A Comprehensive Guide-Book to Natural, Hygienic and Humane Diet

180. A Fruit SaladBy the Chef of the Canton Hotel

Peaches, apricots, cherries, grapes, black and red currants, pineapples, bananas. The peaches and apricots are peeled and quartered, the cherries stoned, the bananas and pineapples cut in slices or dice. Mix, cover with powdered sugar, a glass of kirsch, and a glass of maraschino, and lay on ice until required.

181. Rich Plum Pudding

Take ½-lb. stoned raisins, ½-lb. sultanas, 2-ozs. mixed peel, ¼-lb. sugar, 4-ozs. breadcrumbs, ½-lb. chopped apples, 2-ozs. Nutter, 2-ozs. pine kernels, 6 sweet almonds, 6 Brazil nuts, ½ nutmeg, 2 teaspoons of mixed spice, 1 teaspoon of ginger, a few drops of ratafia flavouring essence, and 3 eggs. Finely chop all the fruit and the pine kernels, and put the nuts and peel through the mill. Rub the Nutter into the breadcrumbs and mix in the other ingredients and finally the eggs, one at a time (stirring well). Put into basins and boil 12 hours, then set aside till wanted. Boil them again for 2 or 3 hours before serving.

182. Sultana and Ginger Pudding

Thoroughly mix 7-ozs. breadcrumbs, 1 oz. of flour, 8-ozs. sultanas, 3-ozs. sugar, and one good teaspoonful of ground ginger. Rub in 1-oz. butter and then stir in gradually 3 gills of milk and water (mixed), and lastly put in a small teaspoonful of carbonate of soda. Stir well, pour into a buttered mould and steam for three hours.

Chopped figs, French plums or dates can be substituted for the sultanas, and thus the pudding can be made in various ways.

183. Plain Sultana Pudding

Mix in a basin 7-ozs. breadcrumbs, 1-oz. flour, 6-ozs. sultanas, 3-ozs. sugar, and 1-oz. butter. Moisten with ¾-pint of milk and water, to which has been added 1 small teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Steam for 3 hours, and serve with sweet sauce. This pudding is much appreciated by children.

184. Jellied Figs

Stew ½-lb. of figs in 1-pt. of water for 2 or 3 hours till quite tender. Dissolve ½-oz. of gelatine in ½-pt. of water over a gentle heat and strain it on to the figs after they have been cut into small pieces and the juice of half a lemon added; stir well and turn into a wetted mould. Turn out when cold and sprinkle a little ground almond or coconut over it. Serve plain or with cream.

185. Creamed Rice Moulds

Put 3-ozs. of rice into a saucepan with 1½-pts. of cold milk, bring to the boil, then stand over a gentle heat till quite tender, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning. Add vanilla, 1-oz. of sugar and ¼-pt. of cream, mix well and pour into wetted moulds. Serve garnished with raspberry or other jam.

186. Ambrosia

Pare 5 oranges, removing all the tough white skin, cut through twice and slice them. Take a cup of grated coconut and moisten with cream. Fill a glass bowl with alternate layers of orange and coconut, finish with orange and cover with a thick layer of whipped cream, sprinkle with ground almonds, and decorate with candied fruit.

187. Bread Pudding

Any piece of stale bread or cake, 3-ozs. sultanas, 3-ozs. currants, a little peel and spice, 1 egg, and sugar to taste. Soak the bread by pouring some boiling milk over it, beat it up very well, then add the fruit, etc., and bake or boil for 2 hours.

188. Semolina Moulds

Cook 3-ozs. of semolina in 1½-pts of milk for three-quarters of an hour, stirring well, flavour with sugar and vanilla or lemon essence, and pour into wetted moulds. Serve with preserve garnishing.

189. Castle Puddings

The weight of 2 eggs in butter and sugar, the weight of 3 eggs in flour and a little grated lemon rind. Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs well beaten and lemon rind. Mix well and stir in the flour, half fill the pudding moulds with the mixture and bake for 20 minutes. Serve with a jam sauce.

