[Sca-cooks] A Note on Steamed Puddings

[Nancy Kiel]

I always think of a steamed pudding as being completely enclosed in a metal mold, which is placed in a pan of boiling water and then covered.  But now I think on it, I'm really not sure.  More research!
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stefan li Rous<mailto:StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> 
  To: SCA-Cooks maillist SCA-Cooks<mailto:SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org> 
  Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 11:41 PM
  Subject: [Sca-cooks] A Note on Steamed Puddings


    Bear pointed out to us:
  > Since there was a bit of question on when doughs began being steamed 
  > rather
  > than boiled, I can say that it occurred in Antiquity.  "Erneum" is a 
  > pastry
  > similar to Cato's "placenta."  It was made in an earthenware jar which 
  > was
  > boiled in a copper cauldron, a method similar to some of the later 
  > pudding
  > recipes.  To extract the cake, the jar was broken.

  Huh? Now you've got me confused. Maybe you don't steam a pudding the 
  way I thought you were supposed to.

  This description sounds more like boiling a pudding since you put the 
  earthernware jar into water and boiled it. As in a double boiler. I've 
  always imagined that to steam a pudding you held it in the steam of 
  boiling water in a net or cloth bag rather than in the boiling water 
  itself. So if this is a description of a steamed pudding how is a 
  boiled pudding different?

  Stefan
  --------
  THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
      Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
  StefanliRous at austin.rr.com<mailto:StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
  **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org<http://www.florilegium.org/> ****

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