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Dried Apricot Sauce
Wash and pick over dried apricots, soak over night in cold water to cover. Cook until soft and quite dry, in the water in which they were soaked. Rub through a sieve and sweeten to taste. Reheat, and drop a spoonful on each portion of pudding, place a small star of Hard Sauce in center and serve.
A simple fruit purée meant to be spooned over a steamed or baked pudding. The whole trick is cooking the apricots down far enough that the purée holds its shape on the plate.
- QuantityThe original gives none. About 8 oz (225 g) dried apricots with water to cover makes roughly 1 1/2 cups of sauce, enough for six to eight servings of pudding.
- SoakingOvernight does no harm, but many modern dried apricots are soft enough that four hours, or a 20-minute soak in just-boiled water, will do. Firmer or unsulphured fruit will still want the full soak.
- "Quite dry" is the hingeCook uncovered over low heat until the fruit has collapsed and the liquid is nearly gone, stirring near the end so it does not catch. A watery purée will run off the pudding and drown the hard sauce.
- Sieve or blenderRubbing through a sieve was the usual way to get a smooth purée before electric machines. A food processor or immersion blender does it in seconds; pass it through a sieve afterwards only if you want it perfectly fine.
- Sweetening"To taste" depends entirely on the fruit, which varies widely in tartness. Start with 2 tablespoons of sugar per 8 oz of fruit and add more off the heat; a squeeze of lemon keeps it from turning cloying.
- Hard sauceThat is the creamed butter-and-sugar sauce found elsewhere in these books, usually with a little brandy or vanilla. Chill it firm, roll it out between sheets of parchment about 1/4 inch thick, and cut stars with a small cutter; keep them in the refrigerator until the moment of serving so they do not slump.
- ServingServe the apricot sauce warm, not hot, or the hard sauce star will melt on contact. Reheat gently and thin with a spoonful of water if it has stiffened.
Dried apricots were a staple of the American winter pantry long before reliable refrigeration or air freight, filling the gap when stored apples and root vegetables were tiring and no fresh fruit was yet in season. California had become the dominant domestic source of sun-dried apricots by the turn of the twentieth century. Pairing a tart fruit purée with hard sauce — creamed butter and sugar, associated with British plum pudding — was a common answer to the problem of the plain steamed pudding, giving both sharpness and richness in one plate. The decorative star cut from chilled hard sauce fits the period's fondness for a small, cheap flourish at the table.