Cookery and housekeeping

A batter pudding is tied lightly in the cloth. A bread or a plum pudding requires room to swell. Pudding cloths must be washed in boiling water and perfectly dried before they are put away. They must be of different sizes, according as they are to be used for tying over basins and moulds, or for receiving the pudding itself. Custard Puddings. There are two kinds of custard pudding, the one made with whites of eggs, the other with yolks. It is desirable to select that kind which utilises the eggs left by other dishes. The proportion and mode of cooking are the same for both. 6 eggs (whites or yolks) ; beat, if whites, to a froth ; 2 gills of cream ; A little sugar ; A very little salt ; 362 CREAMS. 2 tablespoonsful of liqueur, or a flavour of bitter almonds or lemon. Steam slowly in a mould in the bain-marie for about twenty minutes. If the water is allowed to boil, the pudding will be tough instead of elastic and light. Serve with a fruit sauce. 'fa' Custard. I quart of milk ; \ lb. of sugar ; 10 eggs. Warm the milk in a milk saucepan. When on the point of boiling, take off and strain into a basin ; let it cool ; stir in the sugar and the eggs well beaten ; strain into a jug ; stand in a saucepan of boiling water, and stir one way till it is thick. The custard would be spoiled by letting the mixture boil after the eggs are in. Serve cold in custard cups or a glass dish. Creams to be served in China Cream-pots. This is a more elegant mode of serving creams than in moulds, the flavour being always lowered by the unavoidable addition of gelatine or isinglass to make the cream stiff enough to 'turn out. Chocolate Cream. Take ^ lb. of the best French chocolate and scrape fine ; add just enough milk to enable the chocolate to dissolve and to cook for ten minutes. Take it CREAMS. 363 away from the fire ; let it cool, and then put to it a pint of cream and sugar to taste. Beat up the yolks of eight, the white of one, ^g^ ; mix with the chocolate cream ; strain and pour into the pots ; stand them in a bain-marie (with very little water, or it would drown such little pots) ; let the mixture set. Take the pots out and put in a cool place till time to serve. This quantity will fill twelve or fifteen pots. Strawberry Cream. Remove the stems of a quart of ripe fresh strawberries ; bruise them slightly ; cover with \ lb. of powdered sugar. Let them stand for three hours, then rub through a fine sieve. Stir together a pint of milk and a pint of cream ; or use all cream. Sweeten slightly, and warm. Stir in the strawberry pulp, whisk the mixture, fill small china or glass cups, and serve them on a napkin if the cups do not fit into a dish. Raspberries, or other fruit, may be treated in the same way. When the fruit is not quite ripe, it should be stewed before mixing with the cream. Velvet Cream. Take a large teacupful of white wine, the juice of a fine lemon, \ oz. of isinglass, and sugar to taste. Let them simmer together till the isinglass is dissolved. Strain the mixture, add one pint of cream, and stir the whole till quite cold. Pour into a mould and let it stand till set. 364 BLANC MANGE. Blanc Mange. 2 pints of fresh milk ; 1 pint of cream ; 2 ozs. Nelson's gelatine (dissolved in water) ; The peel of a lemon ; Sugar to taste.