I am an Englishman, and I love your channel. Puts me in mind of my grandmother (on my Dads side) who cooked everything on a coal fired range, and a copper for puddings. (Yes,I am that old).
This is still a traditional dish in several European countries. In Dutch it is called Jan-in-de-zak (John in the bag) and it is usually made in a pillow case. Don’t know why. It is made of a mix of wheat and buckwheat flour. Wheat flour alone may be a bit bland and buckwheat alone too crude. Jan-in-de-zak is eaten with a treacle sauce, which is made on the basis of a béchamel (butter, flour and milk) adding lots of treacle. A simpler version is made by just heating and mixing water, butter and treacle. The Dutch make a dark treacle (called ‘apple butter’ in English) of highly concentrated apple sauce, but often it is mixed with or substituted by dark syrup of sugar beets. The whole dish is known as very unpretentious and should be served as such. I read about a version of this dish eaten with sausages and cinnamon sauce in the east of the country, but have never tried that. Cinnamon sauce may seem to compromise the unpretentious nature of this dish somewhat, but in the 18th century the Dutch had colonized cinnamon producing countries, so previously exotic spices had become a national product and were used in large quantities in Dutch cooking. A bit of cinnamon on your Jan-in-de-zak doesn’t make it too luxurious for its station. The next day, my grandmother (in Amsterdam) used to fry slices of Jan-in-de-zak in butter, which I prefer to just boiled. Frying gives it a bit of a crust.
Wow, thank you for sharing this. I am always interested in how these foods cross cultural lines and the differences and similarities. The apple butter sounds great on this. I am interested in trying it is the mix of buckwheat flour.
First of all, let me take this opportunity to express my great appreciation for your blog, and especially for your integrity in authenticity. Thus you make a great contribution to experimental archaeology, as I like to call it, which is not only educational in bringing the past alive to a broad audience, but can also teach us about details one would never have learned from just reading about it. On the subject of Dutch cuisine you speak of crossing cultural lines, but what is American cuisine of the 18th century, if not a mix of many European cuisines, adapted to circumstance? A well-known example of Dutch influence is the American word “cookies,” which comes the Dutch “koekies.” The British call them “biscuits.” And what about the American breakfast? Waffles, flapjacks and pancakes with syrup? Those are Dutch dishes. The British go for kippers, sausages and toast. And let’s not forget the all-American apple pie. It is exactly the same as the all-Dutch apple pie. Just mentioning a few examples. Many Americans in the 17th and 18th centuries were Dutch of course, especially in New York, so I 'm not sure if Dutch cuisine is crossing a cultural line. Is it is not a pillar under American cuisine?
A pillow case is one of the best items for this if it is cotton. I think there should be butter in the batter and the cloth buttered and floured in order for the pudding not to stick. I have Mason and Cash pudding bowls to use instead. Some English puddings can take 4 to 8 hours to cook so this is a nice fast recipe.
Sounds good, I like the frying idea. My sauce suggestion was to use apples (butter, sugar, brandy,and cinn, nutmeg, and allspice, ) even cider cooked down would be good. And yes a nice tightly woven cotton or linen pillowcase would do the trick.
I'm surprised cinnamon didn't make it into one of the sauces. Cinnamon, sugar and butter would have been one of my first thoughts for a sauce on a pudding like that.
When I made a sauce for the hasty puddings, my young daughter was making them with me, so instead of sack, I reduced some orange juice and added a pinch of sugar and some melted butter. It was delicious and the citrus made it seem a little brighter in flavor.
Saving the fruit until the end and coating them with a bit of flour before adding them would help as well. That is what is recommended for muffins with fruit or chocolate chips. It keeps them from sinking to the bottom.
I was just thinking a sauce with a reduced juice added might be good! I'd personally go for a reduced cranberry juice, especially near Thanksgiving but I can easily see how the orange would be super tasty!
The first thing I do after selecting a Jas. Townsend and Son video, is give it a thumbs up...and THEN watch the video, because I know from the beginning I'm going to enjoy it.
wife and I just made this. it was delicious. we used cranberries and dried blueberries instead of currants. we used a brown butter and maple sauce. only thing I'd say for myself is some sugar in the batter. thank you.
