Hasty Pudding, an Early American Fast Food

Hasty pudding is a simple and economical dish, but also a versatile one. Known since at least the 16^th century, there are British & North American variants. The recipe migrated from Britain to the New England colonies, where it was adapted to make use of local ingredients.

A traditional New England hasty pudding is sweet, and made with spices, nuts and raisins. It is similar to plum pudding or Christmas cake. A savoury variant can also be made. It can be fried and served as part of a hot breakfast or supper, like Italian polenta.

Even if you are not familiar with the dish, you may have come across a mention of it in your literature or folk music studies: there is a reference in Little House in the Big Woods (see the chapter about the sugaring party at Laura's grandparents' home) and in the full version of Yankee Doodle. Making hasty pudding with your children or students is a super hands-on activity, that will allow for cross-curricular tie-ins from subjects like math, history and home economics.

Contrary to its name, hasty pudding is not a dish people today would consider quick to make. Cooked on the stove top, it requires close attention and frequent stirring over low heat. Baked in the oven, it can be a matter of hours before it's done.

Why hasty, then? Well, it was, if compared to the amount of time required for other British puddings of the time. Boiled puddings like a plum pudding spent many hours cooking, and groaty pudding took up to sixteen hours of cooking before it was ready to eat. Hasty pudding was fast food at the time!

Basic Ingredients in a Hasty Pudding

There are two main ingredients in any hasty pudding: grains and liquid. British recipes traditionally used flour, tapioca or oats, cooked in either water or milk. When the dish made its way to the New World corn meal was often substituted for other grains, as it was readily available and inexpensive. Other local ingredients, such as maple syrup, molasses or honey to flavour sweet versions of the pudding, were also incorporated into the North American recipe. Hasty pudding made with corn meal is often called Indian pudding.

Flavouring Hasty Pudding

Whether made with traditional or North American ingredients, the unflavoured pudding has very little taste of its own. Cooks livened up the flavour by adding sweeteners, fortifying with eggs and butter, or serving with heavy cream. Nuts, raisins and spices like ginger or cinnamon could also be added to a sweet hasty pudding. Today it is common to serve the sweet pudding with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

A savoury pudding could be served warm from the pot, or sliced and fried in the manner of polenta.

Hasty Pudding Recipes

Simple Hasty Pudding
1 L (4 cups) water or scalded milk
80 mL (1/3 cup) cornmeal
pinch of salt

Mix the cornmeal and salt; combine with the water or milk in the top of a double boiler. Simmer, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes or until thick.

Serve warm with your choice of flavourings.

Pour leftovers into a greased shallow baking dish or a loaf pan, and cool in the refrigerator. Slices can be eaten cold, or dredged in flour and fried. Serve sweet, like pancakes. Or add savoury herbs to dredging flour. This version goes well with eggs and fried bacon, sausage or ham. It can also be the basis of an economical and fast supper, alongside vegetables and thin slices of cold meat.

Serves 4-6.

Baked Indian Pudding
1.5 L (6 cups) milk
125 mL (1/2 cup) butter
180 mL (3/4 cup) cornmeal
5 mL (1 tsp) each: salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
125 mL (1/2 cup) molasses
3 eggs, beaten
250 mL (1 cup) raisins
80 mL (1/3 cup) lightly packed brown sugar
125 mL (1/2 cup) walnuts, almonds or sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 120°C (275°F); grease a rectangular baking dish.

Scald milk in a double boiler; add butter and stir until it melts. Keep warm over medium heat.

Mix cornmeal, salt, spices and molasses in a bowl. Stir in a small amount of the milk mixture, then transfer back to the double boiler.

Temper eggs by stirring a small amount of the warm milk mixture into them. Mix back into the pot, and add raisins.

Pour into prepared baking dish. Top with brown sugar and nuts or sunflower seeds. Bake 2 hours. Let cool 20-30 minutes before serving.

Serves 8-10

Nutrition

Cornmeal is the main ingredient in an American style hasty pudding. Cornmeal provides potassium, folate, vitamin A and phosphorous. If the meal is enriched (check the nutritional label on the package) it also provides niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. Cornmeal is similar to rice in nutritional value, but has a higher fibre content. It contains no cholesterol or transfats, and is low in saturated fats and sodium.

Opt for blackstrap, rather than fancy, molasses. It is a good source of iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, and potassium.

Cornmeal was not only chosen for its availability and affordability, but because it is filling and provides calories that were important to survival at a time when food could be scarce. If you are concerned about your caloric intake you might want to skip the milk and butter, or substitute with low-fat milk and margarine.

Eggs and milk add to the vitamin and mineral content of the pudding, when used, as do nuts and seeds. Both are sources of selenium and vitamin D, which can be in low supply in northern climates. Milk introduces zinc to the recipe, while eggs contribute pantothenic acid. Depending on the type of nut or seed used in the recipe there will be additional fibre, vitamins and minerals. One nutrient that will likely be introduced, as it is in many nuts and seeds, is Vitamin E.

Hasty Pudding in American Culture

Besides the reference in Laura Ingalls' writings and that in Yankee Doodle, hasty pudding can be found elsewhere in culture:

New England politician and writer Joel Barlow composed The Hasty Pudding in the late 18^th century. In it he not only glorifies the dish itself, but speaks about the cultivation of the corn (maize) and the preparation of the pudding. The foreword to the poem suggests that simplicity of diet be considered a virtue.

Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club is the oldest social club in the United States, having been incorporated in 1770. Begun as a secret society of students crowded into a dorm room, the club's name originates from the tradition of having each member in turn provide a pot of hasty pudding for consumption during meetings.

The club is known for a number of events such as Strawberry Night, Leather and Lace, and the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Hasty Pudding Man and Woman of the Year awards are given annually to notable actors, complete with a parade followed by a dinner and "roast." The 2010 recipients were Justin Timberlake and Anne Hathaway. Former recipients include Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Lauren Bacall, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver, Charlize Theron, Bruce Willis, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Williams, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, and John Travolta.

Finally, Hasty Pudding is the name of a free cartoon font created by UddiUddi, and available on a number of font distribution sites. Both Mac and PC versions are available.

Sources:

"Egg Nutrition" Alberta Egg Producers

"Nutrient Contribution" Dairy Nutrition

"Nuts, Grains & Seeds Chart" Dr. Decuypere's Nutrient Charts

"What Is Indian Pudding?" S.N. Smith (WiseGeek)