Indian Pudding

Indian Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream. November 13 is National Indian Pudding Day.

My AGA is on the blink.  The hot oven which is suppose to range top to bottom from 400 degrees to about 500 degrees doesn't register above 300 degrees on my oven thermometer.  The boiling plate still boils water but the simmer pad is not heating to its normal heat either.  That means I can't bake too many things since most recipes seem to bake at 350 degrees. It's difficult to find a repair person, but I finally found a company in Cincinnati that says they have techs trained on my style of AGA (which is the real AGA). They had one question for me. They asked if I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I confessed that I was not, so they asked if I could wait until November 26th for my service call. I had to agree. Oh well.

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So I've been thinking about things I could bake at these lower temperatures and Indian Pudding came to mind.  I first tasted Indian Pudding when I was about 10 years old at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  Next to Colonial Williamsburg, Old Sturbridge Village is my most favorite place to visit. It's an outdoor living history museum of a country village around 1790 to 1830 and its done just right. You should visit some time. The restaurant is also one of my favorites.

 

Indian Pudding is made with cornmeal (called Indian meal in Colonial times), milk, molasses and sweet spices like cinnamon and cloves. It is not a Native American dish but a colonial American dish. It's made by boiling the cornmeal in the milk and then adding the molasses and sweet spices. It is sort of like pumpkin pie only thicker and creamier and heartier in flavor.  It's culinary cousins is Hasty Pudding which is simply corn meal boiled in milk until it thickens - kind of like polenta.  Both of these dishes  made use of colonial American staples - corn and molasses. I've researched several recipes and I think this one from www.whatscookingamerica.net is the most authentic:

 

3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 large eggs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Lightly grease a 6- or 8-cup soufflé or baking dish with butter (you can use margarine, but DON’T use non-stick sprays).

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat, scald the milk. That is heat it until little bubbles form around the edges of the milk but don't let it boil.

While the milk is heating, pour the cream into a medium to large bowl, add the cornmeal, sugar, molasses, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Add this cream/corn meal/spice mixture to the scalded milk. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium-low heat until the pudding has thickened to the consistency of syrup (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat.

In a bowl, beat eggs with a whisk. Temper the eggs by adding 1/2 cup of the hot cornmeal mixture to the eggs while whisking rapidly. Vigorously whisk the egg mixture into the remaining cornmeal mixture. This helps bring the eggs up to temperature so they will accept the hot mixture with out scrambling. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring until melted.

Pour mixture into the prepared soufflé dish, and place dish on a shallow baking pan on the center oven rack. Pour enough HOT water into the shallow baking dish to come 2/3 of the way up the outsides of the soufflé or baking dish.

Bake until pudding is set, a tester inserted close to (but not in) the center comes out clean, usually about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and remove from the water bath and let cool slightly.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream or heavy cream.

Makes 8 to 16 servings (depending on your sweet tooth).

 

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