I was thinking similarly, but with orange peel instead of lemon. Whichever way though, I'm sure it would be really tasty and I am inspired to want to start trying some of these pudding recipes soon. I really love this channel, but am a new viewer so haven't seen many yet, but I'm really liking it a lot.
Michael R. Wilder Not exactly period, but what about butter, a bit of sugar, some Southern Comfort, the juice and rind of an orange and a bit of vanilla? Come to think, that would be great over ice cream, too. Or pound cake and strawberries, with ice cream. I suppose you could use whiskey, or brandy, if you must be period-authentic.
Agreed Carol, but we want to be careful not to stray too far from period playing the "what if" game because we could get into things that didn't exist then. Granted though, we could come up with some really tasty ideas as you have here, but for reenactments and authenticity, we want to try to stay as close to period as we can. You've really got me thinking about a brandy cream sauce type thing to go over strawberries and pound cake for dessert tonight...lol!
My husband is from Northern Germany. He makes the same pudding called Mehl Budel. It's made with semolina, eggs and raisins. It's quite large and the sauce is made with water and dried fruits such as apricots, prunes, raisins and whatever dried fruits are in the house and seem fitting. The sauce has very little sugar if any but enough liquid added to cook down into a nice soft mushy consistency. The next day we cut wedges and fry it up in butter and use the sauce again. It's delightful!!! Thank you Jon, for the wonderful show!
The wine and butter sauce you guys show is amazing! It's my secret sauce when I'm fixing a sweet breakfast for guests and everyone is always blown away by it. I love it on french toast and bread puddings. A slightly thickened chocolate sauce might go well over a boiled pudding. It's lovely over yellow cake. Growing up, we made our pudding sauces and pancake sauces using: -1/2 cup of water -1 cups of sugar -Vinegar and Butter to taste Rather than dirty a saucepan, I put all the ingredients in a pint jar, heat it in a microwave, stir until dissolved and serve it out of the same jar. What's left over stores well in the fridge. It's thinner than store bought syrups because it has less sugar, but it suits my taste better that way.
OK. It’s official! I am addicted and can’t believe I just keep watching one video after another. One person commented how strangely relaxing it is to watch these and I completely agree. The ones about bread puddings really hits home. At xmas & Thanksgiving, Mom always made her bread pudding with raisins & cinnamon and what she called “creamy hard sauce”, which was made with confectionary sugar, an egg, vanilla, and a little milk or cream. My step-son, brought up with all Italian food and traditions, absolutely loved my Mom’s bread putting & asked if I’d make it for the holidays. Nice! In the end, perhaps these programs are so enjoyable is because of the relaxing tone in our hectic lives and the fun of going back in time when life certainly was very hard but still “simple”. Oh, one more thing, growing up my aunt’s used to make “hasty pudding” and my father’s favorite, Indian pudding. The latter might be fun for a video. I wouldn’t be surprised if that recipe didn’t go back to the 18th century.
John! My friends and I just held an 18th century potluck based on the recipes on your channel. We made the harvest succotash, johnny cakes, batter pudding with butter brandy sauce, currant cakes, the chicken salad, and switchel. Thanks again for your videos, I'm a huge fan!
this reminds me that there are still restaurants here in Boston (mostly for tourists, but some of us locals go from time to time) that serve puddings for dessert, and until a couple of years ago, served with "hard sauce" which was butter, sugar and brandy still solid rather than melted as you've got there. Sometimes I'll do that at home, even. It goes well on apple pie, too.
A lemon sauce, I have a pioneer family recipe passed down from my wife's family for a boiled pudding with a lemon sauce ... the sauce 2 c. hot milk,1/2 c.sugar, 1 T. flour for thickening 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 lemon juiced and zest for a period correct sauce, a modern version uses 2 T.corn starch for thickener and 1/2 tsp.lemon extract...
My great, great Grandmother passed down a suet pudding recipe with "hard sauce". The suet pudding itself was a heavy spice cake with walnuts. Steamed for 3 hours. The hard sauce was melted butter, flour, sugar, vanilla and boiling water. Divine! It's a Christmas family favorite.
These videos are curiously addictive! The presenter has a relaxed manner, the music is lovely and the historical content fascinating. Thank you for them.
