CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING, a recipe the origins of which are lost in the mists of time ...

( In mezzo minuto la signora Cratchit entrò  - arrossita in volto, ma sorridendo con orgoglio - con il Pudding, che sembrava una palla di cannone macchiettata, così dura e ferma, sfolgorante nella metà della metà di un quarto di brandy acceso, e adornato con l'agrifoglio di Natale infisso in cima. )

Ingredienti per 6-8 persone - il peso è indicato in once ( 1 oncia equivale a poco meno di 30 grammi, per l’esattezza sono 28,35 gr) ho pensato di riportare perciò anche il peso in grammi:

3 once = 90 gr farina
3 once = 90 gr briciole di pane grattugiato
6 once = 180 gr burro 
6 once = 180 gr uvetta
6 once = 180 gr ribes
2 once = 180 gr canditi
4 once = 120 gr mela grattugiata
5 once = 150 gr zucchero grezzo
½ cucchiaino di noce moscata grattugiata
½ cucchiaino di cannella grattugiata
un piccolo bicchiere di brandy 
3 uova medie
un pizzico di sale

Mrs Acton, dopo aver suggerito di mescolare gli ingredienti ben triturati, indica due tecniche di cottura, anche se sarà la prima ad andare, negli anni a venire, per la maggiore:

PRIMA TECNICA di COTTURA -  Il fagotto con il panno. 
Il budino diventa molto più leggero quando bollito in un panno: deve essere ben impastato e messo in acqua immediatamente dopo averlo legato bene. Il panno deve essere umido (cioè scottato in acqua) e ben infarinato.

Mescolare e impastare tutti gli ingredienti insieme, metterli nel panno trattato come indicato sopra, spingere con un cucchiaio di legno attraverso le anse del panno e sospendere il fagotto su una pentola piena di acqua bollente. Appena l’acqua torna a bollire, abbassate il fuoco un po’, e chiudere con un coperchio. Far bollire il Pudding per 3 ore e mezza. Il fagotto si lascia sospeso ad un gancio per qualche settimana per migliorare il sapore. Prima di servirlo bisogna riscaldarlo per un paio d’ore sempre rimettendolo a bollire nell’acqua. Scartare il budino su un piatto caldo e infornare a temperatura media per 10 minuti in modo da formare una pellicina scura.

SECONDA TECNICA di COTTURA lo stampo. Imburrare bene lo stampo. Versare l’impasto a riempire quasi fino in cima. Chiudere con un cerchio di carta da cucina imburrata. Legare un panno pulito sopra, con una piega in modo che il budino possa espandersi. Cuocere a bagnomaria per 3 ore e mezza in una pentola con l’acqua che arriva a tre quarti del bordo dello stampo. Ogni tanto aggiungere altra acqua calda in modo che il livello resti costante. Dopo 3 ore e mezza, quando è pronto, lasciate riposare il Pudding nel suo stampo per cinque minuti prima di sformarlo (il riposo serve per evitare che si rompa). Il Pudding si può conservare per molti giorni sotto un panno pulito. Prima di servirlo in tavola riscaldarlo per altre 2 ore. 

Per il flambè, scaldare il brandy prima di versarlo sopra il budino e dargli fuoco.

Mrs Beeton, nell'edizione del 1890 del suo famoso Mrs Beeton's Family Cookery indica ben cinque tipi diversi di Christmas Puddings, ma qui, per non cadere nella leziosità, preferisco indicarvi quello che ella stessa indica come tradizionale, ovvero il primo la cui dose scrive:

Mrs Beeton's Traditional Christmas Plum Pudding 

Per 2 Christmas puddings

( anche qui ho operato la conversione in grammi )

 

Controllare gli ingredienti per la ricetta nella dispensa prima di pensare ad acquistarli ed ungere 2 bacinelle.

8 oz = Kg 3,6 zucchero umido (utilizzare quello morbido grezzo)
8 oz = Kg 3,6 sugna tritata o equivalente moderno
8 oz = Kg 3,6 uvetta sultanina pulita
8 oz = Kg 3,6 uva passa denocciolata e dimezzata (vedi nota *)
4 oz = Kg 1,8 ribes lavati e asciugati
4 oz = Kg 1,8 canditi misti triturati 
4 oz = Kg 1,8 farina bianca
4 oz = Kg 1,8 pangrattato
2 oz = gr 900 mandorle pelate e triturate
la scorza grattugiata di un limone 1
3 uova
un cucchiaino di noce moscata grattugiata
mezzo cucchiaino di sale
1/4 di litro di latte
1 piccolo bicchierino colmo di acquavite (facoltativo)
Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti secchi insieme, aggiungete le uova ben battute, il latte e l'acquavite (se utilizzata).

