Tartlets, Cream
INGREDIENTS for 6 tartlets.-2 eggs, 1 oz. of butter, 1 oz. of sugar, flour, a pinch of salt, jam, whipped cream. AVERAGE COST, 8d.
Make a paste with the eggs, the butter, and flour enough to make it smooth, working the past as lightly as possible. Roll out this, and line some patty-pans, putting in some rice to preserve the hollows. Bake in a moderate oven, then take out the rice, and fill with jam, and put a spoonful of whipped cream on each.
TIME.-15 minutes to bake.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Tartlets, Polish. INGREDIENTS for 8 tartlets. lb. of puff-paste, preserve, the white of an egg, pounded sugar. AVERAGE COST, 9d.
TEA.
Roll some good puff-paste out thin, and cut it into 24-inch squares; brush each square over with the white of an egg, then fold down the corners, so that they all meet in the middle of each piece of paste; slightly press the two pieces together, brush them over with the egg, sift over sugar, and bake in a nice quick oven for about 1/4 hour. When they are done, make a little hole in the middle of the paste, and fill it up with apricot jam, marmalade, or red-currant jelly.
TIME.-1 hour or 20 minutes.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Note. It should be borne in mind that for all dishes of small pastry, such as the preceding, trimmings of puff-paste, left from larger tarts, answer as well as making the paste exas making the paste expressly. Tea. Tea as a meal, or more often, an apology for one, is one of the most useful of all as an easy form of entertainment.
At an "At Home" tea almost any number of people may be invited, the hostess knowing that they will not all assemble at the same time; and, whereas at a luncheon or dinner a good deal of expense must be incurred, and comparatively few guests invited, a great many may be welcomed to an afternoon tea at a cost that can scarcely be reckoned.
At the regular At Home, one held on a certain day every week or month, to which only one invitation is given, by card or on a visiting one, nothing more is expected than some tea or tea and coffee, thin breadand-butter and cakes; but at an "At Home," where one is invited only on one certain there is a different kind of meal needed. Here we have, in addition to the above, such things as ices, claret and champagne cup (if in season), sandwiches, small fancy ones as a rule, such as foie gras or cucumber, a great variety of small sweets, and, in fact, just the same kind of light refreshments usually served at a dance.
High tea may be a meal, it being really worthy to come under the category. It can be served more easily in small households, where service is lacking, than a dinner or luncheon.
It is specially convenient in the summer, when out-of-door amusements are going on, and guests may be bidden to one without formality.
We give menus for two high teas, one for summer and one for winter, as well as TEA. two for afternoons; also some plain family ones.
MENUS FOR "AT HOME" TEAS.
Summer.
Salmon Sandwiches.
Cucumber Sandwiches.
Salad Sandwiches.
Bread and Butter.
Madeira Cake.
Sponge Cake.
Small Almond Cakes.
Petits Fours.
Small Fancy Cakes.
Strawberries and Cream.
Ices.
Tea, Coffee, Lemonade.
Claret Cup.
Winter.
Sardine Sandwiches.
Chicken and Ham Sandwiches.
Foie Gras Sandwiches.
Bread and Butter.
Pound Cake.
Sponge Cake.
Macaroons, Ratafias.
Petits Fours.
Fancy Biscuits.
Tea, Coffee, Wine.
MENUS FOR HIGH TEA.
Summer.
Mayonnaise of Salmon.
Cold Chicken.
Tongue.
Galantine of Veal.
Salad. Cucumber.
Compote of Fruit.
Jelly.
Pound Cake.
Strawberries and Cream.
Tea, Coffee, &c.
Winter.
Fish Rissoles.
Mutton Cutlets.
Cold Game.
Hashed Turkey.
Sponge Cake Pudding.
Lemon Cream.
Madeira Cake.
Stewed Prunes.
Tea, Coffee, &c.
TEA, TO MAKE.
PLAIN FAMILY TEAS.
Sunday. Bread-and-butter, bread, toast, jam, potted meat, seed cake, tea, milk, sugar.
Monday. Buttered toast, bread and bread-and-butter, sardines, marmalade, tea, coffee, &c.
Tuesday. Bread and bread-and-butter, dry toast, currant cake, scrambled eggs, tea, &c.
A very short Victorian recipe for six jam-and-cream tartlets, with the quantities given only for the fat, sugar and eggs. The flour is left to the cook's judgement, so the dough has to be brought together by feel.
- The flourNo weight is given: with 2 eggs and 1 oz butter you will need roughly 4-5 oz (115-140 g) of plain flour to reach a rollable, not sticky, paste. Add it gradually and stop as soon as the dough holds together.
- Work it lightlyThis is the hinge of the recipe. An egg-rich paste toughens quickly, so mix and roll with a light hand and rest it 20-30 minutes in the fridge before lining the tins, or the cases will shrink and harden.
- Patty-pansShallow tartlet tins, about 2 1/2 to 3 inches across. A 12-hole shallow bun tin does the job; a deep muffin tin does not, as the cases will be too tall for a spoonful of jam and cream.
- Rice for blind bakingLine each case with a scrap of parchment before adding the rice, which the original assumes you will simply tip in. Remove paper and rice for the last few minutes so the bases dry out and colour.
- A moderate oven350F (175C). Fifteen minutes is right for cases this small if they are thin; check at 12.
- Cool completely before fillingThe recipe does not say so. Jam into a warm case will soak the pastry, and whipped cream on a warm tartlet collapses within a minute.
- Sugar and jamThe method never says what to do with the 1 oz of sugar; it is presumably worked into the paste rather than the filling. Use a firm, well-set jam such as apricot or raspberry, about a teaspoon per tartlet, and whip the cream to soft peaks only.
- YieldSix tartlets, best eaten within an hour or two of assembly.
Small filled pastries of this kind were a staple of the Victorian and Edwardian tea table, and Mrs Beeton's compilers give a number of variations that differ mainly in the paste and the preserve. The cost note of eightpence for six is a reminder that these books were written for households keeping accounts: a tartlet made from a scant ounce each of butter and sugar, stretched with eggs and flour, was a cheap way to put something ornamental on a stand. Blind baking with rice, described here in a single clause as though everyone knew it, was a common domestic method long before ceramic baking beans were sold; the rice could be dried, kept in a jar and used again.