Comment: This is neither an apple-flavored dinner roll nor the sort of sticky cylinder of “fruit” paste popular with very young people.  In fact it’s hard to think of exactly what modern day product, either commercial or homemade, that it does resemble, because the whole technique of boiled puddings and dumplings has gone so completely out of fashion. It was still extremely common in the mid 19th century though, so Mrs. Bryan didn’t feel a need to go into a great whacking lot of detail. The “pudding-cloth”  should be smooth fabric (no terrycloth or old towels, please) and slick, to discourage the food contents from sticking to it, but not waterproof since the water is what cooks the product. Probably your best bet is an old but clean and intact cotton pillowcase, with the side seams removed to make a single layer of cloth. For this dish you would probably want it about a foot square, and remember you need three of them, one for each roll. Pay close attention to the order to dip the cloth in boiling water then sprinkle it with flour: we suspect this forms a sort of shell to keep the crust of the roll from sticking to it. Peel it out carefuly. The result should be something like a boiled pie.

Roll out a sheet of common pie paste [crust], about one fourt of an inch thick, and put a thicksmooth layer of appe butter over it, roll it up into a scroll, making the roll about as large in circumference as a large glass tumbler, and about eight inches long; close the paste very securely at both ends and the side that is open, making the paste as smooth as possible where the edges meet. Having made out three in this manner, dust them well with flour, tie them up separately in dumpling cloths, havign first dipped them [the cloths] into boiling water and dusted them with flour, and boil them like puddings till they are done; then take them carefully out of the cloths, lay them side by side in a dish of suitable size, and eat them warm with cream sauce.

From The Kentucky Housewife by Mrs. Lettice Bryan, Cincinnati OH 1839