How to Make Lady Betty's Delight — The Victorian Way

Ah, hello! Now that the weather's turned cooler, I've decided to make a warming boiled pudding, perfect for an autumnal family dish. For this recipe, you will need coconut, currants, nutmeg, bone marrow, lemon, bread, and custard. This recipe has a lovely name, Lady Betty's Delight. I don't know who Lady Betty is, and I found it in Creeford's Family Fair, a Welsh cookbook that I use quite a lot. It does have in it fresh coconut, which is quite unusual, so I suspect Lady Betty encountered it on her travels to the East or West Indies, or Africa. My coconut has already been prepared and grated, otherwise I'd have to start with that. I asked Annie to pierce two holes in it, and then drain the coconut water. She then smashed it with a hammer. I must admit, she made rather a lot of noise, and I suspect enjoyed it a little too much, and she also ruined a cloth in the process. I also asked Marianne to make a basic custard, that's milk, sugar, and whole eggs. The intention is for the custard to cook again, and it shall set my pudding. I think it's cool enough. I'm now going to prepare the marrow. I hope you weren't thinking vegetable marrow, that would make for a very strange pudding. This is a beef bone, and I'm going to carve out the marrow and chop it. I'm using a marrow scoop, but a spoon and knife would work as well. Marrow isn't used as much as it once was for puddings and pies. Nowadays people mostly use suet. Marrow is a little different to use, it is soft and doesn't set so firmly. It is mostly eaten straight from the bone, and it's not common to use for cooking, but it does improve the taste. I'm now going to grease my mould. I'm using a shallot mould, but you could use a pudding basin. I'm going to use a lot of butter, that way my pudding will come out nice and easily, and I will be able to make a pattern with the currants. This is a layered pudding, which is part of its visual appeal. I suppose I could use other fruit, like cherries, but I think it will be better plain and just black and white. Now I'm going to put in my layers. First with the bread, and the marrow, and the currants, which I flavoured a little with nutmeg, the lemon and the lemon juice, and a little custard. I think I will probably get three layers in. This is very like bread and butter pudding, and cabinet pudding, and Clarence's pudding, and the Duke of Newcastle's pudding. It's always a good idea to have different ways on how to use up stale bread and cakes. This uses a lot of expensive ingredients, so isn't a particularly common pudding. We do use coconut in the kitchen for curries and ices, and also for rolling small cakes in jam and then coconut, but that's dried coconut. I believe these coconuts come from America, where they've now had some success growing them, but of course they grow all over the world, and I'm told that the trees are useful not just for the fruit, but also for making baskets and thatch. Now all my layers are in, I've finished with a final layer of bread. I'm now going to pour in the rest of the custard and let it stand for 20 minutes to soak in. I'm going to leave that to stand for about 20 minutes so it can all soak in, and then I will cover it with a piece of brown paper, wrap it in a cloth, and boil it for about three and a half hours. My pudding is cooked well, so I've removed the cloth and let it stand for a few minutes to firm up. Now I'm ready to turn it out. This pudding can be served hot or cold, and today I'm serving it with a sauce Mary-Anne has made me, from the coconut water, sugar, spice, cornflour, cream, brandy, and vanilla. And there we are, Lady Betty's Delight. I hope it will delight Lady Braybrooke as well.