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Victoria Pudding, Superior
Shred finely half a pound of sound beef suet free from skin and fibre, put it into a bowl, and mix with it a quarter of a pound of finely-grated bread-crumbs, six ounces of dried flour, four ounces of apples (weighed after they have been pared, cored, and chopped), four ounces of apricot jam, three ounces of finely-shredded candied citron, three ounces of dried cherries, and a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and stir into them five well-beaten eggs, half a pint of cream or milk, and two table-spoonfuls of brandy. Put the mixture into a buttered mould which it will quite fill, tie it in a floured cloth, plunge it into boiling water, and keep it boiling quickly until done enough. Let it stand three or four minutes, turn it upon a glass dish, and serve with brandy sauce. Time to boil the pudding, one hour and a half. Probable cost, 3s. 6d. Sufficient for six or seven persons.
A steamed suet pudding of the richer Victorian sort, closer to a Christmas pudding than to a plain roly-poly. The technique is straightforward; most of what needs translating is the vocabulary of the ingredients.
- The hinge: keep the water boilingA cloth-tied pudding cooks by convection, so the water must stay at a rolling boil the whole time and must never fall below the level of the mould. Keep a kettle on and top up with boiling, not cold, water or the centre sets slowly and turns heavy.
- SuetHalf a pound is 225 g. Fresh beef suet from a butcher must be stripped of membrane and grated or shredded very fine; packaged shredded suet (beef or vegetarian) is the direct substitute and needs no preparation.
- Dried flourFlour was dried in a warm oven or by the fire before use, damp flour being reckoned to make a heavy, lumpy pudding. Six ounces (170 g) of ordinary plain flour, straight from the bag, is what the recipe wants.
- Candied citron and dried cherriesCitron is the thick candied peel of the citron fruit, sold in blocks or in mixed candied peel; three ounces is 85 g. "Dried cherries" may mean candied or glace cherries, though dried cherries proper were also sold in the period; either works.
- MeasuresA quarter pound is 115 g, four ounces 115 g, half a pint of cream or milk is 10 fl oz (280 ml) by the imperial pint used in this book. Two tablespoonfuls of brandy is about 30 ml.
- Mould and clothA pudding basin or metal mould of about 3 pints (1.7 litres), buttered well; the quantities here are bulky and the recipe wants a mould the mixture will quite fill. Filling it full is deliberate: there is no raising agent, so the pudding barely swells. Cover with buttered baking paper and foil, then tie the floured cloth over the top and under the rim, leaving the corners knotted as a handle.
- TimingAn hour and a half is right for this quantity in a single mould. Test with a skewer through the centre; it should come out clean and hot. A pudding of this richness reheats well by steaming for 30 minutes.
- Turning out and servingThe three or four minutes' rest lets the outside contract slightly from the mould. Loosen the edge, invert onto a warmed dish rather than the cold glass one the book suggests, and serve with a brandy sauce or hard sauce. Six to seven portions, as stated; the cost of 3s 6d marked it as a party pudding rather than everyday food.
Puddings named for Victoria multiplied through her reign, applied to everything from sponge cakes to jellies, and the name is often said to have signalled richness rather than any connection to the Queen's own table; "superior" in Cassell's is generally taken to mark the more expensive of two or more versions given under the same head. What distinguishes this one from a plain suet pudding is the money in it: apricot jam, candied citron, cream, brandy and five eggs, at a probable cost of 3s 6d. The book's costings, given for almost every entry, are usually thought to have recommended it to the Victorian housekeeper, who was expected to plan by the shilling. Boiling a pudding in a floured cloth predates the pudding basin by centuries and remained standard practice into the twentieth century; the flour was traditionally held to seal the cloth against the water.