Part 169 (1/2)

VOL-AU-VENT OF FRESH STRAWBERRIES WITH WHIPPED CREAM.

1381. INGREDIENTS.--3/4 lb. of puff-paste No. 1208, 1 pint of freshly-gathered strawberries, sugar to taste, a plateful of whipped cream.

_Mode_.--Make a _vol-au-vent_ case by recipe No. 1379, only not quite so large nor so high as for a savoury one. When nearly done, brush the paste over with the white of an egg, then sprinkle on it some pounded sugar, and put it back in the oven to set the glaze. Remove the interior, or soft crumb, and, at the moment of serving, fill it with the strawberries, which should be picked, and broken up with sufficient sugar to sweeten them nicely. Place a few spoonfuls of whipped cream on the top, and serve.

_Time_.--1/2 hour to 40 minutes to bake the _vol-au-vent_.

_Average cost_, 2s. 3d.

_Sufficient_ for 1 _vol-au-vent_.

_Seasonable_ in June and July.

STRAWBERRY.--Among the Greeks, the name of the strawberry indicated its tenuity, this fruit forming hardly a mouthful.

With the Latins, the name reminded one of the delicious perfume of this plant. Both nations were equally fond of it, and applied the same care to its cultivation. Virgil appears to place it in the same rank with flowers; and Ovid gives it a tender epithet, which delicate palates would not disavow. Neither does this luxurious poet forget the wild strawberry, which disappears beneath its modest foliage, but whose presence the scented air reveals.

WEST-INDIAN PUDDING.

1382. INGREDIENTS.--1 pint of cream, 1/2 lb. of loaf-sugar, 1/2 lb. of Savoy or sponge-cakes, 8 eggs, 3 oz. of preserved green ginger.

_Mode_.--Crumble down the cakes, put them into a basin, and pour over them the cream, which should be previously sweetened and brought to the boiling-point; cover the basin, well beat the eggs, and when the cream is soaked up, stir them in. b.u.t.ter a mould, arrange the ginger round it, pour in the pudding carefully, and tie it down with a cloth; steam or boil it slowly for 1-1/2 hour, and serve with the syrup from the ginger, which should be warmed, and poured over the pudding.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. _Average cost_, with cream at 1s. per pint, 2s. 8d.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.

YEAST DUMPLINGS.

1383. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 quartern of dough, boiling water.

Mode.--Make a very light dough as for bread, using to mix it, milk, instead of water; divide it into 7 or 8 dumplings; plunge them into boiling water, and boil them for 20 minutes. Serve the instant they are taken up, as they spoil directly, by falling and becoming heavy; and in eating them do not touch them with a knife, but tear them apart with two forks. They may be eaten with meat gravy, or cold b.u.t.ter and sugar, and if not convenient to make the dough at home, a little from the baker's answers as well, only it must be placed for a few minutes near the fire, in a basin with a cloth over it, to let it rise again before it is made into dumplings.

_Time_.--20 minutes. _Average cost_, 4d.

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

YEAST consists princ.i.p.ally of a substance very similar in composition, and in many of its sensible properties, to gluten; and, when new or fresh, it is inflated and rendered frothy by a large quant.i.ty of carbonic acid. When mixed with wort, this substance acts upon the saccharine matter; the temperature rises, carbonic acid is disengaged, and the result is _ale_, which always contains a considerable proportion of alcohol, or spirit. The quant.i.ty of yeast employed in brewing ale being small, the saccharine matter is but imperfectly decomposed: hence a considerable portion of it remains in the liquor, and gives it that viscid quality and body for which it is remarkable. The fermenting property of yeast is weakened by boiling for ten minutes, and is entirely destroyed by continuing the boiling. Alcohol poured upon it likewise renders it inert; on which account its power lessens as the alcohol is formed during fermentation.

YORKs.h.i.+RE PUDDING, to serve with hot Roast Beef.

1384. INGREDIENTS.--1-1/2 pint of milk, 6 _large_ tablespoonfuls of flour, 3 eggs, 1 saltspoonful of salt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YORKs.h.i.+RE PUDDING.]