190. Strawberry Cream

Half-pound strawberries, 3-ozs. castor sugar, 1 gill cream, ½-oz. gelatine, 2 eggs. Mash the strawberries to a pulp with the sugar, then add the cream, the yolks of eggs, and gelatine (dissolved in a little water) and cook over a saucepan of boiling water for 15 minutes, stirring all the time. Whip the whites of egg to a stiff froth and add to the mixture and cook for a few minutes more, then pour into a buttered mould, and turn out when stiff.

191. Marmalade Pudding

Three-ozs. nut-margarine, 3-ozs. castor sugar, 2 tablespoons marmalade, 2 eggs, 6-ozs. flour. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, then add the eggs and marmalade and beat well for 10 minutes, then stir in the flour very lightly, and put in a greased basin, cover with a greased paper and steam for 2 hours. Serve with sweet sauce.

192. Small Cakes

Three-ozs. nut-margarine, 3-ozs. castor sugar, 2 eggs, 5-ozs. flour. Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs well beaten and stir the flour in lightly, mix well and put in a shallow tin and bake for 20 minutes. When cold cut in small shapes and ice.

193. Stewed Prunes à la Francaise

Put the prunes in a basin of water and leave to soak for 12 hours, then stew gently in a double saucepan in the same water (with a slice of lemon peel) until it forms into a thick juice. Serve with whipped cream or boiled rice, etc.

194. Custard Moulds

Boil 1-pt. milk with 1 tablespoonful sugar and 1 bay leaf; add ½-oz. gelatine. Stir till dissolved, and remove from the fire for a minute or two. Strain this on to 1 egg well beaten, return to pan, and stir over the fire until it thickens, but do not let it boil. Whisk well occasionally while cooling, and just before it sets pour into wetted moulds.

195. Bakewell Pudding

Line a pie dish with puff paste, and spread on it a layer of apricot jam. Put the yolks of 2 eggs into a basin with the white of 1 and beat well together. Then add 3-ozs. of sugar, 2-ozs. butter dissolved, and ½-oz. of ground almonds. Mix all well together and pour over the jam; bake half-an-hour.

196. Vanilla Creams

Dissolve ½-oz. of gelatine in 3 gills of milk, and flavour with 1-oz. of sugar and 1 teaspoonful of vanilla essence. Strain it on to ¼-pt. of cream, and when just beginning to set, whisk well and stir in lightly the white of an egg beaten till quite stiff. Turn into wetted moulds and leave till set.

197. Lemon Creams

Dissolve ½-oz. of gelatine in ½-pt. of water, with 2-ozs. of sugar and the grated rind and juice of a lemon. When nearly cold strain this on to 1 gill of milk and 1 gill of cream, whisk well and stir in lightly the stiff-beaten white of an egg. Pour into moulds and leave till set.

198. Lemon Semolina Pudding

Put three tablespoonfuls semolina in a saucepan with 1½-pts. milk. Bring to the boil, then simmer slowly till quite swollen. Set aside to cool a little, then add 2-ozs. sugar, the grated rind and half the juice of a lemon, also a well-beaten egg. Stir well and pour into a buttered pie-dish, and bake slowly till set. Turn out and garnish with jam.

199. Raspberry Pudding

Stew 1-lb. of raspberries (or more) with some sugar. Line a basin with some slices of bread (without crust). Pour in half the fruit, cover with a layer of bread, then add the remainder of the raspberries and another layer of bread. Press down with a saucer and place a weight on it. Turn out and serve when cold with cream or Plasmon snow-cream.

200. Rice à la Reine

Cook 3-ozs. rice in 1-qt. milk for 2 or 3 hours, sweeten and flavour to taste. When cooled a little add ½-oz. gelatine dissolved in ½-a-teacup of milk and strained, and 1 gill of cream; stir well and pour into a wetted mould.

201. Apple Custard

Place some biscuit crumbs in a buttered pie dish. Nearly fill it with stewed apples. Beat an egg with ¼-pt. of milk and pour over the apples. Place some small ratafia biscuits on the top and some grated nutmeg. Bake in a moderate oven.

