Saturday, April 29, 2017

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING





There was no “pudding on the Ritz” when I was a kid, but there was pudding – lots of it. 

Long ago in the days of innocence pudding wasn’t called “dessert”, not in our home, anyway.  It may have been so in other households, but not ours.  Did it mean we weren’t “flash” – not “ritzy”?  Perhaps it did; maybe it didn’t.  Whether we were or weren’t didn’t matter one iota.  What mattered was we always ate well. 

Our cupboards were well-stocked; fresh vegetables and fruit were everyday basics.  Some vegetables we grew in our garden.

The birds in the backyard, our contented family of lady bantams, supplied most of our eggs. “Joseph”, our cocky bantam rooster held the roost in the coop.  Strutting around, he was the head of his harem. He carried out his duties to the feather. 

Bottled full-cream milk, as well as fresh, crusty bread was delivered daily to our door.

The “Breadman” in those days of the early Fifties delivered fresh bread, buns and other assorted bakery products house to house by a horse-drawn cart.  The horse took it in his stride. And I assure you, it was no mean feat for the horse; he had to travel up and down the many hills in Gympie, clopping along expertly guided by his good mate holding the reins.  Gympie is a hilly town. 

Sliced bread hadn’t yet hit the market; and, in truth, sliced bread wasn’t the best thing, at all.   

The bread from our breadman was far better.  It was the best thing "before" sliced bread!

If it wasn’t a school day the race was on between my brother, Graham and me to see who could be the first to reach the bread vendor.  Down our concrete garden path we’d scamper, elbowing each other out of the way, eager to get hold of the still-warm, crusty bread.  To break the loaf in two, and rip out some of the fresh, soft delicious centre was the reward awaiting the winner. 

No amount of rousing from Mum or Nana stopped us from attacking the warm bread.  The rousing was half-baked, anyway.  They were probably guilty of doing similar on the days they collected the bread from the vendor!  (Not the racing down the garden path, elbowing each other…)

Once or twice a week a man turned up selling vegetables and fruit from his canopy-covered vehicle, too.

Our main meal of the day, which was dinner in the evening, and Sunday lunch on – you guessed it – Sundays, always consisted of two courses; the first being meat and veggies; it was followed by pudding.  Our main meal wasn’t complete without pudding. 

“Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie” had nothing to do with it.  He was too busy running around the place kissing the girls.  Furthermore, I wasn’t a “Georgie” back then.  Also, I didn’t go about kissing the girls, or the boys, for that matter - I still don’t!

As I’ve often mentioned, our Nana did the majority of the cooking.  She was an excellent exponent of home cooking. 

Nana prepared delicious puddings and pies.  Her apple pies and apple or apricot crumbles were delicious temptations, impossible to ignore, as were her baked tapioca puddings, rice puddings, trifles, lemon sago, blancmange, Queen of Puddings, bread and butter puddings,  colourful jellies served with fresh fruit salad, cold custard and/or whipped cream, etc., etc., et al. 

Do people make these puddings for their families nowadays?  Have the puddings, like too many good things (and values) from the past, disappeared with the past? 

Our meals were eaten sitting at the table, never in front of television.  Doing the latter would’ve been pointless, anyway, because television wasn’t around when I was a kid.  We would’ve been sitting around looking like a mob of silly goats looking at nothing.  Instead, we sat around the table eating our meals in a civilized manner, looking at each other as we conversed.  (Oft times my brother and I called each other a “silly goat”.

In those days we didn’t have a refrigerator, either - only an ice chest.  'The iceman cometh' every other day to drop of the large blocks of ice needed to keep our food cool. Ice cream was never an option at home. 

The cooler winter weather meant steaming steamed puddings served with hot custard. 

Pastry for tarts and pies was made by hand, never by a food processor.  Pastry was golden, either short or flaky as the situation demanded. The only food processor was of the human kind.  We didn’t have an electric mixer.  An old-fashioned egg beater and wire whisks did their tricks, and performed them very well.  The bare essentials were all that were needed.  Sponges never failed to rise to the occasion, and they were light like they were meant to be.

For me, the word “pudding” was deserted for the word “dessert” somewhere in the Sixties when I began dining in restaurants.  It wasn’t the ‘done’ thing to order “pudding” when eating out.   Of course, if eating out around a campfire, pudding was allowed.

Baked Tapioca Pudding: Bring 3c whole milk, 1c cream and 1 cinnamon stick to a simmer. Whisk in 1/3c small pearl tapioca; simmer until pearls are completely tender, about 20mins. Whisk together 4 large egg yolk, 85g sugar and 1/4tsp salt. Whisking constantly, pour in third of tapioca; then whisk into the pot of tapioca; simmer over med-low heat, about 5mins. Transfer to buttered gratin dish. Sprinkle top with 3tbs Demerara sugar and 1/4tsp ground cinnamon. Bake in preheated 150C oven, uncovered, until pudding is firm around edges and the centre, a little wobbly, about 30mins. Put under grill until top is bubbling and golden – similar to a Crème Brûlée.  

