FINE PLUM PUDDING.--This pudding is best when prepared, (all but the milk and eggs,) the day before it is wanted. Seed and cut in half one pound of the best bloom raisins; and pick, wash, and dry before the fire, a pound of Zante currants, (commonly called plums.) Dredge the fruit well with flour, to prevent its sinking or clogging. Take one pound of fresh beef suet, freed from the skin and strings, and chopped _very fine_; a pint of grated bread-crumbs, and half a pint of sifted flour; a large quarter of a pound of the best sugar, a large table-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed, and two powdered nutmegs--all the spice steeped in a half pint of mixed wine and brandy.

Put away these ingredients separately, closely covered, and let them stand undisturbed all night. Next morning proceed to finish the pudding, which requires at least six hours boiling. Beat nine eggs till very thick and smooth, then add gradually a pint of rich milk, in turn with the bread-crumbs and flour. Mix with the sugar the grated yellow rind and juice of two large lemons or two oranges, and add gradually to the mixture all the ingredients, stirring very hard. If you find it too thick, add by degrees some more milk; if too thin, some more bread-crumbs. But take care not to have too much bread or flour, or the pudding will be solid and heavy. Dip a large strong cloth in boiling water; shake it out, and spread it in a large pan. Dredge it lightly with flour, and pour in the mixture. Tie it tightly, but leave sufficient s.p.a.ce for the pudding to swell in boiling. Put it into a pot of fast-boiling water, and boil it steadily six hours or more, not taking it up till wanted for table. Before turning it, dip the cloth for a moment in cold water to make the pudding come out easily. Have ready some slips of citron or of blanched sweet almonds, or both, and stick them, liberally, all over the surface of the pudding after you have dished it. Serve it up with wine sauce highly flavored, or with b.u.t.ter and sugar beaten to a cream, and seasoned with nutmeg and rose. Do not set the pudding on fire to burn out the liquor; that practice has had its day, and is over. It was always foolish.

If you wish to send it to a distant place, (for instance, to some part of the world where plum puddings are not known or not made) you may preserve it, (after boiling it well,) by leaving it tied up in the cloth it was cooked in; hanging it up in a cool dry place, and then packing it well in a tin vessel having a close fitting cover. Paste a band of thick white paper all around the place where the lid shuts down, and put into a tight box the vessel that contains the pudding. When it arrives at its destination, the friend who receives it will pare off thinly the outside, and tying up the pudding in a fresh clean cloth, will boil it over again for an hour or more; and when done the surface may be then decorated with slips of citron or almond. It has been said that in this way a plum pudding can be kept for _six_ months, as good as ever. It cannot. But it may keep six _weeks_. Do not _fry_ or _broil_ plum pudding that is left at dinner. The slices will be greasy and heavy. But tie the piece that remains in a small cloth, and _boil_ it over again for an hour. It will then be nearly as good as on the first day. Believe in no wonders that you hear, of the long keeping of either plum pudding, plum cake, or mince meat, which are all of the same family. However long they may be preserved from absolute decomposition, these things are always best when fresh.

MINCE PIES.--The best mince meat is made of fresh beef's tongue boiled, peeled, and when quite cold, chopped very fine. The next best is of beef's heart boiled and chopped. The next of cold roast beef. And the next, of the lean of cold boiled beef, quite fresh, and cooked especially for the purpose. All the meat must be fresh, and not minced till entirely cold. To two large pounds of lean meat allow two small pounds of nice kidney suet, cleared from skin and strings, and chopped very small; two pounds of fine juicy apples, pared, cored, and minced; two pounds of Zante currants, washed, and picked clean; two pounds of fine bloom raisins, seeded and chopped, or of seedless sultana raisins cut in half; two pounds of the best sugar; two large nutmegs, powdered; a table-spoonful of ground cinnamon; the same quant.i.ty of ground ginger, with the juice and grated yellow rind of six large lemons, or the juice of six oranges, and their grated rind; a pint of Madeira or sherry, and half a pint of brandy; lastly, half a pound of citron cut into slips, rather large. If the citron is chopped small it cannot be distinguished among the other ingredients, and its flavor is lost. When all is prepared, mix well in a large pan the chopped meat, suet, and fruit.

Then, gradually add the spice, having steeped it in the liquor all the preceding night, mixing the whole thoroughly, and putting in the citron at the last. Line with fine puff-paste deep pie-dishes, or patty-pans.

