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Date Pudding
One pound of dates, one cup of nut meats, whites of three eggs. Seed dates and nearly cover with water; cook until they will mash; when cool add nut meats, and well beaten whites of eggs. Bake in a slow oven just long enough to cook the whites of eggs. Serve warm with whipped cream or cold with plain cream.
— Miss Julia Russell Drake
A flourless, sugarless pudding that depends entirely on the dates for sweetness and structure. The whole thing hinges on folding, not stirring, the beaten whites into a date paste that has cooled completely.
- Slow ovenRead this as 300F. The point is to set the egg whites without collapsing or browning them, so resist the urge to speed it up.
- TimingThe original gives none. At 300F in a buttered dish of about 1 1/2 quarts, allow somewhere in the region of 25 to 35 minutes: the top should be dry to the touch and the centre set rather than liquid. For safety with barely-cooked whites, an instant-read thermometer in the middle should reach 160F.
- One pound of datesAbout 2 1/2 cups once pitted. Medjools give a softer, wetter paste than the drier deglet noor; if using Medjools, add water sparingly.
- Nut meatsSimply shelled nuts. Walnuts or hickory nuts are the likeliest period choices; pecans or almonds work. Chop coarsely so they stay distinct in the soft pudding.
- Cool the dates fullyThe most important step, and the one the receipt states almost in passing. Warm date paste will deflate the whites on contact and you will get a dense, weeping pudding instead of a light one.
- Beating the whitesBeat to firm but not dry peaks, then fold in thirds with a spatula. There is no flour, sugar or starch here to hold air, so whatever you lose in the folding is lost for good.
- Water"Nearly cover" means only enough to come close to the top of the fruit, perhaps a cup or so for a pound of dates; judge it by eye. Cook until they mash easily and the pan is nearly dry; excess liquid will keep the pudding from setting.
- YieldThe original gives no yield; a pound of dates with three whites will serve about six. Warm with whipped cream, or cold with plain cream, as the receipt says.
Date puddings of this kind belong to a period when dates, shipped in pressed slabs and boxes from North Africa and the Middle East, were becoming cheap enough to be an ordinary American pantry item rather than a holiday luxury. That may help explain a dessert with no sugar and no flour in it at all: the fruit does both jobs, and the three egg whites supply the lift. The signed contribution suggests a community or fundraising cookbook, the sort assembled from neighbours' recipes, and such books are full of similarly economical constructions, each credited to its donor.