Recipe for "xmas-pudding"

NAME

     XMAS-PUDDING - 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 spe-
     cial 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.

INGREDIENTS (Makes two puddings)

     300 g     flour (unbleached)
     200 g     suet (see note below)
     200 g     brown sugar
     120 g     bread crumbs
     350 g     raisins
     350 g     sultanas (or golden raisins)
     100 g     currants
     250 ml    brandy (or orange juice, or a mixture of both)
     15 ml     golden (cane) syrup
     5         eggs
     2.5 ml    baking soda
     15 ml     milk

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Combine the suet, flour, sugar, breadcrumbs, fruit
               and brandy.
          (2)  Cover, and allow to stand overnight.
          (3)  Add the syrup and beaten eggs.
          (4)  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.)
          (5)  Place in two 1.5  l  pudding  basins,  cover  with
               paper  and  several  layers of aluminium foil, and
               steam for 4 hours.
          (6)  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).

NOTES

     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.
     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% 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 sur-
     face.  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 75 ml of brandy in  a  sau-
     cepan.  Light it, then pour over the pudding and carry it to
     the table.

RATING

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

CONTRIBUTOR

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