I would try apple butter or even a marmalade. How about a slice of pudding, fried in butter. The caramelization would just make them better. Fried apple slices, or even grape preserves. Instead of brandy add hard cider. Not sure if some of these things are period-correct. Hard cider was, no doubt.
This pudding even on its own looks amazing. I was wondering though, I have some pillow cases I use to strain yogurt to make tzatziki dip, would I be able to use pillow cases to boil this pudding? Here's what I would do with the pudding sauce and the pudding... I would first of all add some orange zest into the pudding, some chopped up dark chocolate, some pecans, and a small amount of cardamom powder. I would skip the currants completely, or even substitute them for chopped dehydrated apricots. For the sauce I would take the juice of an orange (from the orange I zested) I would put an equal amount of pure maple syrup and I would reduce that on the heat. I would add a splash of apple cider vinegar, and would add a huge knob of cold butter to melt into the syrup/sauce. I would finish it off with putting in a small splash of a good quality vanilla (I typically use this amazing stuff I brought from my trip to Mexico).
That looks really good! It reminds me of the steamed puddings we used to have in school in England. Those sauces were treacle or Golden Syrup based. Sometimes, instead of the sauce, there would be a hot compote of rhubarb or gooseberries and Byrd's custard on top of it all!
Vanilla was hard to get a hold of and very expensive in the 18th century. It only became popular after they discovered how to artificially pollinate it in the 1830's.
the one thing i enjoy watching in these videos is the attention to the camera work on the products you produce and cell. from the hat and shirt to the bowl and whisk. They look great!
5. DATED•BRITISH the parts of a house given over to household work or to storage. EUPHEMISTIC a toilet. plural noun: usual offices ...toilet. can mean :of preparation, be it for makeup or pre-meal wash. 2. the process of washing oneself, dressing, and attending to one's appearance. "her toilet completed, she finally went back downstairs"
Thank you John! - You finally answered the question of what a batter pudding was. A question that has haunted me since listening to the famous Goon Show Episode "The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea" (BBC radio 1950's).
I'm new to Mr. Townsend's videos and totally enthralled. I'm a big reader of history, but his approach is the next best thing to time travel, putting us into the sights, sounds and, if e follow his recipes, tastes and smells (including body odor!) of 18th century living. Thank you, thank you.
The boiled pudding is amazing!! I've kept your Brandy sauce and threw in a dash of lemon zest... Oh my goodness. You guys are wonderful I have enjoyed your entire series!!!!! Thank you
Seriously watch so many of these videos a day now 😅. At least one a day! I am low key, not low key, so obsessed. My day is not complete without this guy. Thank you for helping me keep my "mom-brain" moving 😊 and from losing it's STUFF 😊😉. Appreciating all your hard work 😊 but glad you enjoy it.
I have been watching your videos for years and just wanted you to know how much I have enjoyed them. I made pudding many years ago using flour cooked on the stove. I am going to try to make this one for my granddaughter. I appreciate learning about the 18th Century from you. Thank you Charlotte Wilmeth.
You know, I work with a German computer science post doc - we are developing code toghether. If you showed him a recipe (which is practically an algorithm) with steps like "X spoonfuls", he would look for a definition EVERYWHERE in the book. On realisation that there is no definition of "spoonful" his head would explode, or his brain would turn into pudding itself! What I want to say is that it is fascinating to see how people relied on interpretation back then. I think this is a behaviour you observe between very experienced users. Thank you for the fantastic videos.
My family have been making this pudding for as long as anyone can remember but our normal go to topping is honey. We are in Australia now but have been making this pudding since we were still in Europe. It's one of my favorites and depending on what's in the pantry we use all different dryed fruits in it. As we make our own dryed fruits from our own Orchards. I personally love it with dryed apricots with honey and warm custard or fresh cream. And as always when it comes to huge families like mine my grandmother's is the absolute best and when I go home she always makes it for me.
ADORABLE! He's all, "Yeah, I'm just going to eat the sauce!" These guys, particularly this video, have cheered me up big time! Thank you and I will definitely be trying some of these recipes this year for the holidays! So fun!
