Soyer's standard cookery

Take some slices of stale French bread, and toast to a light crisp brown; then spread thickly first with butter and then with golden syrup. Place a layer of golden syrup in a well-greased paper souffle dish, sprinkle it with washed and dried chopped currants, chopped sultanas, a little chopped lemon peel, and a very little grated nutmeg or allspice. Put a layer of the toast, then currants, sultanas, peel, and spice, and repeat the layers until the dish is full. Make a custard with half a pint of milk, the well-beaten yolk of an egg, and a tablespoonful of sifted sugar. Pour over the whole, and leave for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, whip the white of the egg to a stiff froth, with a few drops of lemon juice; add a little sifted sugar and pile high on the top of the pudding. Put in a well-buttered bag, bake to a golden brown for thirty minutes in 350° Fahr. and serve. The meringue mixture may be omitted, and the custard made with the whole egg. In that case bake the pudding for thirty-five minutes. Dust some sifted sugar over, and serve. Pudding a la Mayence. Rub one-half pint of breadcrumbs through a fine wire sieve, add a tumblerful of any wine and water, the grated rind of a small lemon, first washed and dried, three heaped-up tablespoonfuls of sifted sugar, and one ounce of butter. Mix all together, and then pour the mixture into a buttered souffle dish. Add the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, and the juice of a small lemon carefully strained. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, with a pinch of salt and sifted sugar to taste ; color to a pale green with a few drops of spinach greening, or pale pink with a little carmine coloring or cochineal. Pile up on top, place in the bag, put into a very moderate oven, and bake till the meringue is firmly set. Pudding a la Baronne. Take half a pound of well-washed, dried, and pickled currants, half a pound of sultana raisins, half a pound of breadcrumbs, an ounce of chopped citron, and four heaped teaspoonfuls of golden syrup. Mix all well together, then add an ounce of self-raising flour and the well-beaten yolks of two eggs mixed with a pint of milk. Whisk all well together, and finally add the whites of the eggs, whisked to a firm froth. Fill with this a well-greased paper souffle dish, place carefully in a bag, and bake in an oven for an hour and a half (300° Fahr.). Turn out carefully and serve with a little heated golden syrup poured over and around it. Beignets a la Portugaise. Wash well six ounces of Carolina rice and place it in a clean stewpan, and add four ounces of sifted sugar, two ounces of butter, half a stick of cinnamon, and a strip of lemon peel, or a very little grated rind of lemon. Allow the butter to melt, shaking the pan to avoid burning, and then add a pint of milk. Cover closely and bring gently to the boil. Then draw the pan to the side of the fire, and simmer slowly for rather more than a quarter of an hour, when the rice should have absorbed all the milk and be perfectly tender. Withdraw the pan from the fire, and allow the mixture to cool a little. Then add the well-beaten yolks of three eggs, and finally the whites whisked to a firm froth with a tiny pinch of salt and a very little lemon juice. Mix lightly but very thoroughly, and then form into balls about the size of a small tangerine.