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Currant Pudding, Black or Red
INGREDIENTS for pudding for 6 persons.-1 quart of red or black currants, measured with the stalks, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar, suet crust or butter crust. AVERAGE COST, 10d.
Make, with lb. of flour, either a suet crust or butter crust (the former is usually made); butter a basin, and line it with part of the crust; add the currants, which should be stripped from the stalks, and sprinkle the sugar over them; put the cover of the pudding on; make the edges CURRANTS, ICED. very secure, that the juice does not escape; tie it down with a floured cloth, put it into boiling water, and boil from 2 to 3 hours.
Boiled without a basin, allow 1/2 hour less.
We have given rather a large proportion of sugar; but we find fruit puddings are so much more juicy and palatable when well sweetened before they are boiled, besides being more economical. A few raspberries added to red-currant pudding are a very nice addition; about 1/2 pint would be sufficient for the above quantity of fruit. Fruit puddings are very delicious if, when they are turned out of the basin, the crust is browned with a salamander, or put into a very hot oven for a few minutes to colour it; this makes it crisp on the surface.
TIME.-2 to 3 hours; without a basin, 2½ hours.
SEASONABLE in June, July and August.
A steamed suet-crust fruit pudding of the plainest Victorian kind: raw fruit and sugar sealed in pastry and boiled for hours. The whole thing hinges on the seal.
- Seal the lid properlyThe currants release a great deal of juice, and any gap in the crimped edge lets it bleed out into the water, leaving a hollow, dry pudding. Damp the rim of the lining crust, press the lid firmly all round, and tie the cloth tightly under the rim of the basin.
- Quantity of fruitA quart of currants measured on the stalk is roughly 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb of fruit; stripping the stalks takes off only a little weight. 1/4 lb of moist sugar (a soft, damp, lightly refined sugar) is about 1/2 cup; ordinary caster or light brown sugar can be substituted.
- The flour for the crustThe amount of flour for the pastry has dropped out of the text as printed. For a basin of about 2 pints lined and lidded, 8 oz flour to 4 oz shredded suet, with cold water to a soft dough, is the standard proportion.
- Suet crust or butter crustShredded beef suet is still sold in Britain and vegetarian versions are widely available; frozen grated butter behaves similarly but browns and softens faster. Suet gives the springy, slightly chewy crust the recipe assumes.
- Boiling timeTwo hours is ample for a basin pudding of this size, and three is only needed for a very large one. The stated times for a pudding boiled in a cloth without a basin are inconsistent in the original; allow about 30 minutes less than for the basin.
- Keep the water topped upBoil in water reaching two-thirds up the basin, lid on, and add more boiling water as it evaporates. If the pan runs dry the crust scorches and the fruit catches.
- Browning without a salamanderA salamander was a metal plate heated in the fire and held over food to colour it. Use a grill or broiler at full heat for two or three minutes, or a kitchen blowtorch; the turned-out pudding is fragile, so brown it on the serving dish.
- ServingSix servings, hot, with pouring cream, custard or plain single cream. Both kinds of currant are sharp and take the full quantity of sugar comfortably.
Boiled puddings in a cloth or a basin were the backbone of English fruit cookery long before ovens were common in ordinary kitchens, and a pot already on the fire could carry the pudding alongside the dinner. The note that the fruit is "seasonable in June, July and August" is the practical point: currants ripen in high summer, do not keep, and were used up fast in puddings, jellies and vinegars. Red currants were commonly combined with raspberries, as here, since the two fruit together give a rounder flavour than currants alone. The frank remark that a large proportion of sugar is both more palatable and "more economical" reflects a household in which sugar had become considerably cheaper by the mid-nineteenth century and garden fruit was effectively free.