Cassell's dictionary of cookery

quarter of a pound of rice, and boil it gently until it is almost soft. Drain it, and put it aside. Pare a small pumpkin, take out the seeds, and slice the whole or half of it. Cut it into slices, and put these in a saucepan, with two large onions, two cloves, four or five sticks of celery, a sprig of parsley, a tea-spoonful of sugar, a little pepper and salt, and two quarts of water. Simmer all gently together until the vegetables are quite soft, then rub them through a colander, and keep back the fibrous portion. Set the puree, with the liquor that has run through the colander with it, again upon the fire, add the rice, and boil gently until the latter is tender. Serve very hot. The soup will be much improved if nicely-flavoured stock, or the liquor in which meat has been boiled, be used instead of water. Time, two hours and a half. Probable cost of pumpkins, uncertain. Suflicient for seven or eight persons. _ Pumpkin Pie (a Cornish recipe). — Take a ripe pumpkin, and chip off the rind or skin ; halve it, and take out the seed and pluffy part in the centre, which throw away. Cut the pumpkin into small thin slices ; fill a pie-dish therewith; add to it half a tea-spoonful of pimento, and a table-spoonful of sugar, with a small quantity of water. Cover with a nice light paste, and bake in the ordinary way. Pumpkin pie is greatly improved by being eaten with clotted cream and sugar. An equal quantity of apples with the pumpkin will make a still more delicious pie. — Notes and Queries, Third Series, Vol. XII. Pumpkin, Preserved. — Take a fresh, pumpkin. Pare it, halve it, and pick out the seeds, then cut it into thin slices about the size of the palm of one's hand. Weigh these slices, and allow a pound of powdered sugar, the juice of two large lemons, the peel of one, and half a tea-spoonful of ground ginger, to each pound of pumpkin. Lay the slices in layers upon a large dish, sprinkle the sugar between the layers, strain the lemon-juice over the whole, and leave it for two or three days. At the end of that time, turn the whole into a preserving-pan with the lemon-rind thinly sliced over, and allow a breakfast-cupful of water for every three pounds of sugar used. Boil the mixture gently until the slices are tender, turn them into a bowl, and let them remain covered for six or eight days. Throw away the bag containing the ginger. Strain off the syrup, and boil it again until it is thick ; pour it at once over the pumpkin. Put the slices of pumpkin into jars, and cover these with paper dipped in the white of an egg. Store in a cool dry place. Time, twelve days. Probable cost, uncertain. Pumpkin Pudding. — Take a large pumpkin, pare it, and remove the seeds. Cut half of it into thin slices, and boil these gently in water until they are quite soft, then rub them through a fine sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Measure the pulp, and with each pint put four ounces of butter, a large tea-spoonful of pounded mace, and a small nutmeg, grated. Stir the mixture briskly for a minute or two, then add the third of a pint of hot milk and four well-beaten eggs. A glassful of wine may be added or not. Pour the pudding into a buttered dish, and bake in a moderate oven for about an hour. Probable cost, uncertain. It will be sufficient for five or six persons.