1: Puddings

Here are the recipes from our inaugural Cooking Up History session. See how we got on, or try the recipes for yourself!

An 18th century almond pudding – version 1

Almond pudding in a pastry case

Try this 18th century almond pudding, laced with exotic flavours of rosewater and nutmeg. We’ve adapted this recipe for the modern kitchen. We’ve tweaked the recipe we tried with our Cooking up History group to give the batter firmer texture, but it’s still delicious!

• 225g ground almonds
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 225 ml double cream
• 225g butter
• 1 block puff pastry
• 1½ tsp nutmeg
• 1-2 tbsp rosewater
• Breadcrumbs (enough to thicken batter)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Mix the almonds with the rosewater
3. Separate 3 eggs and discard the whites
4. Beat the yolks
5. Cream the sugar and butter, and mix in the sugar, cream, beaten egg yolks and nutmeg. Add enough breadcrumbs to produce a stiff batter and mix well.
6. Line a pie dish with a thin layer of puff pastry and pour in the batter
7. Cross bar (lattice) the top of the pudding with strips of pastry before baking in the oven for 45 minutes

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An 18th century almond pudding – version 2

Another 18th century almond pudding

This recipe turns out somewhere between an egg custard and a bakewell pudding. We liked the crunchy texture of the whole blanched almonds and the richness of the sherry!

• 115g almonds (mixture of ground and whole blanched)
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 225 ml double cream
• 225g butter (plus extra for greasing)
• 1 blade of whole mace
• 2 tbsp rosewater

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Bring the cream to the boil with the mace.
3. Take out the mace and mix the almonds into the warm cream until it has the consistency of porridge
4. Take off the heat and leave to cool
5. Separate the eggs so that you have 3 yolks and 1 white. Beat the white.
6. Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolks and egg white and rosewater into the cooled cream mixture.
7. Pour into a buttered pie dish and bake for 30 minutes

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Pudding catsup (19th century)

Half a pint of brandy, a pint of sherry, an ounce of thin par’d lemon peel, half an ounce of mace. Steep them for fourteen days, then strain it and add a quarter of a pint of clarified syrup – this mixed with melted butter is an excellent relish to puddings & sweet dishes.

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The Justin’s orange syrup for puddings (19th century)

Squeeze the oranges and strain the juice from the pulp into a large pot. Boil it up with a pound and a half of fine sugar to each pint of juice. Skim it well when cold, bottle & cork it. Add it to melted butter.

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Pudding sauce (19th century)

A glass of sherry, half a glass of brandy, two teaspoonsful of pounded lump sugar, a little grated lemon peel in a quarter of a pint of thick melted butter. Grate nutmeg on the top.