Almond Cardamom Blancmange with Rhubarb: Heat oven to 160C. Slit 3 cardamom pods; extract the seeds and grind to a coarse powder; mix with 75g caster sugar. Cut 300g rhubarb into 4cm lengths; put in roasting tin in single layer; sprinkle with cardamom sugar. Cover tightly with foil; bake 20-30mins, or until rhubarb is just tender but still holding its shape. Remove from oven, push any un-dissolved sugar into syrup; cool; chill. Blancmange:  Put 2 sheets gelatine in bowl of cold water; soak 5mins. Bring 1-1/4c milk to simmer in saucepan.  Add 75g ground almonds; whisk over heat 4mins. Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl, pushing through some of the almonds as well as the juices.  Squeeze gelatine with your hands to remove the water; whisk into milk mixture; then whisk in 75g icing sugar and1/2tsp almond extract until dissolved. Cool in fridge 25mins. In separate bowl, whisk 225ml cold double cream into soft peaks; then whisk into almond milk.  Put into serving glasses; chill overnight.  Serve topped with rhubarb and a spoonful of the syrup. 

Steamed Syrup Pudding: Grease 4-cup, ceramic pudding basin. Pour 1/2c goldend syrup in base of pudding basin.  Beat 125g butter and 1/2c caster sugar until pale and creamy.  Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition.  Stir in 1-1/2c self-raising flour and 2/3c milk in alternating batches.  Spoon mixture into pudding basin; smooth the surface.  Layer a sheet of baking and foil together. Fold a 3cm-wide pleat down the centre. Cover the basin, paper-side down with the layered paper and foil.  Secure with string.  Roll the eges of paper and foil up so they won’t come into contact with the water while cooking.  Place an upturned saucer in base of large saucepan. Place basin on top, then pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the basin. Place over med-low heat; cook, covered, for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Remove from heat; remove the basin from the saucepan. Set aside for 5mins before turning onto a plate.  Drizzle extra syrup over the pudding.  Serve immediately with vanilla custard or ice cream, as desired.

24 comments:

  1. I can so relate to many of the things in your post here.
    I loved reading it.

    We always had pudding when growing up, I really can't say for sure at what time it became dessert ...

    Thanks for the memories ...

    All the best Jan

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    1. G'day Jan. You're welcome...I'm glad you enjoyed strolling with me down Memory Lane. Thanks for coming by. :)

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  2. Pudding means dessert...it took me a while to realize that when I was in England!
    Another puzzle for me...that "tea" meant an evening meal not just a cup of tea!
    I was always one dizzy American on my first visits to the UK!!

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    1. Hey there, Kay...Yes, once upon a time "tea" used to mean the evening meal...and lunch used to be referred to as "dinner".

      That all changed (for me, anyway....there are some, no doubt, for whom it hasn't changed) in the mid-Sixties, too...when "tea' became "dinner"..and "tea" reverted to being what it is..tea...whether brewed, or made the lazy way, by the use of tea bags.

      And "dinner" became "lunch". And, ever since those days of the 60s...that is how I refer to each.

      You live with a leg on either side of the fence! I'm sure you've pretty much got it all down pat by now! lol

      Thanks for popping in. :)

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  3. We too always had pudding. Never dessert.
    Our food was home cooked (no packet mixes) and lots of our vegies were from the yard too. Ditto eggs. We bought meat (except when father went fishing or occasionally rabbit hunting), bread and milk. Virtually no canned food.

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    1. Hey there, EC...Same with us...we always had good, healthy food at the ready. And I preferred the savoury to the sweet, although I always ate the pudding.

      We were raised to eat what was put in front of us, without complaint. But, many was the time, after eating my pudding, I'd go back and have a morsel of the savoury portion of our dinner because I liked to finish up with that taste in my mouth!

      I guess that is why I've always enjoyed cheese platters at the end of a meal. Back when I was doing a lot of home-entertaining, whether luncheons or dinners, I always presented cheese platters to follow dessert.

      Thanks for coming by. :)

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  4. We had that same ice chest!, We used to run out to greet the ice man and collect chips off the blocks of ice in summer, we'd suck on them and have contests to see who could hold the biggest piece in the mouth the longest. It was never me, my teeth would freeze and ache.
    I remember the baker with his horse drawn cart and women up and down the street coming out with bucket and shovels to scoop up the droppings for their gardens. In my opinion, bread was so much nicer back then, especially the texture. These days it might as well be made of foam rubber, I think it just doesn't get enough leavening or maybe the second rising is skipped.
    I don't remember pies and crumbles from when I was little, coming from Germany perhaps mum didn't know how, but we did have apple or plum cake, which was a butter cake base in a sheet pan, (like a lamington pan but a bit bigger)covered in apple or plum slices and sprinkled with brown sugar (then dotted with butter for the apple one), then baked and served warm with custard for 'sweets' which is what we called dessert. In summer there would be ice cream, sold in a 'brick' in a cardboard carton, or mum would cook semolina and pour it into a serving bowl then sprinkle it with chocolate hail.
    I don't remember a fruit and veg man, he came on school days, but in later years, when my daughter was a baby, there was a fruit and veg man doing the suburbs between us and the shopping centre, so we'd go there on his days and fill up the pram behind the baby, and we had the baker come around twice a week, but in a van, no horses anymore, and I would sometimes get a finger bun for me and the baby to share, she was one, so old enough to eat an occasional bun.
    When the kids got older, I reinstated sweets on a weekly basis and cooked rice puddings or lemon sago, apple pies and crumbles, pans of brownies or lamingtons and sponge cakes with jam and cream filling. Just lately I've been wanting a home made apple pie.