Its 2am but I just can't help myself. I see a Jas. video in the feed and I just can't wait, they're always so calming and informative and fun. Thank you for making these videos, Jon! PS. I'm told that coating your fruit in flour before adding it to your batter/mix will stop it sinking.
Jon, thank you so much for not only your research, but your experimentation in order to get the most accurate measurements so that those of us modernists can try to accurately recreate these recipes. I look forward to making so many of these recipes, I know that your videos will ensure my success.
Mr. Townsend, your 18th century cooking is wonderful for both a history as well as cooking buff. I can only dream of the day when I have a kitchen 10 times my current one; and have several clones of myself. When bagging pudding, or reading the recipie of any 18th century task, the def. for 'meaning' must be retroactive; and boiling cloth here in particular. It was 'linen' that was always used, and for obvious reasons. Materials known and used today were completely unknown then. Mr. Townsend is 'cooking's' answer to ASMR.
I was ruminating on that question myself. I would assume that the "whisk" would get tossed after use and a new batch of twigs gathered for the next session. What would happen back in the day is anyone's guess.
I love these videos. I wanted to say that if you toss the currents in a little bit of flour to coat before adding to the batter they should stay suspended which will do away with the turning of the pudding in boiling water to disburse them throughout.
It's funny how these recipies from your channel that are from so long ago, is stuff I grew up on in Atlantic Canada...Batter pudding in particular is a staple of Sunday dinner
This is from Florida Citrus Mutual's website: "Christopher Columbus brought the first citrus to the New World in 1493. The early Spanish explorers, probably Ponce de Leon, planted the first orange trees around St. Augustine, Florida, sometime between 1513 and 1565. . . . Around [1823], Florida had established a citrus business in the north, with growers packing the fruit in barrels for boat trips to market." So, it's probable that citrus would make it to the northern colonies during the 18th century (via merchants from the south and the east), but I can't say how common it was in that region at the time. Edit: I also can't say whether they were fresh or preserved
I found that dredging any dried fruits such as raisins, currants and even nuts in flour keeps your puddings and cakes from sinking to the bottom. The pudding looks incredibly delicious and those sauces, heavenly, especially the butter, brandy and sugar.
On the subject of cleaning the pudding cloths (which you've spoken of before): I don't know how correct this is for the period you're exploring, but a good way to wash these cloths would be with vinegar. Scrape the cloth as free of the batter as possible, then wash with hot water and vinegar. This will both clean and disinfect the cloth, and vinegar leaves neither smell nor taste if the item is hung out to dry in the sun. I would give the cloths a vinegar wash before using them the first time, too. Great series, I love the detail and the accessible tone. I want to try all the recipes! :)
Could you add orange zest to the batter prior to cooking and then make a sauce of either orange juice and butter or lemon juice and powdered sugar (don't know how traditional the powdered sugar would be). Also if you boiled this in a flavorful liquid (add orange or lemon peels to the water) would that change the flavor? This looks so good!! I really want to try it someday. Thanks for another great video!!
You would want the orange or lemon peel in the sauce or pudding, because of the quantity needed to make a difference in a pot of water. For commercial use with loads of pudding being made adding orange and lemon peal to the water would be of consideration since one can reuse said water.
I'm sure someone already said this, but I would try this with a caramel sauce (brown sugar/half and half/salt/vanilla/butter). Thanks, Jon and Co, for all of the amazing videos!
My Grandma made a great pudding sauce. I haven't any idea what was in it, but I loved it. I haven't had anything like it since. It was delicious poured over gingerbread cake.
That is a sore throat, and cough relief for bad colds and flu. My mother gave that to me long ago...In turn, I gave that to my children. It always worked, along with Vicks spread on the chest and a covering of warm flannel pinned to the undershirt.
My mother used to make lots of different suet puddings and steamed puddings. She always made a thin lemon sauce to go over them. Her family was from Scotland.
I am one of those people who taste ginger as very soapy (like Joy dish washing liquid!). Cinnamon, allspice, maybe a touch of clove -- any of these would be better than ginger.
i had this at a revolutionary war reenactment butter maple syrup and ginger with a touch of brandy for a sauce it was spectacular and they used black currants in the puddings along with dried gooseberries. also have had an old new england recipe of gooseberry pudding with sauce the flavors from the sauce and pudding hit you with the hints of pepper - nutmeg -cinnamon- sugar-mint and brandy
The sauce my mother always used was a rum sauce on the plum pudding. It was made with sugar and water and McCormick rum flavoring. She thickened it a bit with corn starch. This simple sauce, tho it doesn’t sound it, is amazing and delicious!
