Nana's Plum Pudding Recipe
Oct. 16th, 2004 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageFirst, gather up all the friends you have who really like trying cool, old-fashioned, very fattening recipes. Find an entire Saturday sometime between the first day of school and report card season (around the beginning of November, for you non-teacher types.) Divide up the ingredients list and spend at least a week's worth of evenings running around to every store in town trying to find some of the ingredients. I'm going to have a job finding suet this year - usually my aunt brings that.
Next, gather your materials. Depending on how traditional you wish to be, you may use a big aluminum mixing bowl or a "bread mug" like Nana always used. Hers weighs a ton, is made of two-inch-thick stoneware, and has travelled across the Atlantic three times. That, too, will someday be mine.
A really huge wooden spoon is a must, if only for swatting the husbands who eat the candied fruit after it has been measured.
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp ground cloves (I like a bit more of this, personally.)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups stale bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups shredded suet
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup Sultana raisins
1 cup muscatel raisins (there's another name for these, but I can't remember it offhand. I'll let you know after I buy them, because the Bulk Barn never calls them muscatels. They're big, sticky, and dark, and they're only available at this time of year most places. A Jewish specialty shop might have them all year round, though.)
3/4 cup seeded or golden raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup chopped apricots or figs, or half a cup of each if you prefer.
1 1/2 cups chopped peal (I use mixed orange and lemon, but go with your preference.)
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup halved glacé cherries - I like to use both red and green.
1/2 cup honey
4 eggs, well-beaten (Bad eggs! Thwack! Thwack!)
1/2 cup fruit juice, wine, brandy, sherry, or kirsch (my personal favourite is the kirsch, but sherry tastes very similar. I've tried brandy ones, and they have a darker, less fruity flavour. Fruit juice is for the person who can't stomach having wine of any kind under their roof. It doesn't work as well; the fruits don't share their flavours as well with juice. Still, it's an option.)
1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp of warm water.
Additional win/brandy/kirsch etc, if pudding is too dry. You don't want it too moist, either, though. No dry spots, and kind of spongy, but if you push the spoon against it, you shouldn't squeeze much out.
Mix ingredients in more or less the order given. Discuss sailing ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings while mixing. (Or who's having the next baby and what you want for Christmas.) Swat at anyone who dares steal the candied fruit with the wooden spoon. If more than one husband is in the house, be sure to have more than one spoon. They're really crafty at stealing muscatels while someone else is getting the back of the spoon. Alternately, it is possible to set aside some candied fruit and raisins to top up that which was robbed. Less violent, but also less of a challenge. I leave it to your conscience.
Make sure everyone in the house, right down to the six-month-old baby, gets a chance to stir the pudding. The tradition is to make a wish while stirring, and good luck goes to the household where everyone participates. Elizabeth enjoyed this part last year. I was almost afraid she'd break the mold, she banged it so hard.
Grease your pudding molds. Don't be stingy, folks, use real butter. The extra calories and fat are insignificant against the number you've just put into the pudding. (I usually use Pam spray.) Fill pudding molds 2/3 to 3/4 full. Smooth the top of the pudding somewhat. Cover the pudding with waxed paper or parchment paper, then your pudding cloth.
Now comes the part that's better with pictures. It took me two years of lessons with Aunt Jeanne to get this part right.
Take a piece of string about three times as long as the circumference of your pudding mold, plus a bit. Yes, that's probably about six feet of string. Too much is better than too little, here.
Fold the string in half. Wrap the doubled string around the pudding mold. Take the free ends and insert them through the loop made by the doubled end. Then separate the free ends and wrap them back around each side of the mould. Opposite the spot where the loop happened, tie a really strong, tight knot. A husband's finger is a very useful tool for this, especially since two of you have a better chance of figuring out how to tie the right kind of knot.
The best pudding moulds have a rim of some sort to keep the string, cloth and waxed paper from slipping. None of my molds have this ring. You just have to tie it tight enough that it stays in place, but not so tight that it rides down the bowl. It takes some practice to get right. Your girlfriends will have a grand old time trying to remember all the knots they learned in girl scouts/guides.
