The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;

Peaches, to preserve in Brandy. No. 2

Scald some of the finest peaches of the white heart kind, free from spots, in a stewpan of water; take them out when soft, and put them into a large table-cloth, four or five times doubled. Into a quart of white French brandy put ten ounces of powdered sugar; let it dissolve, and stir it well. Put your peaches into a glass jar; pour the brandy on them; cover them very close with leather and bladder, and take care to keep your jar filled with brandy.

You should mix your brandy and sugar before you scald the peaches.

Peaches, to preserve in Brandy. No. 3

Put Newington peaches in boiling water: just give them a scald, but do not let them boil; then take them out, and throw them into cold water. Dry them on a sieve, and put them in long wide-mouthed bottles. To half a dozen peaches take half a pound of sugar; just wet it, and make it a thick syrup. Pour it over the peaches hot; when cold, fill the bottles with the finest pale brandy, and stop them very close.

Pears, to pot

Put in your fruit scored; cover them with apple jelly, and let them boil till they break; then put them in a hair sieve, and rub them through with a spoon till you think it thick enough. Boil up as many pounds of sugar to a candy as you have pints of paste, and when the sugar is put in the paste, just scald it, and put it into pots.

Pears, to stew

Pare some Barland pears; take out the core, and lay them close in a tin saucepan, with a cover fitting quite exact; add the rind of a lemon cut thin and half its juice, a small stick of cinnamon, twenty grains of allspice, and one pound of loaf-sugar, to a pint and a half of water. Bake them six hours in a very slow oven. Prepared cochineal is often used for colouring.

Chicken Pie

Parboil and neatly cut up your chickens; dry them, and set them over a slow fire for a few minutes; have ready some forcemeat, and with it some pieces of ham; lay these at the bottom of the dish, and place the chickens upon it; add some gravy well seasoned. It takes from an hour and a half to two hours.

Giblet Pie

Let the giblets be well cleaned, and put all into a saucepan excepting the liver, with a little water and an onion, some whole pepper, a bunch of sweet-herbs, and a little salt. Cover them close, and let them stew till tender; then lay in your dish a puff paste, and upon that a rump-steak peppered and salted; put the seasoned giblets in with the liver, and add the liquor they were stewed in. Close the pie; bake it two hours; and when done pour in the gravy.

A Dutch pie is made in the same way.

Common Goose Pie

Quarter a goose and season it well. Make a raised crust, and lay it in, with half a pound of butter at the top, cut into three pieces. Put the lid on, and bake it gently.

Rich Goose Pie

After having boned your goose and fowl, season them well, and put your fowl into the goose, and into the fowl some forcemeat. Then put both into a raised crust, filling the corners with the forcemeat. Cut about half a pound of butter into three or four pieces, and lay on the top, and bake it well.

Ham and Chicken Pie

Cut some thin slices from a boiled ham, lay them on a good puff paste at the bottom of your dish, and pepper them. Cut a fowl into four quarters, and season it with a great deal of pepper, and but a little salt; and lay on the top some hard yolks of eggs, a few truffles and morels, and then cover the whole with slices of ham peppered: fill the dish with gravy, and cover it with a good thick paste. Bake it well, and, when done, pour into it some rich gravy. If to be eaten cold, put no gravy.

Hare Pie

Cut the hare into pieces; season it with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and jug it with half a pound of butter. It must do above an hour, covered close in a pot of boiling water. Make some forcemeat, and add bruised liver and a glass of red wine. Let it be highly seasoned, and lay it round the inside of a raised crust; put the hare in when cool, and add the gravy that came from it, with some more rich gravy. Put the lid on, and bake it two hours.

Lumber Pie

Take the best neat’s tongue well boiled, three quarters of a pound of beef suet, the like quantity of currants, two good handfuls of spinach, thyme, and parsley, a little nutmeg, and mace; sweeten to your taste. Add a French roll grated and six eggs. Mix these all together, put them into your pie, then lay up the top. Cut into long slices one candied orange, two pieces of citron, some sliced lemon, add a good deal of marrow, preserved cherries and barberries, an apple or two cut into eight pieces, and some butter. Put in white wine, lemon, and sugar, and serve up.

