I've learned to be skeptical when it comes to salt in recipes. This one - from the "The Old Farmer's Almanac Colonial Cookbook" (64 pages, stapled) - calls for a quart of milk and...1 tsp. salt. I thought "you've got to be kidding." I cut it to 1/2 tsp. and I'm very glad. Maybe it should be even less. I think there should be less than 1/2 cup molasses as well. Next time, we'll see.

Btw, in a certain large hardcover Amish/Mennonite cookbook, the brownie pudding - under some other name - also called for 1 tsp. salt. I doubt many would prefer it that way. It wasn't for a huge pudding, after all.

So here's the modified list for the first dish:

1 quart milk
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup molasses
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Heavy cream (for serving with)


I grated my own nutmeg.

It called for a baking pan of 8" x 10", which I didn't have, so I used a larger one instead. (I cut the baking time from 2 hours to 90 minutes.) One also has to cook it in a double boiler for 25 minutes first.


Lenona.

Lenona.

On 3/2/2019 12:00 PM, wrote:
> I've learned to be skeptical when it comes to salt in recipes. This one - from the "The Old Farmer's Almanac Colonial Cookbook" (64 pages, stapled) - calls for a quart of milk and...1 tsp. salt. I thought "you've got to be kidding." I cut it to 1/2 tsp. and I'm very glad. Maybe it should be even less. I think there should be less than 1/2 cup molasses as well. Next time, we'll see.
>
> Btw, in a certain large hardcover Amish/Mennonite cookbook, the brownie pudding - under some other name - also called for 1 tsp. salt. I doubt many would prefer it that way. It wasn't for a huge pudding, after all.
>
> So here's the modified list for the first dish:
>
> 1 quart milk
> 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
> 1/2 tsp. salt
> 1/2 cup molasses
> 3/4 tsp ginger
> 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
> 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
>
> Heavy cream (for serving with)
>
>
> I grated my own nutmeg.
>
> It called for a baking pan of 8" x 10", which I didn't have, so I used a larger one instead. (I cut the baking time from 2 hours to 90 minutes.) One also has to cook it in a double boiler for 25 minutes first.
>
>
> Lenona.
>
>
How old are those recipes? If they were truly based on Colonial-era
cooking I'm betting they made large quantities and added more salt to
account for long-term storage. Not being familiar with puddings, I'd
have to wonder are the results supposed to be custardy or bready?

Jill

On Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 12:20:06 PM UTC-5, Jill McQuown wrote:


> How old are those recipes? If they were truly based on Colonial-era
> cooking I'm betting they made large quantities and added more salt to
> account for long-term storage. Not being familiar with puddings, I'd
> have to wonder are the results supposed to be custardy or bready?
>
> Jill


I assume they're based on 17th & 18th century recipes. The book itself said 1982.

The result was custardy, as I expected. (It's a lot of milk.)


Lenona.

On 3/2/2019 12:27 PM, wrote:
> On Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 12:20:06 PM UTC-5, Jill McQuown wrote:
>
>
>> How old are those recipes? If they were truly based on Colonial-era
>> cooking I'm betting they made large quantities and added more salt to
>> account for long-term storage. Not being familiar with puddings, I'd
>> have to wonder are the results supposed to be custardy or bready?
>>
>> Jill
>
>
> I assume they're based on 17th & 18th century recipes. The book itself said 1982.
>
Thanks! I love reading old books like that.

> The result was custardy, as I expected. (It's a lot of milk.)
>
>
> Lenona.
>
Okay, I guess I was thinking more bread-like. The excessive salt could
still be due to the fact that they didn't have much in the way of
preservation methods back then. <shrug> I'm sure you did the right
thing by cutting back on it.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
....
> How old are those recipes? If they were truly based on Colonial-era
> cooking I'm betting they made large quantities and added more salt to
> account for long-term storage. Not being familiar with puddings, I'd
> have to wonder are the results supposed to be custardy or bready?

good point on the salt. i was thinking at first that it
was because they worked a lot harder back then and sweated
it out...


songbird

On Sat, 2 Mar 2019 15:48:17 -0500, songbird >
wrote:

> good point on the salt. i was thinking at first that it
> was because they worked a lot harder back then and sweated
> it out...

Or it could be that the salt was coarse and a teaspoon of it wasn't
very much.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 2019-03-02 12:19 p.m., jmcquown wrote:
> On 3/2/2019 12:00 PM, wrote:
>> I've learned to be skeptical when it comes to salt in recipes. This
>> one - from the "The Old Farmer's Almanac Colonial Cookbook" (64 pages,
>> stapled) - calls for a quart of milk and...1 tsp. salt. I thought
>> "you've got to be kidding." I cut it to 1/2 tsp. and I'm very glad.
>> Maybe it should be even less. I think there should be less than 1/2
>> cup molasses as well. Next time, we'll see.
>>
>> Btw, in a certain large hardcover Amish/Mennonite cookbook, the
>> brownie pudding - under some other name - also called for 1 tsp. salt.
>> I doubt many would prefer it that way. It wasn't for a huge pudding,
>> after all.
>>
>> So here's the modified list for the first dish:
>>
>> 1 quart milk
>> 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
>> 1/2 tsp. salt
>> 1/2 cup molasses
>> 3/4 tsp ginger
>> 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
>> 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
>>
>> Heavy cream (for serving with)
>>
>>
>> I grated my own nutmeg.
>>
>> It called for a baking pan of 8" x 10", which I didn't have, so I used
>> a larger one instead. (I cut the baking time from 2 hours to 90
>> minutes.) One also has to cook it in a double boiler for 25 minutes
>> first.
>>
>>
>> Lenona.
>>
>>
> How old are those recipes?Â* If they were truly based on Colonial-era
> cooking I'm betting they made large quantities and added more salt to
> account for long-term storage.


If it is an old recipe it was probably meant to feed a large family, so
they would not be counting on long term leftovers.


Not being familiar with puddings, I'd
> have to wonder are the results supposed to be custardy or bready?

Puddings can run a range of consistency. Some, like rice pudding,
tapioca, can be very soft and almost runny. Chocolate, vanilla and
butterscotch are often very soft. They are are pudding cakes that have a
cake like texture sitting on top of a runny sauce. I made a sauced
fruiting that is a biscuit like texture in a sweet sauce. You mix up the
dry pudding, which is mostly flour, with some salt, baking powder, a
little sugar, shortening and milk. It goes into a greased bowl and
then you mix up some brown sugar, butter and boiling water, pour it over
the pudding and toss it into the oven.
>

On Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 12:00:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:

>
> Btw, in a certain large hardcover Amish/Mennonite cookbook, the brownie pudding - under some other name - also called for 1 tsp. salt. I doubt many would prefer it that way. It wasn't for a huge pudding, after all.


It was "Cooking from Quilt Country: Hearty Recipes from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens," by Marcia Adams, 1989.

More on it:

https://www.google.com/search?source...30.KXDXgZHZ67Q


I only hope that "hearty," here, doesn't match George Carlin's interpretation of that word...

https://medialiteracyguide4teens.wee...log/food-lingo



Lenona.