202. Sultana Custard Pudding

To 2-ozs. of Robinson's Patent Barley, add 1-oz. of sifted sugar, ½-oz. of butter, a pinch of salt, and nearly 1-pt. of milk; mix thoroughly and stir it over the fire till it boils; then add a yolks of eggs, 3-ozs. sultanas, and bake the pudding in a buttered pie-dish.

203. Swiss Roll

Take 3-ozs. castor sugar and 1 teacupful flour, and add to them 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Separate the yolks from the whites of 2 eggs, and beat the latter till stiff. Add 1 tablespoon of milk to the yolks, and work into the flour and sugar, then add the stiffly beaten whites. Beat all well with a wooden spoon. Pour on to a greased Yorkshire pudding tin, and bake in a very hot oven for seven minutes. Then turn on to a piece of kitchen paper dredged with castor sugar. Spread quickly with jam (which has been thoroughly beaten) and roll with the paper. Place on a sieve till cool.

204. Gateau aux Fruits

Take half a tinned pineapple, 3 bananas, ¼-lb. grapes, 4 Tangarine oranges, and the juice of a lemon. Cut up the fruit into dice, sprinkle with sugar and pour over them half the pineapple syrup, the lemon juice, and a tablespoonful of maraschino, and leave for an hour to soak. Split five stale sponge cakes open, cut each half into three fingers and spread each rather thickly with apricot jam. Place four of these strips on a glass dish so as to form a square, and put four more across the corners so as to form a diamond in it, and so on, square and diamond alternately. Fill the middle of the tower thus formed with the macedoine of fruits, piling them high above the top, and pour the rest of the pineapple syrup over the cake. Whip half a pint of cream stiffly, and put it (or Coconut Cream, 224) on in rough spoonfuls all over the tower.

205. Poached Apricots

Upon some slices of sponge cake, place half an apricot (round side uppermost). Whip some white of egg to a snow frost with castor sugar. Place this round the apricot so as to make it resemble a poached egg. Whipped cream is preferable to many persons if obtainable. The sponge should be slightly moistened with the apricot juice.

206. Lemon Sponge

Dissolve ½-oz. of leaf gelatine in ½-pt. of water and add the rind of a lemon and 1-oz. castor sugar. Strain the juice of a lemon on to the white of an egg, then strain the dissolved gelatine on to it. Whisk all together till it makes quite a stiff froth. Turn into a mould, and take out when set.

207. Plasmon Snow-Cream

Put 3 heaped teaspoonfuls (1-¾-ozs.) of Plasmon into a bowl. From ½-pt. of tepid water take 4 tablespoons and mix it with the powder, rubbing it into a paste. Slowly add the remainder of the water; stir thoroughly, then place in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Stand aside to get quite cold. When required for use, whisk it into a thick snow-cream. This makes a splendid addition to stewed fruit (peaches, &c.), cocoa, coffee, or puddings. It is most nutritious also. The proportions must be correct to get the cream firm as well as light. If it is frothy there is too much water; if sticky and heavy there is not sufficient water.

208. Rice and Sultana Padding

To an ordinary rice pudding add 4-ozs. of sultanas. Bake in a slow oven for several hours, with plenty of milk. When cooked it should be brown in colour and quite moist. It is easily digested and makes a good supper dish.

209. Plain Boiled Pudding

Take 2-ozs. of Nutter, 4-ozs. each of white and brown flour, and 4-ozs. of breadcrumbs. Add water gradually, mixing into a dry dough, and boil in a cloth for an hour and a half.

210. Apple Fritters

Peel and quarter, or finely mince, some good cooking apples, dip in batter made as follows: – 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 egg well beaten, enough milk to make it the consistency of cream. Fry crisp, and serve.

211. Empress Pudding

Take 1-pt. of breadcrumbs, 1-qt. of new milk, the yolks of 4 eggs (well beaten), the grated rind of a lemon, and 3-ozs. of butter; mix and bake about half an hour. When cold, spread some raspberry or plum jam over the pudding, then whip the whites of the eggs with a teacup of sifted sugar and the juice of a lemon, and lay this over the jam. Make slightly brown in the oven.

