The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) / Cooking, Toilet and Household Recipes, Menus, Dinner-Giving, Table Etiquette, Care of the Sick, Health Suggestions, Facts Worth Knowing, Etc., Etc. / The Whole Comprising a Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home

by F. L. Gillette; Hugo Ziemann

Or butter a tin pudding-mold or an earthen bowl; close it tight so that water cannot penetrate; drop it into boiling water and boil steadily the required time. If a bowl is used it should be well buttered and not quite filled with the pudding, allowing room for it to swell; then a cloth wet in hot water, slightly wringing it, then floured on the inner side, and tied over the bowl, meeting under the bottom.

To steam a pudding, put it into a tin pan or earthen dish; tie a cloth over the top, first dredging it in flour, and set it in a steamer. Cover the steamer closely; allow a little longer time than you do for boiling.

Molds or basins for baking, steaming or boiling should be well buttered before the mixture is put into them. Allow a little longer time for steaming than for boiling.

Dumplings boiled the same way, put into little separate cloths.

Batter puddings should be smoothly mixed and free from lumps. To ensure this, first mix the flour with a very small portion of milk, the yolks of the eggs and the sugar thoroughly beaten together, and added to this; then add the remainder of the milk by degrees, then the seasoning, then the beaten whites of eggs last. Much success in making this kind of pudding depends upon a strict observance of this rule; for, although the materials may be good, if the eggs are put into the milk before they are mixed with the flour, there will be a custard at the top and a soft dough at the bottom of your dish.

All sweet puddings require a little salt to prevent insipidity and to draw out the flavor of the several ingredients, but a grain too much will spoil any pudding.

In puddings where wine, brandy, cider, lemon juice or any acid is used, it should be stirred in last and gradually, or it is apt to curdle the milk or eggs.

In making custard puddings (puddings made with eggs and milk), the yolks of the eggs and sugar should be thoroughly beaten together before any of the milk or seasoning is added, and the beaten whites of eggs last.

In making puddings of bread, rice, sago, tapioca, etc., the eggs should be beaten very light, and mixed with a portion of the milk, before adding them to the other ingredients. If the eggs are mixed with the milk, without having been thus beaten, the milk will be absorbed by the bread, rice, sago, tapioca, etc., without rendering them light.