Mrs Austen's Bread and Butter Pudding.

A bit of a leap forward this time and onto the romantic period. Some of my favourite novels were written during this period which leads me into my fascination with the concept of ‘society’. This idea usually culminates around food having a place in elegant society. It is often depicted as attending dinner dances and afternoon tea. This is why I was so thrilled to find a hidden gem- Mrs Austen’s Bread and Butter Pudding

      Just the prospect of cooking something Jane Austen herself might have once eaten thrills me. This whole blog was designed not only to look at cookbooks from different eras but also to establish what some of the great writers would have been eating on a day to day basis. It is also in poetry form and I have also included a snippet from a book about the Austen family. .

Martha Lloyd’s collection of recipes, 1808.
Mrs Austen’s Bread and Butter Pudding.

“Contributed by Mrs. Cassandra Austen (Jane’s mother) to Martha Lloyd’s collection of recipes, 1808. As this recipe attests, Jane Austen came by her talent honestly. For amusement, her family wrote riddles, charades, poems, and plays for each other. Mrs. Austen excelled at poetry to the extent that one can easily follow her recipe in rhyme.”

If the vicar you treat,
You must give him to eat,
A pudding to hit his affection;
And to make his repast,
By the canon of taste,
Be the present receipt your direction.

First take two pounds of Bread,
Be the crumb only weigh’d,
For the crust the good house-wife refuses;
The proportion you’ll guess,
May be made more or less,
To the size that each family chuses.

Then its sweetness to make
Some currants you take
And Sugar of each half a pound
Be not butter forgot
And the quantity sought
Must the same with your currants be found

Cloves & mace you will want,
With rose water I grant,
And more savory things if well chosen;
Then to bind each ingredient,
You’ll find it expedient,
Of Eggs to put in half a dozen.

Some milk dont refuse it,
But boiled ere you use it,
A proper hint this for its maker;
And the whole when compleat,
In a pan clean and neat,
With care recommend to the baker.

In praise of this pudding,
I vouch it a good one,
Or should you suspect a fond word;
To every Guest,
Perhaps it is best,
Two puddings should smoke on the board.

Two puddings! – yet – no,
For if one will do,
The other comes in out of season;
And these lines but obey,
Nor can anyone say,
That this pudding’s with-out rhyme or reason

I tried to follow this recipe as close to the poem as I could which meant quite a bit of guessing measurements. It also means I have no ‘modern’ recipe to give you this time, Sorry. However, if you were going to make it I suggest doing it straight from Austen’s poem, it’s much more fun and it would be interesting to see if everyone interprets it like I did!

      I am actually not a huge fan of bread and butter pudding, so I haven’t ever made it before which meant a great deal of guesswork involved in assembling the dish. I was actually very proud of my creation when it was done. As I took it out of the oven all I could think was perhaps once a young Jane smelt this same aroma.

      From an aesthetics view it looked appealing and smelt warm and wholesome. If there ever were to be a connoisseur of bread and butter pudding it would be my mum. Hence I know I’m in safe hands with someone who can tell me if it tastes right or not. Good old Austen came through good as the pudding was apparently very nice. Not soggy underneath as many puddings can be, perhaps even a little on the dry side (which I’m sure is just down to my frugality with the milk). So yet another success!

On a final note it was awarded a rating of 7 out of 10. But as the dryness is easily rectified for the next time it will be cooked I think this is a recipe I will be adding to my own collection. Bravo Mrs Austen.