Boiled Batter Pudding

Before You Begin

• •This recipe requires interpretation—'2 do. salt' means 2 teaspoons salt (ditto marks). Add approximately 6 tablespoons flour to bind the mixture, as flour would have been assumed in period recipes.
• •Use a pudding cloth, clean pillowcase, or muslin bag, and boil it first to sanitize and prevent sticking. Alternatively, use a well-buttered pudding basin covered with parchment and foil.
• •Keep the water at a gentle boil throughout cooking and ensure the pudding bag never touches the bottom of the pot—tie it to a wooden spoon laid across the pot rim.
• •Prepare the sauce while the pudding cooks, but don't add the raw eggs to hot butter-sugar mixture or they'll scramble. The sauce is essentially a simple custard-based sauce.
• •This is a savory-sweet pudding typical of 19th century cooking—expect a dense, eggy texture similar to Yorkshire pudding or clafoutis, not modern cake-like pudding.