Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Simnel Cakes.—" It is an old custom," says Dr. Chambers, in his " Book of Days," " in Shropshire and Herefordshire, and especially at Shrewsbury, to make during Lent and Easter, and also at Christmas, a sort of rich and expensive cakes, which are called Simnel Cakes. Thej' are raised cakes, the crust of which is made of fine floiu- and water, with sufficient saffron to give it a deej) yellow colour, and the interior is filled with the materials of a very rich plum cake, with plenty of candied lemon-peel and other good things. They are made up very stiff, tied up in a cloth, and boiled for several hours, after which they are brushed over with egg, and then baked. ■When ready for sale, the crust is as hard as if made of wood — a circumstance which has given rise to various stories of the manner in which they have at times been treated by persons to whom they were sent as presents, and who had never seen one before : one oidering his Simnel to be boiled to soften it, and a lady taking hers for a footstool. They are made of different sizes, and, as may be supposed from the ingredients, are rather expensive, some large ones selling for as much as half a guinea, or even, we believe, a guinea, while smaller ones may be had for half-a-crown. " The usage of these cakes is evidently one of great antiquity. It appears from one of the epigrams of the poet Herrick that, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was the custom at Gloucester for young people to carry Simnels to their mothers on Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday. It appears also from some other writers of this age, that these Simnels, ■like the modern ones, were boiled as weU as baked." Simple Cakes.— Rub four ounces of fresh butter into half a pound of biscuit flour. Add a pinch of salt, three table-spoonfuls of finelysifted sugar, and a well-beaten fresh egg. Roll the pastry out to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, stamp it into fancy cakes with a cutter, and bake these upon tins in a weU-heated oven. Time to bake, about twenty minutes. Simple Soup. — Cut into very smaU pieces half a pound of turnips, half a pound of carrots, quarter of a pound of onions, three or four sticks of celery, and a lettuce. Put these ingredients into a saucepan which has a very closely-fitting lid with four ounces of dissolved butter, and add a bunch of sweet herbs, if liked. Cover the saucepan, and steam its contents over a gentle fire for twenty minutes. Pour upon the vegetables three pints of stock made from bones; lot this boil, and carefully remove the scum as it rises. Add a pint of freshly-shelled green peas, and simmer all gently together for three hours. Eub the preparation through a sieve, boil it up once more, add pepper and salt, and serve. Time, four hours. Probable cost, 8d. per pint. Sufficient for eight or nine persons. Simple Soup (another way). — Take three quarts of good giavy. Put it into a saucepan with two carrots, three or four turnips, three or four potatoes, some celery, lettuce, endive, parsley, and a piece of butter, with a httle flour. Stew till the vegetables become quite tender, so as to permit them to be rubbed through a sieve, after which let them be put to the soup. Stew again for about a quarter of an hour, and season to taste. If too strong, add a little water.