Harper's cook book encyclopædia

“ Batter puddings/’ says Dr. Kitchener, " must be quite smooth and free from lumps. To insure this, first mix the flour with a little milk, add the remainder by degrees, and then the other ingredients. If it is a plain pudding, put it through a hair sieve — this will take out all lumps effectually. Batter pudding should be tied up tight; if boiled in a mould, butter it first ; if baked, also butter the pan. Be sure the water boils before you put in the pudding, set your stewpan on a trivet over the fire, and keep it steadily boiling all the time. If set upon the fire the pudding often burns/’ According to Soyer, every sort of pudding, if sweet or savory, is better dressed in a basin than a cloth. If boiled in a basin, the paste receives all the nutriment of the materials, which, if boiled in a cloth, are dissolved out by the water, when by neglect it ceases boiling. To cause puddings to turn out well, the inside of the basin should be thoroughly larded or rubbed with butter. A pudding-cloth, however coarse, should never be washed with soap ; it should just be dried as quickly as possible, and kept dry and free from dust, and stowed away in a drawer or cupboard free from smell. See also Meats, Game, etc., for meat puddings. Arrow-root Sauce PUDDINGS, ETC Orange Sauce Pudding Sauces. — The most usual sauces for puddings are — sweet sauces, wine sauces, arrow - root sauces, and fruit sauces. They are made as follows : Arrow-root Sauce. — Mix a tablespoonful of arrow-root smoothly with a little cold water. Add the third of a pint of water, a glassful of wine, the juice of a lemon, and sugar and flavoring. Stir the sauce over the fire till it boils. This sauce may be varied by omitting the wine, and using milk or milk-and-water with the arrow-root. The juice of almost any fruit, too, may be boiled with the arrow-root. Brandy Sauce. — Beat one cup of butter to a cream and gradually stir into it two cups of sugar and one teaspoonful of flour. Flavor with a gill of brandy. Set the bowl containing the mixture in a dish of boiling water and stir the sauce until it is creamy and foamy. Cherry Sauce (for sweet puddings). — Pick and stone I lb. of cherries and pound the kernels to a paste. Mix a teaspoonful of arrow-root smoothly with a little cold milk, and pour over it half a pint of boiling milk. Boil it for two or three minutes ; then stir into it the cherries and the kernels, a teaspoonful of minced lemon- rind, half a nutmeg grated, a table-spoonful of sugar, and a wineglassful of port. Let these simmer gently until the cherries are quite cooked ; press them through a coarse sieve, boil the sauce again for two or three minutes, and serve it very hot. Good melted butter may be substituted for the arrow-root, if preferred, and when fresh cherries are not in season, cherry jam may be used. The sauce ought to be as thick as custard and the color of the cherries. It is very nice for boiled or baked egg puddings. Time, about half an hour. and flavored, with two eggs slightly beaten. Put this into a saucepan and stir it gently till it thickens, but it must not boil. Serve it in a tureen or a glass dish, and, just before serving, add a little sugar and a table-spoonful of brandy, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. This sauce is good with fruit tarts as well as sweet puddings. Time, about ten minutes to thicken.