212. Orange Jelly

Wipe and thickly peel 5 oranges and 2 lemons, take 1-pt. of cold water, ½-lb. white sugar, and 1½-ozs. cornflour. Place the peel and water in a pan and simmer for 20 minutes with the sugar; strain the resulting juice. Place the cornflour in a basin and squeeze the juice of the fruit through a strainer on to it, then pour the boiling syrup on to this mixture; stir well, return to saucepan, and boil for 6 minutes. Pour out into cold wet mould. Garnish with orange.

213. Ginger Pudding

Take 6-ozs. of brown breadcrumbs (finely grated), 3-ozs. of butter, a saltspoonful of ground ginger, the juice of a lemon, and 4-ozs. of castor sugar. Stir these in a stewpan until the butter is melted. Chop 4-ozs. of preserved ginger and add to the mixture with the yolks of 2 eggs. Beat well together and set aside to cool. Whisk the whites of the eggs and stir into the pudding quickly. Fill a buttered basin with it, cover with a saucer (leaving room to swell) and steam for 3 hours. Serve with cream or fruit sauce (177).

214. Baked Coconut Custard

Beat 3 eggs and mix with 1½-pts. of milk, add 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut, and a tablespoonful of sugar. Bake in a slow oven, and add some grated nutmeg.

215. Semolina Pudding

Boil a teacupful of semolina for 15 minutes in 2½ pts. of milk, stirring all the time. Flavour with vanilla. Turn out into a buttered pie dish, garnish with ratafia biscuits and bake in a moderate oven.

216. Strawberry Cream Ice

Take 1½-lbs. of ripe strawberries, 6-ozs. of castor sugar, ½-lb. of cream and a teacupful of milk. Put the strawberries through a sieve or strainer, mix the whole well together, and freeze.

Raspberry ice can be made in a simpler form by reducing the cream by one-half and by adding another teacupful of milk in which a dessertspoonful of cornflour has been boiled.

217. Vanilla Ice

Take 1 pint of milk, 1 gill of cream, the yolks of 3 eggs, and 3-ozs. of castor sugar. After heating the milk, mix ½-oz. of ground rice with a little cold milk and put it in the saucepan. Pour in the beaten yolks and cream, and the sugar; stir and simmer until the custard thickens, strain and set aside to cool; add vanilla to taste, and stir well; place in the freezing machine. To make this ice taste richer and more delicate, reduce the milk and increase the cream.

218. Lemon Cheese-Cakes

Put in a saucepan ¼-lb. butter, 1-lb. lump sugar, 6 eggs (leaving out 2 whites), 2 grated lemon rinds, and the juice of 3 lemons. Simmer until all is dissolved (gently stirring), and add a few dry biscuit crumbs. Serve on crisp pastry.

219. Lemon Jelly

Dissolve 1-oz. of isinglass in 1-¼-pts. of water. Add the grated peel of 2 lemons and ½-lb. of lump sugar. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring continually. Take off fire and add the juice of 1½ lemons. Strain and cool. Whisk well before turning into moulds.

220. Fruitarian Mincemeat

Take 7-ozs. Nutter, 12-ozs. raisins, 6-ozs. sultanas, 6-ozs. currants, ¼-lb. Demerara sugar, 1½-lbs. apples, ¼-lb. mixed candied peel, the rind and juice of 1 lemon, 6 almonds, 6 Brazil nuts, a few drops ratafia flavouring essence, and 3 teaspoons of mixed spice. Stone the rasins, finely chop all the fruit, and put the nuts and almonds through the nut mill. Now melt the Nutter in a saucepan, and gradually add all the other ingredients, stirring well, leave standing over night, and put in pots next morning. Cover closely, and this will keep a long time.

221. Short Pastry

Rub ½-lb. Nutter into 1-lb. flour and 2-ozs. Artox wholemeal, mix as dry as possible with water, and it is ready to make excellent biscuits, short cakes, or tart crusts. If whiter pastry is required use white flour.