Fill them, quite full of the mince, heaping it higher towards the centre; and put on a lid, handsomely decorated with puff-paste ornaments, and having a cross slit in the centre surrounded with paste leaves or flowers. Set the pies immediately into a moderately brisk oven, and bake them a light brown. Eat them warm. If baked the preceding day, heat them again before they go to table. The foolish custom of setting the pies on fire after they come to table, and causing a blue blaze to issue from the liquor that is in them, is now obsolete, and considered ungenteel and tavern-like. If this practice originated in a polite desire to _frighten the ladies_, its purpose is already a failure, for the ladies are not frightened; that is, not really.

Mincemeat will taste more fresh and pleasant if the apples are not added till the day the pies are made. It should be kept well-secured from air and damp, in stone jars closely covered. Whenever a jar is opened to take out some for immediate use, pour in a large gla.s.s or two of brandy, and stir it about. It is not true that mincemeat will keep all winter, even by this preservative. It is sure to become musty (or worse,) before two months. It is best to make fresh mincemeat at least three times during the season. When the cold weather is over, do not attempt it, unless a little for immediate use.

Mincemeat, with a double portion of excellent raisins, (cut in half,) will do very well without currants, which are very troublesome to prepare; and those imported of late years are rarely of good quality.

We have heard of West India mincemeat made with cold roast turkey; chopped pine-apple; grated cocoa-nut; preserved ginger chopped, and moistened with its own syrup; and seasoned with nutmeg and noyau.

The above mince pies are for company.

CALF'S FEET JELLY.--Select the largest and best calf's feet. Four is called a set. Choose those that, after the hair has been well scalded and sc.r.a.ped off, are prepared with the skins left on. There is much glutinous substance in the skin itself, therefore it adds to the strength and firmness of the jelly. The feet being made perfectly clean, split them upwards as far as you can, and put them to boil in a gallon of _very clear_ soft water. Boil them till they have all gone to pieces, and the flesh is reduced to rags, and the liquid to one half. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a white-ware pan, and set it away to cool. When quite cold, it should be a cake of firm jelly. Take it out, and sc.r.a.pe from it all the fat at the top and sediment at the bottom.

Press on the surface, some clean blotting paper, to remove any grease that may yet remain about it. Cut the cake of jelly into pieces, and put it into a _very clean_ porcelain kettle, with a large pint of sherry, (inferior wine will spoil it,) a pound of the best loaf sugar, broken small; the yellow rind of six lemons, pared so thin as to be transparent, and their juice squeezed over the sugar through a strainer; the _whites_ of six or seven eggs, with their sh.e.l.ls mashed small. If the jelly is to be moulded, add a quarter ounce of the best Russia isingla.s.s. Boil together all these ingredients for near twenty minutes.

Then take it off the fire, and let it stand undisturbed for about five minutes, to settle. Next, have ready a pointed jelly bag, made of clean white flannel. Spread it open, suspended by strings to a table edge. Set a large tureen or white-ware pan beneath it, and let the jelly drip as long as it will; but on no account squeeze or press the bag, as that will spoil all, rendering the whole jelly cloudy or streaked. If it is not quite clear at the first straining, empty the contents of the bag into a basin, wash the bag clean, hang it up again, pour the jelly back, wash the tureen or pan, and let the jelly pa.s.s into it again. Repeat this straining if necessary. When quite clear, shape the jelly in white-ware moulds, which have been setting two hours in cold water. When the jelly is wanted, wrap round the moulds for a moment, a cloth dipped in warm water, and turn it out on gla.s.s dishes. The ingredients that are left in the bag may be boiled and strained over again for children. If the jelly is _not_ to be moulded, you may omit the isingla.s.s. In that case break it up, and serve it in a gla.s.s bowl. It is now the general opinion that jellies have a more lively taste when broken up, from the numerous acute angles they present to the tongue and palate. We think this opinion correct; and also they look brighter and more glittering, and _go farther_.

