Recipe: NANA MOONS CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Title: NANA MOON'S CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Categories: Puddings, Christmas, Usenet
Yield: 2 puddings

3 C Flour (unbleached) 1 C Brandy
1/2 lb Suet (see note) -(or orange juice,
1 C Brown sugar -or a mixture of both)
1 C Bread crumbs 1 T Golden (cane) syrup
3/4 lb Raisins 5 Eggs
3/4 lb Sultanas 1/2 t Baking soda
-(or golden raisins) 1 T Milk
1/4 lb Currants

Combine the suet, flour, sugar, bread crumbs, fruit and brandy. Cover and
allow to stand overnight.

Add the syrup and beaten eggs. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk, and
add to mixture. Stir until everything's combined. (The mixture will be
fairly thick. My mother used to get help at this stage by telling us that
if we stirred it three times and made a wish, the wish would come true.
This only works with Christmas puddings.)

Place in two 1 1/2 quart pudding basins, cover with paper and several
layers of aluminum foil, and steam for 4 hours.

When you're going to eat it, steam it for a further 2 hours. Serve by
turning it out of the bowl, and pouring flaming brandy over it (see below).
Serve with brandy butter (hard brandy sauce).

This pudding needs time to age between when you cook it and Christmas. My
mother generally makes it about a month before. Keep it in the
refrigerator until the day you will be eating it.

Each pudding will serve about 8-10 people. If you halve the recipe, use 3
eggs. You can also add cherries, figs, almonds and so on when you're
adding the fruit.

NOTES:

* Old-fashioned Christmas boiled pudding -- This recipe was first written
down by my great-grandmother. It's an old-fashioned boiled pudding, and
was always a special part of Christmas in my family. Nana Moon's family
came from Sofala, the site of the 1851 gold rush in New South Wales,
Australia, where they raised sheep (before the gold rush). It's probably
based on an English recipe.

This recipe differs from others I've seen in that it uses no spices, just
dried fruit and brandy. Perhaps spices were too difficult to get, it
tastes great anyway. Makes two puddings.

* The suet can be replaced with some other form of shortening. The
packaged suet we used to be able to get in Australia was only about 35
percent suet, the rest was cornflour (cornstarch). Avoid that at all costs.
For a few years, we bought suet from the butcher and grated it ourselves
(ok, we used a blender), but no one should have to do that (at least, not
during an Australian summer).

* If you decide to go for authenticity and use a pudding bag, here's how:

Get a large piece of calico (it must have a tight weave), and boil it for a
few minutes. Rub flour into the inner surface. Place 1/2 the mixture on
it, and bring the corners together, leaving room for the mixture to rise.
Tie with string. Cook by immersing in boiling water, when you add extra
water, it must be already boiling, or the pudding will get soggy. The
pudding will be rounder, and have a better crust than one steamed in a
pudding bowl. A good crust means that the brandy won't soak in when you
light it, so it'll burn for longer. Age the pudding by hanging it in a
cool, dry place. The problem with using a pudding bag is that it tends to
grow mold if the climate is too humid.

* To light the pudding, heat about 1/4 cup of brandy in a saucepan. Light
it, then pour over the pudding and carry it to the table.

: Difficulty: moderate.
: Time: 1 day waiting, 30 minutes preparation, 4 hours cooking, 1 month
aging.
: Precision: approximate measurement OK.

: Kathy Morris
: Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., USA
: sun!navajo!morris morris@navajo.stanford.edu

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