Nesselrode Pudding

Ingredients

• 3 cups milk
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 1 pint thin cream
• 0.25 cup pineapple syrup
• 1.5 cups prepared French chestnuts
• 0.5 cup candied fruit, cut in small pieces
• 0.25 cup Sultana raisins
• 8 chestnuts, broken in pieces
• Maraschino syrup
• whipped cream
• Maraschino syrup for flavouring

Method

Make the custard first: whisk egg yolks with caster sugar until pale and thick, then pour hot milk over them slowly, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to a heavy-based saucepan and stir over low heat until it coats the back of a spoon — aim for 82–84°C if you have a thermometer, or trust the ribbon test: a spoonful dropped back into the pan should leave a trail before folding back into itself. The starch in the yolks thickens the custard by freezing the protein network; cook past 85°C and the eggs scramble. Strain through fine-mesh to catch any flecks of cooked yolk, then salt it. Cool completely — this prevents the warm custard from melting the ice-cream texture you'll build later.

Fold the pineapple syrup and thin cream into the cold custard. The acid in the pineapple will sharpen the sweetness of the chestnut purée you're about to add. Cook fresh chestnuts in salted boiling water until tender — 25–35 minutes depending on size; they should yield to a fork without resistance. Force them through a fine sieve whilst still warm; cold chestnuts resist pressing and will leave lumps. Fold the purée into the custard base.

Soak the broken chestnuts in Maraschino syrup for at least 3 hours, longer if time allows. The sugar and alcohol penetrate the nuts, concentrating their flavour and preventing ice crystals from forming in the final frozen mass. Fold the Maraschino-soaked chestnuts, candied fruit, and raisins into a portion of the remaining custard.

Line a 2-litre melon mould or pudding basin with the plain chestnut-custard mixture — smooth it against the sides to form an even shell. Fill the centre with the fruit-studded mixture. Cover tightly with foil or the mould's lid. Pack the entire mould into a bucket of ice and salt, layering generously. The salt lowers the freezing point of the ice, allowing the temperature to drop below 0°C more efficiently. Leave for 2 hours; you're aiming for a firm but not solid consistency — still scoopable, with a creamy mouthfeel rather than the hardness of block ice-cream.

Turn out onto a chilled plate by running warm water over the mould exterior, then invert sharply. Serve with whipped cream folded with Maraschino syrup and a touch of icing sugar to balance the acidity.