Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Yeast Dumplings. — (Rutlandshire Recipe.) — Take one pound of flour, one ounce of German yeast, quarter of a pint of boiling milk, and a quarter of a pint of boiling water. Mix the yeast into the boiling milk and water, pour it into the flour and knead it into dough. Add a little salt. Put the dough into a deep basin. (Here the Rutland custom is to mark the dough with a cross.) Cover the basin with a cloth, and leave it in a hot place near the fire for one hour to let the dough rise. Then make the dough into balls the size of a duck’s egg, and boil them for one hour. These Yeast Dumplings are very light. They can be eaten with butter and sugar, or butter and salt, or with jam, or with golden syrup. Glaze can be bought ready made, in which case it only requires to be melted for use. But it is infinitely better to make Glaze at home ; the flavour is always more delicate, and the materials need not be expensive. A small quantity of Glaze should be frequently made, as although Glaze keeps well it is better when fresh. For a superior Glaze, take the bone of a knuckle of veal, and a shin bone of beef with a little meat on it, a ham bone, some rind of bacon, and any bones you can get of cooked poultry. Cover all with water, and simmer for twentyfour hours. Reduce, so that four pints of water are reduced to one pint. Keep skimming at intervals, as the stock must be kept clean and clear. Strain the Glaze through a hair sieve into a small jar or jam-pot. When the Glaze is wanted, melt it by setting the jar in hot water in a saucepan. Wyvern's Glaze is excellent, and more simple than the above recipe. He says, “ Make a strong broth of all the odds and ends “ that you may have at hand, trimmings of meat, giblets and “bones of poultry, skeleton remains of fowls or game, bacon “rind, a few scraps of lean ham or bacon, and so on. When “ready, strain the liquid, free it from grease, and clarify with “ half a pound of raw beef. Then put it into a stewpan over “ a fast fire, and reduce it until it begins to thicken sufficiently “ to coat the spoon with which you are stirring it. Constant “stirring is downright essential to prevent the Glaze sticking “ to the bottom of the saucepan and burning. As soon as satisfied “with its consistency pour it into a small jar. When cold the “ Glaze will solidify like glue.” To apply Glaze, set the jar in the bain-marie, and let the Glaze melt. Use a soft brush, called by artists a softening brush, which can be bought from any artists’ colourman. Keep this brush for Glazing only, and wash it carefully after it has been used. Paint the surface of the ham, or tongue, or pressed beef, evenly over with the Glaze, but do not lay it on heavily. If the Glaze is too pale when it is being made a little browning may be added before the broth is reduced. But the Glaze should look bright and clear, and be pale brown in colour. As Wyvem justly observes, “ The thick layer of dull treacly material — some- “ times even of a reddish colour — that is frequently seen in shop “ windows is repellent rather than ornamental, and certainly “ not at all what Glaze ought to be.” On no account add patterns in white or pink on the top of Glaze ; it is a vulgar