Holiday - This is a holiday favorite
Edna Lewis. Need we say more.
Watch out for hungry possums.
Persimmon Pudding
from Edna Lewis's Taste of Country Cooking p218
with notes from the Kalebergs
PERSIMMON PUDDING
4 ounces suet
2/3 cup fresh grated bread crumbs, without the crust
1/2 cup hot milk
1 packed cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon mace
4 large cultivated persimmons (triple the number if using wild)
1/4 cup rum (or bourbon)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Remove all tissue and skin from the suet and chop it finely with a chopping knife. (Most store bought suet will not have skin or tissue in it).
Remove the crust from enough slices of white bread to make 2/3 cup grated. Grating bread against the large holes of a four sided grater makes much lighter bread crumbs; it is quick and easy, too. Put the crumbs into a mixing bowl.
Pour the hot milk over the crumbs and leave them to stand a few minutes.
Add the chopped suet, mix well, add sugar and flour and stir.
Beat the egg yolks, add, and stir well again.
Add salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mace. Stir after each addition.
Cut the persimmons in half, remove the seeds and scoop out the pulp. You should have about 2 1/2 cups; add it to the suet crumb mixture.
Add rum (or bourbon) and baking powder.
Lastly, beat egg whites until stiff, fold in, and spoon the mixture into a pudding mold.
Cover and set into a container of boiling water. Steam for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove from burner, leave to cool in mold. Reheat by steaming again on a slow burner for 1 hour. serve hot with a clear sauce.
NOTE: If you want, you can make this in a food processor. Just add the suet and persimmons first, then all of the other ingredients up to the egg whites. You have to FOLD in the egg whites. This version works very well, since it really mashes the suet and permissions better than you can by hand. The whites must be folded or they will lose their rising power.
NOTE: We always use bourbon rather than rum in this recipe. We have no idea of what Edna Lewis was thinking.
NOTE: You can use a Pyrex glass bowl as pudding mold and just put it into a big pot. Fill the pot with an inch or two of water and bring the mess to a boil with the lid on so it steams. If you want to control the bouncing, put some pebbles in the pot.
CLEAR SAUCE
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons brandy (or bourbon)
Mix sugar, salt, cornstarch and nutmeg toegether in a non-aluminum saucepan. pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. Set on a medium low burner and simmer for 12 minutes. Reheat and add brandy (or bourbon) before serving.
NOTE: For 12 minutes, read, until it thickens. This is a cornstarch thickened sauce, so the stirring is important.
NOTE: Once again, consider bourbon instead of brandy. We tend to use Maker's Mark, but Wild Turkey works too.