Marlborough Pudding.—(a) ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. sifted white sugar, 4 yolks of eggs well beaten; first put the sugar in a basin, then add and stir in the eggs; flavour with vanilla, and bake ½ hour in a dish lined with puff paste. The pudding is greatly improved if some of the mixture is kept back, and, when all is ready, just warmed through and poured round as a sauce.
(b) Cover a pie dish with a thin puff paste, then take 1 oz. candied citron, 1 oz. of orange, and 1 oz. of lemon peel, sliced very thin, and lay them over the bottom of the dish. Dissolve 6 oz. butter without water, and add to it 6 oz. pounded sugar, the yolks of 4 well-beaten eggs. Stir them over the fire until the mixture boils, then pour it over the sweetmeats, bake the pudding in a moderate oven for ¾ hour, and serve it hot or cold.
Marlborough Tart.—Line a tart tin with good puff paste, set in a quick oven, and when half baked pour on the following mixture: 2 eggs well beaten, 2 oz. sifted sugar, 4 oz. citron or candied peel cut into strips, mix all together; finish the baking, and serve when cold.
Marmalade Pudding.—(a) Baked.—1 large tablespoonful marmalade, 1 breakfast-cup fine breadcrumbs, ½ teacup castor sugar, 1 egg, ½ pint milk. Put a layer of marmalade at the bottom of a pie dish. Rub some stale bread through a wire sieve until a breakfastcupful is made, mix this with the sugar, and put it over the marmalade. Beat up the egg, add to it the milk, pour this custard into the dish. Bake in a very moderate oven 1-1½ hour. Should be a pale brown.
(b) Boiled.-½ lb. suet, ½ lb. breadcrumbs, ½ lb. brown sugar, 2 oz. ground rice, 2 tablespoonfuls marmalade, 2 eggs. Chop up the suet (which should be dry beef suet) as finely as possible, make the breadcrumbs by rubbing stale crumb of bread through a wire sieve, beat up the eggs; mix all the ingredients well together in a large basin; let the mixture stand overnight, if possible, before cooking; well grease a pudding basin, fill it with the mixture (it should be quite full), tie it over with a pudding cloth which should be dipped into boiling water and floured well, tie the corners of the cloth loosely over the top; put into a large saucepan of boiling water, boil steadily for 4 hours.
Meringues.—Whisk the whites of 12 eggs in a bowl until they take the appearance of a white substantial smooth froth, looking almost like snow. To obtain this, it is essential that the whisk and basin be perfectly clean and dry, if in the slightest degree greasy the eggs would not rise sufficiently. Lay aside the whisk, and with a spoon mix in 1 lb. castor sugar; this must be done very lightly, if worked too much it will lose its firmness, and it would be difficult to form the meringues. Cut some stiff foolscap paper into strips, about 2 in. wide, then take a tablespoon and gather it nearly full of the batter, by pressing it up against the side of the basin, and getting it as much as possible into the form of an egg; scoop this off slantingly on to the froth, passing the spoon sharply round it before leaving it, to make it smooth and round and quite like an egg. Proceed in this way till all the froth is used up, and leaving a space of about 2½ in. after each meringue. Place the bands of paper containing them side by side on the table, and, when all are made, shake some rather coarse-sifted sugar over them, and let them stand for about 3 minutes. To bake meringues it will be necessary to have a board made of well-seasoned wood, about 1 in. thick, to fit the oven. On this place the paper bands of meringues, holding them at each end of the paper, and giving each band a little shake before placing it on the board, to get rid of the superfluous sugar; place the bands close together, and put the board into an oven of very moderate heat, to bake a light cream colour. When they are cooked remove them very carefully from the paper, and with a silver dessertspoon scoop out the soft white part from the inside. After this they must be put back into the oven for a short time to dry; the oven must be quite cool, and they must be watched to see that they do not become a deeper colour; this should be done on a baking-sheet, on which they should be carefully placed. If kept in a large covered glass jar in a perfectly dry place, these meringues will keep good for a long time. They must be quite cold before putting away. When required for table, fill the insides with whipped cream, slightly sweetened and flavoured with vanilla or any other flavouring preferred, or, better still, with a dessertspoonful of cream-ice; join two of the shells together, and dress them piled high in a glass or silver dish.
