A Pudding in a Cowcumber

Source:

England, 16th c.

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Recipe by Daniel Myers

This recipe was an excercise in substitutions, and as suchthere is always the risk that the re-creation will stray far enough from the original that it isno longer really the same recipe. Still, the form and flavor of the final dish was very much whatI've come to expect from recipes of this time period, so I don't feel this interpretation is unreasonable.

Ingredients

1 very large cucumber (or zucchini)
1 lb. cooked pork, finely chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup raisins
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. mace
3 egg yolks
2 cups broth
4 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup vinegar

Method

Cut the cucumber (or zucchini) in half lengthwise andscoop out the insides. I found an ice-cream scoop works incredibly well for this. In a large bowl, mixthe pork, bread crumbs, raisins, butter, spices, and egg yolks until all the ingredients are uniformlywet and the mixture can be shaped. Fill in the hollowed out portion of the cucumber with the mixture, close it up, and pin the halves together with toothpicks. Place in a covered baking dish with the remaining ingredients and bake at 350°

A Pudding in a Cowcumber. Take your Cowcumber and cut out all the meat that is within it, then take a Liver of a Lamb or Pigge, and Grapes or Gooceberies, and grated bread, pepper, salt, Cloves and mace, and a little suet, and the yolkes of three Egs, and mingle altogither and put in the Cowcumber, and let your broth boile or ever you put it in: the broth must be made of Mutton broth, Vinagre, and Butter, strained bread, and Salt, and so serve it out.

Published: 2016-07-18