Ah, there you are! Today I'm making a simple pudding for the servants' hall.
I call it Eve's Pudding but it goes by many different names.
Whatever its name, it is delicious. For this recipe, you will need...
Mr Vert's chosen me some lovely looking apples today.
It can be a constant battle between cook and gardener because they like to produce for size
rather than flavour and the best things often end up in the shows. The last Head Gardener
was sacked I think partly because the best things ended up in shows. Mr Vert is far more attentive.
My advice to any aspiring cook is to be firm but friendly to get the gardener on your side.
Any apple will work for this recipe so long as it's good for eating and not just cooking.
I like a nice well rounded flavour and these are Ripston Pippins.
This recipe also includes raisins. If your raisins are very large then you will need to
chop them as well. We buy the raisins already prepared, de-stoned and picked (de-stalked),
but that does mean that they are more expensive. When I first started as
a maid in my brother's house preparing the dried fruit was one of my main jobs.
I'm now going to beat my eggs
and then put in all the ingredients.
The raisins.
And the breadcrumbs.
And I'm going to add the milk just to loosen the mixture.
You probably won't use all of the milk so just put in a little at a time.
Now I wouldn't normally add brandy to a servants' dish but as I'm making this
for the upper servants' table and this evening that includes myself, Mr Lincoln,
Mrs Warwick and Miss Justice, Lady Braybrooke's maid, I think I can afford to add just a little.
When I worked under Mr Fraddon in Lord Townsend's kitchen we used to make a similar dish to this
called Duke of Cumberland's pudding. It was richer, it had suet and spices. Mary-Ann
tells me that in Yorkshire Eve's Pudding's a smaller steamed sponge but with no apple.
And Sylvia thought I was making something called Mother Eve's Pudding.
It's interesting that there are so many similar dishes with different names.
As this is for the servants, I'm just going to put it into a plain pudding basin.
And now that I've greased it I shall put in my mixture.
My cloth is already damp and has been floured
so I shall lay it on with a fold so the pudding can expand and tie it tightly.
This needs three hours to boil so Mary-Ann will need to keep an eye on it.
It mustn't boil dry or the basin will crack.
This has been bubbling away while I've been getting on with other things.
I'm now going to take it out.
And remove the cloth.
And now turn it out.
If this was for the family I would serve it with a wine sauce, but as it's for the servants
I think custard. There you are. A perfect dish for a servants' supper. Eve's Pudding.