Olive Pie

Two pounds of leg of veal, the lean, with the skin taken out, one pound of beef suet, both shred very small and beaten; then put them together; add half a pound of currants and half a pound of raisins stoned, half a pound of sugar, eight eggs and the whites of four, thyme, sweet marjoram, winter savory, and parsley, a handful of each. Mix all these together, and make it up in balls. When you put them in the pie, put butter between the top and bottom. Take as much suet as meat; when it is baked, put in a little white wine.

Partridge Pie

Truss the partridges the same way as you do a fowl for boiling; then beat in a mortar some shalots, parsley cut small, the livers of the birds, and double the quantity of bacon, seasoning them with pepper, salt, and two blades of mace. When well pounded, put in some fresh mushrooms. Raise a crust for the pie; cover the bottom with the seasoning; put in the partridges, but no stuffing, and put in the remainder of the seasoning between the birds and on the sides; strew over a little mace, pepper and salt, shalots, fresh mushrooms, a little bacon beaten very fine; lay a layer of it over them, and put the lid on. Two hours and a half will bake it, and, when done, take the lid off, skim off the fat, put a pint of veal gravy, and squeeze in the juice of an orange.

Rich Pigeon Pie

Season the pigeons high; lay a puff paste at the bottom of the dish, stuffing the craws of the birds with forcemeat, and lay them in the dish with the breasts downward; fill all the spaces with forcemeat, hard-boiled yolks of eggs, artichoke bottoms cut in pieces, and asparagus tops. Cover, and bake it; when drawn, pour in rich gravy.

High Veal Pie

Veal, forcemeat balls, yolks of eggs, oysters, a little nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and salt, with a little water put into the dish.

Vegetable Pie

Stew three pounds of gravy beef, with some white pepper, salt, and mace, a bundle of sweet-herbs, a few sweet almonds, onions, and carrots, till the gravy is of a good brown colour. Strain it off; let it stand till cold; and take off all the fat. Have some carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes, and celery, ready cut; boil all these together. Boil some greens by themselves, and add them to the pie when served up.

A Yorkshire Christmas Pie

Let the crust be made a good standing one; the wall and bottom must be very thick. Take a turkey and bone it, a goose, a fowl, a partridge, and a pigeon, and season all well. Take half an ounce of cloves, the same of black pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of salt, and beat them well together; let the fowls be slit down the back, and bone them; put the pigeon into the partridge, the partridge into the fowl, the fowl into the goose, and the goose into the turkey. Season all well first, and lay them in the crust; joint a hare, and cut it into pieces; season it, and lay it close on one side; on the other side woodcocks, or any other sort of game; let them also be well seasoned and laid close. Put four or five pounds of butter into the pie; cover it with a very rich paste, put it in a very hot oven, and four hours will bake it.

A bushel of flour is about the quantity required for the paste.

Pineapple, to preserve in slices

Pare the pines, and cut them in slices of about the same thickness as you would apples for fritters. Take the weight of the fruit in the best sugar; sift it very fine, and put a layer of sugar, then a layer of pineapple; let it stand till the sugar is entirely dissolved. Then drain off the syrup, and lay the pine in the pot in which you intend to keep it; boil the syrup, adding a little more sugar and water to make it rich; pour it, but not too hot, upon the fruit. Repeat this in about ten days; look at it now and then, and, if the syrup ferments, boil it up again, skim it, and pour it warm upon the pine. The parings of the pineapple boil in the water you use for the syrup, and extract all the flavour from them.

Pineapple Chips

Pare the pineapples; pick out the thistle part: take half its weight of treble-refined sugar; part the apple in halves; slice it thin; put it in a basin, with sifted sugar between; in twelve hours the sugar will be melted. Set it over a fire, and simmer the chips till clear. The less they boil the better. Next day, heat them; scrape off the syrup; lay them in glasses, and dry them on a moderate stove or oven.

