Part 149 (1/2)

_Mode_.--Break the apricots in half, take out the stones, and put them into a pie-dish, in the centre of which place a very small cup or jar, bottom uppermost; sweeten with good moist sugar, but add no water. Line the edge of the dish with paste, put on the cover, and ornament the pie in any of the usual modes. Bake from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, according to size; and if puff-paste is used, glaze it about 10 minutes before the pie is done, and put it into the oven again to set the glaze. Short crust merely requires a little sifted sugar sprinkled over it before being sent to table.

_Time_.--1/2 to 3/4 hour. _Average cost_, in full season, 1s.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ in August, September, and October; green ones rather earlier.

_Note_.--Green apricots make very good tarts, but they should be boiled with a little sugar and water before they are covered with the crust.

APRICOTS.--The apricot is indigenous to the plains of Armenia, but is now cultivated in almost every climate, temperate or tropical. There are several varieties. The skin of this fruit has a perfumed flavour, highly esteemed. A good apricot, when perfectly ripe, is an excellent fruit. It has been somewhat condemned for its laxative qualities, but this has possibly arisen from the fruit having been eaten unripe, or in too great excess. Delicate persons should not eat the apricot uncooked, without a liberal allowance of powdered sugar. The apricot makes excellent jam and marmalade, and there are several foreign preparations of it which are considered great luxuries.

BAKED OR BOILED ARROWROOT PUDDING.

1240. INGREDIENTS.--2 tablespoonfuls of arrowroot, 1-1/2 pint of milk, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, the rind of 1/2 lemon, 2 heaped tablespoonfuls of moist sugar, a little grated nutmeg.

_Mode_.--Mix the arrowroot with as much cold milk as will make it into a smooth batter, moderately thick; put the remainder of the milk into a stewpan with the lemon-peel, and let it infuse for about 1/2 hour; when it boils, strain it gently to the batter, stirring it all the time to keep it smooth; then add the b.u.t.ter; beat this well in until thoroughly mixed, and sweeten with moist sugar. Put the mixture into a pie-dish, round which has been placed a border of paste, grate a little nutmeg over the top, and bake the pudding from 1 to 1-1/4 hour, in a moderate oven, or boil it the same length of time in a well-b.u.t.tered basin. To enrich this pudding, stir to the other ingredients, just before it is put in the oven, 3 well-whisked eggs, and add a tablespoonful of brandy.

For a nursery pudding, the addition of the latter ingredients will be found quite superfluous, as also the paste round the edge of the dish.

_Time_.--1 to 1-1/4 hour, baked or boiled. _Average cost_, 7d.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.

_ARROWROOT_.--In India, and in the colonies, by the process of rasping, they extract from a vegetable (_Maranta arundinacea_) a sediment nearly resembling tapioca. The grated pulp is sifted into a quant.i.ty of water, from which it is afterwards strained and dried, and the sediment thus produced is called arrowroot.

Its qualities closely resemble those of tapioca.

A BACHELOR'S PUDDING.

1241. INGREDIENTS.--4 oz. of grated bread, 4 oz. of currants, 4 oz. of apples, 2 oz. of sugar, 3 eggs, a few drops of essence of lemon, a little grated nutmeg.

_Mode_.--Pare, core, and mince the apples very finely, sufficient, when minced, to make 4 oz.; add to these the currants, which should be well washed, the grated bread, and sugar; whisk the eggs, beat these up with the remaining ingredients, and, when all is thoroughly mixed, put the pudding into a b.u.t.tered basin, tie it down with a cloth, and boil for 3 hours.

_Time_.--3 hours. _Average cost_, 9d.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons. _Seasonable_ from August to March.

BAKEWELL PUDDING.

(_Very Rich_.)

I.

1242. INGREDIENTS.--1/4 lb. of puff-paste, 5 eggs, 6 oz. of sugar, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 1 oz. of almonds, jam.

_Mode_.--Cover a dish with thin paste, and put over this a layer of any kind of jam, 1/2 inch thick; put the yolks of 5 eggs into a basin with the white of 1, and beat these well; add the sifted sugar, the b.u.t.ter, which should be melted, and the almonds, which should be well pounded; beat all together until well mixed, then pour it into the dish over the jam, and bake for an hour in a moderate oven.

_Time_.--1 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d.