_Apple Jelly_--Is far less expensive than that of calf's feet, and if well made looks beautifully. It requires the very best and most juicy apples, (for instance, two dozen large pippins or bell-flowers.) Wash and wipe them well, (removing all blemishes,) pare, core, and slice or quarter them. Put them into a _bain-marie_ or double kettle, with the water outside, and let them boil till broken and dissolved, putting in with them the grated yellow rind of four large lemons. Press and mash the stewed apples through a very clean sieve, till you have extracted all the juice. Measure it while warm, and allow to each quart a pound of the finest powdered and sifted loaf sugar well mixed in, and the juice of the lemons. Transfer it to a clean white flannel jelly bag, and let it drip into a large white-ware pan. When quite clear, put it into moulds, and set it on ice to congeal. When wanted, turn it out of the moulds, (loosened by wrapping round their outsides cloths dipped a minute in warm water) and serve it up in gla.s.s dishes.

_Siberian Jelly._--A fine pink-colored jelly may be made in the above manner, of the red Siberian crab-apple, but it requires an _additional_ quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Instead of lemon you may flavor it, (after all the juice has done dripping) by mixing with extract of rose, or strong rose-water, allowing a wine-gla.s.sful to each quart of jelly. Rose-water, or extract of rose, evaporates so speedily when over the fire, that it should never be added till the very last.

_Orange Jelly_--Is made in the proportion of a pint of strained orange juice to a pound of loaf sugar, boiled with an ounce of isingla.s.s, that has first been melted over the fire by itself in a very little water.

Add the _yellow_ rind of the oranges pared from the white as thin as possible. Give it one boil up, and strain it into the jelly-bag. When clear, transfer it to moulds. Twelve large oranges will generally yield a pint of juice. Lemon jelly is made in the same manner, but with more sugar.

CURRANT JELLY.--The currants should be large, fine, and fully ripe. The best and sweetest currants grow in the shade; and the largest, also. If exposed to the full heat of our American sun, it turns them sour, dries up the juice, and withers their growth. Gather them when fully ripe, strip them from the stems into a cullender, and wash and drain them.

Transfer them to a large pan, and mash them well with a wooden beetle.

Then put the currants, with their juice, into a _bain-marie_ or double kettle, and cook them with the water outside, stirring them hard to bring out the juice. Simmer them for a quarter of an hour, and then transfer them to a very clean sieve, and press them over a pan till no more juice appears. Measure the juice, and to each pint allow a pound of broken-up loaf sugar. Mix the sugar with the juice, put all into a porcelain kettle, and boil it till the sc.u.m ceases to rise. If the sugar is of excellent quality, (the best double-refined should be used for all nice sweetmeats) it will need but little skimming, and leave no sediment when poured off. Boil it twenty minutes with the sugar. To try if it is done, take up a spoonful and hold it out in the open air. If it congeals very soon, it is cooked enough. Put it warm into gla.s.s tumblers. Cut out some white tissue paper into double rounds, exactly fitting the gla.s.ses.

Press these papers lightly on the surface of the jelly; and, next day, tie over the top thick papers dipped in brandy, and set them in the sun all that day if the weather is bright and warm.

All jellies of small fruit may be made in a similar manner; first boiling the fruit by itself, and mashing it to get out all the juice.

Then boiling the berries again, _with the sugar_, for about twenty minutes. The above receipt is equally good for grapes, blackberries, and gooseberries. Black currant jelly (excellent for sore throats,) requires but three quarters of a pound of sugar, the juice being very thick of itself. Peaches, plums, damsons, and green gages, must be scalded, peeled, and stoned, before boiling for jelly, and they require, at least, a pound and a half of sugar to a pint of juice. It is better to preserve them as marmalade than as jelly. Strawberries and raspberries require no previous cooking; mash out the juice, strain it, allow a pound of sugar to every pint of juice, and then boil them together (skimming carefully) for about a quarter of an hour, or till they congeal on being tried in the air.

WINE JELLY.--Wine jellies are seldom made except for company. The wine must be of excellent quality; either port, madeira, or champagne. To a quart of wine allow a pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar, and an ounce of the best Russian isingla.s.s. Melt the sugar (broken small) in the wine. Melt the isingla.s.s by itself in as much warm water as will just cover it, and when quite dissolved, stir it into the mixed wine and sugar. Boil all together, till on trial it becomes a firm jelly, which will be very soon. If it does not congeal well, add some more dissolved isingla.s.s, and more sugar. Serve in moulds, and eat it on saucers. Jelly is made in this manner of any nice sort of _liqueur_ or cordial. Also of strong green tea, or very strong coffee; first made as usual, and then boiled with loaf sugar and isingla.s.s till they congeal. We do not recommend them, except as some exhilaration to the fatigue of a party.

