Apple Pudding

A steamed crust pudding of the English kind: pastry lining a bowl, raw fruit inside, cooked entirely by steam. The recipe assumes you already have the book's pudding paste and a working steamer, so most of the work is in the setup.

• The paste"Paste for puddings" in a book of this vintage generally means a suet or shortening crust bound with cold water to a soft dough rather than a flaky pie pastry; the book's own paste recipe governs the proportions. Roll it about a quarter-inch thick for the lining and a little thinner for the lid.
• Pudding bowl sizesA pint basin holds 2 cups; a quart basin holds 4 cups. Modern British pudding basins are usually sold as 1 pint, 1.5 pint and 2 pint — a 2-pint basin is the quart size, for which the recipe gives three hours.
• Sealing the bowlThis is the hinge. Grease the basin, and once the lid of paste is on, pinch the edges together firmly and cover the whole top with pleated parchment and foil, or a floured cloth tied under the rim. Any water that gets in turns the crust to paste in the wrong sense.
• Steaming, not boilingStand the basin on a trivet or folded cloth in a deep pan, add boiling water to come halfway up the sides, cover, and keep it at a steady low boil. Top up with boiling water as it evaporates; if the pan runs dry the crust scorches and the bowl can crack.
• The long times are correctTwo to three hours looks excessive by modern standards but it is not a timing to shorten. The apples are raw when they go in, and the crust needs sustained moist heat to set and lighten. Understeamed, the base stays doughy.
• ApplesUse a cooking apple that collapses — Bramley, or a mix of Granny Smith and a sweeter eating apple. Sliced thin and packed tight, since they shrink considerably. Something in the region of a pound and a half will fill a quart basin.
• Sweetening"Sweeten to taste" with raw apples means guessing: 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar per pound of tart apples is a reasonable starting point. A little lemon zest or a clove or two does not offend the original.
• Turning outLet it stand five minutes off the heat, run a knife around the rim, then invert onto a warm dish. Serve with custard or cream; the juices inside are very hot for some time after.