(18th Century) American Apple Pie

This post is a blast from the past in 2 ways.  Firstly, it is another attempt at historical cookery, and second it is a recipe made a year ago, and posted to my G+ feed, which inspired me to start the blog.

This comes from a cookbook I bought in Colonial Williamsburg called The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple by Mrs. Glasse.  On page 122 is a recipe entitled "To Make an Apple Pie", which seemed an appropriate place to start.  This 1805 cookbook, filled with recipes from the 1700s, has its recipes in a format very different than those half a century later.  There are no amounts and very little technique, it's basically just an ingredient list with brief explanation, and so a lot of interpretation was required.  Here is an image of the entire recipe from the Google E-book:

In making the recipe there were basically 2 places where I had to use my own initiative (guess):

• There is no recipe in the book for puff pastry (I used a recipe from a modern cookbook)
• The amount of sugar required is highly subjective. (I used the least I could and get an even layer over the apples, under the assumption that it was a dear commodity)
• Obviously no baking time and temperature was given, so again I looked at a modern apple pie recipe
• Apple type:  I honestly can't remember what i used, but I think it was Jonagolds.  I would go with a sweeter apple and avoid the tarter ones, because of the limited sugar in the recipe.

I also had a deviation in terms of spices.  Instead of adding cloves to the pie itself, which seemed unpleasant, I simply boiled them with the syrup.  Also, i left out the mace.  Nutmeg would make a good substitute, but I was unsure how much to add.

The final recipe as posted on my blog:

Make a dough out of 2c (250g) flour, 150ml water, and 8tbsp butter. Blend it enough so it forms a coherent dough, but has visible butter pieces in it. Roll it into a rectangle and fold the right third over the middle, then the left third over the middle. Place in refrigerator for 30min.

Then roll it back out into a rectangle, and put another 4tbsp butter (in thin pats) to cover the middle 3rd. Fold the edges as before and roll out into the rectangle. Fold the edges and refrigerate for 15min.

Meanwhile, core and peel 7 apples. Cut them into 8ths and add some lemon juice, put in the fridge. Boil the cores and peels for 10min with some cloves and strain. Add 1/4c sugar to the liquid and reboil until it forms a thick syrup (maybe another 10min),

Take the crust from the fridge and roll it out. Divide into two parts, one slightly larger and place in pie pan (you can do the folding trick more in 15min iterations if you want to get flakier crust). Add a layer of apples and sprinkle with 2tbspn sugar. Add second layer of apples, and sprinkle with 2tbspn sugar. Drizzle with the syrup.

Add top crust and bake at 425F for ~1hr. You can turn down to 350 if the crust seems to be browning too much.

So How did it work?

As you can see from the picture below, my first ever attempt at puff pastry became hugely puffy because I was a bit overenthusiastic in terms of layer numbers.  I think 2 refrigeration sessions is more than enough.

Also, this is not a very sweet pie.  It is definitely a pie that tastes mostly of the natural sweetness of apples, which makes it a good option for those avoiding processed sugar in their diets (leave sugar out and either add honey to the syrup making stage, or try boiling the cores and peels in apple juice instead of water).

Lastly, the part where you boil the peel and cores is really great.  You get this beautiful pink pectin with a strong apple flavor.  That technique is something I will carry forward into future apple pie attempts.

Mrs. Beeton's Christmas Plum Pudding

Now Bring us a Figgy Pudding!

In the spirit of both Christmas and Historical Cookery I endeavored to cook Recipe 1328 from The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton:  "Christmas Plum-Pudding (Very Good)"

This book is full of recipes, anthropology, history, and a surprising amount of perspective into the lives of Victorian housewives.  A first edition facsimile like I used can be gotten here, or you can simply pick up the free Kindle edition, or the one at Project Gutenberg.

For those who don't know, Christmas Pudding / Plum Pudding / Figgy pudding is a traditional Christmas dessert which, paradoxically, neither contains plums nor figs, and does not fit the American definition of pudding.  What it is is the boozy predecessor to the fruit cake.

Like fruitcake, this is very dense.  Beeton says this recipe produces a 1 quart mold of pudding suitable for 5 or 6.  In my experiment I got 2 1 quart molds, that would feed ~8 people each for a total of 16 servings.

Traditionally this is made the weekend before Thanksgiving, and stored at least a month to "age".

The Ingredients: (by weight!)

