[ Equipment: oven or slow cooker. For more information about the terminology in this recipe, see Low Temperature Baking: A Journey of 3 Paths ].
This Indian pudding has a smooth, smooth texture with strong notes of corn and caramel from multiple infusions of milk and a long slow baking. The cranberries float on top of the pudding, not in it, and hold onto their individuality through the baking process. Cranberry essences flow down with the milky infusions and scent the pudding, but don't overpower it.
I made it to celebrate this year's Independence Day holiday (July 4), having resolved to bake something associated with early America, with both the native peoples and the European settlers. The idea for an Indian pudding evolved from a study of early American baked dishes in Amelia Simmons' American Cookery, published way back in 1796 and billed as the first American cookbook. Just about all of those recipes are well suited for LTB, because oven temperatures in early homesteads were never accurate and recipes had to be flexible.
The section on puddings caught my especial attention, because I'd never tried baking a pudding. Rice pudding had the most variations. Indian pudding was second with 3 recipes. Except in New England where it's served as daily fare in restaurants, Indian pudding in the rest of the country turns up generally on Thanksgiving dinner tables in November (or maybe on February 17, which is National Indian Pudding Day - who knew?).
An Indian pudding on Independence Day is celebratory of the several cultures that helped early America to flourish (though I do see a taint of irony too). The dish is a culinary fusion of Native American and European roots. "Indian" is a reference to the cornmeal ingredient, because Native Americans taught the European settlers to grow corn, and they made a boiled porridge from cornmeal called suppone, which the settlers may have adapted to the form of an English hasty pudding.
Of the innumerable Indian pudding recipes online, the one from Boston's ancient Durgin Park restaurant, established decades before American Cookery was published, is famous. The recipe has allegedly passed down unchanged for those hundreds of years and is remarkable for its long baking time (5 to 7 hours) and the omission of any spices (no ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg) and extras like dried fruits.
However, I wanted some embellishment for my pudding. Of the 3 recipes for Indian pudding in American Cookery, I thought the first one best represented the modern trend of Indian puddings with provision for spices and dried fruits. Here it is below in all its brevity.
A Nice Indian Pudding
No. 1. 7 pints scalded milk, 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, bake one and half hour.
My recipe draws inspiration from those two recipes, as well as one in Fanny Farmer's The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book of 1906 and a recent pudding from the 2002 Cook's Illustrated American Classics cookbook. Like the Durgin-Park, my pudding is baked for over 5 hours and contains no spices. Like the American Cookery, my pudding has a high egg-to-milk ratio and an embellishment: dried cranberries. The idea for pre-cooking the cornmeal over a double boiler comes from Fanny Farmer's recipe for Indian pudding. The presence of flour in my pudding is a variation of a technique from the American Classics recipe.
The American Classics recipe calls for cornstarch to prevent curdling (it has the same function in custards) and produces a creamier pudding. Cornstarch is gluten-free, but wasn't available in early America, so I substituted flour. The flour isn't traditional in an Indian pudding and it could be omitted, but then the pudding's texture won't be as silky smooth.
I believe that the purpose of the pre-cooking the cornmeal in Fanny Farmer's pudding is to speed up the baking process. In my recipe, the purpose of the pre-cooking is to create a very thick batter, so that the cranberries will float on top of the pudding and not sink into it. I've made puddings where the cranberries were mixed into the batter. The cranberries plumped up mushy and sweetened the surrounding pudding with too strong a cranberry flavor. I much prefer the dried cranberries to hold onto some of their toothy bite and intense flavor as a fruity burst in contrast to the earthier molasses and cornmeal.
In spite of the pre-cooked cornmeal, I have found that a long, long baking really does mellow out the flavors and soften the texture. After the first 3 hours, the changes are more subtle, but the improvement is noticeable. Plus, the extra time is an opportunity to infuse the pudding with more milk for a richer taste and a thick layered crust. A batter with the full quantity of milk at the start would have been too liquid float the cranberries. The procedure in my recipe of piercing the pudding for the milk to soak in isn't too different from Durgin-Park's method of stirring more milk into a partially baked, unset pudding.
Although the cranberries aren't baked into the pudding, they do scent the pudding each time milk is poured over them and soaks into the cornmeal. I tried reducing the number of infusions, but the flavoring is important to the whole pudding. The dried cranberries I had were Ocean Spray Craisins, which are pre-sweetened and resemble raisins (see the end of this recipe for pictures of this pudding made with actual raisins). If the Craisins are replaced with unsweetened dried cranberries, another 1/2 tablespoon of molasses or maple syrup could help to counter the tartness.
Speaking of sugar, I opted for a blend of molasses and maple syrup. As they did with the cultivation of corn, Native Americans taught the settlers how to tap maple trees and process the sap. Sugar cane was brought by the European settlers. The blend not only represents the early cultures, but adds a dimension of flavor. Re-balancing the sweeteners to be 100% molasses or 100% maple syrup is perfectly acceptable.
Makes 2 servings
- 260 calories per serving
- Oven temperature: 250°F/121°C
- 1-1/2 cups milk (2% reduced fat or regular)
- 3 tablespoons cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon butter
- pinch of salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour or 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch (see text)
- 1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses (see text)
- 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup, grade A amber (see text)
- 1-1/2 tablespoon dried cranberries (see text)
Optional: Pre-heat oven or cooker to 250°F/121°C.
1. Combine corn meal, butter, salt and 3/4 cup of milk in a metal bowl or in the top of a double boiler.
2. Put the bowl over a sauce pot of simmering water (the water should not touch the bowl) and cook covered until mixture thickens to a glop, about 10 minutes. Stir with a whisk every 5 minutes to break up any lumps. Remove from heat and let the cornmeal mixture cool for about 5 minutes. If the cornmeal is cooked too long, it will stiffen and the lumps will be hard to remove. Then add 1 to 2 teaspoons of water or milk to loosen the cornmeal.
3. In a cup, mix the egg and flour until well combined.
4. When the cornmeal mixture has cooled, add in the egg, molasses and maple syrup and mix until smooth.
5. Pour batter into a 1-1/2 cup ramekin and sprinkle dried cranberries over the top of the pudding. Put pudding in the oven or cooker and set for 250°F/121°C. If baking in a cooker, place moisture-absorbing towels under the lid.
6. After 1 hour (or 1-1/2 hours if oven was not pre-heated), open oven or cooker, removing any moisture-absorbing towels. Puncture deeply the top of the pudding in several places with a fork, taking care not to press any cranberries into the pudding. Measure out 1/4 cup of hot milk and slowly pour over the top of the pudding, letting it sink in, until it starts to puddle on the top. The pudding may not drink in all of the milk before it puddles. Close oven or re-cover the cooker (replacing the moisture-absorbing towels) and continue baking. If baking in a cooker and the temperature has dropped below 250°F, adjust the heat settings to bring the cooker quickly back up to the target temperature.
Repeat this step two more times every 1-1/2 hours, for a maximum infusion of 3/4 cup of milk (less milk is fine too).
7. After 6 to 7 hours total baking time, remove pudding from oven and serve hot. The picture at the beginning of this recipe shows a serving of the pudding sprinkled with more dried cranberries. Fresh fruit, like diced apple, is also a delicious accompaniment. In the picture below, the pudding is served with scoops of homemade nutmeg-chocolate-chip ice milk.
Here's the raisin version of the Indian pudding. It's shown served with a drizzle of sweetened light cream or a non-diary cream.
