Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

ay. When done lift off the crust, take out the paper, pour in “ the fruit (which can be iced if desired), put a little raw white “ of egg round the rim of the pie-dish, and replace the crust. In “ this way an orange or a strawberry tart can be made without “ cooking the fruit at all, except in the usual compote way of “ pouring boiling syrup over it.” [ Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, page 27.] Apple Pie. — ( Family Recipe.) — Always use one of the sixpenny pie-cups with a perforated stem, and a deep pie-dish. The pie-cup prevents the juice from running out of the pie. Always leave a little hole at the top of the pie ; this chimney allows the gas which is generated in cooking to escape. Pare some Apples as thinly as possible and core them. SWEET DISHES Throw the peel and all the pips and cores into a quarter of a pint (or less) of cold water, and let them stew in a covered pan for half an hour. Quarter the Apples, and put them in the pie-dish, piling them high round the cup. Add three ounces of moist sugar, four cloves, and the grated rind of half a lemon. When the liquid from the pips, cores, and peel is nearly, but not quite, cold, strain it, and add it to the Apples. It gives a far better flavour than plain water. Cover the Apple Pie, except the chimney, with short crust made by rubbing six ounces of butter into a pound of well-dried flour, mix in six ounces of sugar, and add the yolk of an egg well beaten, with as much water as will make the crust stiff. Bake from half an hour to forty minutes. The oven should be very quick at first, and moderate afterwards. Mrs. Earle has made the valuable discovery that four or five peach leaves, picked fresh from the trees, immensely improve the flavour of an Apple Pie. Before serving lift off the crust and take out the peach leaves. Compotes. — The secret of making good Compotes lies in the fact that fruits with tough skins, such as gooseberries and currants, must be stewed for some time in an earthenware dish in the oven. Soft fruit, like strawberries and raspberries, would be quite spoilt by this treatment, and only need to have boiling syrup poured over them. All summer compotes should be iced. “ Orange Compote depends almost entirely on the goodness of “ the oranges, and on the way they are cut. The best plan is to “ stick them on a fork, and with a sharp-pointed kitchen knife “ remove at one cutting all the peel and all the white. Then “ with the sharp point of a knife cut out all the pieces of orange “ between the white lines, leaving the white in the middle. “ Save all the juice, and cut small shreds of the peel without any “ white, put them into some water with sugar and the juice, and “ if the oranges are very sweet add a little lemon- juice. Boil up “ this syrup, pour it over the pieces of orange, and allow it to “ cool. This is a good foundation for any winter Compote. “ Another excellent winter compote is made by cutting up a “ ripe pineapple (often so cheap), stewing the peel in a syrup, to “ which is added the juice that runs out of the pineapple and a “ little ginger. Strain, and pour it boiling hot over the pieces of COMPOTES