Plum Pudding
Jan. 12th, 2011 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyAs many of you have probably noticed, we're back from the cruise! It was incredibly awesome. I plan on writing up a hugemongous post about it at some point, but first, boiled pudding!
Yeah, so, the day I got out of work before Christmas (er, December 23rd, I think) I decided that I HAD TO MAKE A PLUM PUDDING. I had always wanted to try a recipe from a Victorian cookbook like Cassell's Household Guide, and I was reading through the section about Christmas food and decorations to get me into the proper festive spirit. So I called up![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caitirin and told her that I really wanted to make a boiled pudding that night. She was v. amused. So I stopped at the fabric store and got a yard of unbleached muslin, and then we went to the grocery store for the few ingredients we needed.
Here's the recipe we used:
Another Recipe.—Half a pound of currants, half a pound of raisins stoned, three table-spoonfuls of flour, three tablespoonfuls of bread grated fine, six ounces of beef suet minced, eight eggs beaten up, five ounces of brown sugar, a small grated nutmeg, a pinch of salt, three cloves pounded, and half a teaspoonful of ground allspice; a glass of brandy may be added, if it be liked; mix all the ingredients carefully together, and boil for three or four hours.
The only thing we didn't use was beef suet (we couldn't find any at our grocery store, andcaitirin was happy to veto it in favor of vegetable Crisco). We also halved the recipe and modified the amounts of flour and bread. I mean, I'm no master baker, but I can't quite imagine a pleasing consistency being the result of eight eggs and only three tablespoons of flour and three of grated bread. I could be wrong O_o
Considering that the recipe for Plum Pudding right above this one calls for only six eggs and a whole pound of flour, I figure people generally put in whatever they had on hand or could easily acquire. Also, other recipes for puddings include such helpfully vague measurements as "the quantity of flour and bread-crumbs added will depend upon the richness required in the pudding." Another recipe said to add enough flour to make the batter the proper consistency. I guess they assume you know what that is.
Here's our batter. It consisted of maybe three eggs, a handful of raisins and currents, four slices of bread all minced up (I insisted on doing everything by hand XD), three ounces of Crisco, 2 1/2 ounces of brown sugar, half a grated nutmeg (real nutmeg courtesy ofminyan!), some salt, ground cloves, ground allspice, and cinnamon. After this picture was taken, we put more flour into it until it looked like dough.
Here it is in the cloth! Christmas pomegranates waiting to be stockinged in the background.
Then we tied it up and boiled it for two and a half hours XD We tied the ends of the string to the pot handles to keep it suspended in the middle of the water.
When it came out, it looked, ascaitirin aptly pointed out, like a brain. Hee. I didn't have a whole lot of hope that it would actually be edible during any of the process, so I wasn't disappointed.
Shockingly, it was pretty delicious!
It wasn't the prettiest pudding, but it tasted like spice cake. It was VERY moist, which was good. I discovered after I brought it to my parents' house for Christmas that it was even better warm and with some butter.coastal_spirit really liked it :3 The Mum test declared it a success! :D
Yeah, so, the day I got out of work before Christmas (er, December 23rd, I think) I decided that I HAD TO MAKE A PLUM PUDDING. I had always wanted to try a recipe from a Victorian cookbook like Cassell's Household Guide, and I was reading through the section about Christmas food and decorations to get me into the proper festive spirit. So I called up
caitirin and told her that I really wanted to make a boiled pudding that night. She was v. amused. So I stopped at the fabric store and got a yard of unbleached muslin, and then we went to the grocery store for the few ingredients we needed.Here's the recipe we used:
Another Recipe.—Half a pound of currants, half a pound of raisins stoned, three table-spoonfuls of flour, three tablespoonfuls of bread grated fine, six ounces of beef suet minced, eight eggs beaten up, five ounces of brown sugar, a small grated nutmeg, a pinch of salt, three cloves pounded, and half a teaspoonful of ground allspice; a glass of brandy may be added, if it be liked; mix all the ingredients carefully together, and boil for three or four hours.
The only thing we didn't use was beef suet (we couldn't find any at our grocery store, and
caitirin was happy to veto it in favor of vegetable Crisco). We also halved the recipe and modified the amounts of flour and bread. I mean, I'm no master baker, but I can't quite imagine a pleasing consistency being the result of eight eggs and only three tablespoons of flour and three of grated bread. I could be wrong O_oConsidering that the recipe for Plum Pudding right above this one calls for only six eggs and a whole pound of flour, I figure people generally put in whatever they had on hand or could easily acquire. Also, other recipes for puddings include such helpfully vague measurements as "the quantity of flour and bread-crumbs added will depend upon the richness required in the pudding." Another recipe said to add enough flour to make the batter the proper consistency. I guess they assume you know what that is.
Here's our batter. It consisted of maybe three eggs, a handful of raisins and currents, four slices of bread all minced up (I insisted on doing everything by hand XD), three ounces of Crisco, 2 1/2 ounces of brown sugar, half a grated nutmeg (real nutmeg courtesy of
minyan!), some salt, ground cloves, ground allspice, and cinnamon. After this picture was taken, we put more flour into it until it looked like dough.Here it is in the cloth! Christmas pomegranates waiting to be stockinged in the background.
Then we tied it up and boiled it for two and a half hours XD We tied the ends of the string to the pot handles to keep it suspended in the middle of the water.
When it came out, it looked, as
caitirin aptly pointed out, like a brain. Hee. I didn't have a whole lot of hope that it would actually be edible during any of the process, so I wasn't disappointed.Shockingly, it was pretty delicious!
It wasn't the prettiest pudding, but it tasted like spice cake. It was VERY moist, which was good. I discovered after I brought it to my parents' house for Christmas that it was even better warm and with some butter.
coastal_spirit really liked it :3 The Mum test declared it a success! :D
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Date: 2011-01-12 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-01-12 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 10:00 pm (UTC)Can't wait until you describe the cruise you two went on :)
Glad to hear that you had a good time.
That pudding looked...to be honest very weird but in the last picture it does look tasty.
Maybe I'm gonna try that someday (my mother doesn't really let me use her kitchen ^^).
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Date: 2011-01-12 10:28 pm (UTC)The pudding looked SO weird XD But it tasted good! At least, the inside did. There was a kind of strange floury wet "skin" on the outside that was not very good, but apparently it's supposed to have that.
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Date: 2011-01-12 10:19 pm (UTC)For what it's worth, my mum's recipe (handed down from my dad's grandmother, and it was probably old when she got hold of it) uses no flour at all and is the only Christmas pudding that most of our family will ever eat. It is very moist and absolutely black. I don't know what makes it that colour, but apparently it is delicious if you like Christmas pudding, which I must admit I don't. (Mind you, I don't like mince pies either. I've always preferred my festive delicacies to be a little lighter!)
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Date: 2011-01-12 10:30 pm (UTC)I wished it were a little rounder, but at least it tasted good XD
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Date: 2011-01-12 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-01-12 10:53 pm (UTC)Also, I just watched Doctor Who for the first time over the break, and when Shakespeare said "57 Academics just punched the air" I giggled, of course, but I couldn't for the life of me think of WHERE I had heard it. :-) This would be where. :-)
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Date: 2011-01-12 11:09 pm (UTC)Hee, yay! I love that line so much XD
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Date: 2011-01-13 12:09 am (UTC)P.S.
Date: 2011-01-13 12:17 am (UTC)Re: P.S.
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Date: 2011-01-13 07:36 am (UTC)Victorians must be big on taste and not so big on looks. And really, taste is almost everything.
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Date: 2011-01-13 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-01-13 11:28 pm (UTC)