Christmas Pudding
Of plums and puddings for Christmas
Photo by Elizabeth Ranger
{Fruit. Booze. Dried fruit, raisins, more booze, spices, more raisins, lots of currants, dates, zests of fruit, apple/pear, tanned apricot, candied ginger, dark dark sugar, butter and eggs.}
I was going to write something about Christmas here. It is, after all, a Christmas cake we’re looking at up there – straight Cratchett-style, boiled for 8 hours in a pot just like ye olde medieval Englyshe wyves used to do when terrible things like sausage casings and beef broth seemed like a good idea (MMM ^-^), before thankfully we had the option of butter. But then I remembered that talking about Christmas these days is like talking about religion and politics (yethink?) and having an opinion on it is even worse, and really I’m just giddy for a few certain things like strings of tiny electric lights, drinking with family, and mincemeat.
Have I ever even had plum pudding before I decided to make not one but two of these silly things? Errrrr. Well, no. But given that I’m no stranger to food projects that need babysitting while burblegurgling on the stove (see: canning season), I couldn’t help but just throw a whole bunch of quality fruit and spices together into a gigantic bowl earlier this month with my fingers crossed that whatever bowling-ball-resembling Xmas-bomb that emerged from my double saucepots would be both A: delicious enough to get me off the hook for making cookies this year, and B: drenched enough with booze to actually do that little immortality trick it’s supposed to (ie; keep in the pantry until next Christmas if necessary).
Photo by Elizabeth Ranger
[...]
I’ve even managed to post this in time for others to benefit from a recipe I found that was very nice, that comes with a website for troubleshooting and has all manner of plum pudding minutiae. Thank you Paul!!
and … don’t be afraid of the ingredients list! It is long but it is mostly raisins.
PAUL DENYER’S CHRISTMAS PUDDING
My Changes:
I used butter instead of suet. I used candy ginger and apricots instead of lemon peel. I used a St. Viateur bagel instead of breadcrumbs, and instead of Guinness I just dumped 1/2 a cup of brandy in there.
These things are true.
This recipe makes one large steamed pudding in a 2 pint (1.2 litre) basin. and will need a day’s advance preparation! SERVES 10 TO 12 PEOPLE.
• Suet, 4 oz (110 g), you’ll need to order at least 175g, chill first then use a grater or chop with a knife
• Self-raising flour, 2 oz (50 g) sifted
• White bread crumbs, 4 oz (110 g) from the Bakery, not the Supermarket (see associated recipes page)
Read the rest of this recipe on Bubble tea for dinner
Photo by Elizabeth Ranger
Pudding
Photo by Elizabeth Ranger
Dough
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