Indian Puddings

Andrew Midkiff's Indian and Hasty Pudding Websites
Indian Pudding - Ann Harrison
Indian Pudding Encore - Jean A.

Andrew Midkiff's Indian and Hasty Pudding Websites
Just to let all of you cooks out there that the nineteen recipes for Indian and Hasty Pudding are finally up and running fine at Indian Pudding Impartially Considered (Wayback Machine) and 100 Years Of Indian Pudding Recipes From The First American Cookbook In 1796 To The First Edition Of Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking-School Cook Book In 1896 (Wayback Machine).

Indian Pudding - Ann Harrison
I made this pudding for the Glover's Regiment dinner. It's a modern version containing eggs. Traditional Indian Pudding has no eggs and can be used as mortar (or shot from a mortar). Carrying cold, congealed traditional Indian pudding during a riot is a felony in most states.
The pudding Mr. O'Brian enjoyed at the Union Oyster House was the "enlightened" modern version, and similar to this:
Hayden's Favorite Indian Pudding
serves 8 to 10
6 Tbs yellow corn meal
1/2 c molasses
3 1/2 c hot milk
1/4 c cold milk
1/3 c plus 1 Tbs sugar
1/4 c light brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 Tbs butter
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
Mix the corn meal and molasses. Add hot milk. Cook this over medium heat until the consistency of light gruel, stirring all the time.
Add everything except the cold milk and mix well. Pour mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake at 300 (fahrenheit! Moderate/Low oven, 150 C) for 45 minutes but be sure to stir mixture well at the 20 minute mark.
After 45 minutes from the beginning of the baking time, stir in the cold milk, and again mix well.
Bake at 300 for about 2 hours more. It may take a few minutes over the 2 hours, but watch carefully the last minutes. An overbaked Indian pudding is an egregious disappointment.
Country Flavor Cookbook, Hayden S. Pearson, Bramhall House, 1962. Originally published by WW Norton, 1956.

Indian Pudding Encore - Jean A.
A recipe published in the Boston Globe for Durgin Park's non-suet Indian pudding. This is the only non-suet pudding that Patrick O'Brian has admitted eating in print, as far as I know, and he wrote that he ate it in Boston. It has been on Durgin Park's menu for over 150 years. Every other day, the chef, Tommy Ryan, makes 30 gallons. Durgin Park actually sells packs of the dry ingredients for those who want to make it at home. Ryan says that he bakes it for 5 to 7 hours, or until a spoon stands up in it.
The following recipe has been adapted for a shorter baking time:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or lard
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 cups hot milk, divided
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In a large saucepan, combine the cornmeal, molasses, sugar, butter, baking soda, salt and eggs. stir in 3 cups of milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the remaining cups of milk. Pour into a well-greased 9-inch square baking dish and bake for 2 hours or until the top feels set when lightly touched. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.