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The Queen of Puddings
Mrs. John Morse.
One pint of bread crumbs, one pint of milk, the yolks of three eggs; bake in the oven a short time, until it becomes stiff; then place preserves over this, and beat the whites of the three eggs to a froth and lay all over this again; sprinkle white sugar on the top, and allow it to brown in the oven for a few minutes.
A three-layer pudding — crumb custard, jam, meringue — written for a cook who already knew how it should look at each stage. The critical point is that the base must be set before the preserves go on, or the jam sinks and the meringue slides.
- Quantities in modern termsOne pint of soft bread crumbs is a volume measure, roughly 4 to 5 slices of dry white bread, crumbed (soft crumbs weigh only a few ounces to the pint). One pint of milk is 2 cups. With the jam and meringue on top the pudding needs a dish of a quart or more, serving four to six.
- No sugar in the baseThe recipe sweetens only the top. Later versions of queen of puddings add 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar and a little lemon zest or butter to the crumb custard; without them the base is plain and eggy against a very sweet jam layer.
- Oven temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature and only says "a short time." In a modern oven a moderate heat, about 325–350°F, will set the base, though that generally takes longer than "a short time" suggests. The custard is done when the centre barely trembles; if it puffs and weeps it has gone too far.
- Soak the crumbs firstScald the milk, pour it over the crumbs and let them stand 10 to 15 minutes before stirring in the yolks. Crumbs added to cold milk and baked straight away stay gritty.
- Warming the preservesCold stiff jam tears the set custard. Warm it slightly so it spreads in a thin even layer — raspberry is traditional, and about ½ cup is enough.
- The meringueThree whites beaten "to a froth" should reach soft-to-firm peaks, with 4 to 6 tablespoons of sugar beaten in rather than only sprinkled over. Spread it to touch the edges of the dish all around so it does not shrink back.
- Browning"A few minutes" at the same moderate oven will take 12 to 15 minutes for a meringue that is dry through; 400°F colours it in 6 to 8 but leaves the inside soft. Either is correct, but choose one and watch it.
- ServingBest eaten warm, within an hour or two of baking. Refrigeration makes the meringue bead and the crumb layer dense.
Queen of puddings belongs to the large nineteenth-century family of dishes built on stale bread — bread pudding, bread-and-butter pudding, brown betty — all of them ways of turning the end of a loaf into something worth putting on the table. The three-tier form, crumb custard under jam under meringue, is generally traced to English cookery of the mid-1800s, and the regal name is usually explained as a flourish rather than a documented royal connection. Its appearance here under a contributor's name is typical of The Home Cook Book, which was assembled from recipes donated by local women. Note that the eggs are separated and both halves used, and that a jar of home-put-up preserves does much of the sweetening: nothing is wasted, and the pantry does the work.