MOLASSES PUDDING

Today's post celebrates The Virginia housewife (1824) by Mary Randolph -a cousin of Thomas Jefferson. (Actually, Thomas Jefferson's mother was a cousin of Mary's grandfather so Mary was Thomas Jefferson's niece and cousin to his daughters, 3 times removed). In the preface of her work, Mary compared the art of housekeeping with that of governing a nation, particularly on the subject of economy.

 

A 1823 facsimile of the U.S. Declaration of Independence

The Randolphs were one the most influential families in eastern Virginia, living off huge plantations with numerous black slaves. Mary (1762-1828) was an energetic woman. Her brother, Thomas Mann Randolph, Governor of Virginia around the time her book was published, had married Jefferson's daughter Martha. Mary's own husband, David Meade Randolph (another cousin) served as U.S. Marshal of Virginia in the late 1790s but he was a federalist and critical of Jefferson. While he served, the couple lived in Richmond, where Mary opened a boarding house; they later moved to Washington. That is where Mary completed her book, in part to supplement the family income. The Virginia housewife became a great success. It was the first American work in the category of regional cuisine, featuring recipes that used not only rice and corn but also sweet potatoes & other vegetables grown in the South.

The recipe featured in today's post is slightly adapted from her 'baked Indian meal pudding': "Boil one quart of milk, mix in it two gills and a half of corn meal very smoothly, seven eggs well beaten, a gill of molasses, and a good piece of butter; bake it two hours." A boiled version of this pudding used slightly more milk in proportion to cornmeal and nearly 1/3 less sweetener and was boiled very slowly, tightly wrapped in a cloth.

MOLASSES PUDDING

I placed the ramekins in a roasting pan full of water, to shorten baking time. You are free to put them directly on the rack, as in the original recipe.

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

950ml milk

300g cornmeal

7 eggs

120g molasses

60g butter

 

M e t h o d

Dissolve the cornmeal in the milk. Beat the eggs with the butter. Combine the mixtures in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook at low temperature, stirring from time to time. Add the molasses and when it's thickened, pour into 6-12 individual ramekins. Fill a roasting pan halfway up with boiling water and place the ramekins inside. Bake at 160C until the puddings are done, about 1-1.2 hours. Serve warm.

V a r i a t i o n

Part of the molasses can be replaced with molasses sugar.