Now we’re getting into something a little richer, homey dessert-fix material guaranteed to soothe the man who’s tired of macédoine six nights running. The adjacent recipe is a variation on vintage Mrs. Rombauer, page 724 of our old Joy of Cooking which has been consulted so much in forty years, and decorated so much with flour, baking powder and improperly aimed egg, that it’s almost totally illegible. But buy a new and trendy edition, with neither Cottage nor that other dessert-time security blanket, Chocolate Cake Pudding? Never. As they say in the opera, Infamia!

        Well, sensing revolution, Joy’s publishers have followed their cockily post-classical tome with a reissue of Mrs. Rombauer’s original cookbook: here the gastronomical pillars of our nursery years are safe and sound, free from the wrecker’s ball.

Whisk together 2 tablespoons of butter (at room temperature) and 2 tablespoons of a neutral oil; then whisk into the butter/oil 1/2 cup of sugar until the mixture is fluffy.

Now whisk in 1 egg, a teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, with fluffiness your continued objective.

Next, whisk in one third of 1/2 cup of milk and one third of 1-1/2 cups of flour sifted with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and repeat the process twice. (A musician would call this operating in ABABAB form).

Now heap the batter into a greased pan 8″ by 8″ by 2″ and bake at 400° for no more than 25 minutes: this pudding is most enticing when a little pale, on the border of undercooked.

And the sauce: gently melt 1/2 square of Baker’s Baking Chocolate in 3 tablespoons of milk and stir until it’s smooth, then add 1/3 cup of sugar and boil until the brew is the desired consistency; cool it slightly, add a teaspoon of vanilla and serve the sauce warm.

ALTERNATIVE!  Pour the batter over a layer of marmalade, bake as above and invert before serving; now the sauce is optional.

(4 - 6 servings)