Bakewell Pudding
INGREDIENTS for small pudding. pint of breadcrumbs, 1 pint of milk, 3 eggs, 2 oz. of sugar, 3 0z. of butter, 1 oz. of almonds, pounded, oz. of butter, 1 oz. of almonds, pounded, some jam. AVERAGE COST, 1s. 3d.
Butter a pie dish and put in it the breadcrumbs, covering them with a layer of strawberry or any other kind of jam. Mix the milk with the eggs beaten, the almonds pounded, sugar and butter; beat all well together, pour into the dish and bake 1 hour in a moderate oven.
TIME.-1 hour.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Baking. Baking, which is one of the 0 301 subdivisions of roasting, may be considered as one of the most convenient modes of 0 cooking.
BARBERRIES.
Baked meat is not considered so good as that which is roasted, but a great deal of the (sometimes to be detected) disagreeable flavour may be attributed to the want of cleanliness in an oven, the cooking of various dishes at the same time, or the fat which is often allowed to burn on the sides.
Not only has a great improvement been made in the construction of modern ovens, but there are now utensils for baking that render the cooked meats of far superior flavour than when baked by the old mode.
TIN BAKING DISE.
If however the meat be put in one of the old-fashioned tins or earthenware pans, a jar of water should go with it into the oven to absorb any disagreeable odour. There are some meats that are as well cooked baked, as roasted, but not many (partly for the reason that in the oven they do not get so well basted as before the fire), as for example, a shoulder of mutton and baked potatoes, a fillet or breast of veal, and a sucking-pig. For meats, the oven should not only be of a good heat but that heat should be kept up. Pastry and bread require a quick oven when first put in, but the heat may be slightly lessened afterwards, because in ordinary ovens where the chief heat is at one side only, they must be turned for fear of burning.
Barberries. A fruit of such great acidity, that even birds refuse to eat it.
In this respect, it nearly approaches the tamarind. When boiled with sugar, it makes a very agreeable preserve, or jelly, according to the different modes of preparing it. Barberries are also used as a dry sweetmeat. The berries form a pretty garnish. Barberries, To Preserve, in Bunches. INGREDIENTS.-1 pint of syrup, barberries.
Prepare some small pieces of clean white wood, 3 inches long and 1/4 inch wide, and tie the fruit on to these in nice bunches.
Have ready some clear syrup (see SYRUP); put in the barberries, and simmer them in it for 2 successive days, boiling them for nearly 1/2 hour each day, and covering them each time with the syrup when cold. When the fruit looks perfectly clear it is sufficiently done, and should be stowed away in pots, with the syrup poured over, or the fruit may be candied.
BARLEY-SUGAR.
TIME.- hour to simmer each day.
SEASONABLE in Autumn.
This is the plain household version of Bakewell pudding: no pastry case, just breadcrumbs, jam and an almond custard baked in a pie dish. It behaves like a baked custard, so the oven heat and the set are what matter.
- Oven temperatureA "moderate oven" here is 350F (175C). If the custard is browning and doming before the hour is up, drop to 325F; an egg-and-milk mixture that boils will curdle and weep.
- Judging the setAn hour suits a shallow pie dish, though the recipe gives no size. It is done when the centre wobbles as a single mass rather than rippling, and a knife inserted an inch from the edge comes out clean.
- Ambiguous quantitiesThe breadcrumb measure has lost its fraction in this text, and the butter is listed twice (3 oz., then again with its figure incomplete); the almonds are listed twice at the same 1 oz. As a working proportion, a custard of 1 pint milk to 3 eggs wants roughly half a pint of loose fresh crumbs and 1 oz ground almonds; the text's legible butter figure is 3 oz.
- Almonds, poundedGround almonds from a packet are the direct equivalent. Beeton's directions have sweet almonds blanched and pounded in a mortar, often with a little liquid or sugar added to stop them oiling.
- The butterMelt it and let it cool slightly before beating it into the eggs and milk, or it will seize into flecks. Cold butter beaten in whole will never disperse.
- Jam layerSpread the jam over the crumbs in a thin, even layer and do not stir it in. The recipe names strawberry "or any other kind of jam"; raspberry is the jam more usually associated with Bakewell.
- Average costThe 1s. 3d. is a period price for the whole pudding, which the recipe heads "for small pudding". It is a modest sum, though the book itself passes no judgement on it.
- YieldNo number of servings is given; a pudding of these quantities would serve about four to six, warm rather than hot, with cream or a thin custard.
Bakewell in Derbyshire has given its name to two related things: the pudding, an open case filled with jam and a rich almond-and-egg mixture, and the later Bakewell tart with its layer of frangipane and glace icing. The origin story usually told, and traditional rather than documented, has a cook at a Bakewell inn misunderstanding her mistress's instructions and spreading the egg mixture over the jam instead of stirring it into the pastry. This version dispenses with the pastry altogether and uses breadcrumbs as the base, which puts it in the large Victorian family of bread-and-custard puddings dressed up with jam and a little ground almond. That substitution is characteristic of the period's household cookery: an admired regional confection reduced to ingredients any kitchen already had, at a cost the book could print beside the title.