e dates. Grate off the yellow part of the lemon rinds. Rub the nutter into the biscuit-powder. Add dates, lemon peel, and flour. Mix with enough water to make a paste stiff enough for the spoon to just stand up in alone. Be very particular about this, as the tendency is to add rather too little than too much water, owing to the biscuit-powder absorbing it more slowly. Put into a greased pudding-basin or mould. Steam or boil for 5 hours. "Ixion Kornules" may be used instead of the biscuits, if preferred. They save the labour of grinding, but they need soaking for an hour in cold water before using. Well squeeze, add the other ingredients, and moisten with the water squeezed from the kornules. Another method.--Use the recipe for Plum Pudding, leaving out all the dried fruit, almonds and sugar, substituting in their place 1 lb. dates or figs.
This recipe is inserted especially for those who object to the use of manufactured sugar. 1/2 lb. "Ixion" plain wholemeal biscuits, 1/2 lb. dates, 2 ozs. nutter, 1 heaped tablespoon wholemeal flour, grated rind of 2 lemons, water.
Steam. This may be done in a large saucepan if a steamer is not available. Support the cauliflower on a pudding basin or meat stand--anything which will raise it just above the level of the water. Serve with white sauce or tomato sauce.
Grease a pie-dish. Put in it 2 or 3 small firm tomatoes, or some small peeled mushrooms. Make a batter as for Yorkshire pudding and pour over. Bake until golden brown.
1-1/4 lb. fine wholemeal flour to 3/4 pint water. Put the meal into a basin, add the water gradually, and mix with a clean, cool hand. (Bread, pastry, etc., mixed with a spoon, especially of metal, will not be so light as that mixed with a light cool hand.) Knead lightly for 20 minutes. (A little more flour may be required while kneading, as some brands of meal do not absorb so much water as others, but do not add more than is absolutely necessary to prevent the fingers sticking.) Put the dough on to a floured board and divide into four round loaves. Prick with a fork on top. The colder the water used, the lighter the bread, and if the mixing be done by an open window so much the better, for unfermented bread is air-raised. Distilled or clean boiled rain-water makes the lightest bread. But it should be poured backwards and forwards from one jug to another several times, in order to aerate it. Another method of mixing is the following:--Put the water into the basin first and stir the meal quickly into it with a spatula or wooden spoon. When it gets too stiff to be stirred, add the rest of the meal. Knead for two minutes, and shape into loaves as above. BAKING.--Bake on the bare oven shelf, floored. If possible have a few holes bored in the shelf. This is not absolutely necessary, but any tinker or ironmonger will perforate your shelf for a few pence. Better still are wire shelves, like sieves. (This does not apply to gas ovens.) Start with a hot oven, but not too hot. To test, sprinkle a teaspoonful of flour in a patty pan, and put in the oven for five minutes. At the end of that time, if the flour is a light golden-brown colour, the oven is right. Now put in the bread and keep the heat of the oven well up for half an hour. At the end of this time turn the loaves. Now bake for another hour, but do not make up the fire again. Let the oven get slightly cooler. The same result may perhaps be obtained by moving to a cooler shelf. It all depends on the oven. But always start with a hot oven, and after the first half hour let the oven get cooler. Always remember, that the larger the loaves the slower must be the baking, otherwise they will be overdone on the outside and underdone in the middle. Do not open the oven door oftener than absolutely necessary. If a gas oven is used the bread must be baked on a baking sheet placed on a sand tin. A sand tin is the ordinary square or oblong baking tin, generally supplied with gas stoves, filled with silver sand. A baking sheet is simply a piece of sheet-iron, a size smaller than the oven shelves, so that the heat may pass up and round it. Any ironmonger will cut one to size for a few pence. Do not forget to place a vessel of water (hot) in the bottom of the oven. This is always necessary in a gas oven when baking bread, cakes or pastry. It must not be forgotten that ovens are like children they need understanding. The temperature of the kitchen and the oven's nearness to a window or door will often make a difference of five or ten minutes in the time needed for baking. One gas oven that I knew never baked well in winter unless a screen was put before it to keep away draughts! ROLLS.--If you desire to get your bread more quickly it is only a question of making smaller loaves. Little rolls may be cut out with a large egg-cup or small pastry cutter, and these take any time from twenty minutes to half an hour.
Line a pudding-basin with slices of bread from which the crust has been removed. Take care to fit the slices together as closely and neatly as possible. Stew any juicy fruit in season with sugar to taste. Do not add water. (Blackcurrants or raspberries and redcurrants are best for this dish.) When done, fill up the basin with the boiling fruit. Top with slices of bread fitted well in. Leave until cold. Turn out and serve.
2 tablespoons fresh cream, the white of 1 egg. Put the white of egg on to a plate and beat to a stiff froth with the flat of a knife. (A palette knife is the best.) Then beat the cream into it. This makes a nourishing dressing for either vegetable salad or fruit salad. Especially suitable for invalids and persons of weak digestion.
1/2 lb. pine kernels, 2 medium-sized tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 2 new- laid eggs. Wash, dry and pick over the pine kernels and put them through the macerating machine. Skin and well mash the tomatoes. Grate finely the onion. Mix all together and beat to a smooth batter. Whisk the eggs to a stiff froth and add to the mixture. Pour into a greased pie-dish. Bake in a moderate oven until a golden-brown colour. It should "rise" like a cake. It may be eaten warm with brown gravy or tomato sauce, or cold with salad. 16. STEWED NUTTOLENE. Slice one half-pound nuttolene into a baking dish, adding water enough to cover nicely. Place it in the oven, and let it bake for an hour. A piece of celery may be added to give flavour, or a little mint. When done, thicken the water with a little flour, and serve.
2 eggs, 1 teacup flour, milk. Well whisk the eggs. Sprinkle in the flour a spoonful at a time. Stir gently. When the batter becomes too thick to stir, thin it with a little milk. Then add more flour until it is again too thick, and again thin with the milk. Proceed in this way until all the flour is added, and then add sufficient milk to bring the batter to the consistency of rather thick cream. Have ready a very hot greased tin, pour in and bake in a hot oven until golden brown. By mixing in the way indicated above, a batter perfectly free from lumps is easily obtained.
1 dessert-spoon butter, 1 dessert-spoon white flour, hot water. Melt the butter in a small iron saucepan or frying pan and sprinkle into it the flour. Keep stirring gently with a wooden spoon until the flour is a rich dark brown, but not burnt, or the flavour will be spoilt. Then add very gently, stirring well all the time, rather less than half-a-pint of hot water. Stir until the mixture boils, when it should be a smooth brown gravy to which any flavouring may be added. Strained tomato pulp is a nice addition, but a teaspoonful of lemon juice will suffice.
