A deep mould is best for cooking steamed breads and raised puddings, since there will be less risk of the water’s boiling over into the food, and a larger amount may be used. It is important to have one that is the right size for the recipe, for if it is filled too full, the mixture might rise and push off the cover or be heavy from its pressure, and if not sufficiently full, it would be unsteady in the water. The water in the pail should come to two-thirds of the height of the mould. The mould should be not less than half-full of dough, and, generally not more than two-thirds full. If a small mould or a number of small moulds are to be used in a large cooker-pail, stand them upon a rack or similar device to raise them until there may be no difficulty in filling the cooker-pail at least two-thirds full of water. The cover as well as the mould should be greased on the inside with the same fat as that used in the dough or with butter. If a bread mould is not available, an empty baking-powder can, coffee can, or any tin can or box with straight sides which has a tight-fitting cover may be used, providing it is found by trial to be water-tight. If it leaks, it may be soldered at small expense, and may then be kept for cooking purposes only. Where a tightly covered can or box cannot be procured, an uncovered utensil could be used by tying on securely a cover of heavy, well-greased paper.

Boston Brown Bread

• 1 cup rye meal
• 1 cup graham flour
• 1 cup corn-meal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ³/₄ tablespoon soda
• ³/₄ cup molasses
• 2 cups sour milk or
• 1³/₄ cups sweet milk or buttermilk

Mix and sift the dry ingredients together. Mix the liquid ingredients and add them, gradually, to the dry mixture. Put the dough into a well-buttered, one-quart brown bread mould or water-tight can of the same capacity. Stand the mould in a six-quart cooker-pail in enough warm water to come two-thirds of the way up the mould. Bring it quickly to a boil and boil it half an hour. Put it into a hay-box for five hours. It will not be spoiled by six hours in the cooker, but will not have quite such a dry crust. If sweet milk is used add one tablespoonful of cream of tartar; or omit the soda and use, instead, two tablespoonfuls of baking powder.

Serves six or eight persons.

Graham Pudding

• ¹/₄ cup butter
• ¹/₂ cup molasses
• ¹/₂ cup sweet milk
• 1 egg
• 1¹/₂ cups graham flour
• ¹/₂ teaspoon baking-powder
• ¹/₂ teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins, seeded and cut in pieces

Melt the butter, add the egg, well beaten, molasses and milk. Mix the dry ingredients and add to them the liquid mixture. Pour it into a well-buttered, one-quart mould or into several smaller moulds. Do not fill them more than two-thirds full. Place the moulds on a rack in a six-quart cooker-pail of warm water, bring quickly to a boil and boil thirty minutes if the larger cans are used; fifteen minutes, if the small cans are used. Put it into the cooker for five hours. If sour milk is available, omit the baking powder and add an extra one-fourth teaspoonful of soda.

Serves six persons.

Steamed Apple or Berry Pudding

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ³/₈ cup milk (sweet)
• 4 apples cut in eighths
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Mix and sift the dry ingredients, cut the butter into them, or rub it in with the fingers, add the milk, cutting it in, lightly, with a knife. When the dough is barely mixed, so that no loose flour is left, toss it on a floured board and pat or roll it lightly till one-half inch thick. Spread the apples on it and roll it like a jelly roll. Carefully place it in a well-buttered, one-quart bread mould or water-tight can. Cover it tightly and stand it in at least a six-quart cooker-pail with enough warm water to come two-thirds of the way up its sides. Bring it quickly to a boil, boil thirty minutes and place it in a cooker for three hours. Serve immediately with warm apple sauce and Hard Sauce. If berries are used add one cupful to the dough, serve with berry sauce and omit the apple-sauce.

Serves five or six persons.

Suet Pudding

• ¹/₂ cup chopped suet
• ¹/₂ cup molasses
• ¹/₂ cup sour milk
• 1¹/₂ cups flour
• ³/₄ teaspoon soda
• ³/₄ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₄ teaspoon ginger
• ¹/₄ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• ¹/₈ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¹/₂ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix and sift the dry ingredients and add the suet. Mix the milk and molasses and add them to the dry mixture. Put the dough into a buttered, one-quart bread mould or water-tight covered can, and stand it in a six-quart cooker-pail of warm water which reaches two-thirds of the way up the can. Boil it one-half hour and put into the cooker for five hours.

Serves six or eight persons.

