Emma Iain Naysmith, Head chef at the Dalmore Inn in Blairgowrie, has put together this version of a classic summer pudding.
Summer Pudding or Summer Fruit Pudding as it’s also known, dates back to the early 20th Century when it first appeared in cookbooks of the time, strangely called Hydropathic Pudding! Best made with stale sliced white bread, layered in a deep bowl with fruit and fruit juice, it is left to soak overnight and turned out onto a plate. Stale bread helps the fruit juices soak through the bread, making the pudding much more tasty. The fruits typically used in summer pudding are raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, and blackberries. Less commonly used are tayberries, loganberries, cherries and blueberries. In his recipe, Iain uses blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants – of course, he is fortunate to be in Perthshire – berry country -where the world’s finest berries are grown!
Serve the pudding with cream or ice cream!
Summer Pudding
Ingredients
2 Punnets of Blackcurrants
2 Punnets of Raspberries
1 Punnet of Strawberries
1 Punnet of Blackberries
4 oz Sugar
6 – 8 Slices of White Bread.
Creme De Casis ( Optional)
4 Metal Rings or 1 litre Size Pudding Basin.
Method
Go through all the fruit and give them a wash.
Put the blackcurrants and sugar in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Cook for 5 minutes until the currants start to go soft.
Now add in the strawberries which have been quartered and cook for a further minute.
Line the base of your rings or the entire Pudding basin with clingfilm.
Cut the crusts off the bread and roll the bread lightly with a rolling pin. If you are using the rings cut the bread to the same circumference of the ring. You will need 3 round slices of bread. Or if using the Pudding basin cut bread into fingers because you will be overlapping the bread into the basin. ( KEEP LEFTOVER SYRUP FOR SERVING)
Add the raspberries and blackberries to the pot of the heat and now is the time to add the Creme de cassis if wanted.
Drain the fruit through a sieve and keep the fruit while soaking the bread very quickly in the fruit syrup.
Taste the fruit to see if you wish to add more sugar
Time to build the Pudding. Start by putting a slice of bread in the syrup and put it onto the bottom. Add some of the fruit mixture a quarter of the way up. Then repeat the process again with another slice of bread, followed again by filling up with fruit then the last piece of bread which has been soaked in the syrup. If doing the pudding basin, cut a circle for the bottom of the basin which has been soaked in the syrup and overlap the bread then fill up the basin with the fruit, get another circle to finish the basin.
Press the Summer Pudding with a tray and put it on top with some weight applied. Transfer to the fridge for 24 hours, even longer is better.
To serve, take out of moulds any of the reserved syrup pour over the puddings and serve with Vanilla Ice Cream or Clotted Cream.
Summer Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 Punnets of Blackcurrants
- 2 Punnets of Raspberries
- 1 Punnet of Strawberries
- 1 Punnet of Blackberries
- 4 oz Sugar
- 6 - 8 Slices of White Bread.
- Creme De Casis Optional
- 4 Metal Rings or 1 litre Size Pudding Basin.
Instructions
- Go through all the fruit and give them a wash.
- Put the blackcurrants and sugar in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Cook for 5 minutes until the currants start to go soft.
- Now add in the strawberries which have been quartered and cook for a further minute.
- Line the base of your rings or the entire Pudding basin with clingfilm.
- Cut the crusts off the bread and roll the bread lightly with a rolling pin. If you are using the rings cut the bread to the same circumference of the ring. You will need 3 round slices of bread. Or if using the Pudding basin cut bread into fingers because you will be overlapping the bread into the basin. ( KEEP LEFTOVER SYRUP FOR SERVING)
- Add the raspberries and blackberries to the pot of the heat and now is the time to add the Creme de cassis if wanted.
- Drain the fruit through a sieve and keep the fruit while soaking the bread very quickly in the fruit syrup.
- Taste the fruit to see if you wish to add more sugar
- Time to build the Pudding. Start by putting a slice of bread in the syrup and put it onto the bottom. Add some of the fruit mixture a quarter of the way up. Then repeat the process again with another slice of bread, followed again by filling up with fruit then the last piece of bread which has been soaked in the syrup. If doing the pudding basin, cut a circle for the bottom of the basin which has been soaked in the syrup and overlap the bread then fill up the basin with the fruit, get another circle to finish the basin.
- Press the Summer Pudding with a tray and put it on top with some weight applied. Transfer to the fridge for 24 hours, even longer is better.
- To serve, take out of moulds any of the reserved syrup pour over the puddings and serve with Vanilla Ice Cream or Clotted Cream.
