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Raisin Pudding
8 ounces of flour 2 ounces of butter 3 gills of milk 1 teaspoon of baking powder 5 ounces of raisins or sultanas Rub the butter into the flour, then mix the baking powder with the flour; add the raisins or sultanas and the milk. Mix all together, and put in a well-greased pie dish, and bake for three-quarters of an hour.
A plain steamed-pudding batter adapted for the oven — closer to a soda-raised fruit cake than a custard. Everything hinges on the liquid, which the original states in gills.
- Gills, and which kindThe sultanas and "pie dish" mark this as a British book, so a gill is 5 fluid ounces imperial: 3 gills is 15 imperial fl oz, roughly 1 3/4 US cups. An American gill is only 4 fl oz, which would give about 1 1/2 cups. Start with the smaller amount and add the rest only if the mixture is stiffer than a thick dropping batter.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is given, as was usual when ranges had no thermometer. A moderate oven, 350F/180C, suits three-quarters of an hour in a shallow dish.
- Weights, not cups8 ounces of flour is about 1 3/4 cups scooped and levelled; 2 ounces of butter is half a stick; 5 ounces of raisins is a scant cup. Weighing is safer here because the flour-to-liquid ratio is the whole recipe.
- Pie dishAn English pie dish is an oval or rectangular earthenware baking dish with sloping sides; depths vary. A 9-inch pie plate or a small gratin dish works; something deeper will need longer and will bake wetter in the middle.
- Baking powderBaking powders of this period were often single-acting, so the batter was best got into the oven promptly. Modern double-acting powder is more forgiving, but there is still no reason to let the batter stand.
- Rubbing inRub the butter into the flour until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs before the powder and fruit go in. Toss the raisins in a little of the flour so they do not all settle on the bottom.
- No sugar and no eggThe sweetness comes entirely from the dried fruit. A plain, frugal pudding rather than a cake; good hot with custard, golden syrup or jam. 4 to 6 servings.
- TestingAt 45 minutes it should be risen, browned and firm to a light press, with a skewer coming out clean. A deeper dish can want 55 to 60 minutes.
The recipe is essentially a boiled or steamed raisin pudding sent to the oven instead, a shift that saved fuel and a long watch over a steamer. Sultanas — seedless golden grapes traditionally associated with Smyrna in Asia Minor — were sold alongside raisins in British shops, which is presumably why the two are offered interchangeably here. That the dish carries a chemical raising agent rather than eggs places it after baking powder became a pantry staple in the later nineteenth century.