At long last, I think I am finally ready for Christmas. All of the presents are bought and wrapped. I know what I'm making on Christmas Day (just one quick trip to the grocery store for just a couple items). I only have 1 more party to cook for before then. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief!
One of the things that I am making for Christmas is an old-fashioned plum pudding. It has become tradition for me to make these every year on Christmas day, and this day will be no different. For those of you who have never had one, plum pudding doesn't really have plums in it. In the 19th century, any dried fruit was referred to as "plums", and in this case, it refers to raisins. A plum pudding is a dense heavy cake that is steamed in a plum pudding mold (see photo below). These can be purchased off the internet, and plum puddings aren't really that difficult to make. They just take a little bit of time.
The recipe is as follows:
Plum Pudding
1/2 cup butter
1 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour milk (this can be soured by adding 1 tsp vinegar prior to adding to mix)
1 Tbs cinnamon
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
Brandy (optional)
Powdered sugar
milk
Fill a large pan with a couple of inches of hot water (the pudding needs to steam, not boil...so add enough water that it will create plenty of steam, but not enough that it will really touch the mold. Put some sort of metal rack in the pan to hold the mold up out of the water. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix together all at one time (melt butter first). Butter your mold, and the lid. Sprinkle sugar in mold and swirl around until coated. Pour batter into the mold leaving about 1 inch of space. Put the lid on tightly and lower into the pan and let rest on the rack. Put on lid and let pudding steam for approximately 3 hours. Add more hot water as necessary to ensure the pudding always has water. Once you remove the lid to the pudding it should feel firm. This will tell you that the pudding is done.
If you wish to flame the plum pudding, keep it in the mold and in the pan of water to stay hot. You can't really oversteam one, and it needs to be hot or it will not flame.
Mix up a thick glaze of powdered sugar and milk. (A cup of powdered sugar and a VERY small amount of milk should work. You need it to be thick, but pourable.)
Pour 1/2 cup of brandy into a pan. Heat this on the stove until it is steaming, but not boiling. If you boil it, it won't work. While it is heating, which will only take a minute or two, unmold your pudding (If it sticks, run a knife around the outside. Then place it upside down on a metal or glass tray and shake gently until it falls out.). By now your brandy should be ready. Pour into a small pitcher, and carry everything very quickly to where your presentation will take place. Immediately pour the hot brandy over the hot pudding and light it with a match. It should burn for a few seconds to a minute depending on the amount of brandy. Once it burns out, immediately pour your glaze over it. It is now ready to be sliced and served.
It really is very yummy. If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
A modern twist is to cook them in a crockpot with a little water around the mold. However, please note that this will take about 6-8 hours on high.
As Julia Childs would say, Bon Appetit!
And MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I only tolerate rasins....think you could do this with other fruits instead? Such as pineapple chunks or cherries or oranges and apples??
ReplyDeleteWhile the raisins are the traditional fruit, April, I think that you could probably substitute something else to suit your tastes. I would, however, make sure that you used dried fruit. I'm afraid that fresh fruit might add too much liquid, and make your pudding not set up like it is supposed to. It requires a fairly stiff and dry batter, so I'm not sure how it would work if you were to add fresh fruit, but you can get dried cherries, peaches, pineapple, etc. Let me know how it goes if you ever do decide to try it with something else!
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