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Fruit Roly-Poly Pudding
Beat a teacupful of flour to a smooth paste with a little cold milk. Add 2 well-beaten eggs, a pinch of salt, and as much milk as will make a rather thick batter. Wash half a pound of prunes, or other dried fruit, and simmer them in a little water till they are quite soft. Drain off the liquid, take out the stones, sprinkle a little flour over the prunes, and then stir them into the pudding. Dip a cloth into boiling water, wring it well, and dredge a little flour over it. Pour the pudding into it, and tie it securely, but leave a little room for the pudding to swell. Plunge it into boiling water, and keep the pudding boiling until it is done enough. Serve with sweet sauce. Time to boil, two hours.
This is a boiled batter pudding studded with stewed dried fruit, cooked in a cloth rather than a basin. The whole thing hangs on the cloth: scalded, wrung out and floured, so the batter sets against a sealed surface instead of leaking into the water.
- Teacupful of flourA period teacup is usually reckoned at about 5 to 6 fl oz, so roughly 3/4 cup, in the region of 3 1/2 to 4 ounces of flour by weight. The recipe leaves the quantity of milk to judgement, so no fixed total can be given.
- The cloth, in detailUse unbleached cotton or heavy calico about 18 inches square, dip it in boiling water, wring it dry enough to handle, and dredge flour over the inner face until it is evenly dusted. The flour hydrates into a thin skin that keeps the batter in. Tie with kitchen string and leave a good inch of slack for swelling.
- Keep it boiling, keep it coveredThe water must stay at a full boil for the whole two hours and the pudding must stay submerged. Top up with boiling water from a kettle, never cold, or the batter sets unevenly. Setting a plate or trivet in the bottom of the pot stops the cloth scorching.
- A basin insteadA greased pudding basin of at least 1 1/2 pints, covered with pleated parchment and foil and steamed, is an easier alternative, though a steamed pudding may need longer than the two hours given here for boiling.
- Flouring the prunesThat dusting of flour is not decorative. It keeps the wet fruit from sinking through the batter into one dense layer at the bottom.
- StonesHalve and check every prune after cooking. One missed stone in a boiled pudding is a broken tooth, and dried fruit sold today is usually pitted already, which saves the simmering step for softness only.
- Judging doneness"Until it is done enough" means a skewer through the centre comes out clean and the pudding feels firm rather than sloshing. Unwrap it onto a warmed dish immediately, or the steam condenses and softens the crust.
- Sweet sauceThe recipe does not say which; a thin custard or a sugar-and-butter sauce would suit. Serves roughly four.