When Forum readers saw the SOS from Poulsbo cook Dixie Wright saying she’d like to know more about a recipe for something called togus she ran across in a newly acquired 1906 copy of a cookbook compiled by an Iowa ladies’ club, they jumped right on it.
It sounded like the ingredients (sweet milk, sour milk, cornmeal, molasses, baking soda and salt) would wind up like a steamed pudding — but, alas, as is common with so many old, old recipes, there were absolutely no directions included other than to steam for three hours.
“I haven’t been able to find it anywhere else,” Dixie said, “and am wondering if one of your many readers might be familiar with it — maybe a grandmother used to make it.”
So far, nobody has a family recipe for or remembrance of togus, but Lorene Nelson of Everett tells us, “I found a recipe for what Dixie was talking about in a 1903 presidential cookbook. They called it cornmeal pudding. The ingredients are hot milk, cornmeal, salt, molasses and baking soda.
“You take a pint of hot milk, stir in sifted Indian cornmeal until the batter is stiff; add a teaspoon of salt and half a cup of molasses, adding a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved. Then stir in whortleberries or chopped sweet apples. Tie in a cloth that has been wet and leave room for it to swell, or put it in a pudding pan, and tie a cloth over it. Boil three hours — the water must boil when it is put in. You can use cranberries and sweet sauce.”
If it had some spices in it and no berries or apples, I think it would be kind of like an Indian pudding. Using Lorene’s cookbook’s “tie in a cloth” technique, though, sounds to me like the way my family has always made a type of steamed Christmas pudding — but we’ve always called this dessert son-of-a-gun-in-a-sack. Hmmmm.
Well, never mind that little diversion there, because Marysville cook Laura Fletcher puts us back on track and writes, “Did a search for a togus bread recipe on Google and every one of the ones I found said the same as Dixie’s recipe. ‘Steam 3 hours,’ which doesn’t help a lot, does it?
“So, I searched ‘how to steam bread’ and got this:
“Steamed bread is more of a method than a recipe. Here’s how to do it:
“Pick a muffin or quick bread recipe or mix that does not require the creaming together of sugar and butter or shortening. You can buy mixes in the grocery store or at websites like The Prepared Pantry.
“Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the liquid ingredients and stir until combined. Scrape the batter into a well-greased pan or vertical can that will fit inside a larger pan.
“Place several inches of water in the larger pan. Place some stones or other items in the bottom of the pan to elevate the smaller pan.
“Put heavy-duty aluminum foil over the smaller pan or can. Tie a string tightly around the pan to hold the foil in place. Place the smaller pan on the stones in the larger pan and set the water to boiling.
“Let it simmer. It will take about two hours to cook completely. You will have to add water to the outer pan a couple of times to keep it from boiling dry. Once it is done, loosen the dessert and invert the can or pan onto a serving plate. You can serve it without a sauce, but a sauce is easy and makes your bread simply decadent.’”
Laura adds, “The link to the site is www.roadtripamerica.com/recipes/Steamed-Breads.htm11DE3448121579E81196FB4011DE3860. I hope that helps Dixie. Doncha just LOVE the Internet?”
The next Forum will appear in Wednesday’s Good Life section.
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