Custard

1 ½ pints of rich milk. 1 large cupful sugar".

4 egg yolks.

Boil until it thickens. When perfectly cold pour over the apples. They must be stiff to prevent rising in the custard. Lastly, whip ½ pint of rich cream perfectly light and lay over all. Can be made without the cream. Delicious either way.

Plain Boiled Custard

Boil 1 pint of new milk; thicken with 1 tablespoonful flour, rubbed smooth with a little cold milk kept back for the purpose. Let cool partly, add 1 egg well-beaten, sweeten to taste; set on the fire again and heat until it thickens, stirring constantly; do not let it boil. Flavor with lemon, almond or vanilla. Stick cinnamon or broken nutmeg may be boiled in the milk and removed before the thickening is added.

Boiled Custard

4 eggs.

1 quart sweet milk.

3 tablespoonfuls sugar. Flavor (see above).

Three or four peach leaves boiled in the milk before the eggs are added is a very delicate flavor. Cool the milk before adding the eggs. Boil in a double boiler or a tin pail set in a kettle of boiling water, stirring constantly. If wished richer, 5 or 6 eggs may be used to 1 quart of milk.

Baked Custard

1 quart of milk.

A pinch of salt.

Sweeten and flavor to taste.

4 eggs.

Boil the milk; when cool add the beaten eggs, salt and flavoring. Bake in a pudding dish. Take especial care not to cook too much or it will whey. To test, sink a spoon in the middle: if the eggs are hard and no whey rises to the surface it is done. Serve cold. If wished richer, 5 or 6 eggs may be used to a quart of milk. If wished very nice this custard may be baked in a pudding dish lined with rich puff paste.

Cup Custards

Make the custard as above. Butter some custard cups and fill nearly full; set them in a dripping-pan and fill it nearly to the top of the cups with boiling water; set in a hot oven for one-half hour. Serve the cups on a custard stand or throw a handsome napkin over a large dish or tray and arrange the cups on it. Serve with ripe fruit and sugar or with preserves, jelly or marmalade. Cup custards may be set in a steamer and steamed.

Rennet Custard

Take a piece of rennet l½ inches long or a dessert-spoonful of the spirits in which rennet has been kept, for 1 quart of milk. Flavor with vanilla, lemon or almond and sweeten with 1 tablespoonful of sugar. Cover and set in a warm place near the fire. If in an hour's time there are no signs of thickening add more rennet. When it is firm like blanc-mange, and before the curd separates from the whey, remove the rennet, unless the liquid form has been used, and set the custard in a cool place or on ice until it is served. Powdered sugar or cream should be sent up with the custard.

Home-made Rennet is the best for use. Procure a calf's stomach from the meat market, having it first thoroughly scoured inside and out with salt. Tack it upon a frame and dry in the sun a day or two. Cut in squares, put in a bottle and cover with alcohol or pack in salt, in which case the rennet when used must first be soaked half an hour in water and washed well. Tie the square of rennet to a string for convenience in removing from the curd. The dried rennet may sometimes be bought at the drug-gists. Rennet custard is an economical, delightful and easily prepared dish.