Plums, to dry green

Take green amber plums; prick them with a pin all over; make some water boiling hot, and put in the plums; be sure to have so much water as not to be made cold when the plums are put in. Cover them very close, and, when they are almost cold, set them on the fire again, but do not let them boil. Do so three or four times. When you see the thin skin cracked, put in some alum finely beaten, and keep them in a scald till they begin to green; then give them a boil closely covered. When they are green, let them stand in fresh hot water all night; next day, have ready as much clarified sugar, made into syrup, as will cover them; drain the plums, put them into the syrup, and give them two or three boils. Repeat this twice or three times, till they are very green. Let them stand in the syrup a week; then lay them out to dry in a hot stove. You may put some of them in codling jelly, and use them as a wet sweetmeat.

Green Plum Jam

Take the great white plums before they begin to turn, when they are at their full growth, and to every pound of plums allow three quarters of a pound of fine sugar. Pare and throw the plums into water, to keep their colour; let your sugar be very finely pounded; cut your plums into slices, and strew the sugar over them. You must first take them out of the water, and put them over a moderate fire, and boil them till they are clear and will jelly. You may put in a few of the stones, if you like them.

Great White Plum, to preserve

To one pound of plums put three quarters of a pound of fine sugar; dip the lumps of sugar in water just sufficient to wet it through; boil and skim it, till you think it enough. Slit the plums down the seam; put them in the syrup with the slit downward, and let them stew over the fire for a quarter of an hour. Skim them; take them off; when cold, turn them; cover them up for four or five days, turning them two or three times a day in the syrup; then put them in pots, not too many together.

Posset

Take a quart of white wine and a quart of water; boil whole spice in them; then take twelve eggs, and put away half the whites; beat them very well, and take the wine from the fire; then put your eggs, being thoroughly beaten, to the wine. Stir the whole together; then set it on a very slow fire, stirring it the whole time, till it is thick. Sweeten it with sugar, and sprinkle on it beaten spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Another way, richer

Take two quarts of cream, and boil it with whole spice; then take twelve eggs, well beaten and strained; take the cream from the fire, and stir in the eggs, and as much sugar as will sweeten it according to the taste of those who are to drink it; then a pint of wine, or more – sack, sherry, or Lisbon. Set it on the fire again, and let it stand awhile; then take a ladle, and raise it up gently from the bottom of the skillet you make it in, and break it as little as you can, and do so till you see that it is thick enough. Then put it into a basin with a ladle gently. If you do it too much or too quickly it will whey, and that is not good.

Sack Posset

To twelve eggs, beaten very much, put a pint of sack, or any other strong rich white wine. Stir them well, that they may not curd; put to them three pints of cream and half a pound of fine sugar, stirring them well together. When hot over the fire, put the posset into a basin, and set it over a boiling pot of water until it is like a custard; then take it off, and, when it is cool enough to eat, serve it with beaten spice, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, strewed over it very thick.

Sack Posset, without milk

Take thirteen eggs; beat them very well, and, while they are beating, take a quart of sack, half a pound of fine sugar, and a pint of ale, and let them boil a very little while; then put the eggs to them, and stir them till they are hot. Take it from the fire, and keep it stirring awhile; then put it into a fit basin, and cover it close with a dish. Set it over the fire again till it rises to a curd; serve it with beaten spice.

Sack Posset, or Jelly

Take three pints of good cream and three quarters of a pound of fine sugar pounded, twenty eggs, leaving out eight of the whites; beat them very well and light. Add to them rather more than a pint of sack; beat them again well; then set it on a stove; make it so hot that you can just endure your finger at the bottom of the pan, and not hotter; stir it all one way; put the cream on the fire just to boil up, and be ready at the time the sack is so. Boil in it a blade of mace, and put it boiling hot to the eggs and sack, which is to be only scalding hot. When the cream is put in, just stir it round twice; take it off the fire; cover it up close when it is put into the mould or dish you intend it for, and it will jelly. Pour the cream to the eggs, holding it as high from them as possible.

