Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/268

 KITCHEN AND COOKERV rind and strained juice of the lemon, cinnamon, and brandy or wine. Mix well tof^ether. put into clean, dry jars, cover with parchment paper. No. 3. WITHOUT BEEF Keqtitred : Two pounds of beef suet. Two and a half pounds of chopped raisins. One and a half pound of currants. Two pounds of apples. Two pounds of moist sugar. Quarter of a pound of chopped nxixed peel. Quarter of an ounce of pudding spice. Three lemons. One ounce of sweet almonds. Si. bitter almonds. 246 the all and Quarter of a pint of brandy. Quarter of a pint of port wine Chop the suet, raisins, peel, and almonds very finely, grate the apples, and pass half the currants through a mincing machine (if preferred, all the currants may be minced). Mix all these ingredients together, add the grated rinds and the strained juice of the lemons, also the sugar, spice, wine, and brandy. Mix all well together, press the mixture into perfectly dry jars, cover them with parchment paper, and keep them in a cool, dry place. A RICH CHRISTMAS CAKE Many people consider that Christmas without a rich iced cake would be inconiplete ; others, again, prefer a much simpler mixture, even though it be elaborately iced. Rich cakes should be made some weeks, or even months, before they are required, in order that they may become mellowed and improved in flavour by storing in a moder- ately warm, dry place. Plain cakes should only be made a day or two before they are to be iced and eaten. Required for a rich mixture : One pound of butter. One and a half pound of flour. One pound of castor sugar. Ten eggs. Three-quarters of a pound of mixed peel. Half a pound of glace cherries. Half a pound of sultanas. One pound of currants. I'our ounces of sweet almonds. Half an ounce of ground allspice. One gill of brandy. One gill of milk. A little burnt sugar colouring, if liked very dark. Line a cake- tin with three layers of greased paper, and tie a layer of brown paper round outside the tin, so as to form a band to come up above the edge of it. Warm the butter. without melting it, add the sugar, and beat both to a soft, white, creamy mass. Beat the eggs until frothy, then stir them gradually into the butter and sugar. Mix the chopped peel, halved cherries, shredded almonds, and cleaned and stalked sultanas and currants together with the allspice. Sieve and add the flour lightly to the butter, sugar, and eggs. Then mix in the fruit thoroughly. Add the brandy, milk, and enough colouring, if used, to tint the mixture a pale brown. Put the mixture into the tin and bake it. in a hot oven at first and a cooler one after the first twenty minutes, for about four to five hours. When cooked, take the cake out of the tin. but leave the paper that is sticking to it still on. Leave the cake until cold, then wrap it up in grease-proof paper (bought at any stationer's), then in soft kitchen paper, and keep it in a fairly warm, not cold, place until just before Christmas, when it must be iced and decorated. N.B. — To make sure the cake is baked enough, stick a clean, bright skewer into it ; if it comes out clean and free from the mixture, it is done ; if otherwise, it requires longer cooking. ENTRE.ES AND HOW Ti .E t: Veal Cutlets— Mutton Cutlets— Fish Souffle— Fillets of Beef a la Moderne— Ramakins of Chicken- Cutlets en Papillotes — Lamb Cutlets a la President — Timbales of Mutton — Small Ham Souffles ^N the entree, or entrees, of a dinner depend much of that meal's success. No other course, moreover, offers the cook greater opportunity for the display of artistic skill and taste. Indifferent cooks are apt to imagine that any sort of " made dish " — i.e., various materials mixed together — badly served, inappropriately garnished, and probably as unpleasing to the palate as to the eye. can be offered as an entree. Such ignorance ruins a dinner. WHAT IS AN ENTREE? It is a dish made of more than one in- gredient, composed of meat, poultry, game, or fish, mixed or served with appropriate sauce of distinctive and characteristic flavour, and garnished in a style suitable to the name of the dish and its composition. The entree follows after the fish course and precedes the remove, or releve. Some- times the soup is omitted, or the remove ; but. except in the dinner en famille, the entree course is indispensable. These dishes are always handed to the diners, never served from the sideboard ; and for this reason special care should be taken to make them artistic, bearing in mind that simplicity, combined with per- fection of form, colouring, etc., is the key- note of success. Brilliant colourings and heavy decorations always savour of vul- garity.