Mince Pies.—(a) An excellent and useful mincemeat can be made by the following recipe, especially in the country, where apples are cheap. But, if they are too expensive, half the given quantity can be used, and breadcrumbs substituted for the other half. Shred ½ lb. suet, roll it, a little at a time, on a board with 1 lb. raw sugar, mix with it 1½ lb. apples, ½ lb. raisins, ½ lb. currants, 2 oz. candied peel, all minced, 1 teaspoonful ground ginger, 1 of mixed spices, and the peel and juice of a lemon. Take care that the ingredients are well mixed together, and, if possible, let the mincemeat be prepared a few days before it is wanted for use. The crust for the pies can be made in the same way as for steak pie, or as follows: Rub ½ lb. lard into 1 lb. flour, make it into a paste with 1 gill cold water. As this is a short crust, as little water as possible should be used, and, if well worked up, the given quantity will be sufficient. Put the paste on the board, roll it out once to the required thickness, line greased saucers or patty-tins with it, put in a liberal allowance of mincemeat, fit on a cover, and bake in a slow oven for 40 minutes.
(b) Have ready some mincemeat made in the following way: 6 lb. raisins, 6 lb. currants, 2 lb. dates, 2 lb. French plums, 6 lb. apples, ½ lb. each candied citron, lemon and orange peel, 12 lemons, 6 sweet oranges, 6 lb. Demerara sugar, 1 teaspoonful each of mixed spice and ground ginger, with 1 pint good brandy, 1 of Marsala, 1 of sherry, and a wineglass of noyeau or curaçao. Have the raisins, dates, and plums carefully stoned, the candied peel cut into small dice, the apples peeled, cored, and cut into small pieces. Mince finely all the above with the pulp from the lemons and oranges. Well clean and dry the currants, and add them, with the sugar and spices, to the minced ingredients. The lemons and oranges must be grated to obtain all the outside peel, the juice squeezed thoroughly from them, and the pulp, before being minced, must be freed from all the pips and white inner peel. Dissolve the hard sugar from the candied peel in the orange and lemon juice, and add it, with the grated rind, to the mincemeat. Mix all well together in a large pan, add the brandy, liqueur, and wines. Press the mincemeat closely into stone jars, after again thoroughly mixing it, and cover it closely. Keep it in a cool, dry place. Should a mincing machine be used, the ingredients for mincing should be mixed before putting them through it, except the suet, which is always better chopped with an ordinary chopper.
(c) Butter slightly a number of patty-pans, take a piece of the paste, roll it out to the thickness of ¼ in., and line the pans with it. Put 1 wineglassful brandy into the mince, stir it well, and put a small quantity of it into each pan; brush the paste round with white of egg, and put on a cover of paste rolled out to about ⅓ in. thick. Press the edges well together, brush the top with cold water, strew finely powdered sugar over, and bake about ½ hour.
Mocha Pudding.—Beat up the yolks of 4 eggs with ¼ lb. powdered loaf sugar, add gradually 2 oz. flour and 2 oz. potato flour; lastly, the whites of 4 eggs whipped to a stiff froth. When the whole is well mixed, put it in a buttered plain mould and bake. Turn out the cake when done, and when it is quite cold cover it evenly all over with the following icing, ornamenting it with piping of the icing pushed through a paper cone. This last operation must be done with care, lest the heat of the hand warm the icing. When the cake is finished it should be put in a cold place, or on ice, till the time of serving. The Icing.—Take ½ lb. fresh butter and ¼ lb. powdered loaf sugar, and beat them to a cream in a bowl, adding drop by drop, during the process, ½ teacupful strongest coffee that can be made.