My Uncle Frank...

Years ago I wrote a cookbook of my grandmothers and great grandmothers recipes...my great grandmother Maria died when her children were very young. I believe my Uncle Frank was about 12. When my own grandmother passed away and I was collecting recipes for my cookbook, we found a very old cookbook that belonged to Grandmother Maria...on the outside of the book was hand written 'recipes worth saving' I put many of  her recipes in my book and that next Thanksgiving, after witting the book we had my Uncle Frank to dinner...he was around 90 then..I made a recipe he had talked about loving as a child out of his mothers book...Indian Pudding...I thought it would be fun to do....to serve him the pudding for dessert...so beaming I brought the pudding out and proudly handed him his serving, with cream poured all over it...he looked a little confused first and then smelled it and got tears in his eyes and said he hadn't had that since his mother had made it for him and that it took him right back to her and the farm....then after he ate it he said a very Uncle Frank line...."God, that was good!"

This recipe is clearly at least 120 years old. And may be a Swedish recipe as Grandmother Maria was from Sweden. It is sweetened with the molasses, and is custard like..

Indian Pudding

5 cups scalded milk
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
Pour milk slowly on meal. Cook in double boiler 20 minutes. Add molasses, salt, ginger and raisins. Pour into a buttered casserole dish and bake 2 hours in a slow oven. serve with cream.

Cheers to Happy  !!