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Cheap Custard.—A very
cheap custard can be made by adding to one pint of boiled
milk one well-beaten-up egg and one good-sized teaspoonful
of corn-flour. The milk should be first sweetened, and can
be flavoured very cheaply by rubbing a few lumps of sugar on
the outside of a lemon, or by having a few bay-leaves boiled
in it. A rich yellow colour can be obtained by using a small
quantity of yellow vegetable colouring extract, which, like
the green colouring, is sold in bottles by all grocers.
These bottles are very cheap, as they last a long time. They
simply give any kind of pudding a rich colouring without
imparting any flavour whatever, and in this respect are very
superior to saffron.
Apple Custard.—Good
apple custard can only be made by using apples of a good
flavour. When apples are in season, this dish can be made
fairly cheaply, but it does not do to use those high-priced
imported apples. Peel and take out the cores of about four
pounds of apples, and let these simmer till they are quite
tender in rather more than a pint of water. Add about one
pound of sugar, or rather less if the apples are sweet; add
a little powdered cinnamon, and mix all this with eight
eggs, well beaten up; stir the mixture very carefully in a
saucepan, or better still in a good-sized jug placed in a
saucepan, till it begins to thicken. This custard is best
served in glasses, and a little cinnamon sugar can be shaken
over the top. Nutmeg may be used instead of cinnamon, and by
many is thought superior.
Cheese-cakes.—Cheese-cakes can be sent to
table in two forms, the one some rich kind of custard or
cream placed in little round pieces of pastry, or we can
have a so-called cheese-cake baked in a pie-dish, the edges
only of which are lined with puff paste. We can also have
cheese-cakes very rich and cheese-cakes very plain. The
origin of the name cheese-cake is that originally they were
made from curds used in making cheese. Probably most people
consider that the cheese-cakes made from curds are superior,
and in the North of England, and especially in Yorkshire,
where curds are exposed for sale in the windows at so much a
pound, very delicious cheese-cakes can be made, but
considerable difficulty will be experienced if we attempt to
make home-made curds from London milk. Curds are made by
taking any quantity of milk and letting it nearly boil, then
throw in a little rennet or a glass of sherry. The curds
must be well strained.
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