Christmas Pudding - 1920

Plum Pudding, All Decorated and Ready to Serve

Assemble All the Ingredients Before Beginning To Make The Pudding

Whatever else we omit from the Christmas table; the plum pudding is a "must-have." But, luckily, when we get to the pudding stage of the Christmas dinner, we are not so very hungry, and if we must scant, a little pudding goes a long way.

The English "cannonball" variety of steamed pudding has never been so popular here as across the water, the more convenient tin pudding boiler taking the place of the floured cloth. The mysterious and alluring blue flames of the burning brandy must now be omitted from our Christmas pudding rites, and enough good things put in the mixture to take the place of the delicious flavor formerly imparted by the enveloping blaze.

The mistress of the household is in the habit, every Christmas, of making up this recipe, steaming portions of the mixture in small bowls, and presenting one to each of her most dearly beloved friends as a top-off to the Christmas feast, or to be kept indefinitely for some special, or perhaps unexpected, occasion. In this recipe and others which follow, I have substituted for the brandy originally called for, cider, white grape juice, or coffee.

Lou's Christmas Plum Pudding:

• Chop until fine one and one-half pounds each of currants and seeded raisins, one-half pound each of candied orange peel and citron, and one pound of suet.
• Mix all together and add one pound of fine breadcrumbs (these should be stale but not dry), the yolks of eight eggs beaten until light, three-fourths of a grated nutmeg, one-fourth teaspoonful of ground cloves, one-half teaspoonful of cinnamon, one teaspoonful of salt, one- and one-half cups of dark brown sugar, two tablespoons of cider, white grape -juice, or coffee, and last, the stiffly-beaten whites of eight eggs.
• Put the mixture in buttered bowls, cover with a floured cloth or parchment paper, tie down well, plunge into the water which is boiling hard, and cook two and one-half hours. When used, steam two and one-half hours longer.

 

Snowdrift Sauce:

• Cream one-half cup of butter until very light, add gradually one cup of powdered sugar, constantly beating until thoroughly blended. Add one-half teaspoon of orange extract or any other flavoring preferred.
• Pile lightly in a glass dish and grate a little nutmeg over the top.

English Plum Pudding:

• Mix together in a large bowl one-half pound of suet chopped fine, one-half pound each of seeded raisins chopped, currants, citron thinly sliced, and brown sugar, the inside of a one-pound loaf of stale bakers' bread crumbed fine, one cup of pastry flour sifted with one-half tablespoon each of cinnamon, ground cloves, and nutmeg, one teaspoon of soda, and one teaspoon of salt; one cup of sweet milk into eggs well beaten, one-fourth cup of cider and two tablespoons of lemon juice.
• Steam in a well-greased pudding boiler, five hours.  This may be steamed in several smaller containers if preferred.

Sauce for Plum Pudding:

• Beat one egg until very light, add powdered sugar until mixture is the consistency of custard-about one-half cup will be needed—then add one cup of cream whipped and two tablespoons of orange or lemon juice, or one-half teaspoon of vanilla and two drops of almond extract. If orange or lemon juice is used, add a little of the grated rind to make a tasty flavoring.

A Plum Pudding Wrapped in Holiday Style Makes A Novel Gift

Plum Pudding, Jelly, with Whipped Cream

Florence Taft Eaton, "Christmas Puddings," in Good Housekeeping, New York: International Magazine Company, Vol. LXXI, No. 5, December 1920, p. 72. Additional Image from Harper's Bazaar, December 1905, p. 1148.