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Vice-Chancellor's Pudding
Boil a quarter of a pint of milk and a quarter of a pint of cream with a dessert-spoonful of sugar and a small strip of lemon-rind. If liked, milk only should be used. Strain it over a slice of the crumb of bread, and let it stand till the bread has absorbed it. Beat it lightly with a fork, and add the yolks of two eggs, the white of one, a table-spoonful of brandy, a little grated nutmeg, and sugar to sweeten it. Pour the pudding into a well-buttered shape which it will quite fill, place a round of buttered paper on the top, tie it in a cloth, and boil till done enough. Let it stand for a minute or two, and turn it out. Time to boil the pudding, half an hour.
A small steamed bread custard — closer to a bread-and-butter pudding turned out of a mould than to a suet pudding. The whole thing hangs on gentle heat: it is a custard, and a hard boil will curdle it.
- The measurementsA quarter of an imperial pint is 5 fl oz, so about two-thirds of a US cup each of milk and cream. A dessert-spoonful is roughly two teaspoons.
- "Crumb of bread"The soft interior only, crust cut away — about one thick slice of a plain white loaf, torn up. Modern sandwich bread is softer and sweeter than Victorian household bread; a day-old country loaf gives better body.
- "A shape"A metal or china mould or basin. The mixture is half a pint of liquid plus the bread and eggs, so the mould wants to be around three-quarters of a pint, since it must be filled completely. Filling it leaves no air pocket, which helps the pudding turn out cleanly.
- Cloth and paperThe buttered paper keeps condensation off the surface; the cloth tied over the top was the period's lid. A sheet of buttered parchment under a tight layer of foil, or a lidded pudding basin, does the same job.
- Boil means steamBoil gently -- The book says boil, but this is an egg custard, so treat it as a water bath: stand the covered mould in a pan with water coming halfway up the sides and keep it at a bare simmer. A rolling boil around a thin egg custard risks scrambling it; aim for a centre of roughly 170-180F.
- TimingHalf an hour is realistic for a small mould at a simmer. Test with a skewer at the centre — it should come out clean with the pudding still trembling, not firm all through.
- Turning outThe minute or two of resting is not optional; it lets the edges contract from the metal. Loosen nothing, invert onto a warmed plate, and lift the mould straight up.
- YieldTwo modest servings, or one generous one. The recipe specifies no sauce; a wine or brandy sauce, or simply cream, would not be out of place with a pudding of this kind.
Victorian cookery books carry a run of puddings named for offices and dignitaries — Cabinet pudding is the best known — a fashion for dressing up modest dishes with borrowed rank, and the names seldom record any real connection to the person or post. Underneath the title this is one of the oldest formulas in English cookery: bread soaked in scalded milk, bound with egg, flavoured with lemon rind and nutmeg, and set in a mould. The brandy and the two yolks to one white suggest a richer, more formal version than a plain nursery pudding, extra yolks giving richness and a paler, smoother set.