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Steamed Sultana Pudding
1/2 pound flour 12 ounces of sultanas 1/4 pound brown sugar 1/4 pound mashed carrots 1/4 pound mashed potatoes 1/4 pound butter 1 tablespoon of molasses 2 ounces finely cut candied peel Mix thoroughly the flour or bread crumbs, sultanas--after they have been carefully picked over, carrots, potatoes--well mashed, and sugar. Warm the molasses and butter, and add these with the candied peel last. This pudding is improved by being mixed overnight, and should rise very high. Steam in a buttered basin about four hours.
A dense, eggless steamed pudding of the wartime type, held together by starch from mashed root vegetables rather than by eggs. Two things in the original need attention before you begin: there is no raising agent in the list, and the flour is given as an alternative to bread crumbs without saying how much.
- The missing leaveningThe instruction that the pudding "should rise very high" cannot happen with plain flour and no eggs. Either use self-raising flour or add 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, or dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in the warmed molasses. Without it you get a firm, close-textured pudding that is still perfectly edible, just not tall.
- Weights in cups1/2 lb flour is about 1 3/4 cups; 12 oz sultanas about 2 1/4 cups; 1/4 lb brown sugar about 1/2 cup packed; 1/4 lb butter is 1 stick; 2 oz candied peel about 1/3 cup. The 1/4 lb each of mashed carrot and potato are cooked weights, roughly 1/2 cup each.
- Flour or crumbsThe ingredient list says flour, the method says "the flour or bread crumbs." Substituting crumbs by weight works but gives a softer, more open pudding; a half-and-half mix of flour and dry crumbs is one workable compromise.
- SultanasSultanas are golden raisins. "Carefully picked over" refers to stems and grit in early-20th-century dried fruit; modern packaged fruit needs only a look. If the fruit is hard, a brief soak in hot water and a thorough draining keeps it from drawing moisture out of the batter.
- ConsistencyJudge the mixture, not the list. It should be a heavy dropping consistency that falls reluctantly from the spoon; if the potato and carrot were dry, work in milk a tablespoon at a time. An overnight rest lets the flour and crumbs hydrate, which may be why the original recommends it.
- The basinA 2-quart pudding basin or heatproof bowl, buttered, filled no more than two-thirds. Cover with pleated parchment and foil and tie it down, or the condensing steam will soak the top.
- SteamingStand the basin on a trivet or folded cloth in a covered pot with simmering water reaching halfway up the sides, and top up with boiling water as it falls. Four hours is not an exaggeration for a pudding this dense; a skewer should come out clean and the pudding should feel springy rather than liquid at the centre.
- Yield and servingServes eight to ten. Traditional accompaniments are pouring custard, a brandy or hard sauce, or simply cream. It reheats by steaming for 45 minutes and keeps well wrapped for several days.
Puddings built on grated or mashed carrot and potato belong to a long British tradition of stretching expensive dried fruit and fat, and they became conspicuous again in wartime, when eggs, butter and suet were scarce and cookbooks aimed at meatless and economical cooking multiplied. The vegetables supply moisture, sweetness and enough starch to bind a pudding that would otherwise want two or three eggs, which may be why this recipe has none. Sultanas -- seedless golden grapes dried in the eastern Mediterranean, the name generally traced to the Ottoman title -- were among the cheaper of the good dried fruits, and candied peel and molasses do the work that spices and spirits would do in a richer Christmas pudding. The long steam in a basin, rather than baking, reflects a kitchen where stovetop space and fuel economy mattered more than oven room.