Okay, okay, I admit it. I picked this as much for the name as anything else. Totally worth it to see everyone’s faces as I told them what I was making. Don’t miss out on both the promo video and the actual reel over on Instagram! All my thanks to my sister, Tianna, who did the filming for me.
Bird’s Nest Pudding
The American Frugal Housewife
Published in 1832
The very first thing I was instructed to do was prepare a custard. Thankfully, there was a custard recipe on the page before, so I started with that. First, I boiled milk with some cinnamon or lemon peel…while it boiled I made the mistake of working on another part of the recipe, so there may have been difficulties involving smoke alarms….but eventually I got it straightened out, strained any burned bits, and it was (almost) as good as new! Ahem. But back to business.
Meanwhile, while the milk boiled over and then cooled, I was instructed to pare “eight to ten pleasant apples”. (Spoiler alert: Maybe they weren’t pleasant enough and that’s why I should have put in more sugar.) But at any rate, I was to dig out the core while leaving them whole, which is the point at which I realized I don’t actually own a corer…at least not one that doesn’t also slice it at the same time. The amount of work that goes into taking out the core of an apple without breaking it is, without doubt, one of the most underappreciated skills of historical cooking. But I eventually accomplished it, even if it took me about three times as long as I would have thought.
Once the milk was cooled, I whisked in eggs, brown sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Of course, it didn’t tell me how much of any of the spices or sweeteners to put in, so that was all guess work (this is the part where I should have put in more sugar). Setting the apples in a pan, I poured the custard over them and baked them for 30 minutes.
With no indication whatsoever of how hot the oven should be, I left it at 350, which must not have been hot enough because it was definitely not done at 30 minutes. Of course, there’s also no indication of how to tell when it was done, so I decided to go by the custard setting…which took closer to an hour. I took it out, dished it up, and served it to my husband. Or at least tried to. The apples were still a little crunchy and since his right hand is still basically unusable thanks to his thumb tendon surgery, I ended up cutting it up and serving it to him. Which means I was so concentrated on feeding it to him, I forgot it came straight out of the oven. It may not have been my most sympathetic move, but I admit I about died laughing when all he could do was yell “Hot! Hot!”
The next bite I managed to cool off a little before feeding him and, while not necessarily impressed, he let me know it was interesting and…not bad. Which is also what Tianna and I thought when we tasted it. More sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg would have helped. And it definitely would help to know whether they wanted the apples crunchy or soft because the bottom was soft but the top was crunchy. All in all, not bad though!
Forest Idylls 
You are right, I’ll bet coring and apple without the use of an apple core was an underappreciated skill! Thank you for trying these old recipes and sharing your experiences, and suggested adjustments, with us. I would never have thought of making apples inside of a custard but I’ll bet that it was considered a wonderful treat at the time!
It’s been so much fun to do this! Thank you for “coming along”!