Poor Man's Pudding

History

"Poor Man's Pudding" is the book's own title for this recipe in Martha McCulloch-Williams's "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" (1913) — a period name for a dish built from almost nothing, not a comment on anyone who ate it. It scales by the person: "for each person to be served, a fresh egg, a tablespoonful sifted flour, and half a cup very rich milk," with a pinch of salt for each six eggs. The eggs are separated and both parts beaten very light, the yolks mixed gradually into the flour and milk so there are no lumps, and the stiffly beaten whites folded in at the very last — with more milk added if the batter is too thick.

Three ingredients and a technique: what makes it work is the beating and the late fold, not what it costs. The historical record does not document a specific earlier origin for this particular pudding.

"Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" is a mixture of recipes and plantation reminiscence. McCulloch-Williams was a white writer born near Clarksville, Tennessee, who grew up on a plantation before the Civil War; the book's dedication is "to our Mammys," and much of the cooking it records is the work of enslaved and formerly enslaved Black women it does not name.

Ingredients

• 1 fresh egg
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup fruit juice, wine or whiskey
• flavoring

Instructions

1. Take for each person to be served a fresh egg, a tablespoonful sifted flour, and half a cup very rich milk. Add a pinch of salt for each six eggs.
2. Separate the eggs, beating yolks and whites very light.
3. Mix yolks gradually with the flour and milk, taking care to have no lumps.
4. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites at the very last — if the batter is too thick add a little more milk.
5. Pour into a deep pan, and bake in a quick oven.
6. It must be taken up the moment it is done or it will fall, and be ruined.
7. Serve immediately, with a sauce made by working together over hot water three cups sugar, one cup butter, half a cup boiling water, cup fruit juice, wine or whiskey, with any flavoring approved. The sauce cannot be made too rich.
8. The pudding should be a pale clear yellow, as light as a puff, and cutting easily with a spoon.