There are two different sorts of paste for puddings, one for meat and the other for fruit.

For Meat Pudding

To one pound of flour add eight ounces of finely chopped beef-suet cut from the kidney. Mix it with water but do not wet it too much: after mixing it well together with a wooden spoon, roll out the paste and put in the meat; then close it; boil it in a cloth which has been floured, tie it up, but leave sufficient room to permit the swelling of the paste.

Veal-suet may also be used, but that of beef is better; or a mixture of both is not bad. If puddings be boiled in shapes, the crust is not near so light.

For Fruit Puddings the paste should be made as for a pie - using butter instead of suet; but. unless for the sake of appearance, they should never be boiled in shapes. A very little salt added to all paste much improves it.

Sweet Pudding

Very good puddings may be made without eggs; but they should have very little liquid added to them, and must boil longer than puddings with eggs. A spoonful of yeast will* serve instead of two eggs, and a pinch of soda will make it still lighter. Two large spoonfuls of snow will supply the place of one egg, and make a pudding equally good. This is a useful piece of information, as snow generally falls in the season when eggs are dear. The sooner it is used after it falls the better; but it may be taken up from a clean spot, and kept in a cool place some hours, without losing its good qualities. Bottled malt-liquors are also a good substitute for eggs; the sooner used after the cork is drawn the better. Eggs should always be broken separately into a cup before they are thrown together, as a single bad one might occasion the loss of a great many without this precaution: the yolks and whites, beaten long and separately, make the article they are put into much lighter. They must always be strained after beating.

To avoid repetition, let it be observed that, when pudding sauce is ordered, wine, sugar, and very thick melted butter, boiled up together, is the sauce intended.

If the pudding be partly of bread, the cloth should be tied so as to allow for swelling; if of flour, rather more tight.

Basins or forms are much better in appearance than cloths for boiling puddings, but it makes them far less light.

The water should boil quickly, when the pudding is put in, and care taken that it continues to do so, or the pudding will be heavy; and it should be moved about for a minute or two, that the ingredients may not separate.

All dishes in which puddings are baked should be lined with paste an inch or two below the edge, as well as on it; the dish must be first rubbed with butter. If a pudding is to be turned out from a mould, it must be entirely lined with paste.

The ingredients of puddings should not be put into the basin or dish till the minute they go into the water or oven.

Sago, and all sorts of seeds, should lie in water an hour before they are made into puddings, and be well washed; the want of this caution causes an earthy taste.

If the butter be strong that is used in puddings, they will not taste well, whatever good things are added.

A small pinch of salt improves the flavor of all mixtures, even when the other ingredients are sweet.

"Well-made raisin or Cape wine will serve, in most cases, when wine is ordered for puddings.

As the goodness of boiled puddings greatly depends upon keeping the ingredients closely but not too compactly together, the cook should take care to have moulds and basins in readiness that will exactly hold the quantity directed.

Puddings of bread or flour are much better if all the ingredients be mixed (except the eggs) three hours before boiling or baking; and they should be well stirred just before they are put into the oven or saucepan.

Plum-puddings are best boiled in a stout cloth well floured; care should be taken that it does not burn to the bottom of the kettle; to prevent this put a plate at the bottom. When the pudding is of a large size it is best to mix all but the liquid ingredients the day before it is boiled.

When butter is ordered to be put warm into puddings, the addition of a little milk or wine will prevent its oiling.

Custard Puddings to look well should simmer only, but without stopping. If boiled in a quick or careless manner the surface will not be smooth, but have little holes like honey-comb all over it. A sheet of writing-paper, thickly buttered, should be put on the top of the mould before the lid or cloth is put on. and the pudding should stand in the mould five minutes after being lifted from the water. Many persons prefer their puddings steamed, but when this is not done they should be put into plenty of boiling water, and kept well covered.

Half an hour should be allowed for boiling a dread-pudding in a half-pint basin, and so on in proportion; but puddings made up with half a pound of suet and any other ingredients, will require two hours.