A Nice (and easy) Indian Pudding Recipe

A Nice Indian Pudding

No. 1. 3 pints scalded mild, 7 spoons fine Indian meal, stir well together while hot, let stand till cooled; add 7 eggs, half pound raisins, 4 ounces butter, spice and sugar, and bake one and half hour.

No. 2. 3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add 2 eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q.s. it will require two and half hours baking.

No. 3. Salt a pint meal, wet with one quart milk, sweeten and put into a strong cloth, brass or bell metal vessel, stone or earthern pot secure from wet and boil 12 hours.
from Amelia Simmons, American Cookery (Hartford, 1796)

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I ended up making Indian Pudding for Saturday night's dinner and came home with an empty pudding bowl and have been thinking of making it again ever since. I was *almost* going to do it today since I had the day off, but got caught up with too many other things(guests staying here Thursday through Sunday, so have to get the house straightened first)

The following recipe is the one I eventually decided to use. It is an easy recipe adapted for the modern kitchen--no hours in the oven, no scalding of milk before adding the cornmeal...and it came out delectably delicious, so I don't think I would even ever try making it any other way. (there are other ways of making it with the longer cooking times, too, but I think they must come out about the same)

I got the following recipe out of Linda Beaulieu's The Providence And Rhode Island Cookbook. Don't be put off the by the odd combination of ingredients or the rather plain brownness of it--it is quite delicious (did I already write that?). I had not had Indian Pudding in some time, and now I can't get it off my mind. I think I am in love ! (might have to make it for my guests...my brother and his family who are all picky eaters, so I may end up having to eat most of it..heh..heh..)

Narragansett Indian Pudding

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal * I happened to have a bag of stone ground white cornmeal in the fridge--used for making R.I. jonnycakes (in R.I., there is never an "h" in Jonnycake!), and the taste is the same. White corn meal is made from a different strain of corn with light colored kernels instead of yellow.

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups of milk, divided (I used whole milk)

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

1/4 dark, unsulphered molasses (since I love the taste of molasses, I added a bit more..)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Whipped cream, Hard Sauce or Vanilla Ice Cream

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In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Stir in 1 1/2 cups milk and the melted butter. Cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the beaten egg, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk. Stir into the cornmeal mixture. Mix well. Pour into a 1 or 2 quart casserole.

Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour ( I adjusted this because my oven gets too hot, so baked it at 275 for a little longer than an hour), or until a knife inserted into the pudding comes out clean. Serve warm with topping of choice.