Like most soups that are either sweet or sour, this is a German recipe. Put a piece of butter, the size of a large egg, into a saucepan. Let it melt, then mix it with a tablespoonful of flour, and stir smoothly until it is lightly browned. Add gradually two pints of water, a pound of black cherries, picked and washed, and a few cloves. Let these boil until the fruit is quite tender, then press the whole through a sieve. After straining, add a little port, if wine is allowed--but the soup will be very nice without this addition--half a teaspoonful of the kernels, blanched and bruised, a tablespoonful of sugar, and a few whole cherries. Let the soup boil again until the cherries are tender, and pour all into a tureen over toasted sippets, sponge-cakes, or macaroons.
1 c. macaroni 2 qt. boiling water 2 tsp. salt 1-1/2 c. milk 2 Tb. butter 2 Tb. flour 1 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. pepper 4 hard-boiled eggs 1/4 c. crumbs
Break the macaroni into inch lengths, add it to the boiling salted water, and cook it until tender. Make a cream, or white, sauce of the milk, butter, flour, salt, and pepper as explained in the recipe given in Art. 90. When the macaroni is tender, drain it and arrange a layer on the bottom of a baking dish, with a layer of sliced, hard-boiled eggs on top. Fill the dish with alternate layers of macaroni and eggs, pour the sauce over all, and sprinkle the crumbs over the top. Then place the dish in the oven and bake the food until the crumbs are brown. Serve hot.
The recipe for COMMON CUSTARD, with the addition of chocolate grated, banana, or pineapple or cocoanut, makes successfully those different kinds of puddings.
To one pound of finest pulverized sugar add three wine-glassfuls of clear water. Let it stand until it dissolves; then boil it until it is perfectly clear and threads from the spoon. Beat well the whites of four eggs. Pour the sugar into the dish with the eggs, but do not mix them until the syrup is luke-warm; then beat all well together for one-half hour. Season to your taste with vanilla, rose-water, or lemon juice. The first coating may be put on the cake as soon as it is well mixed. Rub the cake with a little flour before you apply the icing. While the first coat is drying continue to beat the remainder; you will not have to wait long if the cake is set in a warm place near the fire. This is said to be a most excellent recipe for icing.
Proceed exactly as in the above recipe, only substituting white haricot beans for red. It is a great improvement to add a little boiling cream, but of course this makes the soup much more expensive. Some cooks add a spoonful of blanched, chopped parsley to this puree, and Frenchmen generally flavour this soup with garlic.
For shortening; use drippings and mix with goose, duck or chicken fat. In the fall and winter, when poultry is plentiful and fat, save all drippings of poultry fat for pie-crust. If you have neither, use rendered beef fat. Take one-half cup of shortening, one and one-half cups of flour. Sifted pastry flour is best. If you have none at hand take two tablespoons of flour off each cup after sifting; add a pinch of salt. With two knives cut the fat into the sifted flour until the shortening is in pieces as small as peas. Then pour in six or eight tablespoons of cold water; in summer use ice-water; work with the knife until well mixed (never use the hand). Flour a board or marble slab, roll the dough out thin, sprinkle with a little flour and put dabs of soft drippings here and there, fold the dough over and roll out thin again and spread with fat and sprinkle with flour, repeat this and then roll out not too thin and line a pie-plate with this dough. Always cut dough for lower crust a little larger than the upper dough and do not stretch the dough when lining pie-pan or plate. If fruit is to be used for the filling, brush over top of the dough with white of egg slightly beaten, or sprinkle with one tablespoon of bread crumbs to prevent the dough from becoming soggy. Put in the filling, brush over the edge of pastry with cold water, lay the second round of paste loosely over the filling; press the edges together lightly, and trim, if needed. Cut several slits in the top crust or prick it with a fork before putting it in place. Bake from thirty-five to forty-five minutes until crust is a nice brown. A gas stove is more satisfactory for baking pies than a coal stove as pies require the greatest heat at the bottom. The recipe given above makes two crusts. Bake pies having a cooked filling in a quick oven and those with an uncooked filling in a moderate oven. Let pies cool upon plates on which they were made because slipping them onto cold plates develops moisture which always destroys the crispness of the lower crust.
Take one pint of milk, two cups of sugar, one large tablespoon of flour rubbed smooth in cold milk, two eggs beaten light, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, and one quart of sweet cream, well beaten. Heat the milk in a double boiler, and when it is at boiling point add the flour, eggs and one cup of sugar. Cook about twenty minutes, stirring very often. Let the mixture get cold, then add the remaining sugar and the vanilla and cream, and freeze. A more novel flavoring is made with a mixture of vanilla, lemon and almond extracts. The quantities given in this recipe make about two quarts of ice cream.
1/2 lb. of Allinson bread cut in thin slices, eggs and milk as in Bun Pudding, 1 breakfastcupful of currants and sultanas mixed, 1 heaped-up teaspoonful of cinnamon, 2 oz. of butter, 2 oz. of chopped almonds, and sugar to taste. Soak the bread as directed in above recipe, add the fruit, which should be previously well washed, picked, and dried, and the cinnamon, almonds, and sugar. Dissolve part of the butter, add it to the rest of the ingredients, and mix them all well together. Butter a pie-dish with the rest of the butter, and bake the pudding in a moderate oven for 1 hour.
Two eggs well beaten, one cupful of sweet milk, sifted flour enough to make a stiff batter, two large teaspoonfuls of baking powder, a pinch of salt and as many cherries as can be stirred in. Boil one hour or steam and serve with liquid sauce. Cranberries, currants, peaches, cherries, or any tart fruit is nice used with this recipe. Serve with sweet sauce.
1 cup corn syrup 2 cups water 2 cups raisins 2 tablespoons fat 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1-1/2 cups fine cornmeal, 2 cups rye flour; or, 3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder, or, 1/2 teaspoon soda
Cook corn syrup, water, raisins, fat, salt and spices slowly 15 minutes. When cool, add flour, soda or baking powder, thoroughly blended. Bake in slow oven 1 hour. The longer this cake is kept, the better the texture and flavor. This recipe is sufficient to fill one medium-sized bread pan.
