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Peach Pudding
Put in a farina kettle, a scant quart of milk. Reserve one half cup of milk, with which to moisten, two tablespoons of corn starch. When the milk boils add corn starch, and stir constantly until it is thick; then remove from the fire. Add one tablespoon butter. Allow this mixture to cool. When this is done beat in the yolks of three eggs till the mixture seems light and creamy. Add one half cup granulated sugar; cover the bottom of the baking dish with two or three layers juicy peaches pared, halved and stoned; sprinkle over three tablespoons of granulated sugar. Pour on the custard carefully, and bake twenty minutes. Make a meringue with the whites of the three eggs and a tablespoon of powdered sugar, and return to the oven to brown. To be eaten cold with sweetened cream.
A cornstarch-thickened custard poured over fresh peaches and finished with meringue. The original gives no oven temperature and no yield, so those are the first things to settle.
- Farina kettleA farina kettle is a double boiler, sold for cooking cereals. Use any double boiler, or a heatproof bowl over simmering water; the milk scorches easily in a direct pan.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A moderate oven, in the region of 350F, suits the twenty minutes; for the meringue, return it to the oven only until coloured, judging by eye rather than by a set time.
- Temper the yolksThe hinge of the recipe is the instruction to cool the cornstarch mixture before the yolks go in. Beaten into hot starch, the yolks scramble and the custard turns grainy. Let it come down to warm, not hot, then beat them in.
- Scant quartA scant quart is just under 4 cups; hold back the half cup for slaking the cornstarch from that total, not in addition to it.
- The meringue is underweightedOne tablespoon of powdered sugar for three whites gives a very soft, foamy meringue that is prone to weeping. Around two tablespoons per white is a common modern proportion if you want it to hold; beat to firm, glossy peaks and seal the meringue to the edges of the dish.
- PeachesFreestone peaches at full ripeness pare most easily after 30 seconds in boiling water and a plunge into cold. Two or three layers in the dish means roughly 6 to 8 medium peaches; very juicy fruit will loosen the custard as it bakes, so drain off any pooled syrup before pouring.
- Dish and yieldA baking dish of about 2 quarts, or larger if the fruit is generous. It should serve roughly 6 to 8.
- Serving"Eaten cold with sweetened cream" means pouring cream, lightly sugared, not whipped. Chill the pudding several hours; the cornstarch sets further as it cools.
Cornstarch custards like this one are typical of the later nineteenth century, when boxed corn starch was marketed to American households as a cheap, reliable thickener that stretched eggs. An older peach pudding would have leaned on more yolks or on breadcrumbs; here two tablespoons of starch do most of the setting and three eggs supply flavour, richness and the meringue lid. The seasonal logic is plain: this is a summer dessert, made when peaches are cheap and abundant, baked briefly, and served cold, in the manner of the queen-of-puddings family of dishes, where a soft base is covered with browned meringue. The "farina kettle" is a good marker of the period kitchen, a vessel common enough that a cookbook could name it without explanation.