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Cream Pudding, Rich
Put the thin rind, of a lemon into a pint of cream, bring it slowly to a boil, and pour it over the finely-grated crumb of a French roll. Let it stand to soak, then beat it well with a fork, and add two table-spoonfuls of sugar, a pinch of salt, one or two drops of almond flavouring, a table-spoonful of brandy, and the yolks of six eggs well beaten. Bake in a buttered dish, and serve with wine sauce. Time to bake, half an hour. Probable cost, 2s. 3d., exclusive of the brandy. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A baked custard thickened with breadcrumb rather than flour, of the type Cassell's files among rich cream puddings. The original assumes a cook who knows what temperature to use and how to protect a custard, so those are the gaps worth filling.
- The hinge: gentle heatSix yolks in a pint of cream will curdle if the dish goes into a hot oven. Bake at 325-350F in a roasting tin of hot water reaching halfway up the dish; the pudding is done when set at the edges and barely trembling at the centre.
- A pint of creamAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz (about 570 ml), which is just under 2.5 US cups. Single or whipping cream both work; double cream gives a very heavy result and can be let down with a splash of milk.
- A French rollA small crusty white bread roll of the period, perhaps 2 oz of crumb once the crust is cut away. Grate or blitz the interior to fine crumbs and expect roughly a cup, loosely packed.
- Lemon rind"Thin rind" means pared with a knife or peeler, no white pith. Steep it in the scalded cream and lift it out before the crumbs go in, or it will be unpleasant to eat.
- Almond flavouringVictorian almond essence was frequently made from bitter almonds. Use modern almond extract, one or two drops only, since it will otherwise dominate the lemon and brandy.
- Tempering the yolksThe cream will still be warm after soaking the crumbs. Beat a little of it into the yolks before combining, or the eggs will scramble in streaks.
- Wine sauceA common form was a thin sweet sauce of sherry or madeira with sugar, thickened lightly with butter and flour or with a yolk. Any sweet dessert wine sauce or a plain custard serves.
- Time and yieldHalf an hour suits a shallow dish; a deeper one may want 40-50 minutes. Four to five portions, as stated, and it is rich enough that this is honest.
Bread-thickened cream puddings sit between the older sops-and-custards tradition and the flour-thickened puddings of the nineteenth-century table. Grated roll crumb was a common binder before cornflour became a kitchen staple: it gives body without the pastiness of starch and carries flavour well. The costing at 2s 3d, and the note that this excludes the brandy, is characteristic of Cassell's, which priced almost every dish so that a household could judge it against the week's budget; cream at that price suggests a pudding for company rather than a family supper. Lemon peel, bitter almond and brandy were a familiar flavouring combination for rich baked custards in the period.