Recipe: Durgin-Park Baked Indian Pudding (using molasses and cornmeal)

BAKED INDIAN PUDDING

"Durgin-Park's Indian pudding is the best there is. Dark brown with substantial gravity, it smells like roasted corn and tastes like the first Thanksgiving. The long cooking time is necessary to soften the corn and for the flavors to meld. Although some restaurants add raisins or other flavorings, the only traditional way to doll it up is with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting fast atop each hot serving. Tommy Ryan loves telling the story about the time he was eating in a restaurant in New Hampshire-just a regular customer, unknown to the staff. He asked the waitress if they had Indian pudding for dessert. "Well, we do," she said reluctantly, but then she bent close and clued him in to a secret: "Sir, if you want really good Indian pudding, I suggest you go to Durgin-Park." Just to keep the record straight: this is not a Native American dish adapted by colonist cooks. Its name comes from the fact that early settlers considered virtually anything made with corn to be Indian in nature."

1 1/2 plus 1 1/2 cups milk, divided use
1/4 cup black molasses
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (for serving)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a bowl mix 1 1/2 cups of the milk with the molasses, sugar, butter, salt, baking powder, egg, and cornmeal. Pour the mixture into a stone crock that has been well greased and bake until it boils.

Heat and stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk.

Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and bake for 5 to 7 hours.

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Makes 6 servings
Source: The Durgin-Park Cookbook: Classic Yankee Cooking in the Shadow of Faneuil Hall by Jane Stern and Michael Stern