Friday, August 5, 2011

Carrot Pudding and White Candy - Family Recipe Friday

This is another recipe from my Grandmother Emma Bickerstaff Meinzen's Webster's Spelling Recipe Book.

It's hard to decide what kind of dish Carrot Pudding is. At first I thought it was a savory side dish but after reading all the ingredients, changed my mind and decided it must be a dessert. What do you think?

The second recipe on this page is White Candy. On the reverse are Dark Part and Light Part. I can only assume they are a continuation of the recipe for White Candy. White Candy calls for "karo." A search for Karo Syrup revealed that it was first produced in 1902. The website shows images of the covers of early cookbooks but none of the recipes hidden inside. Was this recipe taken from one of those early Karo cookbooks? I searched for "Karo" at HEARTH and found multiple results, especially in conjunction with children's diets, then remembered that HEARTH doesn't publish cookbooks.
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Carrot Pudding.
1 cup grated carrots.
1 " Potatoes.
1 " Suet.
1 " raisins (Roll in flour)
1 " currants.
1 " brown Sugar.
1 Egg.
1 teas. Cinamon
Citron.
1/2 Cloves.
1/2 Allspice.
1 level Soda.
Dissolve in Warm Water.
Steam 3 hrs.

White Candy.
2 cups white sugar.
1/2 cup karo.
1/2 cup water.
Beat white egg
last and beat
altogether.
Vanilla

Dark Part
[written on right side] D. F. lak [?]
Mix 2/3 cup cocoa
2 cup - White sugar
Add a little hot water ["less" written below]
at a time to dissolve
add than half cup)

Light Part
1/2 cups = butter
1 " = white Sugar
3 egg = Yolks
1 cup = sour milk or buttermilk
2 cups = flour
1 t[sp] = Soda dissolved
in 1 T. = hot water
1 egg white beaten
added last
2 egg whites for frosting
________________________________________________________________
Note added later: Lisa asked in a question about suet in a comment to this post. I did a little research and found that Ochef had some insight into suet, then and now. Suet is a hard fat from around the kidneys of cows and sheep which is very unlike the suet sold in most stores today. Buy suet from a butcher.

I also appreciated this information about how suet works: "Because suet has a high melting point, it serves as a place-holder in puddings and crusts when the dough has begun to set, and long after other fats would have melted. As a result, the structure of the pudding is already defined by the time the suet melts, leaving thousands of tiny air holes that give the pudding a light and smooth texture. Additionally, suet, which does not have any meaty taste, imparts a rich flavor."

Could our ancestors eat suet with little complication because they performed more physical labor? Did the bad stuff get worked out of their arteries? Maybe so.

3 comments:

  1. Ok..so I'm wondering about the "suet" in that carrot pudding. Is that another name for lard? Because suet makes me think of the cake of lard and seeds you put out for birds in winter, LOL! Just curious!

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  2. I am curious about the candy...if you ever make it, let us know how it turns out!

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  3. Lisa, I didn't give a thought to suet as I typed that recipe! I looked online and found a helpful link, http://www.ochef.com/657.htm, which tells me that suet is the hard fat from around the kidneys of cows and sheep and that what's labeled as suet these days probably isn't the same thing as the suet of a hundred years ago. Maybe it was the suet and vegetables that made me think it was a savory side dish. Thanks for the question that brought about my looking up more information. If I try it, at least I'll know to go to a reputable butcher instead of a grocery store to buy my suet.

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments and look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks for stopping by.

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