Henry Van Dyke - "Golden Stars"

Bartolome de las Casas - "A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies"

Benjamin Disraeli - "Ixion In Heaven"

Frank L. Packard - "The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

E >> Eliza Leslie >> Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches





FINE PUFF PASTE.

To every pound of the best fresh butter allow a pound or a quart
of superfine flour. Sift the flour into a deep pan, and then sift
on a plate some additional flour to use for sprinkling and
rolling. Wash the butter through two cold waters; squeezing out
all the salt, and whatever milk may remain in it; and then make it
up with your hands into a round lump, and put it in ice till you
are ready to use it. Then divide the butter into four equal parts.
Cut up one of the quarters into the pan of flour; and divide the
remaining three quarters into six pieces, [Footnote: Or into nine;
and roll it in that number of times.] cutting each quarter in
half. Mix with a knife the flour and butter that is in the pan,
adding by degrees a very little cold water till you have made it
into a lump of stiff dough. Then sprinkle some flour on the paste-board,
(you should have a marble slab,) take the dough from the
pan by lifting it out with the knife, lay it on the board, and
flouring your rolling-pin, roll out the paste into a large thin
sheet. Then with the knife, put all over it, at equal distances,
one of the six pieces of butter divided into small bits. Fold up
the sheet of paste, flour it, roll it out again, and add in the
same manner another of the portions of butter. Repeat this process
till the butter is all in. Then fold it once more, lay it on a
plate, and set it in a cool place till you are ready to use it.
Then divide it into as many pieces as you want sheets of paste;
roll out each sheet, and put them into buttered plates or patty-pans.
In using the rolling-pin, observe always to roll from you.
Bake the paste in a moderate oven, but rather quick than slow. No
air must be admitted to it while baking.

The edges of paste should always be notched before it goes into
the oven. For this purpose, use a sharp penknife, dipping it
frequently in flour as it becomes sticky. The notches should be
even and regular. If you do them imperfectly at first, they cannot
be mended by sticking on additional bits of paste; as, when baked,
every patch will be doubly conspicuous. There are various ways of
notching; one of the neatest is to fold over one corner of each
notch; or you may arrange the notches to stand upright and lie
flat, alternately, all round the edge. They should be made small
and regular. You may form the edge into leaves with the little tin
cutters made for the purpose.

If the above directions for puff paste are carefully followed, and
if it is not spoiled in baking, it will rise to a great thickness
and appear in flakes or leaves according to the number of times
you have put in the butter.

It should be eaten the day it is baked.


SWEET PASTE.

Sift a pound and a quarter of the finest flour, and three ounces
of powdered loaf-sugar into a deep dish. Cut up in it ten ounces
of the best fresh butter and rub it fine with your hands. Make a
hole in the middle, pour in the yolks of two beaten eggs, and mix
them with the flour, &c. Then wet the whole to a stiff paste with
half a pint of rich milk. Knead it well, and roll it out.

This paste is intended for tarts of the finest sweetmeats. If used
as shells they should be baked empty, and filled when cool. If
made into covered tarts they may be iced all over, in the manner
of cakes, with beaten white of egg and powdered loaf-sugar. To
make puffs of it, roll it out and cut it into round pieces with
the edge of a large tumbler, or with a tin cutter. Lay the
sweetmeat on one half of the paste, fold the other over it in the
form of a half-moon, and unite the edges by notching them
together. Bake them in a brisk oven, and when cool, send them to
table handsomely arranged, several on a dish.

Sweet paste is rarely used except for very handsome
entertainments. You may add some rose water in mixing it.


SHELLS.

Shells of paste are made of one sheet each, rolled out in a
circular form, and spread over the bottom, sides, and edges of
buttered dishes or patty-pans, and baked empty; to be filled, when
cool, with stewed fruit, (which for this purpose should be always
cold,) or with sweetmeats. They should be made either of fine puff
paste, or of the best plain paste, or of sweet paste. They are
generally rolled out rather thick, and will require about half an
hour to bake. The oven should be rather quick, and of equal heat
throughout; if hotter in one part than in another, the paste will
draw to one side, and be warped and disfigured. The shells should
be baked of a light brown. When cool, they must be taken out of
the dishes on which they were baked, and transferred to plates and
filled with the fruit.

Shells of puff paste will rise best if baked on flat patty-pans,
or tin plates. When they are cool, pile the sweetmeats on them in
a heap.

The thicker and higher the paste rises, and the more it flakes in
layers or leaves, the finer it is considered.

Baking paste as empty shells, prevents it from being moist or
clammy at the bottom.

Tarts are small shells with fruit in them.


PIES.

