By the mode of its preparation, and the addition
of the brandy, mincemeat becomes capable of being pre-
served for a considerable time, and one operation thus
suffices to provide the materials for many pies, which can
he made during, and at the distance of, several weeks from
each other.
420
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
As a warning against coimterfeits, it should be mentioned
that, perhaps in connection with vegetarian predilections,
recipes for mincemeat so called have crept into cookery-
books which contain no meat at all, some of them being at
the same time provided with a great excess of alcoholic
ingredients. Such preparations should not be called mince-
meat, and should be excluded from culinary literature as
long as they bear a false title.
The Glacing, Icing, or Encrusting of Cakes are processes
applied partly for their ornamentation, partly for their
preservation, particularly from exsiccation. The plain sugar
glace is made with powdered sugar, white of egg, and a little
washing blue (cobalt or smalte blue), and is spread cold on
the hot cake. Chocolate glacing is applied hot, the pieces
of cake being immersed in the fused solution of the chocolate✪ Glacing, Icing, or Encrusting of Cakes
in pearling syrup. Several other flavours may be imparted
to the fused sugar instead of the chocolate, and in this
particular the ingenuity of the confectioner has much
opportunity for the display of variety. Thus, the sections
of a twelfth cake may be flavoured with a selection of
essences and liqueurs ; the icing for bride cake, however,
should be quite neutral.
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PUDDINGS.
Puddings are, as to the name, of uncertain derivation. In
French they were formerly called poutins (La Chapelle), or
poutinade (‘ Dons de Comus,’ i. 298) ; but this hard spelling
does not occur in modern dictionaries. The modern French
word bo^cdin is not practically equivalent to pudding, as its
application is confined to compositions of animal matters
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PUDDINGS
421
— c.<7., hlach pudding. Paddings are mostly cooked by boiling
or steaming, more rarely by baking. Thus, of some thirty
odd puddings which we have compared, only four — Somer-
setshire pudding, plain bread pudding, Bakewell pudding,
and lemon pudding — are baked ; the remainder, with the
variations nearly thirty dishes, are all boiled.
Puddings resemble so^offlds in this, that their substance
is to a large extent already cooked before it is placed into
the composition which fills the shape. The materials which
are thus frequently used are bread, white and brown, Italian
pastes, brioche, Savoy or sponge cake (biscuit), macroons,
and ratafias. The contents of boiled puddings surrounded
with a case of suet dough — such as fruit (apples) or meat
{e.g., mutton) — are cooked, at least partly, before being
placed into the capsule.
Page 265 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1895. 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
By the mode of its preparation, and the addition of the brandy, mincemeat becomes capable of being preserved for a considerable time, and one operation thus suffices to provide the materials for many pies, which can he made during, and at the distance of, several weeks from each other.
As a warning against counterfeits, it should be mentioned that, perhaps in connection with vegetarian predilections, recipes for mincemeat so called have crept into cookerybooks which contain no meat at all, some of them being at the same time provided with a great excess of alcoholic ingredients. Such preparations should not be called mincemeat, and should be excluded from culinary literature as long as they bear a false title.
The Glacing, Icing, or Encrusting of Cakes are processes applied partly for their ornamentation, partly for their preservation, particularly from exsiccation. The plain sugar glace is made with powdered sugar, white of egg, and a little washing blue (cobalt or smalte blue), and is spread cold on the hot cake. Chocolate glacing is applied hot, the pieces of cake being immersed in the fused solution of the chocolate in pearling syrup. Several other flavours may be imparted to the fused sugar instead of the chocolate, and in this particular the ingenuity of the confectioner has much opportunity for the display of variety. Thus, the sections of a twelfth cake may be flavoured with a selection of essences and liqueurs ; the icing for bride cake, however, should be quite neutral.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PUDDINGS.
Puddings are, as to the name, of uncertain derivation. In French they were formerly called poutins (La Chapelle), or poutinade (‘ Dons de Comus,’ i. 298) ; but this hard spelling does not occur in modern dictionaries. The modern French word boudin is not practically equivalent to pudding, as its application is confined to compositions of animal matters
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PUDDINGS
—e.g., black pudding. Paddings are mostly cooked by boiling or steaming, more rarely by baking. Thus, of some thirty odd puddings which we have compared, only four — Somersetshire pudding, plain bread pudding, Bakewell pudding, and lemon pudding — are baked ; the remainder, with the variations nearly thirty dishes, are all boiled.
Puddings resemble souffles in this, that their substance is to a large extent already cooked before it is placed into the composition which fills the shape. The materials which are thus frequently used are bread, white and brown, Italian pastes, brioche, Savoy or sponge cake (biscuit), macroons, and ratafias. The contents of boiled puddings surrounded with a case of suet dough — such as fruit (apples) or meat {e.g., mutton) — are cooked, at least partly, before being placed into the capsule.
Records on this page
Glacing, Icing, or Encrusting of Cakes