nutmeg; beat sugar, butter, and apple together, then add the wine, then milk or cream, nutmeg and yelks, adding the whites the last thing. No upper crust.
Chess Pie.—Four eggs, two cups sugar, one of cream, two thirds of a cup butter, one table-spoonful flour; flavor with nutmeg. When a delicate brown, try with a spoon as for a custard.
English Christmas Plum Pudding.—One pound of clean, dry currants, half a pound of the best raisins, stoned; mix these with one pound of bread crumbs, half a pound of fine flour, and one pound and a half of finely shred suet; add a quarter of a pound of sifted sugar, one grated nutmeg, a drachm of cinnamon, two drachms of cloves, half a dozen almonds, pounded, and an ounce each of candied orange and lemon, sliced thin; mix all these materials thoroughly together in a bowl, with a glass of brandy and one of sherry, then beat six eggs very light, and slowly stir them in till all is well blended; cover the bowl, and let this mixture stand for twelve hours; then pour it into a pudding-bag, and tie it not very tight, leaving room for it to swell; or fill a pudding-mold not quite two thirds full, lay a clean cloth over the top, and shut the cover over tightly to exclude all water; put the bag or mold into boiling water; keep it covered, and keep it boiling all the time, for six hours. Serve with sugar sifted over, and wine sauce. Brandy is usually sent in with a Christmas pudding, to be poured over the whole pudding, or over each slice, then lighted, and served while burning.
A Family Christmas Pudding.—Beat up four eggs very light (which always means yelks and whites beaten separately); add to the yelks, after beating, a quarter of a teaspoonful each of ginger, nutmeg, grated lemon peel, and salt; four ounces of sugar, half a pound of well-cleaned and dried currants, one pound of flour, half a pound of well-shred and chopped suet; beat this all up thoroughly, adding the whites of the eggs last. Wine or brandy, or both, may be added, if one has no scruples about using them in cooking; but the pudding will be good without this addition. Tie it in a cloth or pudding-bag, or put it into a mold, and boil six hours. Serve with any good sauce.
In boiling puddings of all kinds, the cloth should be dipped in hot water before the batter is put in, or the mold be well buttered. Any of these Christmas puddings may be kept for a month after boiling, if the cloth in which they are boiled be replaced by a clean one, and the pudding be hung up to the ceiling of a kitchen, or in a warm store-room. When wanted, they will require one hour’s boiling to heat them through, as all such puddings should be sent to the table hot.
A Simple Christmas Pudding.—Six ounces of finely chopped suet, six ounces of Malaga raisins, stoned and chopped; eight ounces of well-cleaned and dried currants, three ounces of fine bread crumbs, three ounces of flour, three well-beaten eggs, the sixth part of a nutmeg, grated; half a teaspoonful each of cinnamon, cloves, and mace; four ounces of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a pint of milk; one ounce of candied orange or lemon peel, and the same of citron, all sliced thin. Beat all together thoroughly; pour into a pudding-bag or mold; put into boiling water, and keep it boiling six hours. Serve with sauce to suit your taste.
Bread Pudding.—One quart fine bread crumbs, one cup of sugar, two table-spoonfuls of molasses, half-pound suet chopped fine, one coffee-cup raisins, half a rind of preserved orange peel or citron cut thin and fine, a very little nutmeg and cinnamon, two teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, one small teaspoonful soda, one teaspoonful of salt. Stir in milk enough to make it thick as pound-cake, beating all thoroughly together; put it into a buttered pudding-mold, and boil three hours. Be careful to keep the water boiling all the time.