Bread Crumbs

• 1.5lb raisins
• 0.5lb currants
• 0.5lb mixed peel
• 0.75lb bread crumbs
• 0.75lb suet (unrendered beef fat)
• 8 eggs
• 1 wineglass full brandy 
• Pudding Basin
• Parchment paper
• Cheesecloth
• A big mixing bowl

Before we can start cooking we need to cover some of these ingredients more in depth. . .

Mixed Peel:  We're talking candied citrus peel, usually a 50 / 50 mix of orange and lemon.  You can make this on your own (if enough people ask I will post a recipe for this), but I bought mine at Berkeley Bowl.  Make sure to mince the peel.

Bread Crumbs:  These need to be super fine.  Beeton recommends grating them on a cheese grater, but I pulsed them in a food processor.  Also the bread should be dried in an oven, not stale.  I made a really basic white bread ala Ratio (5 parts / 600g flour, 3 parts / 360g water, 2 tspn yeast, 1.5 tspn salt, 1 tbspn sugar) and then sliced and dried it.

Suet:  This can be hard to find.  I recommend going to a butcher that cuts/trims their own meat.  Make sure they stick the suet through a meat grinder for you, so you don't have to finely mince it on your own.

"1 wineglass" of Brandy: I added a modern white-wine-glass-ful, and then worried it was too much compared to Victorian wineglass volumes, but the final product does not at all taste too much of brandy so just go with any modern glass you have lying around. 

Pudding Basin:  You have 3 options here.  You can buy fancy aluminum basins at cooking stores or online that give your pudding cool shapes , or go for a classic ceramic British pudding basin, or just use a glass or ceramic bowl you have lying around. Whatever you use needs to have a lip to tie string around.  As mentioned above, the recipe calls for a 1 quart mold  but I filled 2 1 quart molds, so best to have a second one handy or buy a 2 quart mold.

Disclaimers out of the way, let's get on to the cooking!

*If you are using an aluminum mold, steps 8-10 will be different for you

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl
2. Add the suet and continue to mix
3. Add the brandy to the eggs and whisk until blended
4. Pour egg/brandy mix over the other ingredients
5. Mix again  (At this point you are dealing with large messy volumes  and your goal is a homogeneous mixture, so I recommend abandoning the spoon and using your hands.)



Mixed Pudding

6. Butter your mold/basin/whathaveyou generously
7. Pack the pudding into the mold.  You don't want to go above the edge, but you do want to compact it down
8. Cut out 2 circles of parchment paper to the same diameter as the bowl, and place them on top of the pudding mix
9. Cover the top of the bowl with a square of 4-ply cheesecloth big enough to be tied down under the lip
10. Using kitchen twine, tie the cheesecloth onto the basin, then make a handle out of twine for moving the bowl into and out of boiling water.
11. Boil the pudding for 6 hours
1. DO NOT let the water level get above the top of the pudding.  Start with the water ~1 inch below the top of the bowl, and keep the pot covered and simmering with the water at this level.  This will require you to frequently top up the pot with more hot water. (I found an electric kettle indispensable)
12. After 6 hours remove the pudding and put it away in a cupboard to store.  Do not remove/replace the cheesecloth or parchment paper as everything is now boiled and sterile. 
13. Before serving reboil for 2 hours as per step 11
14. Upend the basin / mold onto a pate
15. Light a ladle of brandy on fire, and pour it over the pudding
16. Serve with heavy cream, whipped cream, or hard sauce (recipes for all of these can be found online)

Pudding Unveiled

Pudding After Boiling, Ready for Storage

More Boozy Variation:

Another traditional way to make the pudding it to forgo the mold/basin/bowl and simply make a tight round sphere of pudding encased in 4 ply cheesecloth.  Because this is more open to the air, you need to keep spoilage at bay by pouring a generous amount of brandy over the pudding 1-2x a week.  However, Beeton's version does not recommend this step, she merely stored the pudding in cupboards, so I did not make my pudding this way.  I added the parchment paper lids under the cheesecloth specifically because I was worried about aerobic bacteria growing on the pudding without regular brandyings

Tiny Currants and Huge Raisins

Taste

This pudding came out much mellower than other Christmas puddings I have had.  The beef suet and the relatively small amount of currants and peel gave it a smooth and less tart flavor that I quite like.  I would say it beats modern store bought versions hands down, and that if you find modern home made Christmas Pudding to be too tart, you will find this a pleasant alternative.  Another contributor to the excellent flavor may have been the extremely plump flame raisins I bought from Berkeley Bowl.

Pudding on FIRE!

To finish I would like to thank Walter for his technical expertise from years of making modern Chrstmas Puddings, which helped me interpret some of Mrs. Beeton's instructions.