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The Printer's Pudding

The Printer's Pudding is a traditional British recipe, based on Eliza Acton's recipe of 1845, for her classic baked custard pudding thickened with breadcrumbs and flavoured with coconut, lemon zest and nutmeg which is not as rich as her publisher's pudding, but which is much richer than her poor author's pudding. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: The Printer's Pudding.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

40 minutes

Total Time:

60 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : Spice RecipesBread RecipesDessert RecipesMilk RecipesBaking RecipesBritish Recipes

This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Eliza Acton's 1845 volume Modern Cookery, the first classic Victorian cookbook.

Original Recipe

THE PRINTER'S PUDDING.

     Grate very lightly six ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf, and put it into a deep dish. Dissolve in a quart of cold new milk four ounces of good Lisbon sugar ; add it to five large, well-whisked eggs, strain, and mix them with the bread-crumbs; stir in two ounces of a fresh finely-grated cocoa-nut; add a flavouring of nutmeg or of lemon-rind, and the slightest pinch of salt ; let the pudding stand for a couple of hours to soak the bread ; and bake it in a gentle oven for three-quarters of an hour ; it will be excellent if carefully made, and not too quickly baked. When the cocoa-nut is not at hand, an ounce of butter just dissolved, should be poured over the dish before the crumbs are put into it; and the rind of an entire lemon may be used to give it flavour; but the cocoa-nut imparts a peculiar richness when it is good and fresh.

     Bread-crumbs, 6 oz.; new milk, 1 quart; sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 5; cocoa-nut, 2 oz. (or rind, 1 large lemon, and 1 oz. butter); slightest pinch of salt : to stand 2 hours. Baked in gentle over full 3/4 hour.

     Obs.—When a very sweet pudding is liked, the proportion of sugar may be increased.

Modern Redaction

This pudding, along with her The Publisher's Pudding (which can never bee too rich) and the The Poor Author's Pudding forms the trinity of author, printer and publisher and also shows the relative positions of the three, and Acton's sly wit, as the publisher's pudding is the most extravagant and rich, the printer's pudding falls in the middle and the poor author's pudding is a very frugal version of a bread and butter pudding.

Ingredients:

200g dry breadcrumbs (from a stale loaf of bread)
1l milk
125g sugar
5 large eggs
60g freshly-grated coconut
1 tbsp freshly-grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
pinch of salt

Method:

Combine the milk and sugar in a pan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and set aside to cool. Beat the eggs in a bowl then whisk in the sweetened milk. Pass this mixture through a fine-meshed sieve and combine in a bowl with the breadcrumbs.

Stir in the grated coconut, the lemon zest, nutmeg and salt then set the pudding aside to infuse (and for the bread to swell) for two hours.

Turn into a well-buttered mould or baking dish (or an oven-proof pudding mould) then sit the pudding in a baking dish. Half fill this with boiling water then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the pudding is set and golden brown on the top.

If possible turn the pudding out onto a serving dish and serve accompanied by cream or custard.

Find more Eliza Acton Recipes Here and more Traditional Victorian Recipes Here.