Making Haste

Readers may recall how I recently discovered corn flour (organic! stone ground!) from Bob and His Red Mill and subsequently made for Sir cornbread, which he had never previously tasted.

You may be wondering how it is possible that I have lived Stateside for fifteen years and never before cooked this most American of dishes. Well, the simple truth is that I never really cared for cornbread as I understood it. Grainy, mealy, gritty - all adjectives that I will happily ascribe to road surfaces, exfoliating preparations, and emery paper but that I do not think are appropriate when applied to baked goods.

With the discovery of corn flour (organic! stone ground!), however, a new world of pones, fritters, johnnycakes, breads and other Yankee delicacies has suddenly opened up before me. I turned to The Joy of Cooking for further inspiration, reasoning that if Irma couldn't come up with some oh-so-traditional uses for this down-home ingredient then nobody could.

I instantly hit pay dirt. Indian Pudding! Warming, spiced, hearty, and delicious - what could be more comforting on these dark cold January nights, now that there are no twinkling holiday lights to cheer us? I'd never tasted the dessert, you must understand, but it sounded like a grand idea. The baking time was three hours, but since I was making stock and therefore tied to the kitchen anyway I decided to give it a whirl.

The only problem is the name. Are we honestly still supposed to be calling this dish Indian Pudding? I mean, in this day and age? TJoC does address this vexing issue in a somewhat roundabout way, by explaining that etymologically speaking the appellation derives from the star ingredient, which the Pilgrims called Indian meal 'in reference to America's native peoples'.

Still not comfortable, I decided to do some research. With a mug of Earl Grey on the desk beside me, I discovered something fabulous.

Hasty Pudding.

According to Wikipedia, Hasty Pudding (of Yankee Doodle and Crimson fame) was originally made from wheate in olde Englande (and therefore gluten-rich) but came to mean corn mush in the Colonies (where it was gluten-free). Strictly speaking, Hasty Pudding is made from corn meal and water only - when you add spices and molasses it becomes, properly, Indian Pudding. But I am going to call my corn flour (organic! stone ground!) pudding hasty, partly because it is anything but, partly because it's less culturally insensitive, and partly because I like to be contrary.

Whatever moniker you choose, the final result is awesomely delicious: dark, earthy, slightly bitter, and delectable beyond belief. All it needs is some really good vanilla ice cream melting on top and you are set.

It is also, I have discovered, excellent for breakfast when heated in the microwave with a touch of milk.

Here is how to make Hasty Pudding with Corn Flour and Molasses.

You will need:

• a generous heaping one-third of a cup of corn flour (organic! stone ground!)
• 4 cups of milk
• one-half cup of molasses (I used really dark stuff)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ground ginger, ground cinnamon, nutmeg - anything you think is appropriate
• pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 275 deg F and butter a two-quart casserole or oven-proof dish. I used the same French oven in which I poached my confit de canard and it performed flawlessly.  

Dump the corn flour (organic! stone ground!) into a large saucepan and slowly pour in the milk, whisking all the while. Go very slowly or you will produce nothing but unsightly lumps.

Keep whisking and heat the mixture to a boil: when it gets there, cook it on medium heat for about three minutes. Don't stop whisking!

Reduce to a very low heat and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring quite often. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot! The mixture will start to get very thick.

When your 15 minutes is up, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients, yum. Decant the mixture into the buttered dish and bake it for about three hours. It will still be jiggly when you agitate it and have a rich brown skin on top.

You need to cool it on a rack for some time before you serve it so it will firm up a bit - Mrs. Joy says about an hour. We couldn't wait that long and it was still delicious. Leftovers keep well and can be microwaved with great success.

Especially at breakfast time.