The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-22

one OF brandy, a pound Of suet, one table
spoon Oh salt, one nutmeg, half a spoonful
OF mace, one spoonful OF cloves, the rind of
lemons quarter of pound Of citron cnt
thin, one pound of currants, and a pound
and half Of stoned raisins. Boil in a cloth
or mold five hours, aud serve with very
rich brandy or wine sauce. Pour half a
tumbler of brandy over it and set fire to it
just as 1t Is going to the table,
But Christmas dinner is not all pud-
ding. Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster, who
nils 80 ably her position as editor. Of Har-
per,s Bazaar, kindly adds to my menu an
apple souffiee:
Peel aud core six large apples, Kings or
Spies. Stew them soft with sugar and Gin
namon to taste. Let them cool. Beat a
quarter of pound of butter to a cream,
add the grated rind of half a lemon. six
weil-beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of
hour, and very little cream; add the ap-
pies, beat all thoroughly, and bake in a
thlckly buttered mold.
This may be served with wine sauce or
powdered sugar, but must be sent to the
Table the moment it is done, or it will COL
lapse Children to whom richer dessert is
denied may have as many helpings of this
as mamma chooses to give, and it is very
good indeed without the wine sauce, to which
some may object"
Mrs. Mary e. Bryan, the charming south
ern woman who has won such a success as
editor OF the Munro publca tioas, reckons
among dishes which re mind her of Christ-
mas and of her native land of the orange
and palmett', sweet potato custards and
bene cake, "transpare1u pies" as she says
the children used to call the Cheshire pud-
ding; cassava custard, "big hominy," sweet
potato pone, baked slowly in deep yellow
llFthQnUAFa diChnc md 20. al ,,I
sliced; souse and pumpkin sweetmeats. She
says:
Il will tell you about pumpkin sweet
meats because they are SO nice and because
have never seen the pumpkin cooked in
this fashion here, or in New England, where
they know every other way of getting at
the true inwardness of this fruit of the
yellow-blossomed vine. Pumpkin sweet
meats or ginger pumpkin is a Creole dish.
and 1t has name in Creole patois which
don't know how to spell. A nice ripe
pumpkin is cut into oblong pieces, say two
inches broad and three inches long, and
these slices are exposed TO the wind and
sun that they may dry somewhat. The
CreoleS string them and hang them up for
day or two to get sweet, but have often
seen them cooked without any previous
drying. Put into stew pan as much mo-
lasses or real sugar cane syrup as will cover
the pumpkin, and let it bubble gently over
the fire for fifteen minutes. Thea put the
sliced pumpkin into the boiling syrup. and
stir in also heaping teaspoonful of pulver-
ICED ginger. Let the pumpkin slices cook
in the syrup until they are of rich brown
color, as though preserved. They
will not fall to pieces if properly
cooked and put into the syrup
while it is boiling. Each slice
will keep its shape, and the syrup will be a
rich, clear brown. The ginger imparts a
peculiar flavor, blending we'll with those of
the pumpkin and syrup. To my taste, this
is the incest way to cook pumpkin; and it is
easily done. 1t was as great favorite with
us as those sweet potato custards, deep in
their crispy crusts and golden brown on top
that southern housekeepers and dusky
"mammies" of the old regime know so well
how to maks.n
1t is not right to stop without some dainty
from New England, where Christmas made
SO hard fight before it won its victory.
Mrs Abby Morton Diaz, who wrote the
delightful "William Henry" letters. tells
me: "a
II 1.-THE people Of old Plymouth town-per-
haps as reminder of the Indian corn
which fed the Pilgrims-by way of furnish
ing an accompaniment to roast dinner
at Christmas or any other season, scald
some Indian meal, add pretty large pinch
of salt, a small pinch of soda, suspicion of
sweetening, stir the whole into stiff batter,
and tie it up IN a pudding bag-leaving
some room to swell'-and boil several hours.
1t is thought good with gravy, aud what
they do not eat that day the queen next
morning fries"
Mrs. Eliza Archard Conner, who, for the
charm of her after dinner speaking, is
sometimes called the fe minnie DIR. Depew,
has method of her own for before dinner
preparation. She tells me:
'tWhen build my house down on Staten
Island by the sea, shall have constructed
a small, close, old-fashioned Dutch brick
oven somewhere near it, on purpose to cook
the Christmas turkey in. There. enveloped
brown with all the juices inside Of him,
smothered In his own richness, so to speak.
"At the close of the Christmas dinner,
when everything else has been disposed of,
/ shall ask my guests to pledge each other
in glass of pure, unfermented, purple-red
Concord grape juice, not the sort they put
before you at restaurants. with whisky in
it to keep 1t, but, so far as l know, kind
that you can only get at one place in all
New York, the real article. sweetly sour,
with the exquisite, indescribable odor of
the grape blossom lowering about it
and fiavoring all its drops. 1 shall give my
guests the grape juice because
It promotes digestion. But there is another
reason. Christmas is the old ard beautiful
pagan sun feast made over for Christianity.
It celebrates in the old meaning, the return
of the sun northward, bringing the sacred
fire of renewal to all that has life. In the
ancient mysteries, the grape was the en-
blen of fertility. Therefore is it fitting
that men should wish prosperity, peace, and
good will to one another in the pure, infer
mented blood OF the crushed grape"
ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN,