250 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



liird, just enough to keep it from adhering to the 

 pan, is very nice if well browned on each side; 

 sugar may be sifted between the slices as they are 

 piled in the dish, or syrup applied at table. 



Cracked corn, or hominy, should be soaked in 

 cold water over night; tben with twice its meas- 

 ure of cold water slightly salted set to boil over a 

 moderate fire till nothing but the soft hominy re- 

 mains. Grits — cracked wheat — need to be wai-hed 

 to remove the bran (unless the pudding is for 

 dyspeptics). Boil them the same as hominy; and 

 send both to the table with the same additions as 

 hasty pudding. 



Corn or potato starch, arrow-root, ground tapi- 

 oca, faiina, maizena, or even plain wheat flour, 

 mixed as for hasty pudding, but needing only half 

 the boiling, makes a more delicate dish, — to be 

 eaten with sugar and cream, or a hot fruit sauce. 

 Ground cocoanut is a great addition to these pud- 

 dings. S^k it over night in water or milk that is 

 to be boiled slowlyhalf an hour before mixing with 

 the other ingredients. 



Among the simpler puddings we have also samp, 

 the whole corn cleared of its hull — (the enamel, 

 that coats the grain, we may call it). This is de- 

 cidedly of American origin, the first white settlers 

 borrowing of the neighborly Indians their receipt 

 for making it. It is more convenient to make this 

 in large quantities, and it will keep nice a week. 

 Take the fairest kernels from the best-ripened 

 corn-cobs. Wash four quarts and soak it in cold 

 water over night. Have ready a bag — made by 

 folding one width of thick crash about a foot long 

 and stitching it with strong thread in short, close 

 stitches down the side and across one end and 

 then turning it inside out and stitching it again in 

 the same manner. Fill this bag till within three 

 inches of the top with hard-wood ashes. Wind 

 around the open end a strong string, and tie it 

 very tightly, so that no ashes can escape. Place 

 this bag to soak with tbc corn. In the morning 

 put both into a three gallon boiler, and pour upon 

 them cold water till within two inches of the 

 boiler's brim. Set this over a slow fire. Let it 

 boil steadily, yet gently, till the hulls are loosened. 

 Then take away the bag of ashes and skim the 

 corn into dishes of cold water, in which rub and 

 rinse it till the kernels are cleared from their 

 hulls, — which can be skimmed from the surface 

 of the water. Place in the bottom of the boiler a 

 small plate or saucer — to prevent the softening 

 corn from catching and burning there — and return 

 the corn ; cover it with the same quantit}' of cold 

 water, and boil as before for three hours. Then 

 skim it again into fresh water and rub and rinse it 

 thoroughly. Once more return it to the boiler; if 

 you choose add a tablespoonful of salt to the cold 

 water (same quantity as before), and boil it till it 

 is soft enough to eat. Set it upon the table with 

 the same additions as for hasty pudding. Some 

 persons remove the hulls by saleratus, soda, or 

 potash, mixed with the water; but the original 

 method— by weak lye — is preferable. 



To make the Sunday Indian pudding of New 

 England: scald half tha milk that you wish to 

 use and stir into it slowly Indian meal, till it is of 

 the consistency of thick batter. Then add mo- 

 lasses to suit your taste; and salt and ginger. 

 Butter a potter's pan and put in it half the un- 

 scaldcd milk, and then pour in the pudding; and 

 stir into it the remainder of the milk — this is to 

 make the whey, which serves as sauce. If you wish 

 for a very rich pudding, add coarse chopped beef- 

 suet and raw apples peeled and quartered, either 

 sweet or sour — stir in just before placing it in the 

 oven, — which must be of a moderate heat. Bake 

 it slowly. Eggs may be added, and sugar used 

 instead of molasses ; but it is good enough wiihout. 



A boiled Indian pudding, made by scalding the 

 meal as stilHy as it can be stirt-ed, and then mix- 

 ing with it an' equal quantity of blueberries or 

 huckleberries — fresh in the summer, the canned, 

 or the dried berries, swollen, in the wmter — and 

 cooking it in a bsg like that used for ashes in 

 making samp, is a very good old-fashioned dish. 

 So is an Indian suet pudding, made in the same 

 way, — adding molasses to the taste, and beef-suet 

 cut in small pieces, with a little salt. Boil this in 

 a tin pudding-mould three hours. The berry 

 pudding will cook in two hours, and needs a hot 

 sweet sauce. 



Rice, the whole grain, set upon the table with 

 the same accompaniments as for hasty pudding is 

 a very appetizing dish. Or it may be used as a 

 substitute lor potatoes with fresh meats. But it 

 needs particular cooking. Overdone, watery, or 

 clammy rice is miserable. It should be steamed. 

 Pick it over carefully, removing all unhusked 

 grains ^s well as all stones. Wash it well by 

 rubbing it gently in cold water and rinsing it a 

 second time ; then salt it a little ana put it into a 

 deep dish that is set in the steamer in the top of 

 the dinner boiier, — the boiler should be half full 

 of boiling water. Keep it boiling till the rice is 

 swollen to the appearance of parched corn, each 

 kernel separate and dry. It takes a little more 

 time to cook it in this way than to boil it, but it is 

 always sure to be done nicely. 



[to be CONTINL'ED.] 



HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 

 contributed for the new England farmer. 



Pickled Apples. 



Take small hard apples and stick two or three 

 cloves in each, or cut larger apples in halves or 

 quarters ; simmer till soft in a syrup made of a 

 pint of vinegar and a pound of sugar, in which a 

 stick of cinnamon should be boiled. 



Cherries are very nice, pickled in the same way, 

 with the exception of tying the spices up in a 

 muslin bag. Leave the stems on. 



Salad Dressing for Blanched Cabbage. 



Rub a spoonful of wet mustard .^nd a large tea- 

 spoonful of salt into a beaten egg; when perfectly 



