Albert Pudding
It would be a misfortune if the great and good Prince had not been commemorated at our tables. He has been commemorated in a pudding which is as simple as it is agreeable, which the poor man may enjoy, and which the most opulent and fastidious cannot resist. It is sometimes called Albert pudding; sometimes the Great and Good. An angry Welshman may say that long before Prince Albert was born this pudding was Alderman's Walk known in Taffy-land as a Snowdon one-giving much fame to the hotel at the foot of Snowdon hill. It may be so; but the Welshman should be proud that his pudding has now been raised to the throne.
Beat half a pound of butter into a cream, and stir into it the yolks of five eggs, half a pound of flour, six ounces of sifted sugar, half a pound of sultana raisins, and the zest of a lemon. Last of all add the whites of the eggs well whisked. Have ready a mould, first well buttered and then (for the Prince had an artistic eye) gracefully lined with threads and slices, stars and lozenges of citron and orange peel and angelica, in geometrical figures worthy of the South Kensington school of design-which the Prince fostered, and which glories in its geometrical drawing. Pour the mixture into this mould, cover it with oiled paper and a cloth, and steam it for three hours. Turn out the mould, and serve it with English butter sauce, sweetened with a little sugar and flavoured with lemon and a glass of sherry.
A steamed sponge in the Victorian manner: equal weights of butter and flour, raised only by whisked egg white, and decorated inside the mould so the pattern appears on the turned-out pudding. The essay wanders; the method is straightforward once the quantities are converted.
- The hinge: fold, don't stirThere is no chemical raising agent here at all. The five whisked whites are the only lift, so fold them in with a light hand and get the pudding into the steamer at once.
- Weights in metricHalf a pound of butter is 225g, the same of flour and of sultanas; six ounces of sugar is 170g. "Sifted sugar" means fine sugar passed through a sieve; modern caster sugar is the nearest equivalent, though the period term also covered more finely powdered sugars.
- The mouldThis quantity needs a 1.5 to 2 litre (2.5 to 3.5 pint) pudding basin or charlotte mould, filled no more than three-quarters. Butter it heavily and chill it before pressing on the decorations, or they slide.
- Decorating the mouldCandied citron, orange peel and angelica are pressed onto the buttered surface before the batter goes in, so the pattern ends up on the outside of the turned-out pudding. Angelica is now a specialist item; glace cherries or extra candied peel do the same job.
- Oiled paper and clothA round of buttered baking parchment with a pleat folded across it, then foil or a floured cloth tied under the rim, gives the same seal. The pleat lets the pudding rise without splitting the cover.
- SteamingThree hours in a covered pan of gently simmering water reaching halfway up the mould. Top up with boiling water as it goes; test at two and a half hours with a skewer through the paper.
- English butter sauceIn this period the name usually denotes a plain roux-based sauce of butter, flour and water rather than a hot emulsion. Sweetened, lemon-scented and finished with a glass of sherry, it thins into a pouring sauce for the pudding.
- YieldServes eight to ten. Leftovers reheat well by re-steaming for twenty minutes; a microwave dries the crumb.
Kettner's is dating itself here: Prince Albert died in 1861, and dishes bearing his name (Albert pudding, Albert sauce, Albert biscuits) were plentiful in the years around and after his death, when naming a dish for the Prince Consort was a small act of loyalty as much as flattery -- though some such names were already in use in his lifetime. The claim that it is really a Welsh "Snowdon pudding" under a borrowed crown is a familiar one, though Snowdon pudding as usually recorded is a rather different thing, built on suet, breadcrumbs and raisins pressed against the mould, and served with a sweet wine sauce; the resemblance lies in the decorated mould and the sauce rather than the batter. The nod to the South Kensington school of design is not decoration for its own sake: Albert's involvement in the 1851 Exhibition and the museums and design schools that grew out of it was still fresh, and geometrical drawing was genuinely what those schools drilled into their students.