Michelle Darmody: How to bake a comforting Queen of Puddings dessert

This type of custardy dish reminds me of my grandmother’s style of baking

This type of custardy dish, which has an air of frugality, reminds me of my grandmother’s style of baking.

Breadcrumbs are a magical ingredient that are so handy to have in your kitchen, or in your freezer.

They tick many boxes in savory cooking, adding texture or soakage to dishes.

They can be used for stuffing a chicken, breading fish, or can be added to homemade burgers and meatballs to bulk them out. 

I also like to combine crispy, toasted breadcrumbs with lemon zest, thyme and salt and add them to a bowl of spaghetti.

They add a delicious flavour injection as well as adding an unusual texture to the pasta dish.

Repurposed bread has been used for centuries.

When printed cookbooks first appeared in the 1500s, breadcrumbs were featured throughout for thickening soups and stews and even adding bulk when making bread dough.

In baking, breadcrumbs form the basis of treacle tarts, are used in steamed puddings and are the main ingredient in a Sicilian orange cake.

Here they are used to make the quintessential English dish, a sweet, soft Queen of Puddings.

It was invented back in the 1600s and is an indulgent post-dinner treat that brings comfort on a cold winter’s evening.

This type of custardy dish, which has an air of frugality, reminds me of my grandmother’s style of baking.

Everything was saved and reused, nothing went to waste and making breadcrumbs at home and using them in tasty bakes is still a great way of reducing food waste.

Queen of Puddings

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This type of custardy dish, which has an air of frugality, reminds me of my grandmother’s style of baking. Everything was saved and reused, nothing went to waste.

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 5 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 4

Ingredients

• 270mls milk

• 10mls honey

• 10g butter, cubed

• 1 tsp vanilla

• zest 1 lemon

• zest half an orange

• 50g white breadcrumbs

• 2 eggs, separated

• 70g golden caster sugar

• 4 tbsp of a good quality (not overly sweet) raspberry jam

Method

1. Butter a 6-inch ovenproof dish and set aside.

2. Heat the milk over a low heat until simmering.

3. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey, butter, vanilla and zest until combined.

4. Stir the breadcrumbs into the mixture and set aside to cool.

5. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

6. Once the breadcrumb mixture has cooled, stir in the egg yolks until combined.

7. Scoop the mixture into the prepared dish and place into your oven to bake.

8. Bake for about 25 minutes until set.

9. While the base is baking, whisk the egg whites with the sugar until they form stiff peaks.

10. After you remove the base from the oven, turn it down to 160ºC/gas mark 3.

11. Spread a thin layer of jam over the cooled baked breadcrumb mixture.

12. Scoop your meringue on top and swirl it with the back of a spoon.

13. Bake for about 20 minutes until the meringue is bronzed and crisp on top.

14. Serve warm if possible.

Baker's tips

• Folláin makes a good quality raspberry jam. They have two versions, one made the standard way with sugar, and one that is just fruit. Either would work well in this recipe. If you only have jam that is very sweet, you can add a drop or two of lemon juice to help counteract the sugar. The dessert itself is very sweet so the jam is there to add a bit of tartness.
• Homemade breadcrumbs are best made from old bread that is hard and semi-stale. The loaf can be grated by hand using the largest setting on a box grater, or you can blitz the old bread in a liquidiser until you get lovely smooth breadcrumbs.
• Breadcrumbs freeze very well. You can also put the ends of loaves or other bits of bread in the freezer to be taken out and made into breadcrumbs another time.
• It may be necessary to dry out your homemade breadcrumbs to crisp them up if the bread was still very soft when you made them. To do this, you can spread the crumbs on a baking tray and place the tray into a very low oven for about half an hour or until the crumbs are golden. It is good to stir the breadcrumbs halfway through baking.
• Breadcrumbs can also be bought in most large shops.
• When making the meringue, add the sugar in a steady stream into the whisking egg white to get a nice glossy result. It is also good to make sure the whisk and bowl are perfectly clean before whisking. You can rub them down with some white vinegar before you begin. This will ensure a nice, fluffy result by removing oil or residue that will prevent air bubbles from staying in the eggs.
• The pudding is best eaten the day it is made, which is why I usually make one this size, which serves four very happily. You can store a slice or two in the fridge to be eaten the next day, but it will probably separate. Freezing is not advisable, as meringue will not defrost very well.

Three delicious variations

Plum and ginger

You can quite easily change the flavour of the dessert by using a different type of jam. I particularly like using plum and ginger jam. Omit the lemon zest and use twice the amount of orange zest.

Lemon curd

Adding lemon curd in place of the jam makes a delicious dessert. Follow the recipe as is, using lemon curd in place of the jam. Double the amount of lemon zest and omit the orange zest. It will give a nice tart twist to the custard base. You need a tartness to counter the sweet meringue.

Cherry and chocolate

Add 75g of finely grated dark chocolate to the warmed milk. A thick cherry compote works wonderfully with the chocolate. Again, like above, ensure that the compote is not too sweet and add some orange zest if you need to make it a little tarter. Omit the lemon zest and just use the zest of one orange when adding the chocolate to the warm milk.