Pies may be made with any sort of paste. It is a fault to roll it
out too thin; for if it has not sufficient substance, it will,
when baked, be dry and tasteless. For a pie, divide the paste into
two sheets; spread one of them over the bottom and sides of a deep
dish well buttered. Next put in the fruit or other ingredients,
(heaping it higher in the centre,) and then place the other sheet
of paste on the top as a lid or cover; pressing the edges closely
down, and afterwards crimping or notching them with a sharp small
knife.

In making pies of juicy fruit, it is well to put on the centre of
the under crust a common tea-cup, laying the fruit round it and
over it. The juice will collect under the cup, and not be liable
to run out from between the edges. There should be plenty of sugar
strewed among the fruit as you put it into the pie.

Preserves should never be put into covered pies. The proper way is
to lay them in baked shells.

All pies are best the day they are baked. If kept twenty-four
hours the paste falls and becomes comparatively hard, heavy, and
unwholesome. If the fruit is not ripe, it should be stewed with
sugar, and then allowed to get cold before it is put into the pie.
If put in warm it will make the paste heavy. With fruit pies
always have a sugar dish on the table, in case they should not be
found sweet enough.


STANDING PIES.

Cut up half a pound of butter, and put it into a sauce-pan with
three quarters of a pint of water; cover it, and set it on hot
coals. Have ready in a pan two pounds of sifted flour; make a hole
in the middle of it, pour in the melted butter as soon as it
boils, and then with a spoon gradually mix in the flour. When it
is well mixed, knead it with your hands into a stiff dough.
Sprinkle your paste-board with flour, lay the dough upon it, and
continue to knead it with your hands till it no longer sticks to
them, and is quite light. Then let it stand an hour to cool. Cut
off pieces for the bottom and top; roll them out thick, and roll
out a long piece for the sides or walls of the pie, which you must
fix on the bottom so as to stand up all round; cement them
together with white of egg, pinching and closing them firmly. Then
put in the ingredients of your pie, (which should be venison,
game, or poultry,) and lay on the lid or top crust, pinching the
edges closely together. You may ornament the sides and top with
leaves or flowers of paste, shaped with a tin cutter, and notch or
scollop the edges handsomely. Before you set it in the oven glaze
it all over with white of egg. Bake it four hours. These pies are
always eaten cold, and in winter will keep two or three weeks, if
the air is carefully excluded from them; and they may be carried
to a considerable distance.


A PYRAMID OF TARTS.

Roll out a sufficient quantity of the best puff paste, or sugar
paste; and with oval or circular cutters, cut it out into seven or
eight pieces of different sizes; stamping the middle of each with
the cutter you intend using for the next. Bake them all
separately, and when they are cool, place them on a dish in a
pyramid, (gradually diminishing in size,) the largest piece at the
bottom, and the smallest at the top. Take various preserved
fruits, and lay some of the largest on the lower piece of paste;
on the next place fruit that is rather smaller; and so on till you
finish at the top with the smallest sweetmeats you have. The upper
one may be not so large as a half-dollar, containing only a single
raspberry or strawberry.

Notch all the edges handsomely. You may ornament the top or
pinnacle of the pyramid with a sprig of orange blossom or myrtle.


APPLE AND OTHER PIES.

Take fine juicy acid apples; pare, core, and cut them into small
pieces. Have ready a deep dish that has been lined with paste.
Fill it with the apples; strewing among them layers of brown
sugar, and adding the rind of a lemon pared thin, and also the
juice squeezed in, or some essence of lemon. Put on another sheet
of paste as a lid; close the edges well, and notch them. Bake the
pie in a moderate oven, about three quarters of an hour. Eat it
with cream and sugar, or with cold boiled custard.

If the pie is made of early green apples, they should first be
stewed with a very little water and plenty of brown sugar.

What are called sweet apples are entirely unfit for cooking, as
they become tough and tasteless; and it is almost impossible to
get them sufficiently done.

When you put stewed apples into baked shells, grate nutmeg over
the top. You may cover them with cream whipped to a stiff froth,
and heaped on them.

Cranberries and gooseberries should be stewed with sugar before
they are put into paste. Peaches should be cut in half or
quartered, and the stones taken out. The stones of cherries and
plums should also be extracted.

Raspberries or strawberries, mixed with cream and white sugar, may
he put raw into baked shells.


RHUBARB TARTS.

Take the young green stalks of the rhubarb plant, or spring fruit
as it is called in England; and having peeled off the thin skin,
cut the stalks into small pieces about an inch long, and put them
into a sauce-pan with plenty of brown sugar, and its own juice.
Cover it, and let it stew slowly till it is soft enough to mash to
a marmalade. Then set it away to cool. Have ready some fresh baked
shells; fill them with the stewed rhubarb, and grate white sugar
over the top.

