PUDDINGS.
The directions given for cake apply likewise to puddings. Always beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately and very light, and add the whites just before baking or boiling. All puddings (except those risen with yeast), should be baked immediately after the ingredients are mixed. Thick yellow earthenware dishes are better than tin for baking puddings, on several accounts. One is that the pudding, to be good, must be baked principally from the bottom, and tin burns more easily than earthenware. Another reason is, that the acids employed in some puddings corrode and discolor tin. Garnish the pudding with sifted white sugar, and with candied or preserved orange or lemon peel.
In boiling a pudding, cold water should never be added. Keep a kettle of hot water to replenish the water in the pot as it boils away. As soon as the pudding is done, remove it from the boiling water. A decrease in heat whilst cooking, makes boiled pudding sodden, and makes baked pudding fall. The best sauce for a boiled pudding is cold sauce made of the frothed whites of eggs, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and a little French brandy, while for a baked pudding, a rich, boiled wine sauce is best.
Plum Pudding.
3 dozen eggs.
3 pounds baker's bread, stale, and grated fine.
3 pounds suet.
3 pounds brown sugar.