Anyhow, trim off any excess string from overestimating the circumference of the mold times three plus a bit. Take the four corners of the pudding cloth and gather them into the middle of the pudding. Pin them together with your large fastener (a kilt pin works beautifully and is easy to find; diaper pins work too, but who uses pins on diapers nowadays?) The result should look like a kerchief knotted on the top instead of the bottom. The goal here is to use the pudding cloth as a handle for taking the pudding in and out of the boiling water. Oven mitts get wet when you do this, so use your hefty wooden spoon to slip under the pinned corners, as a kind of lever. (That wooden spoon is really a very versatile tool, isn't it?) You may wish to trim off excess waxed paper which by now is poking out from your kerchiefed pudding cloth.
Take your large soup pot, and double-check that it is big enough to hold your pudding mold comfortably. If it isn't, call up the mom-in-law or a neighbour, madly rush over to her house, and borrow one that will work. Promise your first-born child if necessary. This is important.
As I was saying, take your large soup pot. Put your trivet in the bottom of it, positioned in the middle of the pot. Fill the pot about half-full with water. Place it on the stove, and reposition the trivet which migrated to one side of the pot during filling. Also fill your electric kettle, in case you realize you underestimated "half-full" once the pudding reaches the water. Turn on the heat, and boil the water. When it is boiling, use your wooden spoon and oven mitts to manoevre the pudding into the pot. Make absolutely sure that the water is not going to boil over the lip of the pudding mold. You don't want it getting wet directly. Put the lid on the soup pot, or at least, let the lid rest on the top of the pudding mold.
Cook the pudding for four to five hours - the bigger the pudding, the longer it needs. Check it periodically to make sure the water level is still okay. When it gets low, put your kettle on, boil more water, and top it up to the level it was at when you started. I usually have to do this at least twice.
While the pudding is steaming, split the rest of the kirsch between the women who don't have to drive home anytime soon. Kick out the poor sods who are steaming their puddings at their own homes, after unloading all your leftover candied fruits and suet on them. Put your feet up, pop in "Beaches", "Terms of Endearment", or "Lord of the Rings", and relax. You can't go anywhere until the pudding's done anyway, so enjoy your girl time.
When the pudding is done, take it out of the water. Cut the string and remove pudding cloth and waxed paper. With oven mitts, turn the pudding upside down onto a cooling rack. Tap it until it falls out; if it's well cooked, this will happen quickly. It should hold together and look vaguely cake-like. Leave it to sit half an hour or so until it is dry to the touch, then wrap it in tin foil and plastic wrap. Place it in the back of your fridge, and don't touch it until the day of your holiday celebration. On that day, take it out, pop it back into the pudding mold, waxed-paper and tie it up again, and steam it again for about two hours. Serve warm, with white sauce.
Anyone want a recipe for white sauce?
Oh, a brandy sauce will work as well, but since no one in my family is big on brandy, I've never tried it.
Recipe courtesy of Maud Ethel Page, 1918-1998, via Aunt Jeanne. Style and flavour text inspired by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bard_bloom. Actual events of pudding party have yet to occur.
Next, gather your materials. Depending on how traditional you wish to be, you may use a big aluminum mixing bowl or a "bread mug" like Nana always used. Hers weighs a ton, is made of two-inch-thick stoneware, and has travelled across the Atlantic three times. That, too, will someday be mine.
A really huge wooden spoon is a must, if only for swatting the husbands who eat the candied fruit after it has been measured.
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp ground cloves (I like a bit more of this, personally.)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups stale bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups shredded suet
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup Sultana raisins
1 cup muscatel raisins (there's another name for these, but I can't remember it offhand. I'll let you know after I buy them, because the Bulk Barn never calls them muscatels. They're big, sticky, and dark, and they're only available at this time of year most places. A Jewish specialty shop might have them all year round, though.)
3/4 cup seeded or golden raisins
1 cup currants
1 cup chopped apricots or figs, or half a cup of each if you prefer.
1 1/2 cups chopped peal (I use mixed orange and lemon, but go with your preference.)