This looks wonderful, as always. I'm excited to give this a try and I was wondering if this pudding, and boiled puddings in general, could be made using a ramekin in a modern day pressure cooker, crock pot, or similar device, or do boiled puddings have to be made via cloth and pot? Are there any modern methods that would work? Thanks again, and thank you for your wholesome channel.
When we make a pudding (OK, when my husband makes a pudding) he just uses a well greased pudding basin and covers the top with foil or greaseproof paper. Then the whole thing gets steamed. Although this is a boiled pudding it would probably steam just as easily and you wouldn't have to clean your pudding cloth 😋
I had a hunch, so I tried making this in my rice cooker. It turned out surprisingly well, though as expected the bottom did burn a tiny bit. If you're curious about the recipe and don't have a pudding cloth, you can simply pour the batter into your rice cooker and turn it on. It wound up making a very, very easy breakfast.
ive notice that a lot of your recepies use different ingredients but are things we alredy know in modern times as in "a soup of this" "a pudin of that" are there recepies from the 18th century that look completly or very much different then anything we have today?
The horrible story of a man that was forced to connect his youtube account to google+ there are people in today that eat roches and crikets,yucky is subjective
People aren't eating brains much anymore -- has to do with Mad Cow disease. You and I will both be staying away from brains. They were, however, commonly consumed when I was growing up.
Put your flour into a bowl and gradually add the liquid - instead of the other way around - and you won't get lumps; you will naturally blend the flour in.
Gives me an 18th C. Idea 💡... maybe quasi-18thC. I’m thinking of sugar,, a wee-bit of Butter, not likely an 18C. but Confectioners sugar (10X sugar), and of course Sherry. May make a lovely, lively Christmas cookie icing. A tiny bit of liquid makes a wonderful hardened icing on 🍪 Cookies. Just discovered this channel and I’m thrilled. For 30+ years I’ve cooked over my custom built 18th C. fireplace so this should be good fun. My spouse and I, spiritually live in the 18th C. both here in the States & in our Scottish Highland home as well. Wonderful channel! A real treasure.
My Grandmother used to make a suet pudding for Christmas dinner that she called plum pudding.She then "dressed" it with something called "hard sauce".I sometimes dream about her plum pudding w/ hard sauce.Unfortunately,she never shared the recipe with anyone in our generation,she said we wouldn't be able to acquire the suet,since she couldn't find it in her last years...Well,I can get real suet now,but what is this "hard sauce"?
Hard sauce usually has butter, powdered sugar, and some kind of alcohol like brandy (small amounts). I've had it before and it's good. If you google it, you will probably find quite a few recipes for it.
You can order packaged suet from the uk in both regular and vegetarian, it's shelf stable. Im going to try a plum/Christmas pudding recipe from the Victorian heritage channel.
Look up plum pudding by Townsend, it is delicious. I made it last night, the hard sauce was butter, sugar and brandy gently heated on the stove top, just enough to melt the butter and the beginning of bubbles.
I've made the brandy-based sauce and combined it with the Whitepot recipe more than once. They go great! I can attest to it's wonderful taste. Don't hesitate to try it! You don't need to use expensive brandy either.
My favorite sauce for bread puddings - especially the pumpkin bread pudding I make at Thanksgiving - is simple but delicious just like these. Equal parts bourbon, maple syrup, and butter, then a pinch of cloves and/or cinnamon to taste. I bet it would work great for this batter pudding too. It looks easy enough that I just might make one and try it!
I decided to cook some plain millet, but then I was watching this, and I was persuaded to add ginger, cinnamon, currants, brown sugar, butter, cream, vanilla and apple slices. It was very good! If I am not cooking, I will be soon if I watch a Townsend video. They make me hungry! I started baking fresh breads again last month because of them. I even set up a special bread table with supplies and equipment, measuring spoons and cups, and bowls, a rolling pin!