The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

Now throw them into the smoking-hot lard, and the little round balls will come out from the frying-pan surrounded by a sort of trellis-work of vermicelli on the brown surface, reminding one of those carved wooden balls imported from Japan and China. Vermicelli makes a light and delicious pudding. The vermicelli should be first washed perfectly clean, and then placed for a short time in boiling water, when it should be removed and boiled, till quite tender, in some milk. The pudding, of course, should be sweetened with sugar, and can be flavoured with almost any kind of essence, such as essence of vanilla, or it can be flavoured by rubbing lumps of sugar on the outside of a fresh lemon. If the pudding is wished very rich, two or more eggs can now be added, or if it is intended for an invalid the yolks only of the eggs need be added. After the yolks have been thoroughly well beaten-up in a little hot milk the whole should be put into the pudding and well mixed up. The pudding can be baked in the oven in a pie-dish, or if it is wished boiled, it can be placed in a basin tied over with a cloth, and steamed for a couple of hours. In either case, owing to the presence of eggs, the pudding will set, and can be turned out on to a dish. In the case of the pudding being boiled in a basin, the basin can be first buttered, and the outside of the pudding ornamented with a few stars cut out of preserved cherries or green angelica, similar to that of cabinet pudding. When, however, the pudding is turned out, the stars are apt to slip, and will often require to be put back. In the case of using a pie-dish the pudding can be turned out and the top ornamented with some small heaps of apricot and raspberry jams placed alternately. J am can also be placed round the base. When vermicelli pudding is made for invalids a very nice plan of ornamenting it is to place little balls of orange marmalade round the base. It is best to warm the orange marmalade first in the oven, but do not make it too hot. A very delicious sweet can be made from vermicelli, called vermicelli cake, a receipt for which will be found in “ Francatelli’s Modern Cook.” VERMICELLI SOUP. — Vermicelli soup can now be purchased ready made in tins. The soup can be heated by placing the tin in a saucepan of boiling water and keeping it there for about twenty minutes, when the tin can be opened and the contents served. This is a very convenient soup to have in the house, as it is especially adapted for invalids. It is alight soup, and easy of digestion. Should more nourishment be required than is generally put in the soup, I -would recommend the addition of a little extract of meat. VINCENT’S ARROWROOT. — See Arrowroot.