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    1. Hey, River. Fond memories. I seem to have stirred them up, not only within myself, but within others, too. Days gone by...never to be recaptured. :)

      And when we forgot to empty out the tray beneath the ice chest...the water spreading across the floor would remind us! lol

      I agree with you about bread these days, particularly prepackaged supermarket bread...it's tasting worse than ever these days. Tasteless, that is for sure! I don't always get to the bakery, but when I do I make sure I buy their bread.

      Thanks for coming by. :)

      PS...I'm with you...I think a home-made apple pie might just be on the menu soon...very soon. It's quite a while since I've made one!

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  5. My grandmother taught me to make her fabulous custard. I made it a lot for Ron and he loved it. My children's paternal grandmother taught me to make banana pudding and it is the best. Both dishes however are missing the main ingredient...the love from my teachers.

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    1. Hi Annie...I, too, learned a lot about cooking from watching my Nana, asking questions and being allowed to help her in the kitchen. And you, are correct, the main ingredient is love.

      Thanks for dropping in. :)

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  6. I do remember the milk man, the bread man and the ice man coming to the door. My dad weas the guy who went around with fresh fruit and veggies. A wonderful time indeed..and I had a gran right next door who was a baker supreme. Wonderful memories. I can smell the pie baking right now.

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    1. Hi Delores...my Nana who lived with us and helped raise my brother and me was the only grandparent we knew.

      There were wonderful years...simple and innocent. Oh! For one of those pies or tarts! :)

      Thanks for coming by. :)

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  7. "It was the best thing "before" sliced bread!"... I like that witty riposte. When all is said and done, sliced bread wasn't the finest invention was it? So when people say "the best thing since sliced bread" they might be talking about questionable or rather unpleasant developments. As for pudding (see my pen name), it's nice to know pudding was at least allowed round the campfire even though I was unmentionable in posh restaurants.

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    1. Hey there, Yorkie...you could be right in your assumption...but I don't think so. I guess there are a lot of households these days that don't have a bread knife. I have three among my collection of knives. Actually, I've probably got more knives than I need...a left-over from my cooking years!!

      You are mentioned in many circle, Mr. Pudding...never fear! :)

      Thanks for coming by. :)

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  8. Hey that rhubarb sounds just what I am looking for. I still make those kind of puddings, I find almost anything shop bought too sweet so make them myself and cut down the sugar if I can. I bought some rhubarb the other day and was looking all over for nice recipes but could only seem to find variations on crumble or cakes. The blancmange is a terrific idea - I love cardamoms.

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    1. G'day, Jenny. Add strawberries to your rhubarb, too...they go together well. Rhubarb chutney is great, too. An abundance of it is grown on this property here where I live in my little abode. My landlords grow it and sell it at the local "Green Shed".

      Thanks for coming by. :)

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  9. Tough post to read with me trying to keep my doctor happy and lose weight. And I'm remembering the puddings of my youth; my mother made both chocolate and rice pudding. So good they were. But the subject of a breadman in our neighborhood turned out to be controversial. When I was grown up and out of the house, I reminisced about the breadman who showed up at our door with all kinds of baked treats. "Tell me more," my father said. Turns out we never had regular deliveries from a breadman while I was still too young for school and at home with my mother. Maybe he was going door to door to try to recruit new customers.

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    1. Hey Dave...reading does not put on weight! lol

      Hmmmmmm....maybe it was the milkman after all!!!! Maybe never bring up that thought again...it'd be safer that way to keep the peace! ;)

      Thanks for coming by. :)

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  10. I love the pudding in the bakery where I grew up. :)
    So much memories remembered by reading your post.

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    1. Hey Lux...my female cat is walking back and forth in front of my keyboard as I type! I think she trying to tell me she wants some pudding! I have no say in this household!! :)

      I hope the memories I stirred within you are all good ones...thanks for coming by. :)

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  11. That was a beautiful time, sounds like. What nice memories. I do love warm fresh bread, too, slathered with butter. And I've never had a pudding like that.

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    1. Hey there, Lynn. Butter...yes...it has to be butter, only butter. Butter is all I ever use, never, never ever margarine. Just butter, glorious butter! :)

      Thanks for coming by. :0

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  12. I canny comment as I'm on a diet....

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    1. Chomp! Chomp! Yum! Yum! Oops!! Sorry, Mr. Ad-Man...I shouldn't be typing with my mouth full!

      Thanks for coming by. :)

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