Prune Pudding
2 cups cooked, sweetened prunes and their juice Few grains salt 2 tablespoons Karo 2 tablespoons Argo or Kingsford's Cornstarch 4 egg whites whipped stiff Dash of cinnamon Pit the prunes, heat, and thicken with the cornstarch blended with the Karo. Add the salt and cinnamon, fold into the egg whites whipped stiff, transfer to a baking dish oiled with Mazola and bake until puffy in a moderate oven, 350 degrees F.-about thirty minutes. Serve with light cream or Soft Custard.
A prune soufflé in all but name, from a cookbook written to sell corn products. The brand names are the tell, and every one of them has a generic equivalent.
- The brands, translatedKaro is corn syrup (the light grade is what a pudding like this wants); Argo and Kingsford's are plain cornstarch; Mazola is corn oil, and any neutral oil or softened butter will grease the dish. Nothing here depends on the specific brand.
- PrunesSold as dried plums now. Roughly 8 oz of dried prunes stewed with water and sugar gives the 2 cups of fruit and juice called for; pit them before cooking rather than after, which is far easier.
- Cook the starch properlyTwo tablespoons of cornstarch blended into the corn syrup, then stirred into the hot prunes, must come to a full simmer for a minute or two until the mixture thickens and loses its chalky taste. Underconked cornstarch tastes raw and will weep in the oven.
- Cool before foldingThe instruction to fold the hot fruit into stiff whites is the hinge. Let the thickened prune mixture cool to lukewarm first, or the whites will collapse on contact and you will bake a dense purée. Fold in thirds, gently.
- WhitesWhip to firm but not dry peaks. Whites beaten until grainy will not carry the heavy fruit base.
- Dish and ovenA 1 1/2-quart baking dish, greased, at 350F for about 30 minutes. It is done when puffed and set at the centre with only a slight wobble.
- Serve at onceIt will begin to sink after leaving the oven, though the starch makes it less fragile than a classic soufflé. The soft custard the recipe suggests is a stirred pouring custard, essentially crème anglaise; light cream is the shortcut.
- YieldFour to six modest servings.
This comes from one of the recipe books issued by the American corn-refining trade in the early twentieth century, where Karo syrup, Argo and Kingsford's cornstarch and Mazola oil all appear by name in a single short recipe hat written as advertising. Prune puddings and prune whips were common supper sweets in that era: dried prunes kept well in the pantry, were cheap, and were promoted as healthful, so they appear often in institutional and household cookery. The dish itself is a plain fruit soufflé, lightened with egg white and set with starch rather than flour.