Piedmont Tartlets.—Make a paste with 1 oz. butter, 2 oz. flour, the yolk of an egg, a little water, a pinch of salt; roll it out to the thickness of ⅛ in., and line some patty-pans with it. Take 2 oz. finely grated Parmesan cheese, beat it up in a bowl with the yolks of 2 eggs; add pepper, salt, cayenne and nutmeg, according to taste, very little of the two latter, then work in 3 tablespoonfuls cream, fill each patty-pan with the mixture and bake them in a moderate oven till done.
Pikelets.—1½ oz. German yeast, a little flour, 1 qt. warm milk, a cupful of melted butter, a little salt. Time to bake, 5 minutes after the top has blistered. Make the milk warm, and stir it into the yeast with a little salt. Add a sufficient quantity of flour to make it into a batter. Set it to rise for ½ hour, then add a cupful of melted butter. Stir it well in, pour it into iron rings previously placed on a hot plate, and bake them very lightly on both sides. When required, toast them on each side, taking care they do not burn; butter them nicely, cut them across, and put them upon a hot plate, serving them quickly hot and hot.
Pineapple Cream.—Dissolve 2 oz. isinglass in 1 small cupful boiling water; when dissolved add it to 1 qt. good cream, stirring it continually that it may not curdle. Then add a ¼ lb. sifted loaf sugar, and the juice of a pineapple, bruised and strained; whisk the whole thoroughly together for a few minutes; then pour into a mould, and set in ice or a very cold place until well set.
Pineapple Fritters.—Make a thick batter with 2 eggs, 1 teacupful new milk, 2 oz. sifted flour, 3 stale penny sponge cakes, 1 doz. ratafia biscuits, and 1 teaspoonful sugar reduced to a fine powder. For these fritters use the pineapples preserved in tins. Divide the slices into small triangular pieces, dip each in the batter, and fry to a golden brown colour in plenty of boiling lard. Dish them on a folded napkin, sprinkle them lightly with powdered sugar, and serve them as quickly as possible. Send to table with them, in a tureen, a sauce made as follows: Strain the pineapple juice, which will be left in the tin, into a small enamelled saucepan, and add to it the juice of ½ lemon, 1 wineglassful white wine, and 1 teaspoonful powdered sugar. Bring this to boiling point, and thicken to the consistency of thin cream with arrowroot, mixed with a little cold water. If preferred, the pine may be minced and mixed with the batter.
Pineapple Jelly.—Take a tin of preserved pineapple, pound the contents in a mortar, add 6 oz. sugar and ½ pint water; boil the whole for ¼ hour, then strain through a tammy; add the juice of a lemon and 1 pint clarified calvesfoot jelly. Pour into a mould, and when set turn it out by dipping the mould in warm water. Pieces of pineapple may be put in the jelly.
Pineapple Toast.—Take a small tin of preserved pineapple and a stale sponge cake; cut the sponge cake in slices ½ in. thick, and trim them and the pineapple to the same shape; place lightly the slices of cake, on both sides, in butter. Arrange on a dish in a circle, alternately, a slice of cake and one of pineapple, take as much syrup out of the tin as may be necessary, add to it a glass of sherry or a liqueur glass of brandy; pour this over the dish and serve cold.
Plum Pudding.—(a) Put 10 oz. flour into a large basin, with a tiny pinch of salt, and, having passed 1 lb. suet through the mincing machine, rub it with both hands into the flour until it is quite smooth, then add 10 oz. fine breadcrumbs, mixing each thing well as you do it. Then add the 1 lb. currants, having well washed and dried and picked them (for there are stones among them), then add 2 lb. stoned raisins, then ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. candied peel and the peel of a lemon grated, a small spoonful of spice; beat up 8 eggs, and with a little milk mix altogether well with both hands, adding half a tumbler or less of brandy; this should be mixed at night and left until the morning, with a cloth thrown over it. The next morning mix it up well with your hand, and put it into a tin form, which should be well buttered; the tin should have a well-fitting cover, which should be buttered also. Put the tin into a cloth, and tie it so well down that there should be no risk of the cover coming off; put it into a saucepan of furiously boiling water, and let it boil 8 hours, taking great care that the water never ceases boiling. The pudding is much better boiled 3 hours more the second time, the day it is eaten. Boiling in a cloth without the tin covered shape spoils the goodness of the pudding, which all goes into the water. (E. C. Scouce).
(b) Not too rich, and very inexpensive: ½ lb. Valencia raisins stoned, ½ lb. currants, 3 oz. flour, ½ lb. beef suet chopped very fine, ½ lb. breadcrumbs grated, 2 oz. soft sugar, 2 oz. candied peel, and the rind of a small lemon, chopped very fine, ½ nutmeg grated; mix all well in a bowl, and add a wineglass of rum or brandy, and 4 eggs well beaten. Cover over with a plate, and let it stand all night; in the morning stir it up well, and add 1 small teacupful of milk; mix thoroughly, and put it into a well-buttered mould. Lay a buttered and floured paper over the top, and tie all in a large cloth. Boil 6 hours, a week or more before it is wanted, and then at least 4 hours the day the pudding is required; serve with wine sauce.
(c) That will keep.—1 lb. stale bread in crumbs (very fine, must be passed through a wire sieve), 6 oz. flour, 1¼ lb. raisins, weighed after stoning; 1¼ lb. moist sugar, 2¼ lb. currants, well cleaned and dried; 1½ lb. best beef suet, finely chopped and free from skin; 3 oz. mixed candied peels, cut as thin as possible; a small teaspoonful of salt, and ½ small nutmeg grated. Mix all these dry ingredients together in a large earthen pan, then add the yolks and whites of 10 eggs well beaten together, and, lastly, 4 wineglassfuls sherry, and rather more than 3 of brandy; stir all these together very thoroughly with a wooden spoon. This quantity will make 3 puddings. Boil them 4 hours, either in basins or in earthen moulds tied over the top with a cloth. After this drain them and set them on the kitchen shelf, not too near the fire, but to keep dry. When wanted boil them for 1 hour. They will keep any time, and are as good at a year’s end, or even better, than at first.
(d) Plain.—Take of currants, raisins (sultanas), and sugar each 1 lb., 2 lb. breadcrumbs brown or white, 2 lb. carrots grated, 2 lb. potatoes grated, 1 lb. suet, ½ lb. lemon peel, salt to taste, 1 oz. ground ginger, 1 lb. flour, 2 or 3 eggs, 2 teaspoonfuls soda carbonate, 1 ditto tartaric acid, the two latter well mixed with the flour and breadcrumbs, dry, a little brandy and rum if liked, with milk sufficient to moisten. This will make a large pudding, but can be divided. Boil 6-8 hours.