The Book of Puds: Jam Roll, Baked Apple and Custard, Chocolatl

Recreated from La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

When my parents visit, I always offer to cook something special for them – “anything you can imagine!” – but from now on, there’s no need for me to ask. Instead I’ll just be referring to Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage, where their favourites form the culinary backdrop to Malcolm Polstead’s life.

Malcolm is surrounded by an abundance of stewed apples, baked apples, apple crumbles and apple pies, plum pies, rhubarb pies, shepherd’s pies and steak and kidney pies, sausage rolls and jam rolls, Yorkshire puddings and rice pudding and other hearty staples. This is the food that imprinted itself onto post-war English national consciousness via the bellies of hungry 1950s schoolchildren to become the epitome of home-cooking for following generations.

Its appeal is easy to understand (being fatty, filling and unfussy in a way that would satisfy any little Malcolm) and evidently enduring – Philip Pullman is still writing about it over sixty years later and my parents are ever happy to revisit any school pudding with custard on top.

​Here are three options for you to try out that all have merits beyond fond memories. Each one can be taken from page to plate in 30 minutes or less, leaving plenty of time to read on.

For even more reading time, skip cooking altogether and go to The Tome and Tankard Inn for a Stewed Apples and Custard cocktail.  

Jam Roll

The hall was where the dinner ladies set out the tables for school dinner, whose aroma hung around it all afternoon. That day boiled swede had featured prominently on the menu, and not even the jam roll which had come after it did anything to dispel the heavy atmosphere. 

Ingredients

• 130g plain flour
• 130g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 40g salted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• 300g strawberry jam (appr)
• 75g desiccated coconut (appr)*

*Jam and coconut sponge was my favourite school cake so I've taken the liberty of incorporating desiccated coconut. You could leave it out or add your own favourites. I'm rather tempted by the idea of whipped cream. 

Special equipment: Baking tray appr. 42cm x 27 cm x 2.5 cm H, foil lined baking parchment, damp tea towel 

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F) fan. Line your baking tray or grease it with butter. 
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for ten minutes with an electric whisk (the mixture will roughly double in volume and have a satiny texture). 
3. Add the cooled melted butter and vanilla essence and whisk for another 30 seconds. 
   
4. Sift the flour from into the mixing bowl from as high above it as you easily can without spillage. Then, using a metal spoon, mix until it's thoroughly combined.
   
5. Pour the mixture into your pre-prepared baking tray, gently using the back of a metal spoon to make sure it's spread evenly.
   
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cake starts to turn golden. Immediately turn out onto parchment paper resting on a damp tea towel. 
7. Apply jam generously to cover the entire cake, spreading all the way to the edges. Sprinkle a generous coating of desiccated coconut on top. 
8. Working from a short end, roll the cake along its entire length to form a log. Leave to cool. 
9. Tidy the roll by cutting off appr. ½ cm at each end. Serve in slices, cold or reheated in the microwave for 20 seconds per slice. 

Baked Apple and Custard

'Would you like your pudding now, gentleman?'
'What is it?'
'Baked apples and custard. Apples from the priory orchard.'
'Well, we can't pass up a chance to try those,' said the scholarly man.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 cooking apples
• 4 whole pecans or pecan halves
• 4 tbsp chopped pecans
• 6 tbsp mixed dried fruit (e.g. raisins, sultanas and candied orange peel)
• Fresh orange juice (enough to cover the dried fruit in a bowl)
• Ready-made custard 

Special equipment: apple corer

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (400°F) fan.
2. Soak the dried fruit in orange juice; overnight is best but even an hour is better than nothing. Drain any excess juice and mix with the chopped pecans before using in Step 3. 
3. Core the apples, then plug the bottom of each hole with a whole or halved pecan. Pack the hole from above with as much dried fruit as will fit.  Reserve any unused dried fruit for Step 5. 
4. Stab each apple with a sharp knife four times around the 'equator' to help prevent apple explosions in the oven. Place in an oven-proof dish, cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 5 minutes. 
5. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, pour custard over the top and add a sprinkling of any unused dried fruit from Step 3. 

Chocolatl

She mixed the cocoa powder with a little sugar and poured on the hot milk, making some for herself as well. The boy knew so much already that she had to trust him. There was little choice. 

Barely more complicated but far more luxurious, here's a recipe for the chocolatl of Lyra's Oxford as I dream of it. 

Ingredients

• 20ml butter
• 150ml dark chocolate, broken into small chunks (the quality of the drink depends on the quality of the chocolate)
• 100ml single cream
• 400ml whole milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon

1. On a low heat, melt the butter to coat the bottom of the saucepan. Add the chocolate and melt, stirring regularly to avoid sticking or burning. 
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until evenly mixed. Heat until the mixture is almost boiling. 
3. Remove from the heat, stir again and serve.