Hydropathic Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Stew the fresh fruit with a little water until soft.
Build the pudding
Prepare a basin and place a round piece of stale bread at the bottom.
Arrange thin strips of bread around the sides of the basin, leaving 1.5 inches between each.
Gently add the warm stewed fruit into the basin, one spoonful at a time, without disturbing the bread.
Cover the fruit with diced bread and crumbs, then place a saucer with a weight on top.
Set and serve
Leave it to cool until set, then turn out the pudding.
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
- Stale bread
- Forms the structure and absorbs juice, so the pudding holds its shape when turned out.
- Fresh fruit in season
- Provides moisture, flavour and sweetness that soften and bind the bread.
The step that matters
Adding the warm stewed fruit. Pouring the fruit in gently, one spoonful at a time, keeps the bread lining in place. Stale bread soaks up juice and softens as it cools, which lets the pudding set firm enough to turn out.
“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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