222. Puff Pastry

Ingredients: – 1-lb. flour, ¾-lb. Nutter, cold water. Method: – Rub ¼-lb. Nutter into the flour, mix to a rough dough with cold water, stand in a cool place for ten minutes. Roll out and "spot" over with ¼-lb. Nutter broken in small pieces; fold over, roll out and stand 10 minutes. Roll out again and spot over with the remaining ¼-lb. Nutter; fold over and roll out, and after standing 10 minutes it is ready for use.

223. Chestnut Cream

Take from 20 to 30 chestnuts, remove the shells and skins. Put the chestnuts in a saucepan with 2 teacups full of water, sugar to taste, the juice of 1 lemon, and simmer slowly until they are quite soft. Pass through a sieve or potato masher, and when cold pile in a dish, and cover with whipped cream.

224. Coconut Cream

A nice addition to Trifles, Fruit Salads, etc., can be made by using Mapleton's Coconut Cream. Mix 2 ozs. of the cream with 1/8-pt. of boiling water; when softened beat for a minute or so with the egg-beater, then pour on a dish. In 2 hours it will have set and can be used to fill sponge sandwiches, or eaten with stewed fruit. To form a thick cream (less solid) beat up 2½ to 3 ozs. Coconut Cream with ¼-pt. of hot water.

THE BREAD PROBLEM

Pure wholemeal bread, so made as to be light and well baked, is a virtual necessity for every abstainer from flesh-food. Food-Reform presents many difficulties, and every dietetic reformer has to grapple with them. Insufficient knowledge, defective sources of provision, digestive troubles, inherited organic weakness, and unfavourable environment, are only a few of these. I want, therefore to emphasize the importance of a perfect bread supply, which I am convinced is the key to the problem so far as many are concerned.

It is not sufficient merely to pray for "our daily bread," and then to leave its provision entirely to Providence. We need also to think and to take some personal trouble about it – remembering that Heaven helps those who help themselves. Yet this is what very few people do. One may safely affirm that four persons out of every five are content to use defective and innutritious bread every day of their lives. Yet this should be made a real staff of life.

The whole grain of wheat, if of good quality, contains nearly all that is needful for the perfect nutrition of the body. With the addition of a small amount of fat (easily found in nut or dairy butter, cheese or oil), and of grape sugar and purifying acids (obtainable in fruits), pure wheatmeal, if properly ground in stone mills, and well made into delicious home-baked bread, enables one to be almost independent of other foods, and therefore almost ensures one against a breakdown in health if there is difficulty in obtaining a varied and well proportioned dietary from other sources.

Instead of securing and using bread such as this, the majority of the community complacently eat white bread – emasculated, robbed of its gluten (which is equivalent to albumen) and of the phosphates and mineral salts that are stored in the inner part of the husk of the grain. It is composed almost entirely of starch, with the addition of such adulterants as the baker or miller feels inclined to introduce for commercial reasons, and is not conducive to the proper operation of the digestive and eliminative organs.

It is difficult for bakers or the public to buy really good wholemeal. The meal that is on the markets often consists of cheap roller-milled flour with some sweepings of bran or seconds thrown in. And even if the entire grain is supplied, the outer cuticle of the wheat, when rolled (in the modern steel-roller mills that for reasons of economy have superseded the good old-fashioned stone grinding mills), instead of being so reduced as to be capable of complete digestion, is left with rough edges called spiculae, which irritate the digestive tract, cause relaxation, and arouse prejudice against the 'brown' loaf. Such wholemeal cannot be perfectly assimilated because the bran is not properly broken up, and, in addition to this fact, the cerealine, which acts like diastase in the conversion of starch into sugar, is not liberated and rendered available as an aid to digestion.

That the distasteful and often indigestible brown or wholemeal bread (so-called) usually sold by bakers is either defective or adulterated, can easily be proven by anyone. Let any reader procure some stone-milled entire wheatmeal that is guaranteed pure (I use the 'Artox' and 'Ixion' brands myself, because I believe them to be of genuine quality and properly stone-ground); then make some thin loaves as described in the following recipe. The result, if the bread is skilfully made, will be a delicious and nutritive loaf of the farmhouse type with a sweet nutty flavour. Instead of quickly getting 'stale,' such a loaf is enjoyable when four days old, and it only needs to be compared with ordinary bakers' bread to reveal the fact that it is an entirely different article of food. Its sustaining power is wonderful, and it proves an effectual preventive of starved nerves as well as other ailments.

