Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

“ pineapple. A few bananas cut up and added to the pineapple “ improve it. In October the very cheap, large melons brought “ from abroad make a very good compote if the hard outside is “ taken off and the pulp cut into pieces the size of a plum. “ Make a syrup of sugar flavoured with the melon-rind, spice, a “ bay-leaf, and a little powdered ginger. Boil this up and pour “ it over the pieces of melon.” [Mrs. C. W. Earle.'] Rhubarb Compote. — “ When the Rhubarb is young and tender, “ cut it up into pieces the length of a finger, and throw them into “ cold water to prevent the ends drying, while a syrup is being “ prepared in an earthenware saucepan with sugar, a few of the “ rough pieces of the rhubarb, and a small piece of ginger. “ Throw the cold water away from the rhubarb, strain the syrup, “ boil it up, and pour it over the pieces. Stew it for a very “ short time till tender, without mashing it up. It looks better “ if the pieces are slightly arranged in the dish. If anything “ iron touches the rhubarb or the syrup they turn purple and “ look horrid. Properly cooked rhubarb should be of a pretty “ pink or green colour.” [Mrs. C. W. Earle.] Dried American Apples make an excellent Compote if soaked in syrup for at least twelve hours. It will hardly be believed that the fourth Earl of Aberdeen — Byron’s “ travelled Thane, Athenian Aberdeen ” — coldly thanked a friend at Washington for sending him some barrels of the finest American apples, saying that, as he considered all apples to be turnips growing on trees, he was not an apple-eater. This was in 1812, when such a present was rarely received in this country. Compote of Green Gooseberries. — Top and tail the gooseberries, and simmer them very gently in syrup for ten minutes. For a pint of Gooseberries allow five ounces of sugar and half a pint of water, boiled together gently for ten minutes, and the syrup then freed from scum. Green Apricot Compote. — Wipe the down from a pound of very young apricots (those which are thinned from the trees), and simmer them as gently as possible for twenty minutes. For the syrup allow eight ounces of sugar to three-quarters of a pint of water. The thinnings of (Grapes can be done in the same way. Always use an enamelled pan, so as to preserve the colour of the fruit. SWEET DISHES Compote, of Black Currants. — Strip a pint of currants from the stalks, being careful not to break the skins. Simmer them in a closed pan for fifteen minutes. Strew six ounces of sugar over the currants, and let the pan stay on a very low fire for another quarter of an hour. Do not stir the fruit in any way, but shake the pan gently now and then. Set it to cool. Whip half a pint of cream to a froth, flavour it with sugar only. Arrange a ring of neat croutons of sponge cake crisped in the oven, lay the whipped cream inside this, and the black currants in the middle. Red Currant Compote. — Simmer the fruit five minutes. Morelia Cherries make an excellent Compote. Stone them, simmer them as gently as possible from five to seven minutes. For a pound and a quarter of cherries allow five ounces of sugar to half a pint of water.