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Potato Pudding

Accompaniments
Historic

Mashed potato (probably sweet potato in earlier receipts) with sugar, spices, etc. Baked and served as a dish by themselves or as accompaniment (Bradley 1728, Moxon 1764, Glasse 1747, etc.)

It seems to be the case that when potatoes first arrived in Europe the ordinary 'white' potato, which is a member of the Solanaceae family along with deadly nightshade, was treated with a degree of suspicion, and early receipts use the Sweet Potato, which belongs to the, entirely safe, Convulvulous family. John Gerraard's Herbal of 1597 refers to the Sweet Potato as 'the ordinary potato', distinct from the 'White' or 'Virginia' potato, while in France 'White' potatoes were, for a time, actually made illegal.

Compare with Curate's Pudding, Potato Pie and Potato Table Pasty

In some receipts Potato Pudding includes meat, see Cottage Pie.


Original Receipt in 'The Country Housewife and Lady's Director' by Prof. R Bradley, 1728 (Bradley 1728)

Potatoe-Puddings, made with Sweet-meats. From Mr. Moring, Temple-Bar
Take some clean Potatoes, boil them tender, and when they are so, and clean from their Skins, break them in a Marble Mortar, till they become a Pulp; then put to them, or you might beat with them some slices of candy'd Lemons and Oranges, and beat these together with some Spices, and Lemon-Peel candy'd. Put to these some Marrow, and as much Sugar, with Orange-Flower Water, as you think fit. Mix all together, and then take some whole candy'd Orange-Peels, and stuff them full of the Meat, and set them upon a Dish, in a gentle Oven; and when they have stood half an hour, serve them hot, with a Sauce of Sack and Butter, and fine Sugar grated over them.



In the following Hannah Glasse specifically refers to white potatoes in the third receipt, suggesting that her others used the reddish sweet potato


Original Receipt in 'The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy' by Hannah Glasse, 1747 (Glasse 1747);

To make a potato pudding.
TAKE a quart of potatoes, boil them soft, peel them, and mash them with the back of a spoon, and rub them through a sieve, to have them fine and smooth; take half a pound of fresh butter melted, half a pound of fine sugar, so beat them well together till they are very smooth, beat six eggs, whites and all, stir them in, and a glass of sack or brandy. You may add half a pound of currants, boil it half an hour, melt butter with a glass of white wine, sweeten with sugar, and pour over it. You may bake it in a dish, with puff paste all round the dish and at the bottom.
To make a second potato pudding.
BOIL two pounds of potatoes, and beat them in a mortar fine, put in half a pound of melted butter, boil it half an hour . Pour melted butter over it, with a glass of white wine or the juice of a Seville orange, and throw sugar all over the pudding and dish.
To make a third sort of potato pudding.
TAKE two pounds of white potatoes, boil them soft, and beat them in a mortar, or drain them through a sieve till they are quite fine, then mix in half a pound of fresh butter melted, then beat up the yolks of eight eggs and three whites, stir them in, and half a pound of white sugar finely pounded, half a pint of sack, stir it well together, grate in half a large nutmeg, and stir in half a pint of cream, make a puff-paste and lay all over your dish and round the edges; pour in the pudding, and bake it of a fine light brown. For change, put in half a pound of currants; or you may strew over the top half an ounce of citron and orange peel cut thin, before you put it into the oven.




Original Receipt in 'The Book of Household Management', 1861, edited by Isabella Beeton (See Mrs.B)

POTATO PUDDING.
1333. INGREDIENTS.1/2 lb. of mashed potatoes, 2 oz. of butter, 2 eggs, 1/4 pint of milk, 3 tablespoonfuls of sherry, 1/4 saltspoonful of salt, the juice and rind of 1 small lemon, 2 oz. of sugar.
Mode.--Boil sufficient potatoes to make1/2 lb. when mashed; add to these the butter, eggs, milk, sherry, lemon-juice, and sugar; mince the lemon-peel very finely, and beat all the ingredients well together. Put the pudding into a buttered pie-dish, and bake for rather more than1/2 hour. To enrich it, add a few pounded almonds, and increase the quantity of eggs and butter.
Time.--1/2 hour, or rather longer. Average cost, 8d.
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.






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