Let The Recipes Begin!

[eustacetilley]

archipirata wrote:
Ham

Ingredients: Ham

Simple and one of my faves!

Oh, I'm going to get to ham.
Patience, patience... and it involves apples.
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Chelmsford's Pudding

Let's just talk about pudding for a moment; it has only recently been associated with some congealed milk and chemical concoction. Pudding historically has been associated with a much wider range of cooking styles, from Yorkshire Pudding, to Figgy Pudding, to Christmas Pudding, to the subject of this recipe: Chelmsford's Pudding. I have no idea why it carries this name.

Chelmsford's Pudding (Yet Again)

This pudding, like many puddings is more of a concept rather than a strict recipe. The concept is much like a Trifle- multiple layers. So we start out with the result, and then work backwards in how to achieve them.
The result is this- in your deep ceramic or glass baking bowl, a foot in diameter, just pulled from the oven, the lowest layer is thus: two pounds of baked slices of apple, flavored with butter, brown sugar, with either/and nutmeg, allspice, or ground cloves. Maybe some rum, but sherry works quite well. Just about any apple will do, but the baking varieties add texture. On top of that is the gooey layer, and on top of that is the cake, and on top of that is the custard.

Now immediately above the apples is the gooey layer, something like a custard, but isn't. It is the result of the steaming, rather than baking, of what is above the apples, which is:
Pound cake. Make up just enough to cover the apple mix about an inch; it will double in size while baking. Now you can get really serious about this- a pound of this, and a pound of that, but it is actually quite reasonable to just use the Dromedary Pound Cake mix. It isn't bad. Flavoring the pound cake is very much a personal thing- a Tsp. of grated orange peel, a generous, very generous, Tbs. of brandy, sherry or Whiskey… there is much room for experimentation here.

It's been baked in an oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center came up dry, with maybe just a few tiny crumbs attached. The crust color should resemble that of a very well-worn pair of brown Sperry Topsiders.
When served, right out of the oven, it should be covered by a pint of just cooked Bird's custard. You _did_ use a large enough bowl? No matter, have a gravy boat full of Bird's to the side; you can never have enough.

Now as to the actual recipe, with ingredients, and weights, and timing goes...
There is no actual, written, provenanced recipe. You are on your own.

Eustace

(I was going to go on about Trifles, or cream cheese almond cookies next, but maybe I should just talk about ham.)