Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

Ju7ie 8. — Caramel Custard (Tillypronie recipe). — This is always such a popular dish that I must include it in the Cape Housekeeper’s favourite recipes. This quantity is to fill a plain mould which would hold a pint and a half. Use only the finest sugar for burning. Cook i tablespoonful of cold water and 4 tablespoonfuls of icing or castor sugar quickly for about ten minutes over the fire, in the sugar-boiler, but hardly let it brown. Put it into your plain mould and turn it about quickly, so that before it gets quite cold it may adhere to and glaze the bottom and sides of the mould. Do this in the early morning, that it may be set and cold when wanted. For your pudding, break 6 yolks of eggs into a basin and beat, but do not froth them. Have ij pints of warm (but not hot) milk in a pan, and a teacupful of cream, and to sweeten it add a tablespoonful of the same fine sugar to the milk, and flavour with a tablespoonful of orange-flower water, add to the eggs, and give a gentle stir round. Now strain this into the mould you had prepared with the sugar lining, and steam very gently for an hour or longer. When your pudding is ready let it stand aside for five minutes before turning out of the mould. When nearly done have the cover only half on to check the cooling. Should the caramel cream look honey-combed 147 , Jwie TWO SAVOURIES. GENEVA PASTRY when cut, it shows it has been cooked too fast. If wanted stiff, leave two whites of eggs in with the six yolks. June lo. — Mrs. Blair’s Anchovy Toast. — One often wants a nice little savoury to add to a dinner, and this one, Mrs. Blair s anchovy toast, is easy to do. Beat well 2 yolks of fresh eggs. Add i tablespoonful of anchovy sauce, i dessertspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, and a little red pepper. Beat all well together and put into a china-lined saucepan, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and put on the fire — keep stirring until it is boiling — then spread it on well-buttered toast, from which all crusts have been cut away ; divide in fingers and serve hot, on a very hot dish. Cheese Savoury (Miss Adeane’s recipe). — This is sometimes called “ cheese whitebait,” as the little fried fragments are about the size of small whitebait. You will need — I oz. butter. 1 gill water. 2 ozs. flour. 2 ozs. grated Parmesan cheese. 2 small eggs. Put the butter in a stew-pan with the water and season with pepper and salt. Boil and add the flour — stir this over the fire for four minutes, then mix in the Parmesan cheese and the eggs. Mix all well together. To fry this mixture have a pan of good clear fat boiling ; place in it a wire frying-basket, then press in some of the cheese mixture through a colander into the fat and fry a golden brown. It must be served very hot. Geneva Pastry ' (Tillypronie). — This makes a nice dish, as the paste may be used for sweet apricot sandwiches, FOURR^] POLONAIS. PLUM BREAD June or cut with a cutter into little tartlets and filled with jam or preserved fruits. Ingredients— I lb. pounded sugar. 4 lb. flour. 3 ozs. fresh butter (whisked to a cream). Yolks of 3 eggs and well-heaten whites of 6.