Stewed Pears

Cut some pears lengthwise in halves and remove the cores. Place them in a stewpan the cut side upwards; put in half a pound of sugar, pour over them one gill of red wine and sufficient cold water to cover. Add a few cloves and the thinly-pared rind of a lemon and stew them gently at the side of the fire. When tender, arrange the pears on a dish, strain their syrup through a fine hair-sieve over them, and serve.

Stewed Pears And Rice

Peel and cut four large pears in halves, put them in a lined pan with half a pound of powdered sugar and one pint of claret, and let them boil slowly till tender. Wash four ounces of rice, and boil it in milk, sweetening to taste. Turn the rice on a hot dish, drain the pears, arrange them on it. Reduce the cooking liquor of the pears to half its original quantity, then pour it over the pears, and serve either hot or cold.

Stewed Plums

Place in a saucepan with a pint of cold water eighteen to twenty ripe peeled plums cut into halves and stoned, and add half a pound of granulated sugar; put the pan on the stove, and when boiling skim thoroughly and cook for five minutes, stirring gradually from the bottom to avoid mashing the fruit. Take the pan from the fire, and add at once a gill of red curacoa, mixing well for about half a minute; pour the fruit into a bowl, let it cool, and serve on a dish.

Stewed Pomegranates

Cut into halves about four pomegranates and take out all of the grains, placing the small ones in a cloth and pressing out all of the juice into a saucepan, mix in with it an equal quantity of water, and about four ounces of loaf-sugar, stirring continually over a slow fire until it has become quite thick, and then remove from the fire to cool; arrange the pomegranates in a dish and pour over the syrup, sprinkling in a few drops of essence of orange-water, put in a few small pieces of ice, and serve,

Stewed Prunes

Wash thoroughly a pound of prunes in luke warm water, and then put them into a saucepan with a pint of cold water in which half a pound of sugar has been dissolved, and add the juice and the thin rind of a lemon. Set the saucepan at the side of the fire and simmer gently for an hour, by which time the fruit should be tender enough to mash readily. Remove the prunes and drain them; then put the saucepan with the syrup in it over the fire, and boil it to the degree at which it is on the point of resolving itself into sugar. Put the prunes in a shallow dish, pour the syrup over them, shaking them until they are well covered, but using proper care not to break them. Let them stay in the syrup for twelve hours, and then pile them into a glass dish, and serve.

Stewed Quinces

Peel and core a dozen ripe quinces, cut them into quarters and put them into a saucepan with one pint of cold water, and one-half pound of granulated sugar. Put the pan on the stove, and when the contents boil skim well, and cook for fifteen minutes, stirring gently from the bottom to avoid mashing the fruit. Take it from the fire, and immediately add one gill of maraschino; stir lightly again, pour the preparation into a bowl to cool, and serve on a dish.

Stewed Rhubarb

Take some thick stalks of rhubarb, cut them into pieces about one and one-half inches long, and plunge them into a vessel of fast-boiling water. At the end of three minutes' time, when they should be tender, drain off the water, and serve the rhubarb with a liberal sprinkling of white sifted sugar on it.