225. How to make Wholemeal Bread

The yeast must be quite fresh, and the bread should be raised in separate tins in a warm place or cupboard; the oven must be hot at first, but the heat should be much reduced after 10 minutes. Mix 6-lbs. of wholemeal with 1-lb. of household flour. Then mix 3-ozs. of fresh yeast with a tablespoon of treacle, adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil when it is quite dissolved. Put this into the flour with about 2-pts. of lukewarm water. Mix it with a wooden spoon till it does not stick. Knead for 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary but keeping the dough firm and spongy. Put it into flat baking tins (well greased) about 2½ inches deep, covering the tins to the depth of about 1 inch only. Let it rise for 1 hour, or till it reaches the tops of the tins. Then bake first in a quick oven, and afterwards in a slower. A gas oven is most reliable for baking bread, as the heat is more easily regulated. The bread should be a rich dark golden brown when well baked.

226. White Bread

Make as Recipe 225, but substitute household flour for wholemeal. The shape and size of the loaves should be changed occasionally. Loaves baked in small tins are often lighter than bread made into large loaves.

227. Plain Currant Bread and Buns

To 2-lbs. of good wholemeal or white flour add a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, and ½-lb. of currants or sultanas; also rub in 2-ozs. of olive oil or nut-margarine. Mix 1-oz. of yeast with a little golden syrup and add lukewarm water. Stir this into the flour, and add sufficient warm water to make a nice dough. Shape into loaves or little buns, set to rise for 1 hour or longer, then bake in a quick oven and brush with egg and milk.

228. Dinner Rolls

Delicious dinner rolls can be made as follows: – Take 1-lb. of white flour, 1-lb. of wholemeal, 3-ozs. butter, and 1-oz. of yeast. Mix the yeast with a dessertspoonful of treacle, ¾-pt. of milk and water. Rub the butter into the flour, and put in the yeast to rise. Knead, form into small rolls, raise for half-an-hour, bake in a quick oven.

229. Sultana Cake

Sift into ½-lb. of flour 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Grate the rind of a lemon on to an egg and beat it well. Cream together 3-ozs. nut-margarine and 3-ozs. sugar; add the egg, beating still, then stir in lightly the flour and 3-ozs. sultanas; add milk to make a soft dough. Pour into a well-buttered cake tin, put in a hot oven, and bake for about half-an-hour, reducing the temperature considerably.

230. Sultana Rice Cake

Put 3-ozs. of Nut-margarine in a warm oven. Grate the rind of a lemon on to an egg and 3-ozs. of castor sugar, beat well, then add the warmed Nutter and beat again till it is creamy. Now sift together 5-ozs. of ground rice, 3-ozs. of flour and 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Beat this gently into the mixture, add 4-ozs. sultanas and enough milk to make a proper consistency. Put in a hot oven, gradually reducing the temperature, and bake for about ¾ of an hour.

231. Cheese Straws

Mix 6-ozs. flour and 6-ozs. grated cheese well together, then rub in 2-ozs. butter, add a little cayenne pepper and salt, bind with the yolk of an egg, roll out about a quarter of a inch thick, cut into long narrow fingers, and bake in a sharp oven for 10 minutes.

232. Sultana Bun Cakes

Sift together 8-ozs. of flour, 3-ozs. Paisley flour and 2-ozs. of sugar; rub in 4-ozs. olive oil, and add 4-ozs. of sultanas. Mix all with a well beaten egg and a little milk, roll out, shape with a cutter and bake at once in a quick oven.

SUMMER AND WINTER DRINKS

The following recipes and suggestions concerning a few beverages which can be used as substitutes for more stimulating drinks may prove useful to many readers: —

233. Barley Water

Mix a tablespoonful of Pearl Barley with a pint of water and boil for half-an-hour. Flavour with lemon, cinnamon or sugar, according to taste, and allow the mixture to cool. For invalids requiring nutriment a larger quantity of barley should be used.