Rich Plum Pudding

• ¹/₂ lb. raisins
• ¹/₂ lb. currants
• 2 oz. candied orange peel
• 2 oz. citron
• ¹/₄ lb. chopped suet
• 1 lb. stale, soft breadcrumbs (2¹/₄ cups)
• ³/₄ cup flour
• ¹/₄ lb. brown sugar
• ¹/₂ nutmeg, grated
• ¹/₂ tablespoon powdered cinnamon
• ¹/₈ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¹/₄ pint brandy
• 4 eggs

Wash and seed the raisins; rub the currants with a little flour, then sift out the flour and allow water to run over the currants in the sieve until they are clean. Spread them on a towel and remove any stems, stones, etc., that may be among them. Let them stand, covered with a towel to keep out dust, until they are dry. Cut the orange peel and citron very fine, or put them through a food-chopper. Chop the suet or put it and the raisins through a coarse food-chopper; a trifle of the flour may be mixed with the suet before it is chopped to help to keep it from sticking to the chopping-knife. Beat the eggs till blended. Mix all the dry ingredients very thoroughly, add the eggs and then the brandy. Put the pudding into a covered, greased mould, chopping down through it a few times with the end of a knife, to be sure that it fills the mould without hollow spaces, and to avoid packing it firmly. Stand it in at least three quarts of warm water, in a cooker-pail. Heat it slowly but steadily till the water boils; let it boil one hour if the pudding is in one mould, or one-half hour if it is in two smaller moulds. Put it into the cooker for five hours. Remove it at once from the mould. If it is not to be used when first made, it may be kept several weeks, replaced in the mould and reheated before serving, by putting it in warm water, heating it to the boiling point and boiling it one-half hour or more. Serve it with brandy sauce.

Serves ten or twelve persons.

Steamed Cranberry Pudding

• ¹/₃ cup butter
• ²/₃ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2¹/₃ cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¹/₃ cup milk
• 1 cup berries

Rub the butter till it is soft and add the sugar gradually. Separate the eggs and add the beaten yolks to the butter and sugar. Mix and sift the baking powder and flour together and add a little flour, alternately with a part of the milk, to the dough. When all is in, add the stiffly beaten whites and the berries. Put the mixture into a buttered, one-quart mould, stand it in hot water and bring it, gradually, but steadily, to a boil. Let it boil one-half hour and put it into a cooker for five hours. Serve it with sweetened cream or hard sauce.

Serves six or eight persons.

Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually, and the well-beaten egg. Mix and sift the dry ingredients and add a little of the mixture alternately with part of the milk. When all is in, put the dough into a buttered mould, cover it, and boil it one-half hour in a large cooker-pail of water, then put it into a cooker for five hours. Serve it with Vanilla Sauce or Nutmeg Sauce.

Serves six or eight persons.

St. James Pudding

• 3 tablespoons butter
• ¹/₂ cup molasses
• ¹/₂ cup thick, sour milk
• 1²/₃ cups flour
• ³/₄ teaspoon soda
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₄ teaspoon cloves
• ¹/₄ teaspoon allspice
• ¹/₄ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¹/₂ lb. dates, stoned and cut in pieces

Mix the molasses, melted butter, and milk and add them to the dry ingredients, which have been mixed and sifted. Add the dates and turn the dough into a buttered, one-quart mould. Boil it in a large cooker-pail of water for one-half hour and put it into a cooker for five hours. Serve with Hard Sauce.

Serves five or six persons.

Harvard Pudding

• ¹/₃ cup butter
• ¹/₂ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3¹/₂ teaspoons baking powder
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• 2¹/₂ cups flour
• 1 cup milk

Mix the butter and sugar, add the egg, then the dry ingredients, previously mixed and sifted together, alternating part of the dry ingredients and the milk until all are in. Turn it into a buttered, one-quart mould, boil in a large cooker pail of water for one-half hour and put it into a cooker for five hours. Serve it with warm apple sauce and Hard Sauce.

Serves six or eight persons.

Swiss Pudding

• ¹/₂ cup butter
• ⁷/₈ cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• Grated rind of one lemon
• 5 eggs
• ¹/₃ cup powdered sugar

Cream the butter, add the flour, gradually; scald the milk with the lemon rind, add it to the first mixture and cook it five minutes over hot water. Beat the yolks of eggs until they are thick, add the sugar, gradually, and combine these with the cooked mixture; cool it and cut and fold in the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Turn it into a buttered, one-quart mould, boil it in a large cooker-pail of water for twenty minutes, then put it into a cooker for three hours.

Serves six or seven persons.

Rice Pudding

• 1 qt. milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¹/₃ cup rice
• ¹/₈ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• ¹/₈ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₂ cup sugar

Heat the milk and other ingredients in a pudding pan over a cooker-pail of water. When the water boils, remove the pan and bring the pudding also to a boil. When it is boiling replace the pudding in the large pail of boiling water, cover and put it into the cooker for three or four hours. It may then be put into the oven for fifteen minutes and browned, although this is not necessary. This pudding may be cooked all night, but if cooked more than four hours it is not quite so creamy. Serve either hot or cold. One-half cupful of small, unbroken seedless raisins may be added to this recipe.

Serves six or eight persons.

