FoodNetArchive

The hearthstone; or, Life at home

1883

Page 342 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
better to be cooked four hours ; stir the meal slowly into boiling water, so as to have no lumps, and keep stirring as long as the pud- ding-stick can be moved ; then let it boil as long as it will blubber up, stirring it frequently ; then set it off the fire, and let it simmer by the hour. If mush is to be had for supper, it is best to make it while the range is hot with the dinner cooking. This will save fire and improve the mush. Potato Yeast. — Boil six good-sized potatoes, in two quarts of water, till done ; then take four tablespoonfuls of flour and two of sugar, and work them together with the potatoes and a little of the water until perfectly smooth, taking care to keep the remainder of the water on the stove until needed ; when sufficiently mashed, add the rest of the water, and, after stirring together, put through a colander to prevent any lumps in the yeast ; when about lukewarm, add a little stock yeast, and set in a warm place for about half a day, and it will be sufficiently raised to put in cans or jars in a cool place. Yeast. — To one cup of grated potatoes pour one quart of boiling water ; add one-half cup of sugar and one-half cup of salt ; add, when cooled to a little more than milk-warm, one cup of yeast. Put in a warm place to raise, CAKES AND ICING. A Few Hints Respecting the Making and Baking of Cakes. — Eggs should always be broken into a cup, the whites and yolks separated, and they should always be strained. Breaking the eggs thus, the bad ones may be easily rejected without spoiling the others, and so cause no waste. As eggs are used instead of yeast, they should be very thoroughly whisked ; they are generally sufficiently beaten when thick enough to carry the drop that falls from the whisk. Loaf-sugar should be well pounded, and then sifted through a fine sieve. Currants should be nicely washed, picked, dried in a cloth, and then examined, that no pieces of grit or stone may be left amongst them. They should then be laid on a dish before the fir^, to become COOKERY RECIPES. 529 thoroughly dry; as, if added damp to the other ingredients, cakes will be liable to be heavy. Good butter should always be used in the manufacture of cakes; and if beaten to a cream, it saves much time and labor to warm, but not melt it before baking. Less butter and eggs are required for cakes when yeast is mixed with the other ingredients. The heat of the oven is of great importance, especially for large cakes. If the heat be not tolerably fierce, the batter will not raise. If the oven is too quick, and there is any danger of the cake burning or catching, put a sheet of clean paper over the top. Newspaper, or paper that has been printed on, should never be used for this purpose. To know when a cake is sufficiently baked, plunge a clean knife into the middle of it ; draw it quickly out, and if it looks in the least sticky, put the cake back, and close the oven door until the cake is done. Cakes should be kept in closed tin canisters or jars,,and in a dry place. Those made with yeast do not keep so long as those made without it. Black Cake