What's for pud? - Chester Pudding

Nearly forgot to make my pud today! Did some research on English puds a couple of weeks ago and decided to go with Chester pudding. Meanwhile my best friend arrived to stay with us for a couple of days and all of a sudden I just forgot that it was St. George Day! When I realised that it was, I quickly ran to the kitchen and made the Chester pudding I was planning to make.
There are actually two varieties of this pudding, baked and steamed. They share the same name put don’t share the same ingredients (baked Chester pudding here and steamed Chester pudding here). As for the history of Chester pudding....I couldn’t find anything unfortunately...if anybody knows, please enlighten me.
And before I forget: Happy St. George Day!



I used this recipe from Jane Grigson for Chester pudding. Instead of baking a big pie I made 10 small tartlets.

60 g (2.1 oz) butter
grated rind and juice of a lemon
125 g (4.4 oz) granulated sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
24 almonds, blanched, grated in a nut mill or processed
4 egg whites
125 g (4.4 oz) sugar

Line 10 small tartlet tins with sweet short crust and bake them blind until lightly coloured.
While the pastry cases bake, make the lemon filling. Melt the butter in a small heavy pan. Off the heat, whisk in the rind and juice, sugar and egg yolks. When smooth add the almonds. Put back on the stove and stir until the mixture is very hot but not near boiling. Spread it into the warm pastry case (or into the cold pastry, if it has been baked in advance). It will already be setting into a thick jelly.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425ºF). Whisk the egg whites until stiff, pour the sugar in and whisk again until very stiff and a creamy-smooth texture. Pile onto the tart, right to the pastry edges. Put into the oven. After five minutes, check and if the peaks of the meringue are beginning to turn dark brown, lower the heat to 160ºC (325ºF); if they are not dark brown, leave for another five minutes before turning down.
Leave the meringue to go crisp on the outside. This can take nearly 30 minutes. Keep checking and tapping the crust gently. When it is ready, remove and put onto a warm plate. Best eaten warm, with cream, but good cold as well.