Indian Pudding

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• ²/₃ cup corn-meal
• 3 cups milk

Boil the water, molasses, salt, ginger, and meal together for ten minutes in a pail or pudding pan. Add the scalding milk. Bring it to a boil and set the pan in a cooker-pail of boiling water. Put it into a cooker for twelve hours. When done, brown in a hot oven. Serve with plain or whipped cream.

If fresh ground or coarse Southern corn-meal is used it may first be sifted with a coarse sieve to remove the largest particles, which will not grow soft with this amount of cooking. Granulated corn-meal will not require sifting.

Serves eight or ten persons.

Tapioca or Rice Custard

• ¹/₃ cup pearl tapioca
• ³/₄ cup water
• 3 cups milk
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¹/₂ cup sugar
• ¹/₂ teaspoon vanilla

Soak the tapioca in the water for one hour. Add the milk, sugar, butter, and salt. Set the pan in a cooker-pail of boiling water. When the milk is scalding remove the pan and let the pudding come to a boil. Replace it in the boiling water and put it into the cooker for one and one-half hours. Take it from the cooker, add the beaten eggs, replace it in the pail of hot water and stir it over the fire till it registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit, using a dairy or chemist’s thermometer. Put it again into the cooker for one hour. When cold, add the vanilla.

Rice may be used instead of tapioca.

Serves six or eight persons.

Tapioca Fruit Pudding

• ¹/₂ cup pearl tapioca
• 1 qt. water
• 6 apples, pared and cored
• ³/₄ cup sugar
• ¹/₈ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter

Soak the tapioca one hour, bring it to a boil with the other ingredients in a two-quart pail, if that will fill the cooker “nest,” or in a pudding pan to be set over boiling water. Put it into a cooker for one hour. Serve cold with cream. If it is preferred to serve the pudding warm, use only three cups of water.

Serves six or eight persons.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

• 1 qt. milk
• 1 pt. soft breadcrumbs
• 2 oz. or squares chocolate
• ²/₃ cup granulated sugar
• 2 or 3 eggs
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Scald the milk, add the crumbs, and soak them for one-half hour. Separate the eggs, reserving two of the whites for a meringue. Beat the three yolks and one white of egg together and mix them with half the granulated sugar. Melt the chocolate in a pudding pan set in a cooker-pail of boiling water, add the remaining half of the granulated sugar, and, gradually, the bread and milk, stirring it in well while still over the boiling water. Then add the yolks of eggs, salt, and vanilla. Stir it constantly, and cook it over the water until the pudding is 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Set the pail containing the pudding pan in a cooker for from one to two hours. When done, put it into a baking-dish suitable for serving, and cover the top with a meringue made by beating the whites of eggs till stiff, and adding the powdered sugar. Brown the meringue in a very hot oven, watching it carefully that it may not scorch. Serve warm, with cream. If preferred, two whole eggs may be used in the pudding, and in place of the meringue use sweetened, whipped cream.

Serves six or eight persons.

Queen of Puddings

• 1 qt. hot milk
• 1 pt. soft breadcrumbs
• ¹/₃ cup sugar
• ¹/₄ cup melted butter
• 3 eggs
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla, or
• ¹/₄ teaspoon spice
• ¹/₂ glass jelly

Melt the butter in the milk; soak the crumbs in the milk for one-half hour; beat the yolks of three eggs and the white of one till mixed, add the sugar, salt, and spice to them. Mix all together and pour it into a pudding pan to fit in a cooker-pail of boiling water. Stir it till the pudding is 160 degrees Fahrenheit, then cover it and put it into a cooker for from one to two hours. Make a meringue as directed in the recipe for chocolate bread pudding, using the whites of two eggs and two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Pour the pudding into a baking-dish for serving, spread the jelly on top and the meringue over this, and brown it in a hot oven.

Serves six or eight persons.

Steamed Cup Custard

• 1 qt. milk
• 4 eggs
• ¹/₂ cup sugar
• ¹/₂ teaspoon vanilla, or
• ¹/₈ teaspoon grated nutmeg

Heat the milk, beat the eggs, add the sugar and flavouring. Strain the mixture into hot custard cups, set them on a wire rack or inverted strainer or perforated pan, which is arranged in a large cooker-pail of rapidly boiling water in such a way that several quarts of water may be below the custards but not touch the cups. Cover tightly at once and set it into a cooker for one-half hour.

Serves six or eight persons.

Compote of Rice and Fruit

• ³/₄ cup rice
• 3³/₈ cups milk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• ¹/₈ teaspoon salt

Heat all together in a pan which is set into a cooker-pail of boiling water. When the water in the kettle boils, take out the pan and bring the mixture in it to a boil. Replace it in the pail and put it into the cooker for from one to three hours. Put it into a mould, and, when shaped, but while still warm, turn it out on to a serving dish. Put stewed or canned fruit on top, and pour the juice around it.

Serves six or eight persons.