TRIFLE.--This is a very nice and very elegant party dish, and is served in a large gla.s.s bowl. Put into the bottom of the bowl a pound of bitter almond maccaroons. Pour on sufficient madeira or sherry to dissolve them. Let them soak in it till soft and broken. Have ready a very rich custard, flavored with vanilla bean (broken up and boiled by itself in a little milk), and then strained into the quart of milk prepared for the custard, which should be of ten eggs, (_using only the yolks_) and sweetened with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar. It is best and easiest to _bake_ the custard. It will be very rich and soft with yolk of egg only. When the custard is cold lay it on the dissolved maccaroons. Then add a thick layer of very nice marmalade. Rub off the yellow rind of a large lemon or two on some pieces of loaf sugar, and add to it some powdered sugar mixed with the lemon juice. Whip to a strong froth a large quart (or more) of rich cream, gradually mixing with it the lemon and sugar. Lastly, pile up the frothed cream high on the gla.s.s bowl, and keep it on ice till it is sent to table. Instead of lemon you may flavor the whipt cream with rose-water; it will require, if not very strong, a wine-gla.s.sful. To give the cream a fine pink color, tie up some alkanet chips in a thin muslin bag; lay the bag to infuse in a tea-cup of plain cream, and then add the pink infusion to the quart of cream as you froth it.

BLANCMANGE.--The best and finest blancmange is made with a set of calves' feet, (singed but not skinned) boiled slowly in a gallon of water till the meat drops from the bone; then strain it, and set it away till next day, in a broad white-ware pan. Skim it well while boiling.

Next day it should be a solid cake of clear jelly. Sc.r.a.pe off all the fat and sediment from the outside, cut the jelly into small bits, and melt it over again. Boil in a porcelain kettle a pint of cream, and when it has come to a boil, stir in six ounces of loaf sugar, and whatever you intend for flavoring; either the milk, in which a handful of bitter almonds has been boiled, (first being blanched and broken up) or a vanilla bean split and cut to pieces, and boiled in a little milk and strained. Or, it may be mixed with three ounces of chocolate, (Baker's prepared cocoa is the best) sc.r.a.ped fine. When the flavoring has had a boil with the sugar, stir into it, gradually, the melted jelly, and transfer it to white-ware moulds that have set in cold water, and are still damp. Stir it well, and when the blancmange is thickening, and becoming hard to stir, set the moulds on ice, or in pans of cold water in the cellar, and cease stirring. When quite congealed, dip the moulds in lukewarm water, and turn out the blancmange on gla.s.s dishes.

You may color almond or vanilla blancmange a fine pink, by putting into the cream chips of alkanet root tied in a small thin muslin bag, to be removed as soon as the cream is highly colored. Or, it may be made green by the infusion of spinach juice, obtained by pounding in a marble mortar, and then boiling and straining.

Gelatine is now frequently used for blancmange and jelly, instead of calves' feet or isingla.s.s. It has no advantage but that of being more speedily prepared than calves' feet, which must be boiled the day before. Four cakes of gelatine are equal to four calves' feet. Before using, they must be soaked for an hour or more in a pan of cold water, then boiled with the other ingredients. Some persons think they perceive an unpleasant taste in gelatine; perhaps they have heard of what it is made.

When calves' feet cannot be obtained, pigs' feet will do very well, if n.o.body knows it. Four feet of calves are equal to eight of pigs. They are very glutinous, and have no perceptible taste.

FINEST BLANCMANGE.--Break up a half pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar. On some of the pieces rub off the yellow rind of two large lemons, having rolled them under your hand to increase the juice. Then powder all the sugar, and mix with it, gradually, the juice of the lemons, a pint of rich cream, and a large half pint (not less) of sherry or madeira. Stir the mixture very hard till all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Then stir in, gradually, a _second_ pint of cream. Put into a small sauce-pan an ounce of the best Russia isingla.s.s, with one jill (or two common-sized winegla.s.ses) of cold water. Boil it till the isingla.s.s is completely dissolved, stirring it several times down to the bottom. When the melted isingla.s.s has become lukewarm, stir it gradually into the mixture, and then give the whole a hard stirring.

