Inspired by Babel by R.F. Kuang
This recipe was inspired by ‘Babel’ by R.F. Kuang, a dark academia historical fantasy book with roots in Oxford and Canton. I also created Beef Chow Fun and Sweet & Sour Pickled Chinese Mustard Cabbage. Please enjoy the recipes and book review!
In Babel, one of the main protagonists is Robin Swift, who was born in Canton, China. Throughout the book, there are several mentions and flashbacks to Canton and I wanted to cook something that has Cantonese roots in it as an homage to Robin. This prompted me to cook an adaption of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Beef Chow Fun, that recipe is adapted from ‘The Wok’ cookbook and his Youtube channel, as well as Sweet & Sour Pickled Chinese Mustard Cabbage. I also wanted to create something that came from within or near Oxford, and when I began researching recipes that had origins from Oxford I found New College Pudding.
This recipe is adapted from a blend of a few different New College Pudding vintage recipes I found online and The Spruce Eats’ brandy sauce recipe. The history of this recipe is what really drew me in to making it, though. In Babel, a large portion of the plot surrounds the University of Oxford. Oxford was founded in or around 1096 (source), depending on how you wish to define ‘founded’. New College is the informal name of one of Oxford’s constituent colleges, its formal name is St. Mary’s College of Winchester in Oxford. New College was founded in 1379, and its nickname of New College is actually derived from the fact that at the time of its founding there was another St Mary’s college, thus being named the “new” St Mary’s college in town. The nickname stuck and is still affectionately used today.
The origins of the New College Pudding are a bit gray in terms of when the first recipe was created. There is mention of the recipe in the 1901 edition of New College by Robert Sangster Rait and Hastings Rashdall. However, there is discussions on if the New College Pudding recipe is actually far older than 1901, as the recipe is almost word-for-word the same in English Housewifry From 1764 by Elizabeth Moxon. You can read more on the comparison here.
So, as you can see there is a bit of history involved with the New College pudding recipe and I was very interested in putting my own little spin on it. I have adapted a brandy sauce recipe from The Spruce Eats to use on top of the pudding. One thing to note, whatever spirit you use for the pudding, it would be best to use that same spirit in the sauce. For example, I used brandy to soak the raisins in for the pudding and also used brandy in the sauce; however you could substitute port (which I tried also, and is delicious!), sherry, rum, etc. Just be consistent so the flavors complement one another instead of contrasting.
You can read my review of Babel here, and you can purchase the book through Bookshop.org (affiliate link to help support The Booktender Cafe, at no extra cost to you).
If you try this recipe out, I’d love to see what you make! Please tag me on Instagram @thebooktendercafe
New College Pudding with Brandy Sauce
This decadent dessert is similar to a bread pudding-cake hybrid. Although the mincemeat has spices in it, I recommend still adding the additional nutmeg called for below. The brandy sauce is adapted from The Spruce Eats' 'Christmas Brandy Sauce' recipe.
This dish is part of my Babel (by R.F. Kuang) inspired menu and is adapted from a mix of a few different recipes for traditional old New College pudding, but with some slights changes (e.g. using jarred mincemeat instead of making my own). Also part of that menu, is my adaptation of the Sweet and Sour Pickled Chinese Mustard Greens from Patricia Tanumidharja's 'Asian Pickles At Home' cookbook, and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's Beef Chow Fun from his 'The Wok' cookbook. I highly recommend both of those cookbooks for your library.
Ingredients
- Brandy Sauce:
- 2ounces unsalted butter
- 2 ounces all-purpose flour
- 16 oz. of whole milk
- 2 ounces white sugar
- 5 tablespoons brandy, or port (it's recommend to use the same for the raisin-soak in Puddings section, whichever alcohol you choose)
- (Optional) 1 teaspoon Cointreau, optional but tasty if you use the brandy for this sauce, not recommended if you use port
- Puddings:
- 60g raisins (I used golden)
- 30g brandy, or port (depending on which you used in the sauce recipe)
- 60g breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
- 50g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon, freshly grated nutmeg
- 25g mincemeat*
- 1/2 stick of butter, roughly 2 ounces
- 50g white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoons whole milk
- Garnish: grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Put the raisins into a small bowl and pour the brandy over them, mix, and set aside for at least one hour to absorb.
- Make the brandy sauce first, so it is ready when the puddings come out of the oven.
Brandy sauce:
- In a medium (nonstick) saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter
- Stirring quickly, add in the flour and continue to stir until a smooth, thick paste has formed. Let it cook for 1 minute, but don't let it burn.
- Slowly whisk in the milk, and stirring quickly. Continue to whisk to create a thick, smooth sauce, roughly 3-5 minutes. Make sure the heat is not too high, it may burn.
- When the sauce has formed, whisk in the sugar until completely dissolved. Turn the heat to low and let it cook for 5 minutes, giving it a stir every once in awhile.
- Whisk in the brandy until the sauce is smooth.
Puddings:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Rub a small amount of butter in the bottom and walls of each ramekin, then lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, breadcrumbs, baking powder, sugar, and nutmeg.
- Mix in the brandy-soaked raisins and the mincemeat to the flour mixture.
- To the flour mixture, add in the melted butter, mix well.
- Add the egg and milk to the flour mixture, ensuring well combined and to a batter-like consistency.
- Divide the batter equally to each ramekin.
- Bake in a water bath for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. For my water bath, I took a 9x13 high-walled casserole dish, place the ramekins in the dish, then add warm (not hot) water until the water reaches halfway up the ramekins.
- Remove carefully from the oven and place the ramekins on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
Serving: if needed, you can reheat the brandy sauce. Turn the ramekins upside down gently, and let the puddings glide out, onto a plate. Pour the brandy sauce over the warm puddings. Sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg on top and enjoy.
Notes
* The mincemeat I used was vegetarian-friendly, using vegetarian suet instead of beef suet.
I tried this recipe with parchment-lined ramekins and also with butter-rubbed then cooking-sprayed ramekins, and tasted them side-by-side. There was no difference and the non-lined puddings came out very easily. It is my recommendation that you skip the hassle of trying to line the ramekins with parchment and just use the butter/spray method, outlined in the recipe.