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Gooseberry Pudding, Baked
INGREDIENTS for dish sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.-Gooseberries, 3 eggs, 1½ oz. of but- GOOSEBERRY SAUCE. ter, 1/2 pint of bread-crumbs, sugar to taste, a little puff-paste. AVERAGE COST, 1s.
Put the gooseberries into a jar, previously cutting off the tops and tails; place this jar in boiling water, and let it boil until the gooseberries are soft enough to pulp; then beat them through a coarse sieve, and to every pint of pulp add 3 well-whisked eggs, 1½ oz. of butter, pint of bread-crumbs, and sugar to taste; beat the mixture well, put a border of puff-paste round the edge of a pie-dish, put in the pudding, bake for about 40 minutes, strew sifted sugar over and serve.
TIME. -About 40 minutes.
SEASONABLE from May to July.
Gooseberry Pudding, Boiled. - INGREDIENTS for pudding large enough for 6 persons. lb. of suet crust, 1½ pint of green gooseberries, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar.
AVERAGE COST, 18.
Line a pudding-basin with suet crust rolled out to about 1/24 inch in thickness, and with a pair of scissors, cut off the tops and tails of the gooseberries; fill the basin with the fruit, put in the sugar, and cover with crust.
Pinch the edges of the he pudding together, tie over it a a floured cloth, put it into boiling BOILED FRUIT PUDDING. water, and boil from 2 to 3 hours; turn it out of the basin, and serve with a jug of cream or milk.
TIME.-2 to 3 hours.
SEASONABLE from May to July.
Gooseberry Sauce (for Boiled Mackerel.) - INGREDIENTS for sufficient sauce for 4 mackerel.-1 pint of green gooseberries, 3 tablespoonfuls of Béchamel (veal gravy may be 'substituted for this), 2 oz. of fresh butter, seasoning to taste of salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. AVERAGE COST, 6d.
Boil the gooseberries in water until quite tender; strain them, and rub them through a sieve. Put into a saucepan the Béchamel or gravy, with the butter and seasoning; add the pulp from the gooseberries, mix all well together, and heat gradually through.
A little pounded sugar added to this sauce is by many persons considered an improvement, as the saccharine matter takes off the extreme acidity of the unripe fruit.
TIME. - Boil the gooseberries from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour.
SEASONABLE from May to July.
GOOSEBERRY TART.
A steamed-fruit pulp pudding thickened with egg and crumbs, set inside a pastry border rather than a full crust. The proportions in the ingredient list and those in the method disagree; the method's ratios are the ones to follow.
- Follow the per-pint ratiosThe reliable figures are in the body of the method: for every pint of gooseberry pulp, 3 well-whisked eggs, 1 oz butter, and breadcrumbs, with sugar to taste. The butter quantity given at the head of the list is far out of proportion and should be disregarded.
- Breadcrumb quantity is unclearThe list says half a pint, the method says a pint, and neither is stated by weight. Half a pint of fresh soft crumbs (roughly 2 oz) to a pint of pulp gives a pudding that sets without going stodgy; add more only if the mixture is very loose.
- The jar in boiling waterThis is a bain-marie in all but name, used to stew fruit without scorching or adding water. A covered heatproof bowl standing in a pan of simmering water does the same job, or cook the topped-and-tailed berries in a heavy saucepan over low heat with a spoonful of water.
- Sieving"Beat them through a coarse sieve" means pushing the softened fruit through to leave skins and seeds behind. A food mill on the coarse plate is quicker; a blender is not a substitute, as it pulverises the seeds.
- SugarGreen gooseberries in May and June are sharply acid. Expect to need 6-8 oz of sugar to a pint of pulp, added while the pulp is still warm so it dissolves, and taste before the eggs go in.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is given. Bake at 350F/180C for the 40 minutes stated; the pudding is done when set at the centre and lightly coloured. A hotter oven will curdle the egg custard and brown the pastry border before the middle sets.
- The puff-paste borderA strip of puff pastry pressed round the moistened rim of the dish, not a lining. Chill it before baking so it rises rather than slumps into the filling.
- ServingFour to five portions, dusted with sifted sugar. Cream or a plain custard suits it; the pudding is equally good just warm rather than hot from the oven.
Gooseberries were among the great early-summer fruits of the British kitchen garden, picked hard and green from May onward, before the ripe dessert berries of July. Mrs Beeton's book returns to them often: they came at a point in the year between the last stored apples and the first soft fruit, and their acidity suited both sweet puddings and sharp sauces for oily fish. The style of pudding here — fruit pulp bound with egg and breadcrumbs and baked in a pastry-edged dish — belongs to a large family of Victorian baked puddings using bread as a binder. The pastry border, rather than a full lining, uses markedly less flour and butter than a tart while giving something of the same effect, though the book does not say this was the reason for it.