7/24/13

Pioneer Pudding

I grew up enjoying a tasty treat made from an old recipe with a very unfortunate name. It was a traditional English dish called "Lumpy Dick". ...SIGH... Yes, I know some of you are snickering... "Dick" is simply a boiled pudding in this case. But you can see why I sometimes avoided telling my classmates what I'd had for breakfast... I've decided to rename it in honor of my pioneer ancestors who made it: Pioneer Pudding!
While this isn't a fancy dish in any way, it's comfort food for me. The original recipe is not gluten free. So here is my modified gluten free version of Lumpy... I mean Pioneer Pudding! I think my ancestors would be proud of how I've adapted it to meet my needs, while still keeping it simple.

Pioneer Pudding:
2 cups of milk (Make this milk free and vegan by using  your favorite non-dairy milk!)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 heaping  TB buckwheat flour
3 heaping TB brown rice flour
1-2 tsp sugar depending on how sweet you like things.
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Mix flours, sugar, cinnamon and salt together well and set aside.
Bring milk and vanilla to a strong boil in a sauce pan. Don't allow to scald. Gently add spoonfuls of the flour mixture to the boiling milk. Stir constantly. Lumps will begin to form and this is good. Break apart any lumps that are too big. You want them to be about pea or blueberry sized. If they are too big you'll end up with dry flour on the inside and that doesn't taste as good. When all of the flour mixture has been added, turn stove to low and continue cooking, stirring often for about 10-15 minutes until the pudding thickens. You want those lumps to thoroughly cook, so give it some time. Let cool for a few minutes and serve warm.

My ancestors probably didn't add the vanilla, sugar and cinnamon, This was a simple food that they made when times were hard and they didn't have much. I feel incredibly blessed to have so much available to me in my lifetime and I'm grateful for the heritage of simplicity, self reliance, and thrift that my fore bearers left me.

Enjoy a couple of treasures from my family: 
A photo of my great grandmother, Jane. I love hearing stories about her. She was known as a great horsewoman and I've always loved horses, so I feel a special kinship towards her.
A sampling of some of my grandmother, Hannah's hand made lace. My grandma enjoyed making things to give to her family. I have several beautiful handmade treasures from her. 
 

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6 comments:

  1. For those who also avoid dairy (I actually love all dairy EXCEPT milk!), they can substitute rice, almond or hemp milk...and for thickening and additional nutritional purposes, chia seeds would be a great addition. Thanks for this unique recipe and the history behind it!

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    1. You're completely right about substituting for the dairy. I really love almond milk and I think this would be extra yummy using that! I'm going to have to try that out! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!

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  2. That is quite the name. Funny how words change in meaning over the generations. This is quite close to milk gravy which my mom and grandma always made using the grease from fried chicken or sausage. That is one of my favorite foods! I may give this a try to see if I like it. Thank you for sharing it at What We Accomplished Wednesdays. Have a great week!

    Hugs,
    Deborah

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    1. So glad you enjoyed the recipe! I hope you give it a try! My weeke has been fantastic! I'm hanging out at the beach with family for the week. Hope you're week is going great as well! Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Oh my I forgot about this! Yup, definitely a name I didn't share with my friends, ;) I should definitely share this with my family and the history behind it.

    I did introduce corn meal mush to my kids recently after Big M learned that a cup of corn meal was sometimes the only food some early pioneers had after a hard days work.

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    1. Ah yes! Cornmeal mush! I remember learning about pioneers in school one year and my classmates thought I was crazy when I announced that, not only did I know what cornmeal mush was, but I actually really liked it!

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