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Boiled Custard Pudding
Make 1 pint of custard with 1/2 pint of milk, and 3 eggs. Flavor and sweeten it liberally, or the pudding will be insipid. Put it into a buttered basin which it will quite fill, cover it with a piece of buttered paper, and tie it in a floured cloth, then steam it gently until done. Keep moving it about in the saucepan for the first few minutes, that it may be well mixed. It must not cease boiling after it is once put in. Serve with wine sauce or a little jam. A large pudding may be made with very little more expense by adding another egg, another half-pint of milk, and a tablespoonful of flour. Time, forty minutes to steam. Sufficient for four persons.
A steamed custard set in a pudding basin rather than baked in a dish — the older English method, and the one point that decides success is heat control.
- Gentle steam, not a rolling boilThe instruction to keep it boiling refers to the water in the pan, and even then the water should be at a bare simmer with the basin standing on a trivet or folded cloth. Hard boiling drives the custard above the setting point and it curdles into whey and curds.
- Custard proportionsThe quantities as printed do not agree with one another — the yield and the milk given cannot both be right. The reliable working ratio for a steamed custard of this kind is 3 eggs to 1 pint (2 cups) of milk; the larger version in the last sentence takes 4 eggs, 1 1/2 pints of milk and a tablespoon of flour.
- The basinA "basin" is a plain ceramic or glass pudding bowl; the recipe wants one just large enough to be quite filled by the custard. Butter it well and fill it to the brim so no air pocket sits under the cover.
- Paper and clothButtered paper plus a floured cloth tied over the rim keeps condensation out. A round of baking parchment under a sheet of foil, crimped tightly under the lip and tied with string, does the same job and is easier to lift.
- "Flavor and sweeten liberally"Take this seriously: about 1/4 cup sugar per pint of milk, plus vanilla, grated nutmeg or lemon zest. An underseasoned steamed custard tastes of nothing but egg.
- Stirring at the startMoving the basin about for the first few minutes keeps the eggs from settling before the mixture thickens. Once the outer edge has begun to set, leave it alone.
- DonenessForty minutes is right for the small size, closer to an hour for the larger. It is done when the centre is just set and barely wobbles; a knife slipped in comes out clean. Rest it five minutes before turning out or it will slump.
- Sauce and yieldServes four. Wine sauce here means a sweet sauce built on sherry or Madeira with sugar and butter; warmed jam thinned with a spoonful of water is the simpler option the recipe offers.