How to make Newark Pudding

The Newark Cookery Book, 1890

By Tony Clement

I came across this interesting cookery book, printed in Newark in 1890, this was a first edition, it claims to contain only well tried recipes.

This was printed by the Newark firm of S. Whiles on Stodman Street, Newark, who was a general printer, and also printed the weekly 'Newark Advertiser' newspaper.

Whiles was also a and paper merchant, an advert in the cookery book lists him as supplying paper for cooking, I assume this was greaseproof paper etc.

The Newark Cookery Book  must have been popular as it went to a second edition in 1910 and one of the more interesting recipes was for Newark Pudding, this seems to be a type of bread and butter pudding.

This seems to be a regional variation of bread and butter pudding which was a common pudding in Victorian times, as it supposedly was good for infants and the elderly infirm as it was easy to swallow and required not a lot of chewing, also was easily digestible.

I will include the recipe for Newark Pudding, 1890 version, if anyone wants to have a go at making it, this pudding is different from most bread and butter types as it contains ground rice.

INGREDIENTS

1 pint of milk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of ground rice

¼ lb. raisins, stoned and cut in two

½ cup of breadcrumbs soaked in half a pint of milk

1 tablespoon of melted butter

¼ teaspoon of carbonated soda

Sugar and vanilla flavouring to taste

METHOD

Beat the yolks light, add the soaked crumbs and milk and stir into a smooth batter

Add the rice, wetting first with a little cold milk, then add the rest of the milk, seasoning, butter, raisins and a tablespoon of sugar

Lastly the egg whites well whisked

Put in a buttered dish and bake for one hour

Turn out and serve with a sweet sauce

It would be interesting to see how this turns out, there is no mention of what heat your oven should be set at, perhaps in 1890 gas ovens might not have been that common in Newark.