Alma Pudding

Ingredients

• Fresh butter 4 oz.
• Castor sugar 6 oz.
• Currants 4 oz.
• Flour 8 oz.
• Eggs (beaten) 4.
• Grated rind of one lemon.
• Baking powder 1 teaspoonful.

Method

1. 1

   Beat the butter to a cream, beat in the sugar, eggs, and then the flour, currants and grated lemon.

2. 2

   Last of all stir in the baking powder.

3. 3

   Steam for one and a half hours.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Home cookery (1898) by North Midland School of Cookery, page 50. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Alma Pudding", Fresh butter 4 oz. Castor sugar 6 oz. Currants 4 oz. Flour 8 oz. Eggs (beaten) 4. Grated rind of one lemon. Baking powder i teaspoonful. Beat the butter to a cream, beat in the sugar, eggs, and then the flour, currants and grated lemon. Last of all stir in the baking powder. Steam for one and a half hours. Serve with buttered brandy sauce. --BC- Pastry. Pastry must be kept cool and handled as little as possible. The lard or butter must be rubbed in with the tips of the fingers. A knife must be used for mix- ing. The water must be added gradually, and the pastry must be neither too hard nor too soft, but elastic. In rolling it pressure must be put on the rolling pin from the wrist, and it must be rolled firmly but not heavily. Pastry must not be rolled up and down ; it must be rolled in little rolls in the same direction. Care should be taken not to press out the air-bubbles. Pastry should be made of fine flour if possible. The oven should be hot. Pastry containing baking powder should be baked at once. Puff Pastry. Fine flour... Fresh butter Egg ...^ ... Lemon juice Salt Cold water i lb. lib. I yolk. I teaspoonful. a pinch, to mix. Rub the flour through a dry wire sieve to remove any lumps. Press the butter in a floured cloth to remove any moisture. Put the flour on a pasteboard or marble slab, add the salt, make a hole in the centre of the flour 117 and drop in the egg and lemon juice ; mix slowly (using the fingers) into a firm elastic paste with cold water. Work the paste on the board till it is quite smooth and pliable, then roll it out thinly ; place the butter on one- half of the paste, fold the other half over, and press the edges together with the thumb ; set it in a cool place for about a quarter of an hour, roll out to three times its present size, fold exactly in three, turn the open edges towards you, roll again, fold in three, and set aside for another quarter-of-an-hour. Repeat this until the paste has been rolled seven times since adding the butter. The seventh time the paste must be rolled out to the required thickness, and is ready for use. When the weather is cold it can be made without resting between the turns. In cold weather when the butter is very hard, it should be worked with the hands until more pliable, and should be of the same consistency as the paste. Flaky Pastry. Fine flour i lb. Butter Lard Salt Cold water ilb. lib. a pinch, to mix. Mix the salt with the flour, rub in the butter, make into a firm but elastic paste with cold water, roll out, put on a third of the lard in small pieces, fold in three, let it lie in a cool place for a quarter of an hour ; roll it out again, put on half the remaining lard, fold it, and let it rest again for at least a quarter of an hour ; roll it out again, put on the remainder of the lard, fold it, and let it lie in a cold place for about half an hour ; it is then rolled out again and is ready for use. Short Pastry. Flour 1 lb. Butter J- lb. Baking powder | teaspoonful.

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.