Have ready some white-ware moulds that have just been dipped and rinsed in cold water. Fill them with the mixture, set them on ice, and in two or three hours the blancmange will be congealed. When it is perfectly firm, dip the moulds for a minute in lukewarm water, and turn out the blancmange on gla.s.s dishes. This, if accurately made, is the finest of blancmange. For company, you must have double, or treble, or four times the quant.i.ty of ingredients; each article in due proportion.

FARINA.--Farina is a very fine and delicate preparation, made from the inner part of the grain of new wheat. It is exceedingly nutritious, and excellent either for invalids or for persons in health. It is now much in use, and is to be had, in packages of a pound or half a pound, of the best grocers and druggists, and is highly recommended by physicians for gruel and panade. It also makes an excellent pudding, either boiled or baked, prepared in the same manner as any flour pudding. For boiling farina, nothing is so good as a _bain-marie_ or double kettle.

_For Farina Blancmange._--From a quart of rich milk take out a half pint. Put the half pint into a small sauce-pan, and add to it a handful of bitter almonds broken up; or a bunch of fresh peach leaves, or a vanilla bean split, cut up, and tied in a thin muslin bag. When this milk has boiled till very highly flavored, strain it into the pint and a half, and set it over the fire in a porcelain kettle or a _bain-marie_.

When the milk has come to a boil, sprinkle in, gradually, a large half pint or more (or four large heaping table-spoonfuls) of farina, stirring it well--also sprinkling in and stirring, as if making thick mush. Let it boil slowly a quarter of an hour after the farina is all in. When done, remove it from the fire, and stir in two large table-spoonfuls of sugar, and a winegla.s.s of rose-water, or one of white wine. Transfer it to a blancmange mould, (previously wet with cold water,) set it on ice, and turn it out when ready for dinner. Eat it with sauce of wine, sugar, and nutmeg.

FINE MARROW PUDDING.--Mince very small a quarter of a pound of nice beef marrow, and grate or crumble half a pound of almond sponge cake. Cut in half, a quarter of a pound of sultana or seedless raisins, chop two peels of candied citron, mix them with the raisins, and dredge both thickly with flour. Add a large heaped table-spoonful of loaf sugar, a small nutmeg grated, and a winegla.s.s of mixed wine and brandy. Mix all these ingredients well, put them into a deep dish, lay a border of puff-paste all round the rim, and fill the dish up to the top with a nice custard made in the proportion of four eggs to a pint of well-sweetened milk, flavored with either bitter almonds, rose-water, peach-water, or vanilla. Bake this pudding half an hour. When cool, sift sugar over it.

OMELETTE SOUFFLe.--Break six eggs, separating the yolks and whites. Give them a slight stir, and strain the whites into one pan and the yolks into another. Add to the yolks three large table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar, a heaped tea-spoonful of arrow-root flour, and twelve drops of strong orange-flower water, and beat it till very thick and smooth.

Then beat the whites to a stiff froth, beginning slowly at first, but gradually beating faster. Then add the beaten yolk very gently to the whites. Have ready a silver or plated dish well-b.u.t.tered. Use tin for want of better, but it will not look well, as the omelette has to be served up in the dish it was baked in. Place the dish with the mixture in a hot oven, and watch it while baking. When it has well risen, and seems very light, take it out of the oven for a moment; run a knife round it, sift some sugar over it, set it again in the oven, and when raised to its utmost take it out again, and serve it up as hot as possible, with a spoon on the plate beside it. When once broken, it will sink immediately. It is usual to send round the omelette souffle at the very last of the pastry course; the cook not beginning to make it till the dinner has commenced. If not light when baked, give it up, and do not send it to table at all. It is safest for an inexperienced housewife to engage a French cook to come to the house with his own ingredients and utensils, and make and bake the omelette souffle while there. Still though very fashionable, it is less delicious than many other desserts.

SUNDERLANDS.--Warm a quart of rich milk, and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh b.u.t.ter to soften in the milk, but not to oil. Beat eight eggs till very light and thick, and then stir them gradually into the pan of milk and b.u.t.ter, in turn with eight large table-spoonfuls of sifted flour. Beat all very hard together, and then transfer the batter to white tea-cups, slightly b.u.t.tered, not filling them quite full. Set them immediately into a brisk oven, and bake them about twenty minutes, or till they are slightly browned, and have puffed up very light. As soon as they are cool enough to handle without burning your fingers, turn them out of the cups on a dish, cut a slit in the top of each, and, taking a tea-spoon, fill them quite full of any sort of jelly or marmalade; or if more convenient, with ripe strawberries or raspberries, sweetened with powdered sugar, and mashed smoothly. When filled with fruit, close the slit neatly with your fingers; and on the top of each lay a large strawberry or raspberry, having first dredged the sunderland with sugar.

