Cornflour Meringue

Ingredients

1 quart of milk, 4 good teaspoonfuls of cornflour, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls of pounded white sugar, 1 tablespoonful of jelly or jam, flavouring of vanilla or lemon.

Method

Heat the milk to boiling, and pour it on the cornflour, which should be previously mixed with a little cold milk; boil fifteen minutes, stirring all the time. Remove from the fire, and while still hot add gradually the yolks of the eggs, beaten up with the sugar and flavoured with vanilla or lemon. Pour this into a buttered pudding-dish and bake for about fifteen minutes, or until the custard begins to set. Draw it from the oven and heap lightly and quickly upon it a meringue made of the whites of the eggs, whipped to a stiff froth with the jelly or jam, which must be added gradually. Return it to the oven to brown slightly, and serve either hot cold. Use currant jelly for the meringue if the costard is flavoured with vanilla, and strawberry or other sweet jam if lemon is used.

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

This may be made in the same way as the tarts, only substituting a pie-dish for the tart-tins, using a little more rhubarb and all the juice. The red rhubarb is the nicest for both these recipes.

Rice Meringue

Ingredients

4 oz. Carolina rice, 1 1/4 pints of milk, 1 1/2 oz. butter, 3 oz. pounded white sugar, a grain or two of salt, grated rind of a small lemon, 4 large, or 5 small, eggs, whites and yolks separate, 3 tablespoonfuls of white pounded sugar for the méringue.

Method

Swell the rice in the milk over a gentle fire till it is quite soft, taking care that it does not burn; stand it aside till cool, not cold, then add the butter, sugar, salt, lemon rind, and yolks of the eggs well beaten. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pie-dish, and lay very lightly and equally over the top (with a tablespoon) a meringue made of the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, as for sponge cakes, and mix instantly with from 4 to 5 heaped tablespoonfuls of sifted white sugar. Bake for half-an-hour in a moderate oven, but do not allow the meringue to colour too deeply; it should be of a clear light brown and very crisp. Serve either hot or cold, as preferred. 2 oz. Jordan almonds, with 2 or 3 bitter ones, pounded to a paste, will improve this dish, mixed with the pud-ding itself, or with the meringue, but it is exceedingly good without them.

Note. - Half the above quantity is enough for a small pudding.

Strawberry Meringue

Ingredients

Puff paste, 1/2 pint of strawberries (good measure), sugar to taste, whites of 3 eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls of white pounded sugar for the meringue.

Method

Cut a round of puff paste as large as a dinner plate, and bake to a light brown. Draw to the oven door and lay upon it the strawberries rolled in sugar, and cover these with a méringue, made of the whipped whites and sugar. Heap it on so as to appear as rocky as possible, and bake till it is faintly tinged with yellow brown. Serve fresh but not hot.

Rhubarb Meringue Tarts

Ingredients

Pastry, 3 or 4 sticks of rhubarb, grated rind of a lemon, 2 eggs - whites and yolks separate; 1/4 lb. of moist sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of pounded white sugar, flavouring of vanilla - if liked.

Method

Peel and cut the rhubarb into pieces about an inch long, put it into a covered jar with a very little water, and set it in the oven till the juice is drawn out, then add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, the lemon rind and sugar. If the rhubarb is very juicy, some of the juice must be poured off. Line two open tart-tins with good pastry, fill with the rhubarb, and bake till of a delicate brown. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, add the sugar and flavouring, and as soon as the tarts are done pile this méringue lightly upon them, and replace in the oven to slightly colour.

Floating Island

Ingredients

1 quart of milk, 4 eggs (whites and yolks separate), 4 tablespoonfuls of sugar, flavouring of bitter almond or vanilla, 1/2 a teacup of currant jelly.

Method

Heat the milk to scalding, but do not let it boil; beat the yolks of the eggs, stir into them the sugar, and pour upon them gradually, and mixing well, a cupful of the hot milk; return it to the saucepan and boil till it begins to thicken, stirring all the time. When cool, flavour and pour into a glass dish, and just before serving heap upon it a meringue made of the whites of the eggs, whipped to a stiff froth, with the jelly beaten in, a teaspoonful at a time.

General Satisfaction

Ingredients

4 sponge cakes, 1/2 pint of milk, 3 eggs, a wineglass of sherry, sugar to taste for custard, jam, puff paste, 3 tablespoonfuls of pounded white sugar for the meringue.

Method

Line a pie-dish with puff paste, and spread over the bottom a thick layer of jam (not a very sweet kind), lay upon this the sponge cakes, which should be previously soaked in the sherry; pour over them a custard made of the milk and yolks of the eggs slightly sweetened, and bake for one hour. Make a meringue of the whites of the eggs and fine pounded sugar, heap this roughly and lightly, upon the pudding, and close the oven door for five or ten minutes to set it. It should be tinged all over with a delicate brown. Serve quite cold.

Note. - Milk may be substituted for the sherry, if desired, and if a white méringue is liked, allow the pudding to get quite cold, make the meringue only just before it is sent to table, and do not bake it.