English Plum Pudding

This recipe was awarded the two-guinea prize lately offered by the Queen, for which there were five hundred competitors. The following will make a pudding weighing six pounds.

One pound of raisins.

One pound of suet.

Three-quarters pound of stale bread-crumbs.

One-quarter pound of brown sugar.

One lemon (rind only).

One-half pound orange peel (candied).

One-quarter pound of flour.

One pound of currants.

One-half of a nutmeg grated.

Five eggs.

One-half pint of brandy.

Chop the suet fine, mince the orange peel, clean, wash and dry the currants, stone the raisins, and mix all the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs, add to them the brandy; pour this liquid over the dry mixture, and mix thoroughly. Pack the pudding into well greased pudding-moulds, and boil six hours as soon as made, and six hours when wanted for use. (For boiling pudding, see page 456.) Serve with

Brandy Sauce

Four table-spoonfuls of butter. Two eggs (whites only). One cupful of powdered sugar. Four table-spoonfuls of brandy. Four table-spoonfuls of boiling water.

Rub the butter to a cream, gradually add the sugar, and beat until white and light. Then add the whites one at a time, beating all the while. When ready to serve, add the brandy and boiling water, set the bowl containing the sauce in a basin of hot water over the fire, stir until light and creamy, and serve.

Bread Pudding

This pudding is served hot ; and the following proportions are sufficient for seven persons.

One pint of stale bread.

One quart of milk.

Three table-spoonfuls of sugar.

Two eggs.

One tea-spoonful of salt.

Place the bread in the milk, and after it has soaked two hours, mash it very fine. Beat the eggs light, and add to them the sugar and salt. When well mixed, stir this into the bread and milk, pour the whole into an earthenware baking-dish, and bake three-quarters of an hour in a rather slow oven. Serve with

Two eggs (whites and one yolk). One-half cupful of granulated sugar. Three table-spoonfuls of milk. One tea-spoonful of vanilla.

Separate the yolks from the whites, beat the latter to a stiff froth, and add the sugar, stirring it in vigorously. Beat one of the yolks well, stir it thoroughly into the milk, add the vanilla, and place the mixture in the sauce-boat. Heap the beaten whites on top, and stir them in just before serving and after the sauce is on the table. The other yolk is not required in the sauce.

Cherry Pudding

This is a large recipe, two-thirds being sufficient for a family of six.

Three eggs.

Two quarts of cherries.

One tea-spoonful of salt.

Two tea-spoonfuls of baking-powder.

One and one-half pint of stale bread-crumbs.

One pint of flour.

One pint of milk.

One table-spoonful of sugar.

One-quarter of a nutmeg.

Soak the bread in the milk for one hour. Mix the sugar, salt, baking-powder, flour and nutmeg together, sifting all through a sieve. Mash the bread in the milk, stir into it the flour mixture, mix well, add the eggs, well beaten, and lastly put in the cherries, which may be stoned or not, as preferred. This pudding may be steamed or boiled. If to be steamed, butter the pudding-tin thoroughly, turn into it the mixture, allowing space for the pudding to increase one-third in size, and steam two hours and a-half. If to be boiled, dip the pudding bag in boiling water, spread it out, dredge it well on the inside with flour, pour in the mixture, and tie it up securely. Have a tin plate at the bottom of a kettle that is half full of boiling water. Place the pudding in this kettle, and boil it constantly for four hours, replenishing the water as needed from the boiling tea-kettle. When done, lift the pudding out, plunge it into cold water, remove it immediately and turn it out upon a platter. Serve with a sauce made the same as strawberry sauce

(see page 436), substituting for the berries one cupful of cherries that have been slightly stewed.