Cranberry Pudding

I didn't get a chance to work on a recipe for November, and December's recipe nearly did as well. I finally worked on it on Tuesday, but haven't published it because it was something of a disaster. December's recipe is, again, a dessert. I was trying for the festive trend like I did with November's posting and I decided on this one from Lydia Maria Child's The American Frugal Housewife: Cranberry Pudding.

A pint of cranberries stirred into a quart of batter, made like a batter pudding, but very little stiffer, is very nice, eaten with a sweet sauce.

Also necessary, Flour or Batter Pudding.

Common flour pudding, or batter pudding, is easily made. Those who live in the country can beat up five or six eggs with a quart of milk, and a little salt, with flour enough to make it just thick enough to pour without difficulty. Those who live in the city, and are obliged to buy eggs can do with three eggs to a quart, and more flour in proportion. Boil about three quarters of an hour.

Sadly, these directions are still fairly vague and I wanted a little more help determining exactly how much flour to use in the recipe. I referenced Leslie's 75 Receipts and Hale's Good Housekeeper, as well as a "new" book I got for Christmas titled The Young Housewife's Counselor and Guide, written by Mrs. Mary Mason and published in 1875. (Yay! New cookbook!) All three of these gave different measures for eggs and flour though the amount of milk stayed the same, the measures varied from 3 eggs to a dozen and flour from a couple of spoonfuls to a teacup.

From there you also have to either bake or boil the pudding. This is also in large part where the disaster came in. To boil the pudding you are to coat a wet fabric bag, or square with flour and pour the batter into it. I decided to use a square and tied the mess up into it with some difficulty and a quarter cup of the batter on the floor. Once it is in the cloth you drop the sealed up thing into a pot of boiling water. I decided to put the lid on the pot while I dealt with the mess on the counter, floor and sink. Behind me I hear a sort of fwoosh-pop, sizzle, sizzle. The pudding had partially exploded, all over the pot and stove top. Yay, more mess. I decided to continue cooking the stuff for the full time because it appeared to have exploded out of the the weave, rather than from where I had tied it up.

Now, aside from all of that it smelled miserable while it was cooking. I am not a fan of warm milk to begin with, but the smell of it cooking for an hour and a half was not pleasant. it was however, a great way to humidify my house on a dry day when the water boiled off. I must also warn you it also looked a bit unpleasant when I dumped it out of the bag, I am thinking this is because of my explosion. At this point I recommend the other method of cooking, which is baking. All in all, it tasted alright, getting to the cranberries in the middle made it more than alright, however, I would recommend the addition of some sort of sweet sauce because the recipe itself has no sugar whatsoever. Once I have gotten over the trauma of the explosion and resultant mess, I will no doubt fiddle with this recipe some more to see if anything else can be done with it. But until that time, this is the result:

5 eggs

4 c. milk

1-1/2 c. flour

dash salt

2 c. fresh cranberries

1. If baking preheat the oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together.

2. If boiling prepare a square or bag of cloth by wetting it and coating it with flour. Fill the result with the batter and tie up the end, leaving a small bubble of air at the top. Gently lower the bag into a pot of boiling water. Over the course of the cooking time, you may need to add more water to keep the bag from touching the bottom of the pot. Boil for 1-1/2 hours.

3. If baking pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 45 min. Allow to cool and serve warm.

*Note: I am going to do a sweet sauce recipe sometime in the future.