Puffs

Blanch a pound of almonds, and beat them with orange-flower water, or rose-water; boil a pound of sugar to a candy; put in the almonds, and stir them over the fire till they are stiff. Keep them stirred till cold; then beat them in a mortar for a quarter of an hour. Add a pound of sugar, and make it into a paste, with the whites of three eggs beaten to a froth, more or less, as you may judge necessary. Bake the puffs in a cool oven.

Cheese Puffs

Scald green gooseberries, and pulp them through a colander. To six spoonfuls of this pulp add half a pound of butter beaten to a cream, half a pound of finely pounded and sifted sugar, put to the butter by degrees, ten eggs, half the whites, a little grated lemon-peel, and a little brandy or sack. Beat all these ingredients as light as possible, and bake in a thin crust.

Chocolate Puffs

Take a pound of single-refined sugar, finely sifted, and grate as much chocolate as will colour it; add an ounce of beaten almonds; mix them well together; wet it with the froth of whites of eggs, and bake it.

German Puffs

Take four spoonfuls of fine flour, four eggs, a pint of cream, four ounces of melted butter, and a very little salt; stir and beat them well together, and add some grated nutmeg. Bake them in small cups: a quarter of an hour will be quite sufficient: and the oven should be so quick as to brown both top and bottom. If well baked, they will be more than as large again. For sauce – melted butter, sack, and sugar. The above quantity will make fourteen puffs.

Spanish Puffs

Take one pint of skim milk, and thicken it with flour; boil it very well till it is tough as paste, then let it cool, put it into a mortar, and beat it very well. Put in three eggs, and beat it again, then three eggs more, keeping out one white. Put in some grated nutmeg and a little salt. Have your pan over the fire, with some good lard; drop the paste in; fry the puffs a light brown, and strew sugar over them when you send them up.

Pudding

Boil one pint of milk; beat up the yolks of five eggs in a basin with a little sugar, and pour the milk upon them, stirring it all the time. Prepare your mould by putting into it sifted sugar sufficient to cover it; melt it on the stove, and, when dissolved, take care that the syrup covers the whole mould. The flavour is improved by grating into the sugar a little lemon-peel. Pour the pudding into your mould, and place it in a vessel of boiling water; it must boil two hours; it may then be turned out, and eaten hot or cold.

Another way

Grate a penny loaf, and put to it a handful of currants, a little clarified butter, the yolk of an egg, a little nutmeg and salt; mix all together, and make it into little balls. Boil them half an hour. Serve with wine sauce.

A good Pudding

Take a pint of cream, and six eggs, leaving out two of the whites. Beat up the eggs well, and put them to the cream or milk, with two or three spoonfuls of flour, and a little nutmeg and sugar, if you please.

A very good Pudding

Scald some green gooseberries, and pulp them through a colander; to six spoonfuls of this pulp add half a pound of butter beaten to a cream, half a pound of finely beaten and sifted sugar, put to the butter by degrees, ten eggs, half the whites, a little grated lemon-peel, a little brandy or sack: beat all these ingredients as light as possible; bake in a thin crust.

An excellent Pudding

Cut French rolls in thin slices; boil a pint of milk, and poor over them. Cover it with a plate and let it cool; then beat it quite fine. Add six ounces of suet chopped fine, a quarter of a pound of currants, three eggs beat up, half a glass of brandy, and some moist sugar. Bake it full two hours.

A plain Pudding

Three spoonfuls of flour, a pint of new milk, three eggs, a very little salt. Boil it for half an hour, in a small basin.

A scalded Pudding

Take four spoonfuls of flour, and pour on it one pint of boiling milk. When cold, add four eggs, and boil it one hour.

A sweet Pudding

Half a pound of ratafia, half a pint of boiling milk, more if required, stir it with a fork; three eggs, leaving out one white. Butter the basin, or dish, and stick jar-raisins about the butter as close as you please; then pour in the pudding and bake it.

All Three Pudding

Chopped apples, currants, suet finely chopped, sugar and bread crumb, three ounces of each, three eggs, but only two of the whites; put all into a well floured bag, and boil it well two hours. Serve it with wine sauce.

