In Marguerite Patten’s “Victory Cookbook” there is always one pudding recipe that is an absolute ‘go-to’ when one needs comforting and one has spare eggs.
All becomes good in the world when you take that first spoonful of sugary topped, eggy, bready, sultana sprinkled, nutmeggy deliciousness, especially if served with a little hot custard.
It’s so moreish that one simply finds it’s addictive charm and charisma extremely hard to fathom, due to it’s rather plain and dumpy exterior and the fact the main ingredient is stale bread. But as we all know, in real life, sometimes the less bling the more zing!
The cost to make this, about £1.50 (not including custard) which isn’t bad seeing it will feed 4-6!
Bread and Butter Pudding (from the Victory CookBook)
During VE Day country celebrations in 1945, the farmers wife may have decided to make a REAL Bread and Butter pudding using shell eggs which would have been a bit of an extravagance.
- 4 large slices of bread
- 2 oz butter
- 3 oz sultanas
- 3 eggs
- 2 oz sugar
- 1 pint milk
For the topping:
sprinkling of sugar
a little grated or ground nutmeg
(to veganize use a 1/4 cup of soft tofu, blended, per egg, use a nut or soy milk and dairy free margarine)
- Method
Spread the top of the bread with the softened butter and then cut each slice of bread into 4 neat squares and place buttered side up into a 2 pint (1.2 litre) pie dish. - Sprinkle the sultanas on top. Beat the eggs with the sugar. Warm the milk, pour over the beaten eggs and sugar and pour over the bread and butter. Leave to stand for 20-30 minutes until the bread is swollen.
- Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) Gas Mark 2. Sprinkle a dessertspoon of sugar over the top with the nutmeg and then bake for an hour until just firm. If you’d like a crisp top turn the heat up to 180C (350F) Gas Mark 4 for the last 10 minutes.
Serves 4-6
Victory Cookbook: Nostalgic Food and Facts from 1940 – 1954
My Favourite. x
Proper, warming puddings – puddings that take me right back even to my own childhood in the sixties! Would the sultanas have been like gold dust during the WW?
Like the eggs (even if you kept chickens), I think they would have been used sparingly but a lot of recipes call for dried fruit/sultanas and currants so can only presume that you could get hold of them but in limited quantities when they became available. I agree- these types of food are very comforting for those of us born in the sixties 🙂 C
I was born in the fifties and this is one of my favourites thanks for the recipe!
Thanks 🙂 Yes one of my favourites too… just so simple. I also worked out the calories and quite reasonable- under 300 cals for a 1/4 piece. xx
Reblogged this on The 1940's Experiment and commented:
I have 1/4 loaf of very dry sliced bread, several days past it’s best before date so I think a ‘Bread and Butter Pudding’ is called for! This recipe is from Marguerite Patton’s Victory Cookbook and the recipe calls for 3 eggs which seems rather excessive during rationing so I think I’ll bake it without and use something else from my cupboard perhaps! I love this pudding…. cheap, delicious and comforting.
I see custard. Is it Bird’s? I never thought of tofu for a pudding but it makes good sense. In fact I’m wondering whether you can just use the Bird’s to replace the eggs . . .