Paste for Patties.—(a) Take 1 lb. fine flour; pass it through a wire sieve on to a pastry slab; add a pinch of salt and 2-3 drops of lemon juice; wet it with cold water into a paste about the same consistence as the butter about to be used; flatten the paste with the hands; place on it 1 lb. butter that has been worked well in a dry cloth; fold up the sides and ends of the paste, and roll it out the length of ½ yd.; fold it in 3, turn it round, and roll it the other way; leave it 20 minutes, then roll it twice more, and so on until it has been rolled 6 times; this done, roll the paste to the thickness of ½ in.; cut it with a plain round cutter dipped in boiling water, turn each patty over, place them on a baking tin, egg the top, and with a small cutter make a deep incision to form the cover. Bake in a quick oven.
(b) Puff.—Take 1 lb. best flour, rub it through a sieve, place it a little distance from the fire for a short time to get thoroughly dry; then rub in the half of ¾ lb. butter, the juice of ½ lemon, mix it lightly up together; roll it out as thin as a crown piece, put a layer of butter all over it, double it in 4, and roll it out again, do this twice, by which time all the butter will be in. Then fold it up and put it down in a plate on the stones of the larder for ½ hour to get cold. After this roll it out 3 times, and it is fit for use.
(c) Dripping.—Have cool hands, a cool room, fresh well-clarified beef dripping, and dry flour. Be as particular about making the pastry as if it were being made with the best butter. Cooks so often fail to make good pastry with dripping because they do not take pains with it. To every lb. of flour allow 6 oz. dripping and 1 teaspoonful baking powder. Put the flour into a basin with the baking powder and a pinch of salt; rub into it the dripping, which should be broken up into small pieces; when well rubbed in, moisten with about 1 gill water, enough to make a smooth, stiff paste. Flour the paste-board and the rolling-pin, and roll the paste out on the paste-board, fold it over again and roll again, repeating 3 times, handling it as lightly as possible. It is then ready.
Peach Cheese.—Take a number of green peaches, rub them carefully in a cloth to remove all dust. Put them into a stewpan with a small quantity of water—about ½ pint to 1 lb. of fruit (for large quantities a smaller proportion of water might be used). When the peaches are perfectly soft, rub them through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon, laying aside some of the stones, which should be broken, and their kernels added to the peach pulp. Weigh the pulp, stir it over the fire until quite hot, add half its weight in sugar, some lemon juice, and a little grated peel; stir the whole on the fire until well thickened, put into shapes. It should be quite hard when cold, and turn out easily. If the pulp be very watery, boil for 20 minutes before adding the sugar. This preserve will keep for a long time if sufficiently cooked, only perfectly sound fruit should be used. It is not necessary to peel the peaches.
Peach Compote.—(a) Put into a casserole for every dozen peaches ¼ lb. sugar and a glass of water; bring it to the boil, and skim well; add the peaches, peeled, and either whole or in halves, without their stones in either case. Let them boil a few minutes until they feel done; then arrange them in a glass dish, reduce the syrup, and pour it over them.
(b) Boil 4 lb. sugar in 2½ pints water; let it simmer 10 minutes after coming to the boil; fill bottles with fruit, shaking it down; when the syrup is cold, fill up each bottle with enough to cover the fruit; cork them well at once; stand the bottles in a boiler of cold water, and let it come to the boil slowly; after which simmer a few minutes; let the bottles get cold in the water; keep them in a cool place.
Peach Cream.—Steep ½ oz. isinglass in ½ pint cream, and stir over the fire until dissolved. When almost cold, mix with it the strained juice from a tin of peaches, and the juice of a small lemon. Pour ¾ of this cream into a glass dish, and allow it to set. Colour the convex sides of the halves of peaches delicately with cochineal. Place them with the coloured sides upwards upon the set cream. Pour the remainder of the cream carefully between the fruit. Allow this also to set, and the dish will be ready to serve. ¾ pint blancmange, with the yolks of 3 eggs stirred to it while scalding hot, make a fair substitute for the cream.
Peach Toast.—Cut some round slices off some milk rolls, remove the crust and fry them a pale yellow in fresh butter. Take a tin of preserved peaches, turn out the liquor into a saucepan, add a little sugar and a glass of white wine; boil it up, put in the peaches, simmer a few minutes, drain them, and place half a peach, concave side uppermost, on each piece of bread, put a piece of currant jelly in the cavity of each peach, pour the syrup round, and serve.
Pears, Stewed.—Peel the pears, and cut them into halves, without removing the stalks, and carefully take out the cores; then put them into a jar, with a lid, which should fit closely—empty salt jars answer the purpose perfectly; add a small quantity of lemon peel and 1 or 2 cloves. Pour over them a syrup of sugar and water, in the proportion of ½ lb. loaf sugar to every pint of water. After closing the jar, put into the oven, which must not be too hot. Let the pears bake till tender—about 5-6 hours; then turn them out of the jar to cool. To keep them, put them into clean jars or bottles when quite cold, and tie them down carefully like jam. If they do not keep, the fault will probably lie with the fruit. The proper baking pears should be used, and they must not be too ripe. If gently cooked, the colour will be good without any addition, but, if necessary, about 3 drops cochineal may be added when the fruit is nearly done.
Peripatetic Pudding.—Take 6 sponge cakes and 6 eggs, ¼ lb. sifted sugar, ½ lb. fresh butter, ½ lb. marmalade, and 2 glasses of sweet wine. Mix these ingredients well together, and paper the mould. Bake for ½ hour.