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Steamed Nut and Fruit Pudding
1/2 cup raisins 1/4 cup chopped citron 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans 1 pint zwieback crumbs 1 egg 1 tablespoon cream or oil 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 1/2 cups milk Mix together the dry ingredients; then stir in the remaining ingredients except the egg; separate the egg and stir in the yolk; then beat the white stiff and fold it in last. Steam three hours. Serve hot with cherry sauce made by heating to boiling one pint of juice from canned cherries, and thickening it with two tablespoons cornstarch stirred smooth with a little cold water. Steamed Fruit Pudding (one of the best) 1 1/2 cups pared, quartered, and cored apples 1/8 package seeded raisins 2 ounces flgs 1/2 cup seeded dates 1/2 tablespoon molasses 1/3 cup hot water 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup zwieback crumbs Chop the fruit, then mix all the ingredients well together. Put into a pudding dish, cover, and steam three hours. Serve with raspberry sauce.
A crumb pudding rather than a flour one: zwieback does all the structural work, so the batter is stirred, not creamed, and the long steam is what sets it.
- Zwieback crumbsZwieback is a twice-baked sweetened rusk, still sold in some markets as teething biscuit. A pint of crumbs is about 8 oz by weight; dry rusk or plain biscotti crushed fine substitutes closely. Do not use fresh breadcrumbs, which carry far less sugar and absorb differently.
- Let the crumbs soakThe 2 1/2 cups of milk look excessive against a pint of crumbs, but the mixture should stand 15-20 minutes before the egg white goes in so the rusk swells. Fold the white in only at the moment the pudding goes into the mould.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold in tubs at holiday season or by weight at bulk shops. Candied orange or mixed peel is the nearest common stand-in; it is sweeter, so cut the sugar slightly.
- Steaming setupButter a 2 1/2 to 3 quart mould or pudding basin (the batter runs to about 1 1/2 quarts), fill no more than two-thirds, cover tightly with a lid or buttered foil tied down, and set on a rack in a deep pot with boiling water reaching halfway up the mould. Keep the water at a bare simmer and top it up with boiling water so it never runs dry.
- Three hours is realThe full time is not padding; the crumbs need it to set into a sliceable pudding. Test with a skewer, which should come out clean and hot. Rest 10 minutes before turning out.
- Cherry sauceTwo tablespoons cornstarch to a pint of juice gives a moderately thickened, pourable sauce. Slurry the starch in cold water, add it to the boiling juice off the heat, then return to a boil for a full minute to cook out the raw starch taste.
- YieldServes six to eight. It reheats well: steam slices covered for 15 minutes rather than microwaving, which toughens the crumb.
- Cream or oilOne tablespoon is the only added fat, with the rest coming from the nuts, the yolk and the milk, so this is a lean pudding by holiday standards. Melted butter can be used in its place.