Soyer's standard cookery

METHOD. — Break the chocolate into small pieces, put it with the milk into a stewpan, simmer until dissolved and cool. In another stewpan melt the butter, stir in the flour, cook a little without browning, then put in the milk and stir until boiling. Now add the cakecrumbs, and cook gently until the mixture becomes thick and leaves the sides of the stewpan clear. Let it cool a little, then beat in the yolks of the eggs and add the vanilla essence. Whisk the whites to a stiff froth, stir them lightly into the mixture, pour into a well-buttered plain mold, cover with buttered paper, and steam for one and a half hours, or bake for one hour in a moderate oven. Serve with custard, chocolate, or vanilla sauce. Chocolate Pudding. (Another Method.) INGREDIENTS. — Seven ounces of breadcrumbs, four ounces of chocolate, three ounces of castor sugar, three ounces of butter, four eggs, one-half pint of milk (about), vanilla essence. METHOD. — Break the chocolate into small pieces, put it into a stewpan with the milk, and simmer until dissolved. Cream the butter and sugar together, stir in the yolks of eggs, breadcrumbs, milk, chocolate, and a few drops of vanilla essence, and mix well together. Whisk the whites stiffly, add them lightly to the rest of the ingredients, pour into a well-buttered mold, cover with a greased paper, and steam from one and a quarter to one and a half hours. Or, put the mixture into six well-buttered, large-sized dariole molds, and steam about twenty-five minutes. Serve with custard or vanilla sauce. Chocolate Tartlets. INGREDIENTS. — Short paste, four ounces of grated chocolate, eight ounces of cakecrumbs, six ounces of castor sugar, four ounces of butter, one ounce of cornflour, four eggs, chocolate icing. METHOD. — Cream the yolks of the eggs and sugar well together, add the cakecrumbs, chocolate, cornflour, and the butter (melted). Whip the whites of the eggs stiffly, and stir them in as lightly as possible. Have ready twelve patty-pans lined with short paste, fill them with the mixture, and bake in a moderately hot oven from twenty to twenty-five minutes. When cold cover the surface of each tartlet with chocolate icing, allow it to harden, then serve. Christmas Pudding. INGREDIENTS. — One pound of beef suet, four ounces of flour, one pound of raisins, one-half pound of mixed peel, one grated nutmeg, one ounce of mixed spice, one ounce of ground cinnamon, two gills of milk, two wineglassfuls of rum or brandy, one pound of breadcrumbs, one pound of sultanas, one-half pound of currants, two lemons, four ounces of desiccated cocoanut or shredded almonds, two pinches of salt, eight eggs. METHOD. — Skin the suet and chop it finely. Clean the fruit, stone the raisins, finely shred the mixed peel; peel and chop the lemon rind. Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the milk, stir in the eggs one at a time, add the rum or brandy, and the strained juice of the lemon. Work the whole thoroughly for some minutes, so that the ingredients are well blended. Put the mixture in a well-buttered pudding bowl or pudding cloth; if the latter is used it should be buttered or floured. Boil for about four hours, or steam for at least five hours. Plum Pudding, Christmas. (Another Method.)