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Potato Mould
Beat an egg thoroughly, and mix with it a third of a pint of boiling cream or milk, a table-spoonful of sugar, a little grated lemon-rind, and as much cold boiled potato beaten till smooth, or grated, as will form a stiff thick batter. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mould, and bake in a well-heated oven. When it is nicely browned, turn it out, and serve very hot. Time to bake, half an hour or more. Probable cost, 6d., if made with milk. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A Victorian sweet potato pudding, baked in a mould and turned out. It is essentially a mashed-potato custard, and it depends entirely on getting the batter stiff enough to hold its shape.
- A third of a pintCassell's works in Imperial measure, so a pint is 20 fl oz and a third of it is about 6 1/2 fl oz — roughly 190 ml, or a generous 3/4 US cup. Have it hot when it meets the beaten egg, and add it in a thin stream while whisking so the egg does not scramble.
- How much potatoThe recipe gives no weight, only a texture: enough to make "a stiff thick batter". Depending on the potato that may be somewhere in the region of a pound of boiled potatoes, but the quantity is left to judgement. Add it gradually and stop when a spoon drawn through the mixture leaves a track that closes slowly.
- Floury potatoes onlyUse a mealy variety — russet, King Edward, Maris Piper. Waxy potatoes turn gluey when beaten, and the mixture will bake dense rather than light. Passing them through a ricer or sieve while still warm gives a far smoother result than mashing.
- A well-heated ovenRead this as a hot oven, somewhere around 400F (200C). The pudding needs enough top heat to brown in the half hour given; a moderate oven will leave it pale and set it more slowly.
- The mouldA plain charlotte mould, a pudding basin or a metal bowl all work. Butter it heavily and dust with fine sugar or dry breadcrumbs — the sugar in the batter will otherwise catch and the pudding will tear when turned out. Let it stand five minutes before inverting.
- Lemon rindGrate only the yellow zest; the white pith beneath is bitter and there is nothing in this mild mixture to hide it. The zest of half a lemon is about right for this quantity.
- Yield and servingFive or six portions is optimistic by modern appetites — call it four as a dessert. It is served hot, and takes well to cream, a fruit compote or warmed jam, none of which the original mentions.
- Enriching itOne egg is the minimum that will bind this much potato. A second egg, or an extra yolk, gives a noticeably lighter and more custard-like crumb without changing the method.
Sweet potato puddings of this kind were a staple of British household cookery from the eighteenth century onward, appearing in Hannah Glasse and her successors long before Cassell's collected them in the 1870s. They belong to a family of "mould" puddings built on a cheap starchy base — potato, rice, sago, breadcrumbs — enriched with egg, sugar and whatever dairy the house could spare, then baked in a shaped tin so that a frugal dish arrived at table looking like a set piece. The costing of sixpence is the point of the entry: Cassell's prices nearly every recipe, and a sweet course for six at that price was the sort of arithmetic its readers, who are often described as middle-class women managing a single servant, were expected to do. The recipe also reflects the standing instruction of Victorian kitchens never to waste cold boiled potato.