Almond Pudding

History

This is the almond pudding printed in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife: 'Put a pound of sweet almonds in hot water till the skin will slip off them; pound them with a little orange flower or rose water, to keep them from oiling; mix with them four crackers, finely pounded, or two gills of rice flour; six eggs, a pint of cream, a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter, and four table-spoonsful of wine; put a nice paste in the bottom of your dish, garnish the edges, pour in the pudding, and bake it in a moderate oven'. The Virginia House-Wife was first published in 1824 and is generally considered the first regional American cookbook. The dish was not a Virginia invention: baked almond puddings of this construction — blanched almonds pounded with rose water 'to keep them from oiling,' then bound with eggs, cream, sugar and butter and baked in a pastry crust — were already standard in English printed cookery. Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) opens its 'To make pretty Almond Puddings': 'Take a Pound and half of blanched Almonds, beat them fine with a little Rose-water'. Seventeenth-century English recipe collections already grouped almond among puddings baked as 'pastry crusts filled with custard, cooked fruit, or rice and cream'. Beyond this, the record does not document a specific migration route or class meaning for this baked version.

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet almonds
• orange flower water or rose water
• 4 crackers
• 2 gills rice flour
• 6 eggs
• 1 pint cream
• 1 pound sugar
• 0.5 pound butter
• 4 tablespoons wine
• nice paste

Instructions

1. Blanch the sweet almonds by pouring hot water over them until the skins slip off easily. Pound the blanched almonds with a little orange flower water or rose water to prevent them from becoming oily during pounding.
2. Mix the pounded almonds with either four finely pounded crackers or two gills of rice flour, six eggs, a pint of cream, a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter, and four tablespoons of wine.
3. Line the bottom of your pudding dish with nice paste and garnish the edges with it. Pour the pudding mixture into the prepared dish and bake in a moderate oven until set.