White Pot
885. Mix three pints of milk, half a pint of spring water, five eggs well beaten, three ounces of butter, a French roll sliced, white sugar and nutmeg to the taste. Bake it in a bowl two hours in a quick oven.
A West Country baked bread-and-custard pudding, written in the compressed style of the mid-nineteenth century. The quantities are imperial and the oven instruction should not be taken at face value.
- The hinge: oven heatA "quick oven" means a hot one; the book gives no temperatures, and any Fahrenheit equivalent is only an estimate. Heat of that order will curdle an egg custard long before two hours are up. Bake at 325F in a water bath and start checking at about an hour and a quarter; the pudding is done when the centre is just set with a slight wobble.
- Imperial pintsThree pints of milk is 60 fl oz, about 1.7 litres, and the half pint of water another 10 fl oz. Scale to two-thirds if your baking dish is a standard 2-quart one.
- Why the waterThe half pint of spring water thins the milk; the recipe gives no reason for it. It is not essential; whole milk alone gives a richer result.
- A French rollNot a baguette. In 1859 this meant a small enriched white bread roll, close to a modern soft dinner roll, weighing perhaps 4-5 oz. Slightly stale bread absorbs the custard better than fresh.
- EggsNineteenth-century eggs ran smaller than today's large. Five of them to 70 fl oz of liquid is a loose custard by modern standards; six large eggs gives a firmer set if you prefer one.
- Sugar and nutmeg to tasteReckon on 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar for this volume and a generous grating of whole nutmeg. Sweeten the milk before adding the eggs so you can taste it.
- The bowlA deep earthenware or ovenproof glass basin, buttered. Stand it in a roasting tin of hot water to within an inch of the rim.
- YieldSix to eight servings. Best eaten warm rather than hot, on its own or with cream.