_Cream Cakes_--Are made in the above manner, but baked in patty-pans.

When baked take them out, cut a slit in the _side_ of each; and having prepared an ample quant.i.ty of rich boiled custard, made with yolk of egg, and highly flavored (_after it has boiled_,) with lemon, orange, vanilla, rose-water or peach-water, fill the cakes full of the custard, closing the opening well by pinching it together. Sift powdered sugar over them, and send them to table on a large china dish.

CREAM TART.--Make a fine puff-paste of equal quant.i.ties of fresh b.u.t.ter and sifted flour; mixing into the pan of flour a heaped table-spoonful of powdered sugar, and wetting it with a beaten egg. Rub one quarter of the b.u.t.ter into the pan of flour. Divide the remainder of b.u.t.ter into six, and roll it into the flour at six turns till it is all in. Have, ready grated, the yellow rind and the juice of a large lemon or orange mixed with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar; or a flavoring of a split-up vanilla bean; or a dozen bitter almonds broken up, and boiled in a very little milk. Mix the flavoring with a pint of rich cream, and the well-beaten whites of three eggs. Take small deep pans, line them all through with the paste rolled out very thin, and cut square. Fill them with the cream, and turn the square pieces of paste a little over it at the top, so as to form corners. Bake the tarts in a brisk oven, and when cold, grate nutmeg over the surface.

Are these the cream tarts of the Arabian Nights?

ORANGE COCOA-NUT.--Break up a fine ripe cocoa-nut, and after peeling off the brown skin, lay the pieces in cold water for a while. Then wipe them dry with a clean towel, and grate them into a deep dish. Mix in, plenty of powdered white sugar. Take some fine large oranges, very ripe and juicy. Peel off all the rind, and slice the oranges rather thick. Cover the bottom of a large gla.s.s bowl with sliced orange, (the first layer being double, where the bowl is small) and strew among the slices sufficient sugar. Then put in a thick layer of the grated cocoa-nut, next another layer of orange--again a layer of cocoa-nut, and so on, alternately, till the bowl is filled, finishing with cocoa-nut heaped high. This is a handsome and delicious article for a supper-table, and a nice _impromptu_ addition to the dessert at a dinner; and soon prepared, as it requires no cooking. When the fruit is in season, a dessert for a small company may consist entirely of orange cocoa-nut, raspberry charlotte, and cream strawberries.

Never send oranges whole to table. To ladies they are unmanageable in company.

_Creamed Strawberries._--Take fine large ripe strawberries. Hull or stem them, and set them on ice till just before they are wanted. Divide them into saucerfulls. If you have gla.s.s saucers, they will make a better show than china. Put some powdered white sugar in the bottom of each saucer. Fill them with strawberries, and then strew on a liberal allowance of sugar, for American strawberries (however fine in appearance) are seldom sweet. Have ready sufficient whipped cream, that has been frothed with rods or with a tin cream-churn. Pile high a portion of the whipt cream on each saucer of strawberries.

Strawberries are sometimes eaten with wine and sugar, when cream is not convenient. With _milk_ they curdle, and are unwholesome--besides tasting poorly.

_Creamed Pine-apple._--Cut into four pieces two large ripe pine-apples.

Stand them up successively in a deep dish, and grate them from the rind.

When all is grated, transfer it to a large gla.s.s bowl, and make it very sweet by mixing in powdered white loaf sugar. Whip to a stiff froth a sufficiency of rich cream, adding to it some sugar, and heap it high upon the grated pine-apple.

_Peaches and Cream._--Take fine juicy freestone peaches. Pare them, and cut them in slices. Put them, with their juice, into a large bowl, and make them very sweet with powdered loaf sugar. Set them on ice, and let them remain in the juice till wanted. Then send them to table with fresh sugar sifted over the top. Set near them pitchers of plain cream, not frothed.

If you cannot obtain cream, it is better to be satisfied with sugar alone, than to subst.i.tute milk, with peaches, or any other fruit.