Poudin cuit au four - Baked Mincemeat Pudding - SHF#38

Zorra hosts this month's Sugar High Friday, "The Proof is in the Pudding."

Fat around the kidneys [suet] is specifically proscribed from use, as is fat from ox, sheep and goats [Lev 3:3-5], so I use butter in the preparation of my puddings.

Baked Mincemeat Pudding
2 cups mincemeat [I used homemade, brandied mincemeat]
4 eggs
1/2 cup [1 stick] butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Optional: chopped nuts, about 1/2 cup [I did not use]

Cream butter and sugar; beat in one egg at a time. Sift dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in mincemeat and nuts, if using. Butter and sugar a baking dish [charlotte mold works well] and pour batter in. Cover with a piece of greased paper to fit top of dish. Set dish into another larger dish and surround with boiling water [bain marie], place in moderate oven [350ºF] and bake for at least one hour.

Continue to check for doneness by inserting a broom straw in the middle--if it comes out clean, the pudding is done. Remove from water bath and allow to cool before running a knife around the edge and slipping from the pan onto a serving platter.

Can douse with more brandy and flambé or serve with dessert sauce [Sabayon: 1 egg yolk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup Marsala. Whip over a boiling water bath (Bain Marie) until thick. Serve over pudding slices.] Pudding texture and taste improves with age.

See also my post on boiled pudding, steamed fig pudding and 18thC French Puddings.

Poudin - Pudding Boiled & Baked

This month's Sugar High Friday focuses on Pudding in all its forms.

PUDDING: type of pastry made of grease, raisins, eggs & sugar.

Boiled Pudding. Do it more or less like the preceding. Butter and flour a towel, put the pudding in, & tie it. Cook it for three hours, with boiling water. Drain & draw it from the towel; sprinkle it with melted butter and with much caster sugar, & serve for dessert.

Baked Pudding. Take four pounds of beef suet, the peels of two candied lemons and chop well with the suet, a pound of currants, and as much Spanish raisins from which you’ve removed the stem ends. Add fifteen raw egg yolks, half a pound of bread crumbs soaked in hot milk, but drained well, half a pound of caster sugar; mix the whole, & put it in a well buttered pan; bake with the furnace for two hours, or with a tart plate with coals above and below. Draw it up and reverse onto a dish; sprinkle it with powdered sugar and serve for dessert.

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POUDIN: espece de patisserie faite de graisse, raisins sec, œufs & sucre.

Poudin bouilli. Faites-le comme le precedent plus ou moins fort. Beurrez ou farinez une serviette, mettez dessus le poudin, & le nouez. Faites le cuire pendant trois heures, à l’eau bouillante. Egouttez & le tirez de la serviette; dresses & l’arrosez de beurre fondu avec beaucoup de sucre en poudre, & servez de meme, pour entremets.

Poudin cuit au four. Prenez quatre livres de graisse de bœuf, l’écorce de deux citrons confits que vous hacherez bien avec la graisse, une livre de raisin de Corinthe, autant de raisin d’Espagne. Otez en les pépins, quinze juanes d’œufs cruds, une demi-livre de mie de pain trempée dans du lait chaud, mais bien égouttée, une demi-livre de sucre en poudre; mêlez le tout, & le mettez dans une casserole bien beurrée; faites cuire au four, pendant deux heures, ou avec un couvercle de tourtiere, entre deux feux. Dressez-le, en le renversant sur un plat; poudre de sucre fin, & servez pour entremets.

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 225-226.