Mush or Hasty Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the mush
In a bowl, mix the Indian meal with cold water until smooth and lump-free.
Gradually stir the mixture into a pot of boiling salted water.
Cook slowly, stirring often, until thick enough for a stick to stand in it, about 2 to 3 hours.
Pour the thick mixture into a broad, deep dish and let it cool.
Slice and cook
Once cooled, cut into ½ inch thick slices.
Dust the slices with flour and fry them on a griddle with a little lard, or bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal forms the thick body of the pudding as it cooks and sets.
- Flour
- A light dusting helps the cut slices brown and form a crisp surface when fried.
- Lard or oil
- Fat carries heat into the slices and promotes even browning and crispness.
The step that matters
Cooking the mush slowly while stirring. Cornmeal can scorch on the bottom of the pot and form lumps if left unattended or added too quickly. Slow cooking with frequent stirring lets the starch gelatinize evenly so the mixture thickens into a smooth mass that sets firmly when cooled.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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