Stewed Figs (1906)
Reader ratingsStewed figs, the sweet at Titanic third-class tea on April 14, 1912: dried figs stewed with sugar and lemon, with custard sauce from the 1906 Mrs. Beeton.
- Recipe makes
- 4 small bowls
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
The figs stew for 1½ to 1¾ hours in a covered bowl over simmering water; make the custard sauce during the last half hour.
Stewed dried figs in syrup with a jug of custard sauce.
The story behind the recipe
Rice on the ship’s card, custard sauce in the cookbook: stewed figs could go to the table two ways in 1912. At third-class tea on the Titanic, on Sunday, April 14, they came after the cold meat, cheese and pickles, with rice.
What were stewed figs?
The recipe here is no. 2159 in Ward, Lock’s new edition of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1906), which gives the dish a French name as well, compôte de figues. Nothing records how the ship’s cooks stewed their figs, and the rice from the card has no part in Beeton’s recipe.
The book’s method is slow and almost hands-off: a pound of figs with sugar, lemon juice and a pint of boiling water, covered closely in a jar and set in a pan of boiling water or a slow oven for an hour and a half or more. The book costs it at 7d., about £3.10 today by UK consumer prices (Bank of England), “Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons.” Two recipes further down the page, stewed prunes take the same pound of fruit, six ounces of sugar and pint of water, after a soak of at least six hours.
The figs ask only for “a good custard sauce” and don’t say which, so the sauce here is our pick from the same book: no. 332, a boiled custard of milk, eggs, sugar and a spoonful of brandy, headed “For Puddings or Tarts.” It ends with a warning to the cook: don’t let it boil, “or it will curdle.”
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
The book doesn’t say whether its figs were fresh or dried. Dried is our choice, since fresh figs are a late-summer fruit and the card is dated April. We halve its quantities for four small bowls and use the first of the book’s two ways of stewing, a covered bowl standing in a pan of simmering water, so no oven setting is needed. The custard is half of no. 332, with its brandy as printed, cooked to a modern safe temperature.
To serve the figs the way the card did, spoon them over plain boiled rice. The tea they ended is part of What Did Third-Class Passengers Eat on the Titanic?, and the morning of the same day began with Oatmeal Porridge (1906).
2159.—STEWED FIGS. (Fr.—Compôte de Figues.)
Ingredients.—1 lb. of figs, 6 ozs. of sugar, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 pint of water. ...
Recipe makes: 4 small bowls
Ingredients
For 4 small bowls. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 4 small bowls.
Stewed figs
- Dried figs225 g
- Sugar for the figs85 g
- Lemon juice, from about half a lemon1 1/2 tbsp
- Water285 ml
Custard sauce
- Whole milk285 ml
- Bay leaf, if liked1
- Caster sugar40 g
- Egg1
- Brandy1 1/2 tsp
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 225 g dried figs
- 85 g sugar for the figs
- 1.5 tbsp lemon juice, from about half a lemon
- 285 ml water
- 285 ml whole milk
- 1 bay leaf, if liked
- 40 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1.5 tsp brandy
Equipment
- Heatproof bowl or jar with a lid, or foil and string
- Large saucepan with a lid
Small saucepan
Fine sieve
Heatproof jug or bowl
Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
Cut any hard stalks off the dried figs. Put the figs in the heatproof bowl or jar with the sugar for the figs and the lemon juice.
Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the figs. Cover the bowl closely with its lid, or with a double layer of foil tied down with string.
Stand the bowl in the large saucepan and pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up its side. Cover the pan and keep the water at a steady simmer for 1½ to 1¾ hours, adding boiling water to the pan as it boils away, until the figs are plump and soft right through.
During the last half hour, make the custard sauce. Bring the milk to a boil in the small saucepan with the bay leaf, if using. Take it off the heat, stir in the caster sugar until it dissolves and leave it to cool for 5 minutes.
Beat the egg well in a bowl. Pour the hot milk onto it slowly, stirring all the time, then strain it into the heatproof jug or bowl. Discard the bay leaf.
Stand the jug in a saucepan of barely simmering water and stir constantly until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 160°F (71°C) on the thermometer. Don’t let it boil, or it will curdle.
Take the jug out of the water and stir in the brandy.
Serve the figs warm in their syrup, with the custard sauce poured over them or in a jug beside them.
Nutrition
330calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 4 small bowls
- Servings
- 4
Estimated per bowl (4) from USDA FoodData Central values for dried figs, sugar, lemon juice, whole milk, egg and brandy, counting all the syrup and sauce.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Half of Beeton’s pound of figs and half the custard sauce, for four small bowls; double everything for the full batch, which the book says serves 3 or 4.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Leave out the brandy for a sauce without alcohol; the custard is complete without it, though no. 332 includes it. Both figs and sauce can be served cold. Cool the figs in their syrup and keep them covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Chill the custard within 2 hours, with plastic wrap pressed on its surface, and use it within 2 days. Our changes: dried figs, half quantities, a bowl over simmering water in place of Beeton’s jar, half of custard sauce no. 332 as the sauce, and the thermometer. Contains egg and milk.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, new edition (London: Ward, Lock, 1906), Stewed Figs, no. 2159, with Custard Sauce, no. 332; dish as printed on the Titanic’s third-class bill of fare of April 14, 1912
See the original pages (scan at Internet Archive) (opens in a new tab)
Recipe details
- Course
- Dessert
- Dish family
- Desserts & Sweets
- Region
- British
- Era
- Edwardian
- Source decade
- 1900s
- Event
- Titanic, 1912
- Main ingredient
- FruitMilk & cream
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Everyday meal