For covered pies, cut the rhubarb very small; mix a great deal of
sugar with it, and put it in raw. Bake the pies about three
quarters of an hour.


MINCE PIES.

These pies are always made with covers, and should be eaten warm.
If baked the day before, heat them on the stove or before the
fire.

Mince-meat made early in the winter, and packed closely in stone
jars, will keep till spring, if it has a sufficiency of spice and
liquor. Whenever you take out any for use, pour some additional
brandy into the jar before you cover it again, and add some more
sugar. No mince-meat, however, will keep well unless all the
ingredients are of the best quality. The meat should always be
boiled the day before you want to chop it.


GOOD MINCE-MEAT.

Take a bullock's heart and boil it, or two pounds of the lean of
fresh beef. When it is quite cold, chop it very fine. Chop three
pounds of beef suet (first removing the skin and strings) and six
pounds of large juicy apples that have been pared and cored. Then,
stone six pounds of the best raisins, (or take sultana raisins
that are without stones,) and chop them also. Wash and dry three
pounds of currants. Mix all together; adding to them the grated
peel and the juice of two or three large oranges, two table-spoonfuls
of powdered cinnamon, two powdered nutmegs, and three
dozen powdered cloves, a tea-spoonful of beaten mace, one pound of
fine brown sugar, one quart of Madeira wine, one pint of French
brandy, and half a pound of citron cut into large slips. Having
thoroughly mixed the whole, put it into a stone jar, and tie it up
with brandy paper.


THE BEST MINCE-MEAT,

Take a large fresh tongue, rub it with a mixture, in equal
proportions, of salt, brown sugar, and powdered cloves. Cover it,
and let it lie two days, or at least twenty-four hours. Then boil
it two hours, and when, it is cold, skin it, and mince it very
fine. Chop also three pounds of beef suet, six pounds of sultana
raisins, and six pounds of the best pippin apples that have been
previously pared and cored. Add three pounds of currants, picked,
washed and dried; two large table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon;
the juice and grated rinds of four large lemons; one pound of
sweet almonds, one ounce of bitter almonds, blanched and pounded
in a mortar with half a pint of rose water; also four powdered
nutmegs; two dozen beaten cloves; and a dozen blades of mace
powdered. Add a pound of powdered white sugar, and a pound of
citron cut into slips. Mix all together, and moisten it with a
quart of Madeira, and a pint of brandy. Put it up closely in a
stone jar with brandy paper; and when you take any out, add some
more sugar and brandy.

Bake this mince-meat in puff paste.

You may reserve the citron to put in when you make the pies. Do
not cut the slips too small, or the taste will be almost
imperceptible.


VERY PLAIN MINCE-MEAT.

Take a piece of fresh beef, consisting of about two pounds of
lean, and one pound of fat. Boil it, and when it is quite cold,
chop it fine. Or you may substitute cold roast beef. Pare and core
some fine juicy apples, cut them in pieces, weigh three pounds,
and chop them. Stone four pounds of raisins, and chop them also.
Add a large table-spoonful of powdered cloves, and the same
quantity of powdered cinnamon. Also a pound of brown sugar. Mix
all thoroughly, moistening it with a quart of bottled or sweet
cider. You may add the grated peel and the juice of an orange.

Bake it in good common paste.

This mince-meat will do very well for children or for family use,
but is too plain to be set before a guest. Neither will it keep so
long as that which is richer and more highly seasoned. It is best
to make no more of it at once than you have immediate occasion
for.


MINCE-MEAT FOR LENT.

Boil a dozen eggs quite hard, and chop the yolks very fine. Chop
also a dozen pippins, and two pounds of sultana raisins. Add two
pounds of currants, a pound of sugar, a table-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of beaten mace, three powdered nutmegs,
the juice and grated peel of three large lemons, and half a pound
of citron cut in large strips. Mix these ingredients thoroughly,
and moisten the whole with a pint of white wine, half a pint of
rose-water, and half a pint of brandy. Bake it in very nice paste.

These mince pies may be eaten by persons who refrain from meat in
Lent.


ORANGE PUDDING.

Grate the yellow part of the rind, and squeeze the juice of two
large, smooth, deep-coloured oranges. Stir together to a cream,
half a pound of butter, and half a pound of powdered white sugar,
and add a wine-glass of mixed wine and brandy. Beat very light six
eggs, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Put it into a
buttered dish with a broad edge, round which lay a border of puff-paste
neatly notched. Bake it half an hour, and when cool grate
white sugar over it.

