THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

 

For my fourth birthday I was presented with an ice cream cake packed in dry ice aka frozen carbon dioxide to keep it frozen.  I wasn’t fond of ice cream when I was a kid.  I guess that made me a bit weird.  I’m still weird, more than a bit and, that’s okay. Nowadays I enjoy Peters Connoisseurs. It is the only ice cream I eat. Maybe it was the dry ice sublimating into a foggy vapor that turned me off ice cream when I was a kid. Years later when cooking in various restaurants I often made ice cream. It proved to be popular on the dessert menu. As a child I might not have liked ice cream, but I loved the fruit salad ice blocks Webster’s corner store made and sold for the grand sum of tuppence aka two pence/pennies each.

Meat and three vegetables, most often more than three veggies, filled our plates at dinner time…or “tea” time as we, in our household, called it when I was a kid.  Without fail, our main meal was always followed by pudding or dessert…the latter being the more popular word used these days.  Whichever one chooses to call it, our second course, of course, was delicious. 

Sunday lunch was a grand affair.  Dutifully, every Sunday morning, my brother and I attended Sunday School at the Scots/Presbyterian Church in Nash Street, Gympie. Arriving back home we were greeted by the scrumptious aromas wafting from our kitchen. With whetted appetites we’d race up the back stairs and begin pestering Nana about when lunch would be ready.  Nana was chief cook. We kids were “chief wiper-upperers”.

After our main meal we were served one or another of junket, jelly, banana custard, lemon sago, tapioca, rice pudding, steam puddings, trifle, fruit tarts, apple or apricot crumble, and my favourite, bread and butter pudding.  I’m sure there are some others I’ve forgotten. Queen of Pudding (will the name now change to “King of Pudding”?) was a special treat on certain occasions.

How life as changed over the decades….unfortunately, in many cases, too many cases, not for the better. The only “take-aways” on offer when I was a kid, other than those uttered by Bob Hope, The Marx Brothers, and the Three Stooges, were fish and chips, potato scallops, meat pies (often with mushy peas), pasties, and sausage rolls. Simple pleasures they were…enjoyable Saturday night delights.

My brother and I ensured we had enough of pocket money earned from returning newspapers and bottles to the neighbourhood corner shops rattling in our pockets. It was our spending money for when, on Saturday evenings, along with Nana, we went “down town” to see to the proud Scots’ Pipe Band as the members played and marched along Mary Street.  On those occasions a small parcel each of fish and chips, with maybe a potato scallop or two from Nicks’ Café, together with boiled and roasted peanuts from Choy’s Café were our treats.  Fruit salad ice blocks were enjoyed while wending our way home. A couple of Granny Smith apples were part of the fare for later.

On many fronts life was much simpler back then.  Through the ensuing decades humans have become spoiled.  For instance, just look at the variety of products available in our supermarkets, and yet, humans still whine.  Take a breath…things these days aren’t as bad as they are being made out to be. We won’t starve. Of one thing I am certain…our local IGA does a great job. I, for one, will never go hungry with the variety it has on offer.  About the only time I trip across to Eagle Heights at the other end of this plateau is to get a jab, so it’s not often I visit the Foodworks supermarket, but when I have, it’s been obvious they’re doing a great job, too. We’re a fortunate mob….

Queen of Pudding: Bring 570ml milk to the boil. Remove from heat; stir in 110g white breadcrumbs made from slightly stale bread, 25g golden caster sugar, grated zest of 1 small lemon, and 1 rounded teaspoon butter. Leave 20mins to allow breadcrumbs to swell. Pre-heat oven 180C. Lightly beat 3 large egg yolks; add cooled breadcrumb mixture. Pour into well-buttered 850ml pie dish. Bake in oven centre 30–35mins, or until set. In small saucepan melt 175g raspberry jam over low heat. When pudding is ready, remove from oven. Spread jam carefully and evenly all over top. Lightly beat 3 egg whites in until stiff, then whisk in 40g caster sugar. Spoon meringue mixture over pudding, going around edge of the dish first, then filling in the centre. 
Use the back of the spoon to spread out the mixture. filling any gaps. Sprinkle 1 heaped teaspoon of caster sugar over it all. Bake for a further 10-15mins until topping is golden brown.. Serve warm with chilled pouring cream.

Self-Saucing Steam Pudding: Grease 4 cup capacity ceramic pudding basin.  Pour 1/2c golden syrup in base of basin. Beat 125g softened butter and 1/2c caster sugar until pale and creamy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time; beat between each addition. Add 225g S.R. flour and 160ml milk in alternating batches. Spoon mixture into basin; smooth surface. Layer a sheet of baking paper and foil together on work surface. Fold a 3cm-wide pleat down centre. Cover basin, paper-side down. Secure with string. Roll paper and foil edges up so they won’t come into contact with water while cooking.  Place upturned saucer in base of large saucepan. Place basin on top; pour in boiling water to reach halfway up sides of basin. Cook covered, over med-low heat, 2hrs. Remove from heat; remove from saucepan. Set aside 5mins before turning onto a plate.  Drizzle extra syrup over pudding. Serve immediately with ice-cream or custard.