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Boston Delight
2 cupfuls crumbled Boston brown bread, 1/2 teaspoonful salt, 2 eggs, beaten, 1 quart milk, 2 tablespoonfuls melted butter, cupful mixed dried fruit--raisins, currants, citron, figs. Mix to smooth batter; bake firm in centre; garnish with lemons, whipped cream, maraschino cherries; serve with lemon sauce.
A custard-bound bread pudding built on leftover Boston brown bread, which brings its own molasses sweetness — the recipe adds no sugar at all. The original gives no oven setting and no time, so the two numbers below are the ones you need.
- Oven and timingThe original gives neither. A moderate oven, around 325-350F, for roughly 60-75 minutes suits a custard this loose; use a buttered dish of at least 2 1/2 quarts, as the mixture comes to nearly eight cupfuls. "Bake firm in centre" means the custard should be set with only a slight wobble; a knife inserted an inch from the middle comes out clean. Overbaking curdles the egg and weeps liquid.
- Water bathA quart of milk to two eggs is a loose custard, and it sets more evenly standing in a pan of hot water reaching halfway up the dish. Without one the edges will be rubbery before the centre firms.
- Boston brown breadThe steamed rye-and-cornmeal-and-molasses loaf, traditionally cooked in a can. Canned versions are still sold in New England; a dense pumpernickel is the nearest substitute but is drier and less sweet. Crumble it rather than cubing so it dissolves into the custard.
- SweetnessNo sugar is specified because the bread and dried fruit supply it. If your bread is a substitute rather than the real molasses loaf, 1/4 cup brown sugar in the milk keeps it in balance.
- SoakingLet the crumbs sit in the warmed milk for 20 minutes before adding the beaten eggs. The bread is dense and will not soften fully in the oven otherwise.
- CitronCandied citron peel, once a staple of the winter fruit box, now turns up mainly around Christmas. Candied orange or lemon peel does the same job. Chop the figs small; whole dried fruit sinks.
- Lemon sauceThe recipe simply names it. The usual period version is sugar and cornstarch cooked with water, finished off the heat with butter, lemon juice and zest. Serve the pudding warm and the sauce hot.
- YieldServes six to eight. The garnish of lemon, whipped cream and maraschino cherries is period plating for a supper table and can be left off without loss.