When suet is used in making puddings it should have
all the skin and fibre taken away, and be chopped till
it is as fine as oatmeal. If we have a chopping-board this
can be soon done, but if not it is rather a troublesome busi-
ness ; nevertheless it must be well chopped, for we should
never be willing that our puddings should have large
lumps of fat in them. If a knife must be used in chopping
suet, it should be a very sharp one ; and we shall find
that the best plan we can adopt is to shred the suet
finely first, then turn the pieces round and chop them with
40
The Girl’s Own Cookery Book.
the point of the knife, raising the upper part so as to
make the knife a sort of lever. We must, of course, re-
member to sprinkle a little flour over the suet every now
and then to keep it from being sticky.
Sometimes it happens that suet is objected to alto-
gether. When this is the case, butter, or, for plain
puddings, sweet dripping may be substituted for it. A
smaller quantity of butter than of suet will be needed, so
that if we were -going to use half a pound of suet we
should find that six ounces of butter would be amply
sufficient for our purpose.
Currants are a particularly dirty fruit. They should,
therefore, always be washed before they are used. The
best way of doing this is to put them into a colander,
sprinkle a little flour over them, then rub them round and
round for a minute or two, shaking the colander vigor-
ously now and then to detach the stalks, and make them
fall through the holes. When this is done we may pour
cold water gently over them, drain them, lay them on a
towel, and dry them gradually at the mouth of a cool oven
or before the fire. When quite dry, spread them on a
white cloth or on white paper, and look over them care-
fully to discover the stones if there are any. As currants
must be dry when used, they should be washed as soon
as they come in from the grocer, and be put into jars for
use. If they have not been washed, it is better to content
oneself with sprinkling flour over them and rubbing them,
a few at the time, between the folds of a soft cloth, rather
than to wash them and to use them wet, for they will be
very likely to make a pudding heavy.
Sultanas should be prepared like currants. Raisins
should have all stones taken from them, and be chopped
small before being used. Sultanas are not nearly so full
of flavour as ordinary raisins.
Candied peel should be freed from the sugar and cut
into very thin strips before being used. There are three
sorts of peel ordinarily used. The thick green peel is
citron, the dark peel is orange, the light peel is lemon.
Orange peel is not so hard and difficult to cut as lemon
peel.
When fresh orange or lemon peel is used for flavouring,
it should be grated off on a coarse grater so as to leave
Puddings. 4 1
Page 23
Presented as published in 1882. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
When suet is used in making puddings it should have all the skin and fibre taken away, and be chopped till it is as fine as oatmeal. If we have a chopping-board this can be soon done, but if not it is rather a troublesome business ; nevertheless it must be well chopped, for we should never be willing that our puddings should have large lumps of fat in them. If a knife must be used in chopping suet, it should be a very sharp one ; and we shall find that the best plan we can adopt is to shred the suet finely first, then turn the pieces round and chop them with
The Girl’s Own Cookery Book.
the point of the knife, raising the upper part so as to make the knife a sort of lever. We must, of course, remember to sprinkle a little flour over the suet every now and then to keep it from being sticky.
Sometimes it happens that suet is objected to altogether. When this is the case, butter, or, for plain puddings, sweet dripping may be substituted for it. A smaller quantity of butter than of suet will be needed, so that if we were -going to use half a pound of suet we should find that six ounces of butter would be amply sufficient for our purpose.
Currants are a particularly dirty fruit. They should, therefore, always be washed before they are used. The best way of doing this is to put them into a colander, sprinkle a little flour over them, then rub them round and round for a minute or two, shaking the colander vigorously now and then to detach the stalks, and make them fall through the holes. When this is done we may pour cold water gently over them, drain them, lay them on a towel, and dry them gradually at the mouth of a cool oven or before the fire. When quite dry, spread them on a white cloth or on white paper, and look over them carefully to discover the stones if there are any. As currants must be dry when used, they should be washed as soon as they come in from the grocer, and be put into jars for use. If they have not been washed, it is better to content oneself with sprinkling flour over them and rubbing them, a few at the time, between the folds of a soft cloth, rather than to wash them and to use them wet, for they will be very likely to make a pudding heavy.
Sultanas should be prepared like currants. Raisins should have all stones taken from them, and be chopped small before being used. Sultanas are not nearly so full of flavour as ordinary raisins.
Candied peel should be freed from the sugar and cut into very thin strips before being used. There are three sorts of peel ordinarily used. The thick green peel is citron, the dark peel is orange, the light peel is lemon. Orange peel is not so hard and difficult to cut as lemon peel.
When fresh orange or lemon peel is used for flavouring, it should be grated off on a coarse grater so as to leave
Puddings. 4 1