Archive for October, 2019

Pudding Time Once More

Friday, October 4th, 2019

 

My town’s quinquennial Pudding Festival is fast approaching. This Sunday, October 6, Hawleyites and others will gather to celebrate community, music, and of course PUDDING, our town’s official food ever since 1780.

If you’re anywhere near Hawley, Massachusetts, on Sunday, please join us at 330 East Hawley Road (directions are on our website). We invite anyone who likes to cook to enter our pudding contest. (The prizes are amazing!) Even if you don’t like to cook, you may join us for lunch, the pudding parade, a festive entertainment, and the crowning of the new pudding head. The day is an awful lot of fun.

All income from this day aid the local historical society, the Sons & Daughters of Hawley, in the group’s efforts to restore the Hawley Meeting House, a former church, as a community center.

For more information, please go to www.puddingcontest.com.

Meanwhile, I share with you a pudding recipe from my Pudding Hollow Cookbook. I made it on Wednesday on Mass Appeal. I can’t post the video; my TV was having troubles that day. But you can watch it here.

My other cooking slot was taken by my friend J.D. Fairman of the Pioneer Valley Charcuterie Team. He made BLTs with an awesome tomato jam. (By the way, he has also donated a gift basket of his lovely products as a prize for the pudding contest.) Here is the link to his appearance (along with the recipe!).

Strawberry Pudding

This recipe, from my Canadian friend Denis, shows the versatility of the term “pudding.” Like many puddings, it is actually a sort of cake baked so that it creates its own sauce.

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh strawberries
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the fruit in a medium-size casserole dish. Spread 3/4 cup of the sugar over it. In a bowl mix together the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture becomes crumbly. Beat the milk, egg, and vanilla together. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones, and mix just enough to moisten them throughout. Pour this batter over the fruit. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top of the cake appears light brown and crispy. Serves 4 to 6.

Leslie Clark, Our Current Pudding Head. Will she retain her crown?