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Strawberry Pudding
1 pint of strawberry juice The whites of three eggs 4 even tablespoonfuls of corn starch ½ cup of powdered sugar Put the strawberry juice and sugar in a farina boiler, and stand it over the fire. Moisten the corn starch with a very little cold water.
Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth. Add the moistened corn starch to the hot strawberry juice, stir continually until it thickens. Take from the fire and beat in the whites of the eggs. Turn into a mould to harden. Serve very cold with sugar and cream.
Raspberry, Blackberry and Currant Pudding may be made in precisely the same manner.
A fruit sponge in the older sense: cornstarch-set juice lightened with beaten whites and chilled in a mould. It is simple, but two details decide whether it sets clear and firm or turns cloudy and slack.
- The hinge: cook the starch outOnce the moistened cornstarch goes in, keep stirring and let the mixture thicken fully, then give it another minute or two. Starch that is only heated through will taste chalky and will set weakly, because the granules never fully swelled.
- Farina boilerA double boiler. Cornstarch will thicken over a water bath, but more slowly than over direct heat; if you prefer, set the pan directly over low heat and stir constantly, though the double boiler is what the recipe calls for.
- "Powdered sugar"In this period the term generally means finely ground sugar, closer to modern superfine than to confectioners' sugar. Today's confectioners' sugar carries a small amount of added cornstarch; superfine or ordinary granulated is the closer match.
- A pint of strawberry juiceAbout 2 cups, which takes roughly 2 to 2.5 lb of ripe berries, crushed and strained through a jelly bag or fine sieve. Press lightly rather than hard if you want a clear pudding; pulp forced through will cloud it.
- Folding in the whitesBeat them in off the heat and work fast, while the base is still very hot. Cooling starch skins over and turns lumpy, and the whites will not disperse evenly once it does.
- Egg whites and heatThe residual heat of the just-cooked base does most of the cooking, but the whites are not held at a measured temperature. Anyone cooking for young children, pregnant women, or the elderly should use pasteurized whites.
- Setting and unmouldingRinse the mould with cold water before filling and do not grease it. Chill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight; dip the mould briefly in warm water to turn it out.
- YieldFills a 1-quart mould and serves 4 to 6 with cream. Currant juice, being sharper, will want the full 1½ cups of sugar; very ripe strawberries may need less.
Hot Weather Dishes belongs to the run of small summer cookbooks Sarah Tyson Rorer produced out of the Philadelphia Cooking School, aimed at households trying to eat well in July without lighting a range all day. Puddings of this kind — fruit juice thickened with cornstarch and aerated with beaten whites — spread quickly in American books after the Civil War, when cheap boxed cornstarch from firms like Kingsford and Duryea put a reliable, flavorless setting agent in every pantry alongside the older arrowroot and isinglass, which remained in use. The result was often called a fruit sponge, and it suited the period exactly: no oven, and a dish that could be moulded in the morning, left in the icebox, and turned out cold at supper. Rorer's closing note that raspberry, blackberry and currant work the same way is the practical logic of the whole genre — one method, whatever the fruit man had that week.