By 
We are a family of puddings. There is something satisfying about the word pudding. It brings connotations of comfort, of things tempting for the palate, rich and delicious. The dessert suggests something elegant, delicate, sober: a sweet bite to finish a meal. Dessert doesn’t work for me.
Our family will eat puddings for special occasions and Sunday lunches. We don’t have them every day, so when we do, we want it all: excessive comfort at its finest, no refined touches of pastry here, though we don’t steam the heavy stuff, either. We have a number of recipes that are family favorites to watch, and a waiting list of cookbook recipes to try, so puddings top the main course as the focus of debate and decision-making.
The occasion dictates the main course: roast lamb for Easter, turkey and ham for Christmas, no dilemmas. However, selecting a few puddings from the family repertoire is an agonizing process. Christmas and New Years together eases the dilemma … what we don’t have for Christmas, we can make for New Years Eve, but at other times leaving out a particular favorite recipe is too difficult. We often end up with a selection of four puddings (although, before you get too horrified, we usually feed twelve or more people) and feel gutsy afterwards as a result, as greed inevitably outweighs caution. and all four must be sampled.
Two of our family’s basic recipes come from my mother-in-law, who as a mother of six on a limited budget had to use many inventions to feed her family. El tonto de guayaba (guava puree mixed with condensed milk and cream) is one of his recipes that ranks high on the list of must-haves during winter, when guavas are in season. Chocolate pudding is a year-round must-have, a chocolate pudding poured over dresser cookies that soak it up and deliciously soften into a velvety batter.
I have proudly managed to add one of my family’s pudding recipes to the essential list: summer pudding. My mother still makes it, often with blackberries picked from hedges, as well as the more traditional red currants and raspberries. Here in South Africa we have a different palette of berries to work with and most of the time we use young blackberries, blackberries with some strawberries (strawberries alone don’t work, you need the acidity of some of the darker berries). Here is the prescription:
Summer pudding
1 loaf of slightly stale white bread
About 1 kg of mixed berries: blackberries, raspberries, young blackberries, blackberries,
gooseberries, the choice is yours. Apple can be added if berries are missing.
Sugar
Put the fruit with a generous pinch of sugar in a pan and gradually bring to a boil. (You can cook them straight from frozen over low heat.) Softer fruits are done at this point, so check, apples would need more time to soften. The amount of sugar depends on how sweet the fruit is; what you are looking for is a slightly tart fruit with sweet juice, but not too sickly. Cut the bread into thick slices, remove the crust and line a pudding bowl with it. It should fit well, but don’t squash it. You can make a patchwork of pieces in fun shapes, the important thing is that there are no gaps. Save three slices for the lid. When the fruit is cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer the fruit to the bread-lined bowl. Most of the juice is left behind, but leave it to pour over the pudding later. Fill the bowl with the fruit and cover with a tight layer of bread. Place a plate or saucer on top and weigh it so that the fruit is compressed and the juice soaks into the bread. Leave in the fridge for at least a few hours, better overnight. Put it on a serving plate, with the extra juice poured over any pieces of white bread that are still visible. Eat with plenty of cream.
Now our main concern on our small property is establishing enough fruit trees and berry plants to ensure an annual supply of potential pudding in our freezers, but perhaps that would make them less special. The seasonal look of guavas and berries means excitement when they are back in season, gluttony for a few weeks until common sense sets in. We then store a supply in the freezer for some special treats later in the year, the season ends and the next follows. A pudding for every season, a season for every pudding.
Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock