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Frozen Pudding
1 pt. milk 2/3 cup sugar 4 egg yolks, beaten 1/8 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sherry 1/2 cup candied cherries 1/2 cup minced pineapple 1 cup candied chestnuts, minced 2 cups whipped cream To scalded milk, add gradually sugar, salt and beaten egg yolks. Cook until thick, in double boiler. Cool, add mixture to whipped cream, and add minced fruits, nuts and flavoring. Freeze 5 hours. Serves eight.
A still-frozen custard pudding of the type made in the freezing tray of an early electric refrigerator, with no churning. The whipped cream is what keeps it from setting into a solid block.
- Cook the custard to the right pointA pint is 2 cups. Stir the sugar, salt and yolks into the scalded milk, then cook over water until it coats a spoon. Take it off before it approaches a simmer; once it curdles there is no rescuing it, and no amount of cream will hide it.
- Chill before foldingThe custard must be cold, not merely cooled, or it will deflate the whipped cream and the frozen pudding will be dense and icy. Refrigerate it an hour or more.
- Candied chestnutsThese are marrons glacés, sold in jars or foil in the holiday season. If unavailable, use vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts simmered briefly in heavy syrup. The recipe's later reference to "nuts" means the chestnuts; nothing else is called for.
- Whipped cream measureThe recipe does not say whether the 2 cups is measured before or after whipping; if you read it as whipped volume, about 1 cup of heavy cream beaten to soft peaks will give it. Soft peaks fold in more evenly than stiffly beaten cream.
- "Freeze 5 hours"That timing assumed a refrigerator freezing compartment, which ran warmer than a modern freezer. At 0F it will set firmer and faster; check at 4 hours. Cover the surface to keep it from taking on freezer odors.
- ServingMove it to the refrigerator 15-20 minutes before serving so it slices rather than shatters. Pack into a loaf pan or mold lined with plastic if you want to turn it out. Serves eight.
- The sherryTwo tablespoons is chiefly flavoring; alcohol does lower the freezing point, but this little will only marginally soften the set. Much more would risk a slushy pudding.