Food History

All around me people are panicking and making pronouncements and cooking and creating plum puddings and cakes. To celebrate the vast amount of festive fare being created in the Christmassy hemisphere (as opposed to the places the rest of us live, which presumably are lacking in reindeer and elves) I’m going to give you a bunch of plum puddings, from The complete cook by J. M. Sanderson, 1864. No history lessons today – these plum puddings will leave you too full to think.

Plum Pudding Sauce.

A glass of sherry, half a glass of brandy, cherry bounce or Curaçoa, or essence of punch, and two tea-spoonfuls of pounded lump sugar (a very little grated lemon peel is sometimes added,) in a quarter of a pint of thick melted butter: grate nutmeg on the top.

Plum Pudding.

To make a rich plum pudding take a pound of marrow, or suet, well chopped, a pound of fine flour dried, eight or ten eggs beaten well; half a nutmeg grated; as much mace, cinnamon, and ginger, all powdered very fine; a pinch of salt; mix these well together, and beat up into a batter; then add one pound of currants, one pound of raisins, stoned and chopped a little; the currants should be rubbed in a cloth, and well picked, or well wash and dry them; two ounces of candied citron peel, or part lemon, and orange, cut small; and two ounces of sweet almonds, blanched and cut up in bits; two ounces of loaf-sugar grated; then add these to the batter, and put in a wineglass of brandy; well mix them together. It may be boiled in a buttered basin or mould; if the batter should be too stiff, put a glass of white wine in it. It will take four or five hours boiling. Strew over it powdered loaf-sugar; garnish with sliced lemon. Sauce, containing half a glass of best brandy, a glass of white wine, a little rind of lemon grated, and a little powdered cinnamon, half an ounce of grated loaf-sugar, mixed with an equal quantity of very thick melted butter. It is a good plan to make and keep by you a little of this sauce, and then it is ready at any time. In a bottle containing a pint of sherry, and half a pint of best brandy, add two ounces of loaf-sugar, a quarter of an ounce of mace, half an ounce of shaved lemon rind, with kernels of apricots, peaches, and nectarines, and steep in a little white wine; when steeped, pour it off clear, and put to the wine and brandy; and add half a quarter of a pint of capillaire. Two table-spoonfuls of this sauce will flavour a boat-full of thick melted butter.

A plain family Plum Pudding.

Beat up three eggs, six ounces of suet chopped, a pound of flour, a third part of a pound of raisins, and the same weight of currants; one ounce of candied orange or lemon peel, cut small, half a tea-spoonful of ground allspice, a little salt, two ounces of brown sugar: make a stiff batter with water, and mix the fruit and spice well in. If boiled in a basin, allow three hours and a half; if in a cloth, three hours.

A common Plum or Currant Pudding is nothing more than a suet pudding, with the addition of plums, or currants, and allspice.

Very Light Plum Pudding.

Mix grated bread, suet, and stoned raisins four ounces each, with two well-beaten eggs three or four spoonfuls of milk, and a little salt: boil four hours. Sauce, a spoonful of brandy, sugar, and nutmeg, in melted butter.

National Plum Pudding.

Mix suet, jar raisins, and currants, one pound each, four ounces of crumbs of bread, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one table-spoonful of grated lemon peel, half a nutmeg, a small blade of mace, a tea-spoonful of ginger, and six well-beaten eggs. Boil it five hours. -N. B. If you want to keep plum puddings good for a long time, say some months, hang them in a cold place in the cloth in which they were boiled. When wanted to be used, take them out of the cloth, cover them with a clean one, and warm them through with hot water; they will then be fit for the table.

PS Did you notice the link to a cookie recipe. I can give you Christmas recipes and add to my collection of biscuit and scone recipes all at once!