Earlier today we sent out an Antique Thanksgiving Recipe email that included a history mystery: One of the 1893 recipes shared in the email called for the use of a “tin pudding boiler.” I had never heard of, and had been unable to determine what the heck a “pudding boiler” was!
(The 1893 Thanksgiving recipes are available in our public share-ware Old-World Recipedia)
My 1902 Sears Roebuck catalog didn’t have any pictures of a cooking pot by that name (at least not that we could find), and a Google search turned up little.
But, happy for us, somebody in the email loop knew what it was! They sent us a picture, but it appears the picture is not to be copied. In that picture it looks like a taller, narrower bunting pan - center pipe and fluted edges -n- all.
However, in looking at it, it didn’t seem to be a perfect fit to the description, as in the 1893 recipe it said to “tie the lid on securely.” There were no tie downs on this piece that I could see, so I took this information and tried finding similar items on eBay.
With eBay’s alternative wording feature I found they are more often called “pudding steamers.” The ones from the turn of the century look more like lidded buckets in appearance, and have eyelets on both sides, best as I can tell.
Here is a picture of one said to be c. 1900:
How, exactly, they were latched shut I am not yet clear on.
Bailing wire, perhaps?
However they were closed, it all makes more sense now than it did this morning!
Thanks mystery solvers!
