Macaroni is made into puddings a great deal, and so is vermicelli; but they are at best very indifferent dishes. Those who live solely to eat may as well consult "Vegetable Cookery," where they will find indulgences enough and too many, even though flesh and fish are wholly excluded. They will find soups, pancakes, omelets, fritters, jellies, sauces, pies, puddings, dumplings, tarts, preserves, salads, cheese-cakes, custards, creams, buns, flummery, pickles, syrups, sherbets, and I know not what. You will find them by hundreds. And you will find directions, too, for preparing almost every vegetable production of both hemispheres. And if you have brains of your own you may invent a thousand new dishes every day for a long time without exhausting the vegetable kingdom.
DIVISION V.—PIES.
Pies, as commonly made, are vile compounds. The crust is usually the worst part. The famous Peter Parley (S. G. Goodrich, Esq.), in his Fireside Education, represents pies, cakes, and sweetmeats as totally unfit for the young.
Within a few years attempts have been made to get rid of the crust of pies—the abominations of the crust, I mean—by using Indian meal sifted into the pans, etc.; but the plan has not succeeded. It is the pastry that gives pies their charm. Divest them of this, and people will almost as readily accept of plain ripe fruit, especially when baked, stewed, or in some other way cooked.
As pies are thus objectionable, and are, withal, a mongrel race, partaking of the nature both of bread and fruit, and yet, as such, unfit for the company of either, I will almost omit them. I will only mention two or three.
Receipt 1.—Squashes, boiled, mashed, strained, and mixed with milk or milk and water, in small quantity, may be made into a tolerable pie. They may rest on a thick layer of Indian meal.
Receipt 2.—Pumpkins may be made into pies in a similar manner; but in general they are not so sweet as squashes.
Receipt 3.—Potato pie: Cut potatoes into squares, with one or two turnips sliced; add milk or cream, just to cover them; salt a little, and cover them with a bread crust. Sweet potatoes make far better pies than any other kind.
Almost any thing may be made into pies. Plain apple pies—so plain as to become mere apple sauce—are far from being very objectionable. See the next Class of Foods.