Hello. Today I'm making apple and crumb pudding. It's an easy dish and we always
have the ingredients. It's ideal for a busy cook when her kitchen maid is away.
For this recipe, you will need...
This is an excellent dish for using up the apples from last year's harvest.
The gardeners regularly check over the apples, picking out any that are
past their best so I can use them before they're only suitable for the pig pale.
That means I've got lots of different varieties here, although I think they're all dual-purpose.
I'm also using a little lemon juice to make sure that the apples don't go brown.
These are grown on the estate as well.
In the time between March and May, there is very little growing fresh in the gardens
and so I make sure I use all the produce from the winter
to make room for the new harvest in storage. Of course it doesn't always apply here on this
estate. Lord Braybrooke has hothouses to force the ripening of fruit and vegetables but that is a
little expensive. He needs a lot of coal and a lot of fresh horse manure to keep the hot beds warm.
Although there is an army of skilled gardeners.
Now I'm going to spread butter around the edges of my dish to make sure it's well lined.
And then sprinkle in some breadcrumbs. You can use fresh or dried breadcrumbs.
I usually use crumbs from a stale loaf that's been dried a little by the fire so they aren't
dry enough to store but they're not exactly fresh. This is a good dish for using up bread that's past
its best. There is no excuse for throwing away bread. There is always a use for stale bread.
Now I'm going to add some of my apples, spreading it out so that it cooks through properly.
And now a little sugar. You can add as much as you want.
I often don't give amounts because people like different amounts of sugar. The same with spice.
Another layer of bread crumbs.
Another layer of apples and then sugar and then spice and I'll do this until I've filled my dish.
This recipe is ideal when you want to make a tart but you don't have the time or the inclination
or perhaps even the money to make pastry.
You could use other fruits I suppose: rhubarb or blackberry or pears would all suit well.
And after my final layer of breadcrumbs,
I'm going to dab on some butter.
And now this is ready to go into the oven for about three quarters of an
hour until the top is nice and brown and it's cooked through thoroughly.
And now my pudding is done. You could serve this hot or cold. Or somewhere in between!
I often serve this with cream or custard. If I was serving it to the family I might
add orange flower water but as it's just for the servants this is plain vanilla custard.
There we are: apple and plum pudding.