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GENEVA PUDDING (sometimes called George Pudding)
Put half a cupful of best Carolina rice into a saucepan with a pint of new milk, a piece of butter the size of a nut, four table-spoonfuls of sugar, and three cloves. Simmer gently till the milk is absorbed, and the rice quite tender. Take out the cloves, beat the rice thoroughly, and add twelve large apples, boiled till reduced to a pulp. When cold, mix with the rice and apples four well-beaten eggs, and a glass of sherry. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pie-dish, and bake in a moderate oven till lightly browned. Serve with wine sauce. Time, three-quarters of an hour to bake. Probable cost, 1s. 3d., exclusive of the wine. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A baked rice-and-apple pudding of the older English school, bound with egg and scented with sherry. The main work is getting both components thick enough that the eggs set rather than weep.
- Carolina riceNineteenth-century "Carolina" was a long-grain white rice, valued for cooking soft and swelling well. Ordinary long-grain works, though short-grain pudding rice gives a creamier body. Half a cup dry to an imperial pint (20 fl oz) of milk gives a stiff, absorbed porridge.
- New milkSimply fresh whole milk, as opposed to skimmed or the previous day's. Whole milk is the equivalent; do not use skim, which will leave the rice dry and the pudding lean.
- Butter the size of a nutAround half an ounce, or a tablespoon.
- Twelve large applesApple sizes were not standardised, so take this as roughly 3 lb of a variety that collapses, such as Bramley, peeled and cored, stewed with barely any water until it is a thick pulp. Drain or drive off excess liquid before mixing, or the custard will not set.
- A glass of sherryA wineglass in this period is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, a quarter cup, though the measure was not fixed. It is a flavouring, not a soaking; more will thin the mixture and slow the set.
- Let it cool before the eggsThe instruction to mix "when cold" is the hinge. Four beaten eggs stirred into hot rice will curdle into threads instead of setting the pudding.
- Moderate ovenAbout 350F (175C). Three-quarters of an hour in a buttered dish large enough to hold the mixture with room to spare, until the centre is just firm and the top lightly coloured.
- Wine sauceThe intended accompaniment is a sweet pouring sauce: sugar and sherry or Madeira thickened lightly, sometimes enriched with butter or egg yolk. A thin custard flavoured with sherry serves the same purpose.
- YieldFive or six, as the original states, and it is a substantial pudding. It is best warm; refrigerated, it firms considerably and is better reheated gently than eaten cold.
"A George Pudding" turns up in English cookery books well before Cassell's, generally as this same combination of boiled rice, apple pulp, eggs and sweet wine, sometimes baked inside a border of puff pastry and turned out. The name is traditionally explained as a compliment to one of the Hanoverian Georges, though no particular king is documented as its dedicatee; the alternative title "Geneva" is more likely a confusion of names than a claim of Swiss origin. What the recipe really records is the Victorian habit of building substantial baked puddings on cheap starch and glut fruit, with the expensive item, the sherry, priced separately: Cassell's quotes 1s. 3d. "exclusive of the wine," a reminder that the dictionary was written for households that watched both the shilling and the decanter.