You may add to the mixture a Naples biscuit, or two finger
biscuits, grated.


LEMON PUDDING.

May be made precisely in the same manner as the above;
substituting lemons for oranges.


QUINCE PUDDING.

Take six large ripe quinces; pare them, and cut out all the
blemishes. Then scrape them to a pulp, and mix the pulp with half
a pint of cream, and half a pound of powdered sugar, stirring them
together very hard. Beat the yolks of seven eggs, (omitting all
the whites except two,) and stir them gradually into the mixture,
adding two wine glasses of rose water. Stir the whole well
together, and bake it in a buttered dish three quarters of an hour
Grate sugar over it when cold.

If you cannot obtain cream, you may substitute a quarter of a
pound of fresh butter stirred with the sugar and quince. A baked
apple pudding may be made in the same manner.


ALMOND PUDDING.

Take half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and three ounces of
shelled bitter almonds, or peach-kernels. Scald and peel them;
throwing them, as they are peeled, into cold water. Then pound
them one at a time in a marble mortar, adding to each a few drops
of rose water; otherwise they will be heavy and oily. Mix the
sweet and bitter almonds together by pounding them alternately;
and as you do them, take them out and lay them on a plate. They
must each be beaten to a fine smooth paste, free from the smallest
lumps. It is best to prepare them the day before you make the
pudding.

Stir to a cream half a pound of fresh butter and half a pound of
powdered white sugar; and by degrees pour into it a glass of mixed
wine and brandy. Beat to a stiff froth, the whites only, of twelve
eggs, (you may reserve the yolks for custards or other purposes,)
and stir alternately into the butter and sugar the pounded almonds
and the beaten white of egg. When the whole is well mixed, put it
into a buttered dish and lay puff paste round the edge. Bake it
about half an hour, and when cold grate sugar over it.


ANOTHER ALMOND PUDDING.

Blanch three quarters of a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and
three ounces of shelled bitter almonds, and beat them in a mortar
to a fine paste; mixing them well, and adding by degrees a tea-cup
full, or more, of rose water. Boil in a pint of rich milk, a few
sticks of cinnamon broken up, and a few blades of mace. When the
milk has come to a boil, take it off the fire, strain it into a
pan, and soak in it five stale rusks cut into slices. They must
soak till quite dissolved. Stir to a cream three quarters of a
pound of fresh butter, mixed with the same quantity of powdered
loaf-sugar. Beat ten eggs very light, yolks and whites together,
and then stir alternately into the butter and sugar, the rusk,
eggs, and almonds. Set it on a stove or a chafing dish, and stir
the whole together till very smooth and thick. Put it into a
buttered dish and bake it three quarters of an hour. It must be
eaten cool or cold.


COCOA-NUT PUDDING.

Having opened a cocoa-nut, pare off the brown skin from the
pieces, and wash them all in cold water. Then weigh three quarters
of a pound, and grate it into a dish. Cut up half a pound of
butter into half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and stir them
together to a cream; add to them a glass of wine and rose water
mixed. Beat the whites only, of twelve eggs, till they stand alone
on the rods; and then stir the grated cocoa-nut and the beaten
white of egg alternately into the butter and sugar; giving the
whole a hard stirring at the last. Put the mixture into a buttered
dish, lay puff paste round the flat edge, and bake it half an hour
in a moderate oven. When cool, grate powdered sugar over it.


ANOTHER COCOA-NUT PUDDING.

Peel and cut up the cocoa-nut, and wash, and wipe the pieces.
Weigh one pound, and grate it fine. Then, mix with it three stale
rusks or small sponge-cakes, grated also. Stir together till very
light half a pound of butter and half a pound of powdered white
sugar, and add a glass of white wine. Beat six whole eggs very
light, and stir them gradually into the butter and sugar in turn
with the grated cocoa-nut. Having stirred the whole very hard at
the last, put it into a buttered dish and bake it half an hour.


PUMPKIN PUDDING.

Take a pint of pumpkin that has been stewed soft, and pressed
through a cullender. Melt in half a pint of warm milk, a quarter
of a pound of butter, and the same quantity of sugar, stirring
them well together. If you can conveniently procure a pint of rich
cream it will be better than the milk and butter. Beat eight eggs
very light, and add them gradually to the other ingredients,
alternately with the pumpkin. Then stir in a wine glass of rose
water and two glasses of wine mixed together; a large tea-spoonful
of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed, and a grated nutmeg. Having
stirred the whole very hard, put it into a buttered dish and bake
it three quarters of an hour.


A SQUASH PUDDING.