Almond Pudding. No. 1

Blanch half a pound of sweet almonds, with four bitter ones; pound them in a marble mortar, with two spoonfuls of orange-flower water, and two spoonfuls of rose-water; mix in four grated Naples biscuits, and half a pound of melted butter. Beat eight eggs, and mix them with a pint of cream boiled; grate in half a nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix all well together, and bake it with a paste at the bottom of the dish.

Almond Pudding. No. 2

Take a pound of almonds, ground very small with a little rose-water and sugar, a pound of Naples biscuits finely grated, the marrow of six bones broken into small pieces – if you have not marrow enough, put in beef suet finely shred – a quarter of a pound of orange-peel, a quarter of citron-peel, cut in thin slices, and some mace. Take twenty eggs, only half as many whites; mix all these well together. Boil some cream, let it stand till it is almost cold; then put in as much as will make your pudding tolerably thick. You may put in a very few caraway seeds and a little ambergris, if you like.

Almond Pudding. No. 3

Two small wine glasses of rose-water, one ounce of isinglass, twelve bitter almonds, blanched and shred; let it stand by the fire till the isinglass is dissolved; then put a pint of cream, and the yolks of six eggs, and sweeten to the taste. Set it on the fire till it boils; strain it through a sieve; stir it till nearly cold; then pour it into a mould wetted with rose-water.

Amber Pudding

Half a pound of brown sugar, the same of butter, beat up as a cake, till it becomes a fine cream, six eggs very well beaten, and sweetmeats, if agreeable; mix all together. Three quarters of an hour will bake it; add a little brandy, and lay puff paste round the dish.

Princess Amelia’s Pudding

Pare eight or ten fair large apples, cut them into thin slices, and stew them gently in a very little water till tender; then take of white bread grated the quantity of half a threepenny loaf, six yolks and four whites of eggs beat very light, half a pint of cream, one large spoonful of sack or brandy, four spoonfuls of clarified butter; mix these all well together, and beat them very light. Sweeten to your taste, and bake in tea-cups: a little baking is sufficient. When baked, take them out of the cups, and serve them with sack, sugar, and melted butter, for sauce.

Apple Mignon

Pare and core golden pippins without breaking the apple; lay them in the dish in which they are to be baked. Take of rice boiled tender in milk the quantity you judge sufficient; add to it half a pint of thick cream, with the yolks of five eggs; sweeten it to your taste, and grate in a little nutmeg; pour it over the apples in the dish; set it in a gentle oven. Three quarters of an hour will bake it. Glaze it over with sugar.

Apple Pudding. No. 1

Coddle six large codlings till they are very soft over a slow fire to prevent their bursting. Rub the pulp through a sieve. Put six eggs, leaving out two whites, six ounces of butter beaten well, three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar pounded fine, the juice of two lemons, two ounces of candied orange and lemon-peel, and the peel of one lemon shred very fine. You must not put in the peel till it is going to the oven. Put puff paste round the dish; sift over a little sugar; an hour will bake it.

Apple Pudding. No. 2

Prepare apples as for sauce; when cold, beat in two whole eggs, a little nutmeg, bitter almonds pounded fine, and sugar, with orange or lemon peel, and a little juice of either. Bake in a paste.

Apple Pudding. No. 3

Take six apples; stew them in as little water as you can; take out the pulped part; add to it four eggs, and not quite half a pound of butter; sweeten it to your taste. Let your paste be good, and put it in a gentle oven.

Arrow-root Pudding

Boil a pint of milk with eight bitter almonds pounded, a piece of cinnamon, and lemon-peel, for some time; then take a large table-spoonful of arrow-root, and mix it with cold milk. Mix this afterwards with the boiling milk. All these must become cold before you put in the eggs; then beat together three eggs, a little nutmeg and sugar, and the arrow-root, and strain through a sieve. Butter your mould, and boil the pudding half an hour. The mould must be quite full; serve with wine sauce, butter a paper to put over it, and then tie over a cloth.

Pearl Barley Pudding

Boil three table-spoonfuls of pearl barley in a pint and a half of new milk, with a few bitter almonds, and a little sugar, for three hours. Strain it; when cold add two eggs; put some paste round the dish, and bake it.