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Christmas Plum Pudding
Shred finely half a pound of beef suet with a little flour to prevent it sticking; add a pinch of salt, a quarter of a pound of stoned raisins, a quarter of a pound of sultanas, half a pound of currants, half a pound of bread crumbs, 2 ounces of flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, 6 sweet and 6 bitter almonds, blanched and shred finely, half a nutmeg grated, 2 ounces of candied lemon and citron, and the rind of half a lemon finely chopped. Mix thoroughly, then add 4 well-beaten eggs and a wineglassful of brandy. Let these stand for five or six hours, then add a cupful of milk, and boil for three hours. Sufficient for four or five persons.
This is a conventional Victorian boiled plum pudding in every respect but one: it calls for bitter almonds, which are not a food ingredient in the modern sense and are not sold for eating in most countries.
- Bitter almonds are the problemBitter almonds (the kernels of Prunus dulcis var. amara) contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the kernel is crushed, chewed or wetted. Six shredded kernels standing in a wet mixture for five or six hours is exactly the condition that liberates it. Sale of raw bitter almonds for consumption is prohibited or restricted in the US, UK and EU for this reason.
- Boiling does not make them safeBoiling may not make them safe -- hydrogen cyanide is volatile and prolonged heat drives some of it off, but how much survives cooking in a home kitchen is not predictable. Use a current plum pudding recipe instead of adjusting this one.
- Why the book asked for themBitter almonds were a common source of almond flavour before commercial extract was widely available. This recipe treats six of them as a seasoning, like a pinch of spice, with no sense that they carry a dose.
- The stated yield is wrong by modern reckoningThe stated yield is low by modern reckoning -- The mixture runs to well over two pounds before the eggs and milk are added, so the book's 'four or five persons' implies considerably larger helpings than a modern cook would serve.
- Archaic measures in the textA wineglassful is about 2 fluid ounces, or a quarter cup. Suet here means raw beef kidney fat, shredded rather than rendered; flour is dusted on only to keep the shreds separate.
- "Boil for three hours"This means a pudding tied in a floured cloth or packed into a greased basin and lowered into water kept at a steady boil, with water topped up as it falls; it is not a suggestion that the batter goes loose into the pot.
Boiled plum pudding descends from medieval and early modern plum pottage, a thick spiced broth of meat, dried fruit and breadcrumbs eaten at the start of a feast; as the meat dropped away and the suet and eggs stayed, the dish stiffened into something that could be tied in a cloth and boiled. "Plum" kept its older sense of a raisin or dried fruit generally, which is why this version contains raisins, sultanas and currants but no plums. Its fixed association with Christmas is usually traced to the nineteenth century, helped along by Victorian domestic writing and by Dickens.