Preserve Pudding

A terse Virginia receipt in the transparent-pudding family: a rich egg-and-butter custard bound with jam and baked in a pastry shell. The method is assumed rather than stated, so most of the work is filling in what Mrs. E. B. took for granted.

• The hinge: cream, then temperNo method is given. The usual reading is to cream the butter and sugar until pale, beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the preserves last. Adding cold jam to warm creamed butter, or mixing everything at once, risks a broken, greasy filling.
• "Nearly a cupful butter"Read this as about 7 oz (200 g) of unsalted butter, softened but not melted. The vagueness is real, and the pudding tolerates a range; err on the lower side if your preserves are very sweet.
• Which preservesNineteenth-century preserves were commonly whole fruit in heavy syrup, and damson, quince, peach or blackberry would all suit, but the receipt names none. A thick modern jam works; a loose jelly or a low-sugar spread will slacken the custard, so drain any free syrup first.
• SugarA full cup on top of sweetened preserves is very sweet by current taste. Three-quarters of a cup is defensible without changing the set, since the eggs and butter do the structural work.
• "Bake in pastry"No size or treatment is given; a single 9-inch shortcrust shell is a workable reading, and blind-baking until dry and just coloured guards against a soggy base under this much fat and egg.
• Oven and time350F (175C) for 35 to 45 minutes. The centre should be puffed and set with the faintest tremor; it firms as it cools. Pushed further, the eggs curdle and the butter separates out in a slick.
• Yield and servingAbout one 9-inch pie, eight small wedges on the reading above. It is very rich and thin slices suit it; the receipt gives no serving instructions.