Queen Mab Pudding
INGREDIENTS for pudding for 6 persons.-1½ pint of milk, flavouring of almonds or vanilla, the rind of a lemon, 1 oz. of gelatine, 1/4 lb. of loaf sugar, 1/2 pint of cream, 4 eggs, 2 oz. of dried citron, 2 oz. of crystallized cherries.
AVERAGE COST, 2s.
Put into the milk the rind of the lemon, and heat it slowly by the side of the fire till it is well flavoured, then add some vanilla essence or any other that is liked; then add a pinch of salt and the gelatine.
When dissolved, strain the milk through a muslin into a clean saucepan, with the sugar and cream, and by degrees the well beaten yolks of the eggs. Next thicken the mixture as a custard over the fire, which should be a gentle one, but do not risk it curdling. When of a good consistence, pour it out and continue stirring until half cold, then add the citron cut in small pieces and the cherries cut in halves.
Well oil a mould, pour in the mixture and let it set. Serve cold. This pudding is very nice made with tinned pine-apple cut in dice in the place of the citron and cherries.
TIME.-1 hour.
SEASONABLE at any time.
A moulded gelatine custard — essentially a Bavarian cream studded with candied fruit. The technique is straightforward; the two things that need attention are the custard temperature and the gelatine, which behaves differently now.
- Imperial measuresBeeton's pint is 20 fl oz, so the milk is 2.5 US cups and the half pint of cream is 1.25 US cups. Loaf sugar was sold in cones and broken up; ordinary granulated sugar is the direct substitute, 4 oz (about 115 g).
- Gelatine strengthAn ounce of gelatine to a pint and a half of liquid would give a firm, sliceable set by modern standards. Victorian gelatine varied in quality and was often weaker than today's leaf or powdered product; 15-20 g of modern gelatine for this quantity gives a set that holds its shape but still cuts softly. Bloom powdered gelatine in a little cold milk before adding it to the hot infusion.
- The custard is the hingeEgg yolks thicken between 76 and 82C (170-180F) and scramble above that. Stir constantly over gentle heat until the custard coats the back of a spoon, then take it off immediately — a badly curdled base is difficult to recover once gelatine is in it.
- CitronDried citron here means candied citron peel, the thick pale-green peel sold at Christmas. Candied mixed peel or candied orange peel will stand in. Glacé cherries are the crystallized cherries.
- Adding the fruitWaiting until the mixture is half cold and beginning to thicken is deliberate: added to hot custard the fruit sinks to the bottom, which becomes the top when you turn the mould out.
- Setting timeThe stated hour is the working time, not the setting time. Allow at least four hours in the refrigerator, and overnight is safer for a large mould.
- Oiling and turning outUse a flavourless oil, brushed thin — olive oil will taint the custard. To unmould, dip the mould in hot water for five seconds and invert onto a wetted plate, which lets you slide the pudding into position.
- Tinned pineappleThe variation works, but fresh pineapple does not: its bromelain digests gelatine and the pudding will never set. Tinned pineapple has been heated enough to destroy the enzyme.
- YieldSix as written, from a mould of roughly 1.2 litres (2 imperial pints) capacity.
The name is generally traced to Queen Mab of English fairy folklore, best known from Mercutio's speech in Romeo and Juliet, where she is the fairies' midwife who drives her tiny chariot over sleepers' faces, and carried into nineteenth-century currency by Shelley's poem — a fashionable literary label for a light, prettily flecked pudding rather than any indication of origin. The dish itself is a Bavarian cream: a stirred custard set with gelatine and lightened with cream, a form that spread through English kitchens in the nineteenth century once commercially prepared gelatine made it possible to skip the long business of boiling calves' feet for stock jelly. Beeton's average cost of two shillings suggests a fairly prosperous household, and the moulded shape was the point — a turned-out jelly or cream was a set piece for the dinner table. The candied citron and crystallized cherries mark it as a store-cupboard dessert, which is why it is listed as seasonable at any time.