The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-25
GREAT DISHES AND GREATER
COOKS


Book.
NEW YORK, Dec. 22.-Plum pud-
ding has played the part of
Hamlet in every holiday repast since the
days when good Queen Anne herself, used to
concoct 1t in her royal kitchen. assist d by
maids of honor. But it has remained for
Mrs. William M. Evarts to bring the art
of stirring this wonderful compound to its
highest perfection. Her recipe came from
an English ancestor, and is as follows:
Eight ounces of stoned raisins take twice
the quantity OF each ingredient if necessary
eight ounces of sultana, one pound of cur
rants, one pound of beef suet chopped fine
four ounces of powdered sugar, four ounces
Of flour, one pound of bread crumbs, one
nutmeg grated, four ounces of candied cit
ron, the peel Of one lemon chopped fine,
twenty four bitter almonds, blanched and
chopped. Whom all is prepared, pour over
it eight eggs full beaten and three gills of
brandy. Mix these together the evening
before the pudding is wanted. Cover it
until morning, then add a gill of milk,
stirring all well together. Slightly butter
a cloth and sprinkle little -four on it, put
in basin and pour your mixture in. Let
it boil slowly for three hours. Serve with
brandy sauce.
Your English plum pudding. however,"
added Mrs Evarts, Twill not be a success
unless each member of the family has some
part in making it, from grandfather down
to the latest addition to the nursery-each
one must at least stone raisin or give the
pudding a stir with the spoon and then
you have
"A mixture strange
of suet. currants, sweets
which is one of the chief dishes on every
Christmas table and somewhat takes the
place of the boar's head, which is always
brought to the English dinner table with SO
much ceremony"
festivals an old custom is revived-that of
passing around loving-cup filled with a
cheering draught. This cup is of silver.
Like the ceremony attending the German
Wiederkommen, the host drinks first from
the cup, passes it to his right-hand neigh
Dor; who, in turn, after having slipped from
it, presents it to the next person, aud SO on
until all the guests have taken sip from
the Wiederkommen, which comes back to
the host.
In this family where Christmas is cele-
brated in the good-old fashioned way, the
yule log plays an important part in the
ceremony of the day. The open chimney
fire place makes this custom possible. Great
care is taken not to break it, as that would
be unlucky, nor to turn it, and woe is indi-
Gated to the household if it is extingushed.
A part, too. is kept to light the next years
yule log LAY it up again till Christmas
next returns.
An hour or two before dinner Mrs Aston
serves tea from little fat silver teapot of
the time of long ago; and the tea-cups, too
have personal history, being either the
gift, the handiwork, or the favorite of some
distinguished man or famous beauty. With
the Christmas cup of tea is always served
those delightful little cakes called "Maids of
Honor" The preparation of these cakes
is said to have been one of the occupations
of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honor, hence
the name The writer has been fortunate
enough to get the recipe for these cakes:
The night previous to making these cakes,
cut piece of renuet about four inches
square, wash off carefully all the salt from
the outside, wipe the rennet dry and put it
into cup to soak with sufficient warm
water mot boiling hot, to cover it well. Early
in the morning stir the rennet water into
pan containing one quart of rich milk.
Cover the pan and set it in a warm place
till the milk becomes firm and place on ice
till wanted When quite cold, put the curd
into sieve and drain it dry, breaking it up
small and crumbling it fine in your hands.
Have ready two ounces of sweet almonds,
two ounces of bitter almonds, blanched and
pounded in a marble mortar to a smooth
paste and mixed, as you proceed, with rose
water to prevent their oiling. Crate upon
Jumps of loaf sugar the yellow rind of
three lemons, scraping it off the sugar and
putting 1t in saucer. Then squeeze the
juice of lemons over the sugar and let it
dissolve Mix in deep pan the crumbled
curd, with three-quarters of pound of but
ter, cut up, and three-quarters of apound
of powdered sugar. Stir the curd, the but
ter and the sugar together till very light,
adding wine glass of brandy, the almonds
and the lemon, also CRATE in a small nut
meg. Beat well together in a shallow pan
the yolks of eight eggs till light, then add
gradually to other ingredients, finishing
with tablespoon CT farina or rice -four,
and beat the whole thoroughly Have
ready some puff paste, with which you line
some small tartlet pans. Then fill with the
mixture, and sift powdered sugar over each
cake. Put in a hot oven and bake thor
oughly.
The following directions for roasting a
pig are copied from recipe book, which
was old when this century came in. The
family, in whose possession the book has
been for. years, say that their Christmas
dinner is never complete without a pig
roasted as it directs:
ROAST PIG.
1t is in prime order for the spit when
three weeks old.
1t loses part of its goodness every hour
after it is killed If not quite fresh, no art
can make the cracking crisp.
To be in perfection, 1t should be killed in
the morning, to be eaten at dinner. 1t re-
quires very careful roasting. A sucking
pig. like young child, must not be left an
instant The ends must have more fire than
the middle; for this purpose is constructed
an iron to hang before the middle part
called pig iron. II you have not this, use
a flat-iron to keep the iron hottest at the
two ends
For the stuffing, take of the crumbs Of a
stale loaf about five ounces, rub it through
a colander; mince fine a handful of sage
and large onion; mix these together with
an egg, some pepper. and salt, and bit of
butter. Fill the pig with this stuffing and
sew it up. Lay it to the fire and haste it
with salad oil till it is quite done. Do not
leave it moment-it requires most vigilant
attendance. To gain the praise of epicu-
rean pig eaters, the cracking must be nicely
crisped and delicately, lightly Drowned
without being either blistered or burnt, or
you will get scolded as the good man was
who brought his wife pig with only one
ear
A small three weeks pig will be done in
about one and half hours. Currant sauce
is still favorite with some Of the Old
School
N. B.-A pig is a very troublesome subject
to roast. Most people have them baked.
Send quarter of pound Of butter and