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup halved glacé cherries - I like to use both red and green.
1/2 cup honey
4 eggs, well-beaten (Bad eggs! Thwack! Thwack!)
1/2 cup fruit juice, wine, brandy, sherry, or kirsch (my personal favourite is the kirsch, but sherry tastes very similar. I've tried brandy ones, and they have a darker, less fruity flavour. Fruit juice is for the person who can't stomach having wine of any kind under their roof. It doesn't work as well; the fruits don't share their flavours as well with juice. Still, it's an option.)
1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp of warm water.
Additional win/brandy/kirsch etc, if pudding is too dry. You don't want it too moist, either, though. No dry spots, and kind of spongy, but if you push the spoon against it, you shouldn't squeeze much out.
Mix ingredients in more or less the order given. Discuss sailing ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings while mixing. (Or who's having the next baby and what you want for Christmas.) Swat at anyone who dares steal the candied fruit with the wooden spoon. If more than one husband is in the house, be sure to have more than one spoon. They're really crafty at stealing muscatels while someone else is getting the back of the spoon. Alternately, it is possible to set aside some candied fruit and raisins to top up that which was robbed. Less violent, but also less of a challenge. I leave it to your conscience.
Make sure everyone in the house, right down to the six-month-old baby, gets a chance to stir the pudding. The tradition is to make a wish while stirring, and good luck goes to the household where everyone participates. Elizabeth enjoyed this part last year. I was almost afraid she'd break the mold, she banged it so hard.
Grease your pudding molds. Don't be stingy, folks, use real butter. The extra calories and fat are insignificant against the number you've just put into the pudding. (I usually use Pam spray.) Fill pudding molds 2/3 to 3/4 full. Smooth the top of the pudding somewhat. Cover the pudding with waxed paper or parchment paper, then your pudding cloth.
Now comes the part that's better with pictures. It took me two years of lessons with Aunt Jeanne to get this part right.
Take a piece of string about three times as long as the circumference of your pudding mold, plus a bit. Yes, that's probably about six feet of string. Too much is better than too little, here.
Fold the string in half. Wrap the doubled string around the pudding mold. Take the free ends and insert them through the loop made by the doubled end. Then separate the free ends and wrap them back around each side of the mould. Opposite the spot where the loop happened, tie a really strong, tight knot. A husband's finger is a very useful tool for this, especially since two of you have a better chance of figuring out how to tie the right kind of knot.
The best pudding moulds have a rim of some sort to keep the string, cloth and waxed paper from slipping. None of my molds have this ring. You just have to tie it tight enough that it stays in place, but not so tight that it rides down the bowl. It takes some practice to get right. Your girlfriends will have a grand old time trying to remember all the knots they learned in girl scouts/guides.
Anyhow, trim off any excess string from overestimating the circumference of the mold times three plus a bit. Take the four corners of the pudding cloth and gather them into the middle of the pudding. Pin them together with your large fastener (a kilt pin works beautifully and is easy to find; diaper pins work too, but who uses pins on diapers nowadays?) The result should look like a kerchief knotted on the top instead of the bottom. The goal here is to use the pudding cloth as a handle for taking the pudding in and out of the boiling water. Oven mitts get wet when you do this, so use your hefty wooden spoon to slip under the pinned corners, as a kind of lever. (That wooden spoon is really a very versatile tool, isn't it?) You may wish to trim off excess waxed paper which by now is poking out from your kerchiefed pudding cloth.
Take your large soup pot, and double-check that it is big enough to hold your pudding mold comfortably. If it isn't, call up the mom-in-law or a neighbour, madly rush over to her house, and borrow one that will work. Promise your first-born child if necessary. This is important.
As I was saying, take your large soup pot. Put your trivet in the bottom of it, positioned in the middle of the pot. Fill the pot about half-full with water. Place it on the stove, and reposition the trivet which migrated to one side of the pot during filling. Also fill your electric kettle, in case you realize you underestimated "half-full" once the pudding reaches the water. Turn on the heat, and boil the water. When it is boiling, use your wooden spoon and oven mitts to manoevre the pudding into the pot. Make absolutely sure that the water is not going to boil over the lip of the pudding mold. You don't want it getting wet directly. Put the lid on the soup pot, or at least, let the lid rest on the top of the pudding mold.
