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Carrot Pudding (C flour t soda C grated carrot)
1¼ C flour 1 t soda 1 C grated carrot (raw) 1 C grated potato (raw) ½ C sugar 1 C raisins ½ C shortening 1/2 t cinnamon 1/2 t cloves Steam three hours. Serve with whipped cream or sauce.
A classic steamed carrot pudding of the church-supper era, printed in the compressed shorthand these books used to save space. The transcription has lost several fraction marks, so read the quantities with care before you start.
- The amountsThe printed page was checked: the recipe calls for 1¼ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, and ½ cup shortening. Those proportions are sound for a steamed pudding of this size, so no adjustment is needed.
- Method the original omitsNo mixing order is given. Cream the shortening with the sugar, stir in the grated raw carrot and potato, then fold in the flour sifted with the soda and spices, and last the raisins. The batter should be stiff, closer to a dropped dough than a cake batter.
- Why raw grated potatoThe potato is a binder and moistener, not a flavour. Grate it last and add it immediately — it discolours fast, and its starch and liquid are what give this pudding its dense, moist crumb. Do not squeeze it dry.
- The soda has nothing to react withThe soda has nothing much to react with -- There is no sour milk, molasses or vinegar here, so the teaspoon of soda has little acid to work on beyond whatever the carrot and raisins supply. Do not increase it; excess soda in a steamed pudding can taste soapy and discolour the crumb.
- Setting up the steamerGrease a 1½-quart pudding mould or a coffee can, fill it no more than two-thirds, and cover tightly with a lid or with foil tied down. Stand it on a rack in a deep pot with boiling water halfway up the sides, cover, and keep the water at a bare simmer, topping up with boiling water as it falls.
- Three hours is realThe long steam is not padding. It gelatinises the potato starch and softens the carrot into the crumb. Test at 2½ hours with a skewer to the centre — it should come out clean and the pudding should feel springy, not wet.
- Yield and servingAbout eight servings. Let it rest ten minutes before unmoulding. The "sauce" is unspecified; a hard sauce or a thin vanilla or lemon pudding sauce would suit. Whipped cream is the plainer option the recipe offers first.
- Keeping itSteamed puddings improve after a day and reheat well — 20 to 30 minutes back in the steamer, still covered. They also freeze whole in the mould.
Steamed carrot pudding belongs to the long line of British boiled puddings that reached American church cookbooks by way of Christmas plum pudding, with grated root vegetables standing in for the more expensive suet, brandy and candied peel. The combination of carrot and raw potato is the frugal version: both supply sugar, moisture and starch, so the pudding stays dark and moist on a small amount of fat and sweetener. Recipes of this type long predate the twentieth century, and a cookbook of this kind prints it with no instructions beyond the steaming time. Everyone contributing already knew what a pudding mould was.