Suddividere il composto in 2 bacinelle ben unte, e cuocere a vapore da 5 a 6 ore.

Tempo: 5 - 6 ore.

Sufficiente per 8 o 9 persone.


N.B. Si prega di notare che nessun agente lievitante è menzionato in questa ricetta, ed anche la farina deve essere semplice farina di grano, poiché, qualora serva la farina auto-lievitante, ne è fatta specifica menzione se deve essere utilizzata. 5



E se con le parole vergate da Charles Dickens ho cominciato questo post, sempre con lui mi piace salutarvi, citando dal medesimo romanzo natalizio che tanto successo ebbe al suo tempo e tanto ancor'oggi ne vanta: 

Evviva ! Una grande quantità di vapore !

Il budino era fuori del pentolone. 

Un odore come nei giorni di bucato ! 

Era il panno. 

Un odore come di una trattoria ed una pasticceria 

situate a due porte l'una accanto all'altra, 

con la porta di una lavandaia prossima ad entrambe ! 

Era il Pudding !

A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens, 1843 6

Riproduzione di una cartolina natalizia vittoriana

Vediamo infine insieme come procedono i preparativi natalizi nella nostra Victorian Farm ... ( per vedere il secondo episodio del video della BBC far scorrere la pagina fino al fondo della parte tradotta in inglese )

E perciò, giunti al momento del congedo, vi saluto tutti tanto, tanto caramente e vi do appuntamento alla sera della Vigilia di Natale con una sorpresa ... e l'ultimo episodio di questi incantevoli filmati.

A presto ♥

Bibliografia: 

Mrs Beeton,  Mrs Beeton's Family Cookery, edizione del 1923;

Andrea  L.Broomfield, Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History (Victorian Life and Times), riedizione dal 1707, Praeger - Westport CT, 2007;

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, riedizione dal 1843, CRW Publishing Limited, London, 2012;

Charles Dickens, Household Words, rivista settimanale del 1882, vol. 2;

Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery made plain and easy, edizione del 1805.




Citazioni:

1 - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, riedizione dal 1843, CRW Publishing Limited, London, 2012, pag. 80; 

2 - Andrea  L.Broomfield, Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History (Victorian Life and Times), riedizione dal 1707, Praeger - Westport CT, 2007, pag. 150;

3 - Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery made plain and easy, edizione del 1805, pag. 106;

4 - Charles Dickens, Household Words, rivista settimanale del 1882, vol. 2; 

5 - Mrs Beeton,  Mrs Beeton's Family Cookery, edizione del 1923, pag. 494;

6 -  Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, op. cit., pag. 80.

When I think of the Christmas Pudding,

it's immediate for me to recall that step of the 

Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

which presents us the humble Cratchit family which,

even in a climate of extreme modesty,

celebrates its best Christmas:

- picture 1 

In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered — flushed, but 

smiling proudly — with the pudding, like a speckled 

cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half

a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with 

Christmas holly stuck into the top.

A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens, 1843 1 

And in fact I think for most of us it is deemed a recipe belonging to the Christmas traditions dating back to the XIXth century or shortly before ... you have to know that, actually, the origin of this dish is literally lost in time ...  it dates back nothing less than to the Middle Age time !

"The plum pudding's association with Christmas takes us back to medieval England and the Roman Catholic Church's decree that the 'pudding should be made on the twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity, that it be prepared with thirteen ingredients to represent Christ and the twelve apostles, and that that every family member stir it in turn from east to west to honor the Magi and their supposed journey in that direction.'2

The Christmas Pudding stems from a porridge dating back to the XIVth century called 'frumenty' which was made with mutton and beef with the addition of currants, plums, spices and wine and that, due to the ingredients that made it up, amongst which flesh excelled, was brought to the table at the beginning of the Christmas Lunch.

By the end of 1500 has slowly turned into a Plum Pudding as soon as cooks began to add breadcrumbs, suet and eggs to bind and thicken ingredients best; to make it more tasty they also added some beer or spirits.

