- If you think Americans have a sugar problem now, you should see some of the amounts of sugar that used to go into recipes! Most recipes would have to be altered to include less sugar to make palatable to us today.
- Despite their not so wallet-friendly prices now, oysters used to be “poor man’s food” in nineteenth century Philadelphia. The Delaware River used to be teeming with them! Because of that, there are some ridiculous-sounding recipes for things like “how to pickle 1,000 oysters”
- It’s quite amazing how some things haven’t really changed. There is a recipe for eggnog in the book that is comparable to today’s recipe.
- The affluent families of Philadelphia (Mrs. Emlen included) really had a thing for saffron. So many dishes include it in the ingredients!
The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours. Yep. Not happening.
Love the look of this pudding and really enjoyed reading your post. Isn’t it funny about the sugar levels changing over time? My granny’s recipe book is great but I need to seriously cut the sugar in most of them!
Looks such a fabulous comforting dessert when it’s so chilly outside.
This looks gorgeous! I always love finding out about ancient recipes – some things were so different, and some never change 🙂 I’d love to give this a try, the blackberries are a wonderful contrast to the light pudding, too. 🙂
I wouldn’t have guessed that they used so much sugar back then. I wonder if it was so unrefined that it just wasn’t as sweet as it is now.
I’m curious too as to how the cookbook deals with cooking times since not many of the people would have had clocks. The three-hour water bath gives a good clue of that though, huh. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this amazing cookbook and that wonderful pudding with us. I can’t wait for more.
This looks beautiful. Yum!
This looks delicious and what a COOL event to go to! LOVE it! Thanks for sharing some of the insights of the event…I would have passed up Disney for that one!
I like the first part of your sharing on recipes have come a long way from where all that started. I too have learned to reduce sugar in my desserts and yes, we like it that way. Wonderful pudding and I love the pics with the fruit, that contrast of colors are breathtaking.
Sounds like a fun event to go to. Can’t believe they used to use MORE sugar!
The pudding looks gorgeous!
Pass the custard! Looks good, isn’t the word ‘pudding’ great too you expect something substantial. Love to hear about old cook books too, thanks for sharing.
This is a great post! I’ve never had English pudding, but it looks and sounds wonderful!!
this looks delicious! I love anything with blackberries and I really like the historical context of the post and recipe 🙂