Cassell's dictionary of cookery

of vinegar ; and however people who have not been accustomed to this American cookery may be prejudiced against it, they will find upon trial that it makes a most excellent dish, and one which never fails to be much liked by those who are accustomed to it. ' The universal fondness of Americans for it proves that it must have some merit ; for, in a country which produces aU the delicacies of the table in the greatest abundance, it is not to be supposed that a whole nation should have a taste so depraved as to give a decided preference to any particular species of food which has not something to recommend it. The manner in which hasty-pudding is eaten with butter and sugar, or butter and molasses, in America, is as follows:— The hasty-pudding being spread out equally upon a plate while hot, an excavation is made in the middle of it with a spoon, into which excavation a piece of butter as large as a nutmeg is put, and upon it a spoonful of brown sugar, or, more commonly, of molasses. The butter, being soon melted by the heat of the pudding, mixes with the sugar or molasses, and fonns a sauce, which, being confined to the excavation made for it, occupies the middle of the plate. The pudding is then eaten with a spoon, each spoonful of it being dipped into the sauce before it is carried to the mouth, care being had in taking it up to begin at the outside or near the rim of the plate, and to approach the centre by gradual advances, in order not to demolish too soon the excavation which forms the reservoir for the sauce. — "An Essay on Food," by Count Rumford. Rumford's Plain Indian Pudding.— "This pudding," says Count Eumford in his "Essay on Food," "which was allowed by competent judges who tasted it to be as good as they had ever eaten, was composed and prepared in the following manner: — -Three pounds of Indian meal (from which the bran had been separated by sifting it in a common hair sieve) were put into a large bowl, and five pints of boiling water were put to it, and the whole well stiiTed together ; three-quarters of a pound of molasses and one ounce of salt were then added to it, and these being well mixed, by stirring them with the other ingredients, the i^udding was poured into a fit bag, and the bag beingtied up (an empty space being left in the bag in tjdng it, equal to about one-sixth of its contents, for giving room to the pudding to swell), this pudding was put into a kettle of boiling water, and was boiled six hours without intermission ; the loss of water in the kettle by evaporation during this time being frequently replaced with boiling water from another kettle. The pudding, upon being taken out of the bag, weighed ten pounds and one ounce; and it was found to be perfectly done, not having the smallest remains of that raw taste so disagreeable to aU palates, and particularly to those who are not used to it, which always predominates in dishes prepared of Indian meal when they are not sufficiently cooked." Rumfustian.— Whisk up the yolks of six eggs until they are well frothed, and put them into a quart of strong beer, to which is added a pint of gin; boil up a bottle of sherry in a BUM (778) RUM saucepan with a stick of cianamon or nutmeg grated, a dozen large lumps of sugar, and the rind of a lemon peeled thin. When the wine boils, pour it over the ale and gin. Drink hot.