Indian Pudding - America's Forgotten Dessert

didn't know this was forgotten! We still make it for Thanksgiving.

Great history once again. It looks great. Warm wintertime deliciousness.

[My boyfriend]: We used to make this at our historical New England cuisine restaurant in east Cambridge, MA--It was kind of a nightmare to make on account of the historical recipes being weird/vague/BS. I was the head baker and we got a pastry chef who was from India and went to CIA and she couldn't really figure it out. It's a spiced molasses polenta kind of thing, we did call it a samp, we definitely served it with ice cream. Troubleshooting/creating/recipe-testing it was sort of a mess. It was one of those dishes that broke really easily but also some dishes, as you noted, are like... Supposed to break? To answer the comment above, I'm pretty sure (maybe I'm wrong) that at least in the colonial period (in new england) nixtamalized corn wasn't very common, though it would have been logical and more nutritious. We were able to get a p decent recipe going but, once again, reheating it was a nightmare, esp for garde manger needing to have it hot for service. I think the way to do a modern version would be to make a nixtamalized corn porridge bread, and then cube it and make a stable warm bread pudding with ice cream or clotted cream. I definitely like the idea of using local foraged blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries. I've wanted to make a nixtamalized "thirded" porridge bread with corn/rice/rye molasses and barm, maybe I'll commit to it some day when I have the time and effort.

One statement, one question: First, the statement. I believe the milk was scalded to kill TB bacteria. It was known that scalding milk would make it safer, if not exactly why. Now the question. Is/was the cornmeal niximalized? You will get Pellagra if you don't eat nixtamalized corn as your chief foodstuff. Or was the vitamin content of molasses the reason it was added to the pudding, as well as its yummy taste?

Looks like chili!

New Englander here (though living in Kentucky). Been sooooo long since I had this, I’ll have to make it for Thanksgiving. My family also would make a simple steamed pudding with flour, molasses, and halved cranberries, topped with sweetened butter

Right, I have to make this! For one thing, I am coeliac. And for another, it looks delicious despite looking like sh#t.

For you YouTube release, would it be appropriate to put "Indian Pudding" in quotes so as to call attention to that being the name of the time? It took quite some time before the English language accepted that the American tribes were not, in fact, from India

Sounds great - easy to make, inexpensive, and tasty. Even if it looks like something the dog barfed. I agree that ptting it in ramekins with whipped cream on top would be....diplomatic.

I'm thinking that if you cooked it in individual ramekins, and topped it with a rosette of Chantilly cream before your guests arrived, that might just be the ticket.

I've had this a long time ago during road trips to Massachusetts. I remember it being tasty, but I also recall it had raisins in it.

This was my father’s, Z”L, favorite dessert!

I have to admit that when I first read your title, I immediately pictured women wearing saris serving early 20th century British Raj officers, not indigenous Americans, and early colonists! Nevertheless, I can't wait to try this! I don't care how it looks. I love anything that tastes mollassy-caramelly. Also had to laugh about John Addams' letter admonishing his grandchildren to PLEASE WRITE, dammit, and rundown of his daily menu... it seems that the favorite topics of seniors of every generation are 1) their age-associated aches and pains (which my late Dad used to describe as "the Organ Recital") and 2) food: what they ate, when and where they ate it, the quality of the preparation, the size of the portions, and whether or not they would have it again.

Oh man, I absolutely LOVE Indian Pudding (and yes I'm from New England). I've never made it before myself though - but now I think I'm making some for Thanksgiving. They still serve it for dessert sometimes at one of my favorite restaurants (Summer Shack in Cambridge, MA for anyone in the area).

I discovered and fell in love with Indian Pudding 58 years ago at Durgin-Park, and I now make it at least once a year, usually on the coldest day of winter, when it warms my innards. Julia Child has a recipe in JC & Company (1980) that basically tracks the earlier Child’s version. She calls for two additions of milk after the first—the first addition is stirred in, the second is left on top and, yes, it does produce that skin. There was an ice-cream shop near Harvard Square a few years ago that serve Indian Pudding ice cream, which was interesting, though not as good as the original. And (finally) last Thursday, November 13, was Indian Pudding Day, so declared by the people who create day associations.

Are you describing what I've heard from the folks from the British isles call "shyte?"

We have this for Thanksgiving every year. With raisins and currents!

Until it was murdered by private equity ghouls the Durgin Park always had Indian Pudding. Have used this recipe often! https://newengland.com/food/old-fashioned-durgin-park-indian-pudding

There are people, today, that think corn is only for livestock.

I love when you occasionally show us failed outcomes. No need to wallow in it, but it's a nice reminder how 'sparse' the old recipes are and that failures can happen to anyone!

The version I remember was boiled, so it was firm and served with a rum sauce. But it probably wasn't a "proper" Indian Pudding and mom only made it once.

When I was in college my dad gave me a cookbook about the different regions and time periods of the country. Indian Pudding was included for New England. I've been making it for years and really enjoy it! You video was quite fun and enjoyable! (And it really doesn't look that bad!)

My mother used to make this! Thank you! I guess it never bothered us how it looked!