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Date Pudding
1/2 pound of dates, whites of 6 eggs, 5 table-spoonfuls of pulverized sugar. Take the stones out of the dates, beat the eggs very stiff, add the sugar and fold in the dates. Put into a pudding-dish, and bake in a quick oven long enough to brown the top. Serve with whipped cream or custard. Any fruit may be substituted for dates.
This is a baked meringue rather than a batter pudding o ffat and no flour, only whipped whites, sugar and fruit. Everything depends on the whites, and on getting it out of the oven the moment the top colors.
- Pulverized sugarNineteenth-century pulverized sugar was finely ground sugar, finer than granulated and without the cornstarch of modern confectioners' sugar; superfine or caster is the nearest modern equivalent. Five tablespoons is roughly 2 oz; add it a spoonful at a time once the whites hold soft peaks, or it will weep.
- A quick ovenGenerally taken as somewhere around 400-425F. At that heat the top should color in roughly ten minutes, which is all the recipe asks for; the interior will stay soft and foamy rather than set.
- The datesHalf a pound of pitted dates is about 1 1/2 cups. Chop them small and toss the pieces with a little of the sugar so they separate; whole or sticky dates sink through the foam and pull it down.
- FoldingFold the fruit in with a spatula in a few decisive strokes. Anything more deflates the whites and the pudding bakes flat and leathery.
- Dish and depthThe recipe says only 'a pudding-dish.' A buttered shallow dish of about 1 1/2 quarts, with the mixture no more than a couple of inches deep, suits this quantity; deeper, and the top is likely to color before the middle warms through.
- Serve at onceLike any meringue it collapses as it cools, so bring it straight from the oven with the whipped cream or a thin pouring custard alongside.
- YieldFour to six servings, small ones \ it is very sweet.
- Substituting fruitThe recipe says only 'any fruit,' but dried or firm chopped fruit will behave best: juicy fruit releases water into the foam and it may not hold.