For pastry dough
12 ounces of flour
1 egg
a pinch of salt
warm water as required

For filling
2 pounds apples
2 ounces castor sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
a little cinnamon
2 ounces sultanas
butter

Put on a pasteboard twelve ounces of flour, make a hole in the centre, and put in one whole egg and a pinch of salt, adding warm water as required.

When mixed into a stiff paste, roll in a cloth and leave in a warm place for half an hour; replace on pasteboard adn work well with roller into a long piece the thickness of thin cardboard, five inches wide, leaving one inch on each long side, and half an inch on each wide side.

Peel, and remove the cores and pips from about two pounds of apples, cut into thin slices, dip in melted butter, and lay on paste, sprinkle over two ounces of castor-sugar.

Grate the rind of one lemon, and dredge ovr with a little cinnamon.

Put between the slices of apple two ounces of sultanas cut into small pieces;p roll the half-inch on each wide side; turn the inch over on one long side; roll paste and fruit over and over, and fasten with the inch of spare paste; grease well with melted butter.

Tie in a cloth, and cook in boiling water for three-quarters of an hour.

The recipe in this entry was taken from "Italian Recipes for Food Reformers" translated and arranged by Maria Gironci. The book was published in London by George Bell and Sons in 1905. Most of Maria Gironci's recipes in "Italian Recipes for Food Reformers" were originally published in the author's first book, titled, "Recipes of Italian Cookery." The second edition of this cookbook was published in 1892 in London by Gaskill & Webb. "Italian Recipes for Food Reformers" caters to vegetarians, omitting all meat-based dishes. Unfortunately, Maria Gironci's wonderful cookbooks are not yet available at www.archive.org, though reprints are available through reputable publishers. According to the Library of Congress all books published before 1923 are in the public domain.... P.S. I tried this recipe and would not recommend it. The boiled pastry dough does not taste half as good as baked pastry dough. So it wouldn't be wise to cook this sweet in this way (In my opinion). The boiled dough tastes like gnocchi. This in itself is not a bad thing, as a`number of Italian desserts are made with gnocchi sweetened with sugar. Still, it's possible the reason this strudel-like dessert was boiled rather than baked at the turn of the last century is because many households back then did not have ovens, so they simply used their kettles and made do. I can't imagine any home cook preferring the taste of boiled dough to baked dough. Again, that's only an opinion. Photo and personal notes: Mary Melfi

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