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Vermicelli Pudding
¼ lb. vermicelli 1 pint (2 cups) boiling milk I oz. (I heaping tablespoonful) butter 2 ozs. (2 heaping tablespoonfuls) sugar 2 tablespoonfuls finely chopped blanched almonds 3 eggs Grated rind I lemon 1/4 teaspoonful grated nutmeg
An ingredient list for a baked milk-and-egg pudding of the same family as rice or sago pudding, with vermicelli standing in for the grain. A few of the quantities need translating before you start.
- The vermicelli quantityThe printed page gives a quarter pound of vermicelli, about 115 g, as our text now reads. Use fine Italian vermicelli or capellini, snapped into short lengths so it distributes through the custard.
- Weights and volumes1 oz butter is 2 tablespoons or 28 g; 2 oz sugar is about 57 g, a generous quarter cup. The "heaping tablespoonful" equivalences given are the book's own rough guide and are less reliable than the ounces.
- Order of workNo method is printed with these ingredients. On the pattern of comparable milk puddings: simmer the vermicelli in the milk until tender, stir in butter, sugar, almonds, lemon rind and nutmeg, let it cool below scalding, then beat in the eggs. Eggs added to boiling milk will scramble and the pudding will weep.
- OvenNo baking instruction is printed. A custard of this kind bakes at 325-350F for 40 to 50 minutes; standing the dish in a pan of hot water gives a silkier set. It is done when the centre barely trembles, around 170F internal.
- Blanched almondsBuy blanched almonds and chop them, or pour boiling water over whole almonds, stand two minutes and slip off the skins. Use sweet almonds only.
- YieldServes four to six as written. Good warm rather than hot, plain or with stewed fruit.
Vermicelli pudding belongs to the long English tradition of milk puddings thickened with a starch, in which rice, sago, tapioca, semolina, macaroni and vermicelli were more or less interchangeable. Vermicelli reached English cookery books as a fine soup pasta in the eighteenth century and was quickly turned to sweet use, since it swelled in milk much as a grain did and needed no long soaking. The almonds, lemon rind and nutmeg here are the standard flavourings of the older baked custard.