The Plum Pudding has become the Christmas dessert par excellence around 1650, but already in 1664 the Puritans banned its production and its consumption, identifying it as an 'obscene custom' because its richness in ingredients' would not be in keeping by the God-fearing people', probably to eat it meant committing the sin of gluttony !

In 1714, King George I of Hanover, custom obscene or not, on his arrival in England, wanted to introduce it back amongst traditions and reinstate it as the qualifying dish of the Christmas meal; from the Victorian era, the Christmas Pudding changed again in its ingredients to become something similar to what you eat today.

- picture 2 on the right - This is the 1714 recipe for King George I’s 9lb (!) Christmas pudding also called THE KING'S PUDDING

1 lb of eggs

1 ½ lb of shredded suet

1 lb raisins

1 lb dried plums

1lb mixed peel

1 lb of currants

1 lb sultanas

1 lb flour

1 lb sugar

1 lb breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon mixed spice

½ grated nutmeg

½ pint of milk

½ teaspoon of salt

the juice of a lemon

a large glass of brandy.

Let stand for 12 hours, then boil for 8 hours and boil again on Christmas Day for 2 hours.

But let's leaf through a recipe-book which in its time had a great success: it was written by Hannah Glasse and was  entitled The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, dated 1747, and was a 'bestseller', we would say today, for over a hundred years and which shows how, with time, this traditional dish has become increasingly enriched by new variants:

A boiled Plum Pudding ( 1747 )

Take a pound of suet cut in little pieces not too fine a pound of currants and a pound of raifins storied eight eggs half the whites half a nutmeg grated and a tea spoonful of beaten ginger a pound of flour a pint of milk beat the eggs first then half the milk beat them together and by degrees stir in the flour then the suet spice and fruit and as much milk as will mix it well together very thick.

Boil it five hours. 3

Modern Cookery for Private Families is a recipe book of Eliza Acton (1799-1859) written in English, published by Longmans in 1845, and reprinted in 13 editions from 1845 to 1853, and only Mrs Beaton's ones could withdraw its sales, later; it was one of the first cookbooks to provide lists of ingredients, exact amounts of them and detailed cooking times, but what we are most interested in is to note that in its first edition it was the first book ever where we can find the recipe for the Christmas Pudding.

Ingredients for 6-8 people - the weight is indicated in ounces doing a conversion (1 ounces amounts to little less than 30 grams, to be exact are 28,35 gr) have also reported the weight in grams

- picture 3 on the right - 

3 oz = 90 gr flour

3 oz = 90 gr breadcrumbs grated 

6 oz = 180 gr grated suet  or butter

6 oz = 180 gr raisins

6 oz = 180 gr currant 

2 oz = 180 gr candied 

4 oz = 120 gr grated apple 

5 oz = 150 gr sugar cane

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon of cinnamon grated

a small glass of brandy

3 medium eggs

a pinch of salt

Mrs. Acton, after suggesting to mix all the ingredients together after having shredded them very well, indicates two techniques of cooking, although it will be the first to go, during the years to come, for the major:

FIRST COOKING TECHNIQUE - the bundle with the cloth. The pudding becomes much lighter when boiled in a cloth: the ingredients should be well mixed and put into the water immediately after having tied it well. The cloth should be moist (ie cooked in water) and well floured.

Mix and knead all the ingredients together, put them in the cloth treated as written above, push with a wooden spoon through the bends of the bundle of cloth and suspend it in a pot of boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, lower the heat a bit, and close with a lid. Boil the pudding for 3 hours and a half. The bundle has to be left suspended from a hook for a few weeks to improve the taste. Before serving you have to warm it up for another couple of hours putting it back in the water to boil. Discard the pudding on a hot plate and bake at medium heat for 10 minutes to form a dark skin.

SECOND COOKING TECHNIQUE - the mold. Grease the mold well. Pour the batter to fill almost to the top. Cover with a circle of paper buttered - (N.d.A. Today we have the Kitchen paper ! ). Tie a clean cloth above, with a fold so that the pudding can expand. Bake in a water bath for 3 hours and a half in a pot with the water coming till three quarters of the edge of the mold. Every now and then add more hot water so that its level remains constant. When it will be ready, let stand the Pudding in its mold for five minutes before throw it down (the rest is used to avoid its breakage). The pudding can be stored for several days under a clean cloth. Before serving heat for 2 more hours.

For the flambé, warm the brandy before pouring it over the pudding and set it on fire.

