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Vanilla Custard Pudding
Flavour a pint of milk by soaking a quarter of a pod of vanilla in it for some time. Boil the milk, and pour it whilst boiling on four eggs which have been lightly beaten in a basin. Strain the custard, let it cool, and add sugar to taste; three good-sized lumps will be enough. Pour the pudding into a buttered mould. Lay an oiled paper on the top, put it in a stewpan with water to reach half-way up the mould, and steam gently until done enough. Let it stand a few minutes after it is taken up before turning it out. Put it on a dish, garnish with preserved fruit, and pour dissolved fruit jelly round it. If liked, the pudding may be baked instead of being steamed, and essence of vanilla may be used instead of the pod. Time to set the pudding, half an hour. Probable cost, 1s., without the sauce. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A plain steamed custard, close to what a French kitchen would call a crème renversée. Everything depends on keeping the water beneath it below a simmer.
- The hinge: gentle heatCustard sets at around 170-180F; water at a rolling boil will drive it well past that and the pudding will weep and honeycomb. Keep the water in the stewpan at a bare tremble, lid on, and pull the mould when the centre still wobbles slightly.
- A pintCassell's pint is the imperial 20 fl oz, so 2 1/2 US cups. With four eggs that is a firm-setting ratio, right for a pudding meant to be turned out whole.
- Pouring on the eggsAdd the boiling milk to the beaten eggs in a thin stream while whisking, or the outside of the eggs cooks before it disperses. Straining afterwards catches whatever did curdle, along with the vanilla seeds and any chalaza.
- Three lumps of sugarVictorian loaf sugar was nipped from the cone by hand and lump size varied, so 'three good-sized lumps' is perhaps 15-20g in all; modern tastes would want 40-50g. The preserved fruit and jelly served round it would have added further sweetness.
- Oiled paperA round of buttered parchment, or foil, pressed onto the mould. Its job is to stop condensation from the pan lid dripping onto the surface and pitting it.
- If baked insteadStand the mould in a roasting tin of hot water and bake in a low oven, around 300-325F. The recipe allows only 'half an hour' to set, so start checking then. The text does not specify a water bath for baking.
- VanillaInfusing the quarter pod in hot milk off the heat for 20-30 minutes draws out more flavour than the cold steep implied by 'soaking... for some time'. The recipe offers essence of vanilla as a substitute but gives no quantity or timing.
- Turning outThe few minutes' rest lets the custard firm at the edges. If it clings, dip the mould briefly in hot water. The recipe has it turned out shortly after steaming, not chilled.
- ServingOne mould, sufficient for five or six persons. The 'dissolved fruit jelly' is a fruit jelly melted down to a pouring consistency.
Moulded boiled and steamed custards were a fixture of the nineteenth-century English dinner. Vanilla was still an expensive import at the time the recipe's careful "a quarter of a pod" is a sign of that, as is the offer of essence as an alternative. The costing of 1s. "without the sauce" is characteristic of Cassell's, which priced nearly every dish so that a housekeeper could budget a week's meals from the book.