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Queen of Puddings
2 cups stale but not dry bread-crums 1 quart scalded milk 3 eggs 1/2 cup sugar Currant jelly or plum jam 2 tablespoons sugar for meringue Soak the crums in the hot milk until soft; then add the egg-yolks mixed with the sugar, pour into a baking-dish set in a pan of water, and bake in a moderate oven about an hour, or until custard is set. When cool, spread a thick layer of the jelly or jam over the top. Beat the egg-whites until stiff, add the sugar gradually and beat until stiff, spread this meringue on top of the jam and place in the oven until a delicate brown. Serve hot or cold, with cream.
A classic breadcrumb custard under jam and meringue. The custard bake is the part that decides whether it succeeds.
- Oven temperature"A moderate oven" is usually reckoned at roughly 350F, with period usage spanning about 325-375F. The custard sits in a water bath, so the lower end of that range is safer; it is set when a knife inserted off-center comes out clean and the center still trembles slightly.
- Don't overbake the custardAn hour is a guide, not a rule. Pull it as soon as the center is just set; carried further, the eggs curdle and the pudding weeps liquid under the jam.
- The crumbs"Stale but not dry" means day-old bread that still has some softness. Fully dried crumbs or commercial dried breadcrumbs absorb differently and give a pasty texture. Tear soft white bread and let it sit out a day.
- Scalded milkHeat the quart until steam rises and small bubbles form at the edge, around 180F, not to a boil. It softens the crumbs quickly and shortens the bake.
- Tempering the yolksThe crumb-and-milk mixture should cool to warm before the yolk-sugar mixture goes in, or add it in a thin stream while stirring. Hot milk poured onto yolks straight off the stove scrambles them.
- Currant jelly or plum jamEither works; warm the jam briefly so it spreads over a cooled custard without tearing the surface. Roughly 3/4 to 1 cup for a thick layer.
- MeringueTwo tablespoons of sugar for three whites is a very lean meringue by modern practice and will not hold long. Two tablespoons per white gives a more stable foam. Browning takes about 10-12 minutes at 350F, or a few minutes under a broiler with close attention.
- Dish and yieldA quart of milk plus two cups of crumbs needs a 2-quart baking dish. Serves six to eight.
Queen of puddings, or queen's pudding, is the polished English form of the older household habit of turning stale bread into a custard: breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, a layer of preserve, and a meringue lid. Recipes under the name appear in British and American cookbooks from the later nineteenth century onward, and the dish is often said to have acquired its royal title in Victoria's reign, though no particular origin is documented. The frugal core of the thing proved durable: the pudding is essentially a way to use a stale loaf and a jar of jelly, dressed up until it can end a dinner. The three-part structure, custard below, jam in the middle, meringue on top, also let a cook make an impressive dessert from ingredients already in the house.