CURRANT PUDDING, Black or Red.
Ingredients.—1 quart of red or black currants, measured with the stalks, ¼ lb. of moist sugar, suet crust or butter crust (see recipes for [Crusts]). Mode.—Make, with ¾ lb. of flour, either a suet crust or butter crust (the former is usually made); butter a basin, and line it with part of the crust; add the currants, which should be stripped from the stalks, and sprinkle the sugar over them; put the cover of the pudding on; make the edges very secure, that the juice does not escape; tie it down with a floured cloth, put it into boiling water, and boil from 2½ to 3 hours. Boiled without a basin, allow ½ hour less. We have given rather a large proportion of sugar; but we find fruit puddings are so much more juicy and palatable when well sweetened before they are boiled, besides being more economical. A few raspberries added to red-currant pudding are a very nice addition; about ½ pint would be sufficient for the above quantity of fruit. Fruit puddings are very delicious if, when they are turned out of the basin, the crust is browned with a salamander, or put into a very hot oven for a few minutes to colour it: this makes it crisp on the surface. Time.—2½ to 3 hours; without a basin, 2 to 2½ hours. Average cost, in full season, 8d. Sufficient for 6 or 7 persons. Seasonable in June, July, and August.