Cook the pudding for four to five hours - the bigger the pudding, the longer it needs. Check it periodically to make sure the water level is still okay. When it gets low, put your kettle on, boil more water, and top it up to the level it was at when you started. I usually have to do this at least twice.
While the pudding is steaming, split the rest of the kirsch between the women who don't have to drive home anytime soon. Kick out the poor sods who are steaming their puddings at their own homes, after unloading all your leftover candied fruits and suet on them. Put your feet up, pop in "Beaches", "Terms of Endearment", or "Lord of the Rings", and relax. You can't go anywhere until the pudding's done anyway, so enjoy your girl time.
When the pudding is done, take it out of the water. Cut the string and remove pudding cloth and waxed paper. With oven mitts, turn the pudding upside down onto a cooling rack. Tap it until it falls out; if it's well cooked, this will happen quickly. It should hold together and look vaguely cake-like. Leave it to sit half an hour or so until it is dry to the touch, then wrap it in tin foil and plastic wrap. Place it in the back of your fridge, and don't touch it until the day of your holiday celebration. On that day, take it out, pop it back into the pudding mold, waxed-paper and tie it up again, and steam it again for about two hours. Serve warm, with white sauce.
Anyone want a recipe for white sauce?
Oh, a brandy sauce will work as well, but since no one in my family is big on brandy, I've never tried it.
Recipe courtesy of Maud Ethel Page, 1918-1998, via Aunt Jeanne. Style and flavour text inspired by
bard_bloom. Actual events of pudding party have yet to occur.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-16 08:49 pm (UTC)I've checked and I currently have 4-5 cups of candied fruit in the jug. Ingredients tell me they consist of lemon, orange, cherry, and.. rutabaga?? Despite this, it tasted quite nice in the last fruitcake I made.
Ohh, I just had a thought. One summer, I made blackberry liqueur out of the biggest and nicest blackberries on my parents' property, and tucked it in the back of the fridge. I'm going to check on it! It's purely alcohol and fruit (and maybe sugar) so chances are it's as good as the day the alcohol permeated the berries.
Okay, I’ve checked, and I’ve apparently had this idea before :D There’s only a little left in the bottom of the jar, but it’ll be a nice addition anyways, I’m sure.
Oh yes. I've got a big bag of breadcrumbs for all, and now that the weather is coler and drier, I'll likely be making more as well!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-17 05:54 am (UTC)I'll find a way to pick up suet. It looks like little pellets of shortening, which is almost exactly what it is. You know you're using a bad fat when the batter is powdery after you've mixed it in. :)
Do you have mace or cloves? Ani, do you? Those are the two spices I'm missing. I have all the others, in adequate quantities.
Last year, I went out to pick up Kirsch at the liquor store down the street from us, and discovered it was a specialty item that would be carried in only a few stores. They suggested the store at Dundurn Plaza would probably have some, but call first. Since you're a lot closer to Dundurn than I am, could you check on the kirsch? It's the most expensive ingredient, so my aunt and I usually split the cost of that and then just divide up the rest of the ingredients. Oh, and a bit of blackberry liqueur would add a nice flavour. More flavour is always good. :)
Ani, if you could get the apricots, almonds, and honey, I'll get the raisins and anything else I see that I think would go well. Eggs, flour, baking soda and brown sugar are also mine.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-17 02:20 pm (UTC)We have a slight problem... I have no pudding bowls, and neither does Alex's mom (which is a shock -- she's got everything else I can imagine!). I will probably try to find some over the next few days, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-17 07:37 pm (UTC)So let me summarize - we have all the ingredients necessary divided up between us, we all have the materials needed except Ani who needs to acquire a mold or two, and we don't know yet if
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-18 07:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-17 08:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-18 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-17 06:30 am (UTC)I haven't had that in years, not since I was dating a Yorkshire girl in highschool.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-17 07:24 am (UTC)