- picture 4

In December 1860, among the pages of The Godey's Lady's Book, already well known to us, it appeared this recipe that I want to let you read:

Rich Plum Pudding Recipe, ( December 1860 )

Stone carefully one pound of the best raisins, wash and pick one pound of currants, chop very small one pound of fresh beef suet, blanch and chop small or pound two ounces of sweet almonds and one ounce of bitter ones; mix the whole well together, with one pound of sifted flour, and the same weight of crumb of bread soaked in milk, then squeezed dry and stirred with a spoon until reduced to a mash, before it is mixed with the flour.

Cut in small pieces two ounces each of preserved citron, orange, and lemon-peel, and add a quarter of an ounce of mixed spice; quarter of a pound of moist sugar should be put into a basin, with eight eggs, and well beaten together with a three-pronged fork; stir this with the pudding, and make it of a proper consistence with milk. Remember that it must not be made too thin, or the fruit will sink to the bottom, but be made to the consistence of good thick batter.

Two wineglassfuls of brandy should be poured over the fruit and spice, mixed together in a basin, and allowed to stand three or four hours before the pudding is made, stirring them occasionally. It must be tied in a cloth, and will take five hours of constant boiling.

When done, turn it out on a dish, sift loaf-sugar over the top, and serve it with wine-sauce in a boat, and some poured round the pudding. The pudding will be of considerable size, but half the quantity of materials, used in the same proportion, will be equally good.

- picture 5

During the Regency and Victorian age, also, the Plum Pudding was known for the silver coins and small items hidden inside it that had to be found from one of the diners. Common items were the silver coin for wealth, a small quadrangle for good luck, a silver thimble for thrift, a ring for marriage, or even an anchor as a wish for landing to a safe 'harbor'. These elements, I do not know why, over the time have 'migrated' from the Christmas Pudding to the cakes for stag.

Charles Dickens wrote in 1882 in one of his newspaper articles:

The secret of making plum pudding light and digestible lies in properly preparing the suet, mincing the currants, and boiling a sufficient time. Puddings made with breadcrumbs are lighter than those made wholly of flour; and a mixture of the two makes the best pudding. Plum puddings may be made some time before Christmas, and, having been boiled, the cloth must be opened out, but not taken off the pudding, and dried. Wrapped in paper, and stored in a dry place, puddings will keep good for several months, and only require to be boiled for an hour at the time of serving. 4

Mrs Beeton, inside the 1890 edition of her famous book Mrs. Beeton's Family Cookery, indicates five different types of Christmas Puddings, but here, for not falling into affectation, I prefer to write only one of them, what she herself shows as traditional, which is the first she writes :

Mrs Beeton's Traditional Christmas Plum Pudding 

Makes 2 Christmas puddings

- picture 6



Check recipe for shopping/store cupboard purposes and grease 2 basins.

8 oz moist sugar (use soft brown )
8 oz chopped suet or modern day equivalent
8 oz sultanas cleaned
8 oz raisins halved and stoned (see footnote*)
4 oz currants washed and dried
4 oz shredded mixed candied peel - Cut your own or use ready cut
4 oz of plain flour
4 oz breadcrumbs
2 oz almonds blanched and shredded
the grated rind of a 1 lemon
3 eggs
a salt spoonful of  nutmeg grated
half a teaspoon of salt
quarter pint of milk
1 small wineglassful of brandy (optional)
Mix all the dry ingredients together, stir in the well beaten eggs, milk and brandy (if used).

Turn the mixture into 2 well greased basins, and steam from 5 to 6 hours.

Time 5 to 6 hours.

Sufficient for 8 or 9 persons.

N.B. Please note that no raising agent is mentioned in this recipe, but the flour must be plain flour, as elsewhere self raising flour is mentioned by type when used. 5

And if with the words penned by Charles Dickens I started this post, always with him I like to greet you, quoting from the same Christmas novel that had so much success in his time and even today it boasts:

Hallo! A great deal of steam!

 The pudding was out of the copper. 

A smell like a washing-day! 

That was the cloth. 

A smell like an eating-house and a pastry-cook’s 

next door to each other, 

with a laundress’s next door to that!

 That was the pudding!

A Christmas Carol ~ Charles Dickens, 1843, 6

- picture 7 - Reproduction of a Victorian Christmas card

Finally let's watch together how Christmas preparations goes on in our Victorian Farm ...