Traditional plum pudding pt 1

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 pounds Suet; (net weight, after skinning)
5½ cup Fresh bread crumbs
2½ cup Sifted flour
¾ cup Stoned Malaga raisins; (see note 1 at bottom)
1¼ cup Best currants; (see note 2)
1 cup Sultanas; (seedless raisins) (see note 1)
¼ pounds Candied citron
¼ pounds Candied orange peel
½ cup Stoned prunes
2 cups Cooking apples; peeled and grated
1 cup Almonds; blanched and chopped
1½ cup Brown sugar
1 Orange; Juice and rind
1 Lemon; Juice and rind
4 Eggs; whole
4 cups Rum
3 tablespoons Mixed spices; (cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger)
1⅔ teaspoon Salt

Directions

I made this pudding three or four years running as the main dessert at a Christmas buffet for 40 to 60 people back in the days when my husband and I were young, foolish, and doing a lot of entertaining.

To serve this pudding, someone would darken the room lights for me and then I would bring in the flaming pudding. It never failed to add a bit of drama to the party. I usually served two different sauces, always including the traditional brandy butter.

I have included the recipe as it exists in Gastronomique, only indicating the substitutions I made where absolutely necessary.

Source: Larousse Gastronomique (1961), the first English translation of Propser Montagne's Encyclopedia of Food, Wine, and Cookery first published in France in 1938.

A sweet which is served in England and the United States at Christmas time and called Christmas Pudding.

Ingredients (for a pudding to serve 15 to 20 persons): Method: Remove all skin and fiber from the suet and chop it finely. The chopping is rendered much easier if the suet is sprinkled with a third of the flour indicated.

Other preliminary operations are as follows: stone the raisins, and pick over the currents and sultanas carefully. The sultanas and currents can easily be cleaned by rubbing them in a cloth with a tablespoon or two of flour - in addition to the flour allowed above - and then washing them.

The prunes, after being stoned, should be chopped with a knife or put through a mincer. (This addition of prunes to the plum pudding is optional.

We advise it, nevertheless, as apart from their good flavor, the prunes also give the pudding mixture a richer, darker color.) The apples should be peeled and grated or chopped.

The candied citron and orange peel should be cut in minute dice. The almonds are blanched and chopped.

The orange and lemon peel is grated as usual and the juice is pressed out and strained through a muslin bag.

Mixing of Ingredients:

Put the suet and all the rest of the above ingredients, except the eggs, into a big basin. (The eggs are added shortly before the pudding is put on to cook. Stir until mixture is smooth, then add a quarter of the rum indicated above.

Cover the basin with a cloth and leave it in a cool place.

Stir the mixture every day, adding a few tablespoons of rum each time. (The mixture can be left to stand for a fortnight and longer before the plum pudding is cooked. In England this preparation is done at least a month before Christmas.) (See note 3).

Moistening the plum pudding:

On the last day, that is to say a little while before cooking the pudding, add the eggs. Stir the pudding to ensure perfect blending. If the mixture is too thick and difficult to stir, soften it a little by adding a few tablespoons of milk or -more strictly in conformity with the English tradition - with stout.

continued in part 2

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