Birds nest pudding
Instructions:
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About the only agreement I could find as to what Bird's Nest Pudding should be like is that it includes apples. In Connecticut, a baked-custard mixture was poured over the apples before baking. In Vermont, the "home" of maple sugar, they serve a sour sauce over the pudding; while in Massachusetts, where there are fewer maple trees, it is served with maple sugar. In the old White House Cookbook, a historical document of American cookery of 1887, a Bird's Nest Pudding recipe is given like this: "Core and peel eight apples, put in a dish, fill the places from which the cores have been taken with sugar and a little grated nutmeg; cover and bake. Beat the yolks of four eggs light, add two teacupfuls of flour, with three even teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted with it, one pint of milk with a teaspoonful of salt; then add the whites of the eggs well beaten, pour over the apples and bake one hour in a moderate oven. Serve with sauce." Contrast that recipe with this one from Vermont.
- THE APPLES
- 8 tart apples, pared and sliced;
- 3⁄4 cup sugar;
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon.
- THE BISCUIT TOPPING
- 2 cups all-purpose flour;
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda;
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar;
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt;
- 1⁄4 cup lard;
- 1 cup milk;
- Sour Sauce
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Butter a deep 2-quart casserole. Turn the apples into the buttered dish. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon, and sprinkle over the apples.
- In a mixing bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the lard, until blended into the flour. Add the milk to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead 2 or 3 strokes. Pat to a 1-inch thickness, and fit over the apples. Bake 40 minutes, until the apples are done and the biscuit topping is golden. Serve with Sour Sauce.