Why do we have to eat wintery foods in summer at Christmas time? We are not in Europe and the snow is not falling. July seems to be the best time to enjoy these delights, so given the time to prepare, I thought I’d make a traditional plum pudding, or two, to eat in July when it is very much required!
Now, this is not a challenge to you excellent food makers, but people have been asking me for meals and dessert ideas, so why not challenge yourselves! I found making these puddings very easy. I had not made one before.
I created a hybrid of two recipes, one from Australia, the other from the UK. For those who are interested, the two recipes I chose are listed here.
https://bakingwithgab.com/2013/12/20/christmas-and-pudding/
http://www.paulcouchman.co.uk/how-to-make-a-traditional-christmas-pudding-in-a-pudding-cloth/
My ingredients were:
450g raisins
450g currants
200g sultanas
300g shredded apples
50g glace cherries
250ml St Remy brandy
450g butter
500g brown sugar
8 eggs
350g plain flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mace (I’ll deal with Mace in a separate post)
1 tsp mixed spice (heaped!)
50g chopped almonds
250g breadcrumbs
¼ tsp bi-carb of soda
Pinch of salt
For two days I soaked the raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel and chopped almonds in brandy. I left the bowl on the bench, covered with clear film.
Before I started to assemble the pud, I cut and boiled two lengths of calico. Calico is in abundance at Spotlight. A roll costs about $10.00 and it can make a lot of puds. The calico needs to boil for 20 mins in water to sanitise it and encourage the fibres to swell. It was ready to come off the stove when the mix was ready to be put into the calico. Once the calico is wrung out, which is a memorable task due to its intense heat, it needs to be laid over the sizing bowl and dusted with flour. The flour absorbs into the fibres and seals the calico. This stops the brandy from escaping!
As I assembled all the ingredients, I mixed the butter with the sugar in the mixer. I beat 8 eggs separately and left them in a bowl, I measured my bread crumbs and flour then added the nutmeg, mace, mixed spice, bi carb and salt into the flour bowl.
I tipped the lot onto the bench and blended it all by hand! Who needs a bowl when you have bench? I separated my mass of uncooked pudding into two separate bowls and cleaned the bench. Calico time:
The calico was laid over the bowl, dusted with plain flour, mixture inserted and then tied twice with cotton string.
I then put them both into boiling water where they currently sit and will remain for 3.5 hours. Once the water boils, the heat can be turned down to very low and the water will continue to boil, making the energy cost relatively low. It requires a top up of hot water from the kettle every hour or so.
After 3.5 hours of boiling, I removed them from the stove and hung them in a ventilated outdoor area (garage) where they will remain for about 2 months.
Christmas Day
In the morning of the day they are to be consumed, remove your pudding from it’s resting place, boil in water (in the sealed cloth) for three hours. Remove it from the water, allow it to drip dry for a few minutes and then put it aside to cool. It needs time to reach room temperature, probably about two hours. Don’t open the cloth until it has cooled to room temperature. To remove the cloth, cut the wrapped seal and gently peel the cloth away from your pudding, ensuring nothing breaks off. Place it, inverted, onto a serving plate. It is now ready to serve.
You need to prepare the standard whipped cream or custard (or both), but you will have ample time to prepare these sweet condiments whilst the pudding is settling.
To light the pudding with brandy, this is what you do: using a metal soup ladle, place a generous quantity of brandy into the ladle. Do not fill it to the top. Light a flame, preferably the stove top flame and gently warm the brandy in the ladle over the flame. After about ten seconds, simply tilt the ladle and the brandy will ignite!
Pour the flaming brandy over the pudding. If your guests thought it was a spectacular sight and they want to see it again, simply collect the brandy from the pudding plate and do it again. The brandy will ignite multiple times!
Enjoy!
