511. Bêtises.

Cut some slices of bread about an inch thick and three inches long; lay them upon a dish, and pour upon them some boiling milk perfumed with vanilla, lemon, or orange-flower water. Let the milk become cold. Beat six eggs together, and put half a pound of butter in a frying-pan, over a sharp fire. Dip each slice of bread into the beaten eggs, and fry it in the hot butter; when done on one side, turn it on the other, take it out of the frying-pan, drain it, and sift pounded sugar over it. Do the same for all the slices, and serve them in the form of a pyramid.

rum.

512. Pouding à la bonne femme.

Cut in thin slices half a pound of bread, and put it in a dish, with half a pound of pounded sugar. Beat together four eggs, a little grated cinnamon and lemonpeel, a gill of warm milk, and two table-spoonfuls of Pour this preparation upon the bread, and let it remain so till the morrow. Then rub it through a tammie, add half a pound of Malaga raisins (stoned) and four ounces of currants. Mix the whole thoroughly. Butter a mould, and pour the preparation into it; put it in a moderate oven, and let it remain for an hour. Then turn it over upon a dish, and serve either cold or hot, with a sambayon (see No. 502, page 204).

513. Pouding au vermicelle.

Boil four ounces of vermicelli with a quart of milk, a little essence of lemon-peel, and four ounces of

pounded sugar. When the vermicelli is very thick, add to it a table-spoonful of rice-flour, three yolks of eggs, four table-spoonfuls of rum, four ounces of Malaga raisins, as much currants, and as much candied cedrat, cut in dice. Mix the whole thoroughly. Whip two whites of eggs until they are very stiff, and incorporate them in the preparation. Butter a mould, and sprinkle some fine bread-crumbs all over the inside. Pour the preparation into it; tie a cloth over the mould and set it in boiling water. Boil it for two hours, take the mould out of the water and turn it over upon a dish. Pour a tumbler of rum over the pudding, and set fire to it. Serve it burning.

514. Pouding au riz.

Boil three ounces of rice in a gill of milk, with a small piece of vanilla and three ounces of sugar When it is very thick, let it become cold. Then melt into a gill of water half an ounce of isinglass; let the water reduce to half a gill. Beat half a tumbler of cream and the white of a fresh egg until the cream is stiff; then mix the rice, isinglass, and whipped cream together. Mix thoroughly. Pour the preparation into a mould, and set it in a cold. place for three hours. Then turn it over upon a dish and put around it some red currant jelly.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PATISSERIE-PASTRY.

I SHALL not give here all the receipts included in French pastry; that in itself would require a volume. This chapter, like all the others in the book, will be adapted to an ordinary household.

515. Pâte feuilletée (Puff Paste).

Knead by itself twelve ounces of butter, until no butter-milk remains in it, and you feel that it is soft and easy to work. Put upon the pastry-board a pound of flour; make a hole in the middle, add a little salt and cold water enough to make it into a paste exactly as stiff as the butter. Knead quickly, and roll thin; give to the butter the shape of a ball and put it in the middle of the paste; cover the butter with the corners of the paste, and flatten it first with your hands, then with the roller, and let it remain so for a quarter of an hour; fold it in three and roll it thin; let it remain so for an hour. Fold it, roll it, and let it stand four times; then roll it the fifth time to the thickness you require for use.

This is the way adopted by pastry-cooks, only they use a pound of butter to a pound of flour, and it

Р

makes the paste much richer; but it is rather difficult to manage, for the layers of paste over the layers. of butter are very thin, and easily torn; and this spoils the paste.

The following is another way, with which the paste will be very good, although not quite so delicate.

Take a pound of flour; make a hole in the middle, add a little salt and water enough to make it into a soft, stiff paste. Knead it very smooth, and roll it thin. Knead a pound of butter until no buttermilk remains in it, and try to have it as stiff as your paste. Then, with a sharp knife, cut thin slices of butter, and lay them close to each other upon the paste; fold the paste in three and roll it thin; let it remain so for a quarter of an hour. Proceed exactly as you did the first time-that is, cut some slices of butter, lay them upon the paste, &c. Do it four times, always allowing a quarter of an hour to elapse between each time. Then roll it for the fifth time to a proper thickness.

516. Pâte brisée.

Take a pound of flour, and make a large hole in the centre ; add some salt, and water enough to make it into a stiff paste, and twelve ounces of butter, divided in pieces. Mix the water and butter quickly, and take gradually the flour to the centre of the hole. Make the water absorb all the flour, and knead quickly; then roll the paste in the shape of a ball, and beat it with a roller; then put it again in a ball

until you use it. If you make this paste in winter, use tepid water; in summer, use cold water.

It is necessary to guess at once the requisite quantity of water; for adding water after kneading the paste spoils it.

517. Petits pâtés.

Make a pound of puff paste like No. 515 (page 209); roll it very thin, and cut it in round pieces with a wineglass. When you have used all the surface of the paste, knead together the pieces left between what you cut; roll this paste very thin, and cut it out with a wine-glass; do the same until no paste remains; then chop together some cold meat, parsley, shalots, and sausage-meat, and mix two eggs with it; take a portion of it, about as large as a nut, and put it upon one of the pieces of paste; dip your finger into cold water, and run it all round the paste; cover the meat with another piece of paste, and make the two adhere together by pressing lightly upon the edges. Do the same until all the paste and chopped meat are used up; egg them over with a soft brush, and put them in a hot oven; let them take colour, and serve them very hot.

518. Petits pâtés frits.

Proceed exactly as above, only these pâtés do not require egging over; turn up the edges of the paste at the bottom, and fry the pâtés in hot lard or olive oil. Drain them, and serve very hot.