Pare, cut in pieces, and stew in a very little water, a yellow
winter squash. When it is quite soft, drain it dry, and mash it in
a cullender. Then put it into a pan, and mix with it a quarter of
a pound of butter. Prepare two pounded crackers, or an equal
quantity of grated stale bread. Stir gradually a quarter of a
pound of powdered sugar into a quart of rich milk, and add by
degrees, the squash, and the powdered biscuit. Beat nine eggs very
light, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Add a glass of
white wine, a glass of brandy, a glass of rose water, and a table-spoonful
of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon powdered. Stir
the whole very hard, till all the ingredients are thoroughly
mixed. Bake it three quarters of an hour in a buttered dish; and
when cold, grate white sugar over it.


YAM PUDDING.

Take one pound of roasted yam, and rub it through a cullender. Mix
with it half a pound of white sugar, a pint of cream or half a
pound of butter, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a grated
nutmeg, and a wine glass of rose water, and one of wine. Set it
away to get cold. Then beat six eggs very light. Stir them into
the mixture. Put it into a buttered dish and bake it half an hour.
Grate sugar over it when cold.


CHESTNUT PUDDING,

May be made in the above manner.


POTATO PUDDING.

Boil a pound of fine potatoes, peel them, mash them, and rub them
through a cullender. Stir together to a cream, three quarters of a
pound of sugar and the same quantity of butter. Add to them
gradually, a wine glass of rose water, a glass of wine, and a
glass of brandy; a tea-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon, a
grated nutmeg, and the juice and grated peel of a large lemon.
Then beat six eggs very light, and add them by degrees to the
mixture, alternately with the potato. Bake it three quarters of an
hour in a buttered dish.


SWEET POTATO PUDDING.

Take half a pound of sweet potatoes, wash them, and put them into
a pot with a very little water, barely enough to keep them from
burning. Let them simmer slowly for about half an hour; they must
be only parboiled, otherwise they will be soft, and may make the
pudding heavy. When they are half done, take them out, peel them,
and when cold, grate them. Stir together to a cream, half a pound
of butter and a quarter of a pound and two ounces of powdered
sugar, add a grated nutmeg, a large tea-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon, and half a tea-spoonful of beaten mace. Also the juice
and grated peel of a lemon, a wine glass of rose water, a glass of
wine, and a glass of brandy. Stir these ingredients well together.
Beat eight eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture in turn
with the sweet potato, a little at a time of each. Having stirred
the whole very hard at the last, put it into a buttered dish and
bake it three quarters of an hour.


CARROT PUDDING.

May be made in the above manner.


GREEN CORN PUDDING.

Take twelve ears of green corn, as it is called, (that is, Indian
corn when full grown, but before it begins to harden and turn
yellow,) and grate it. Have ready a quart of rich milk, and stir
into it by degrees a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a
quarter of a pound of sugar. Beat four eggs till quite light; and
then stir them into the milk, &c. alternately with the grated
corn, a little of each at a time. Put the mixture into a large
buttered dish, and bake it four hours. It may be eaten either warm
or cold, For sauce, beat together butter and white sugar in equal
proportions, mixed with grated nutmeg.

To make this pudding--you may, if more convenient, boil the corn
and cut it from the cob; but let it get quite cold before you stir
it into the milk. If the corn has been previously boiled, the
pudding will require but two hours to bake.


SAGO PUDDING.

Pick, wash, and dry half a pound of currants; and prepare a tea-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon; a half tea-spoonful of powdered
mace; and a beaten nutmeg. Have ready six table-spoonfuls of sago,
picked clean, and soaked for two hours in cold water. Boil the
sago in a quart of milk till quite soft. Then stir alternately
into the milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, and six ounces of
powdered sugar, and set it away to cool. Bent eight eggs, and when
they are quite light, stir them gradually into the milk, sago, &c.
Add the spice, and lastly the currants; having dredged them well
with flour to prevent their sinking. Stir the whole very hard, put
it into a buttered dish, and bake it three quarters of an hour.
Eat it cold.


ARROW ROOT PUDDING.

Take four tea-cups full of arrow root, and dissolve it in a pint
of cold milk. Then boil another pint of milk with some broken
cinnamon, and a few bitter almonds or peach-leaves. When done,
strain it hot over the dissolved arrow root; stir it to a thick
smooth batter, and set it away to get cold. Next, beat six eggs
very light, and stir them into the batter, alternately with a
quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar. Add a grated nutmeg
and some fresh lemon-peel grated. Put the mixture into a buttered
dish, and bake it an hour. When cold, cut some slices of preserved
quince or peach, and arrange them handsomely all over the top of
the pudding; or ornament it with strawberries, or raspberries
preserved whole.

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