Vintage Friday: Indian Corn Pudding 1621 by Flossie Benton Rogers

Pierre-Le-Moyne-De-l'art-de-regner MGG 0906
By “I. L. fecit” [Public domain, CC0 or CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Many of the traditional delicacies we enjoy on Thanksgiving were not present for the Pilgrims and Native Americans on the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Among those are sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce. Ears of corn would have already dried and, therefore, would have been unavailable for fresh cooking in November. However, it is likely the original 3-day feast did include Indian Corn Pudding, using corn ground into meal. The recipe below is a modernized version, and below it are two bonus recipes. One is the oven baked Quick Corn Pudding relished in our household each year, followed by a sweet Crockpot Corn Pudding, which I plan to try out on family members.

Indian Corn Pudding
Ingredients: 6 cups milk, 1 cup corn meal, 2 beaten eggs, ½ cup molasses, ¼ cup melted butter, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Directions: Preheat oven to 250 degrees, or you may also use a slow cooker. On the stovetop in a medium pot, bring the milk to a simmer and remove from heat. Combine half the milk and the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and beat thoroughly. Stir in the other half of the milk and pour into a buttered 3-quart casserole dish. Bake for 5 to 7 hours while stirring occasionally. End result should be firm. I plan to try this in the crockpot. I’m not sure how many hours to cook it but will keep my eye on it, once it’s in.

Quick Corn Pudding
Ingredients: 1 can drained whole kernel corn, 1 can creamed corn, 1 stick melted butter,1 cup sour cream, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese,1package (8 ounce) cornbread mix.
Directions: Stir together all ingredients except cheese and pour into greased baking dish. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with cheese. Return to oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. This is the best thing ever!

Crockpot Corn Pudding
Ingredients: An 8 ounce pack of cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 can drained whole kernel corn, 1 can creamed corn, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg.
Directions: In mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, and eggs. Add rest of ingredients and mix thoroughly. Turn out into a greased crockpot. Cook, covered, on high for 3 to 4 hours.

Have you tried Indian Corn Pudding or anything similar to the other two recipes I’ve shared?

Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance

 

By Flossie Benton Rogers

Paranormal romance author who loves to shake the edges of reality.

6 comments

  1. These all sound good. I think I’ll be saving and trying a few…though perhaps not this Thanksgiving as I’ve already got my menu set. I’m more used to “baked corn” which is similar to these, but lacks some of the ingredients. These sound delicious!

    Reply

  2. Never heard of corn prepared as pudding. Very interesting and sounds tasty.
    Around here we prepare something that is somehow similar to Italian polenta, but not so soft. We call it MAMALIGA – corn flour boiled for several minutes. We eat it with traditional sarmale or with cream and cheese. Sarmale is minced meat with rice and spices rolled in pickled cabbage leaves. Traditional on Christmas. Delicious

    Reply

Comments make my day! Please dash off a line or two.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.