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English Plum Pudding
1 pound seeded raisins 1 pound currants 1/2 pound citron 1/2 pound lemon peel 1/2 pound orange peal 1 quart fine bread crumbs 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon cloves 1 pound suet, chopped very fine 2 cups light brown sugar 8 eggs, well beaten 1 cup milk Pick over and wash the raisins and currants. Cut the citron, lemon and orange peel into thin pieces. Mix the dry ingredients together and add the suet, sugar and fruit. Mix in the eggs and milk, beating well, and pour into three quart bowls. Steam for 10 to 12 hours. Long steaming greatly adds to the quality of this pudding.
A full-sized Victorian-style boiled pudding, scaled for a household that expected to give some away. The mixture is heavy, so the vessels must be well greased and the water kept simmering the whole time.
- The hinge: keep the water topped upOver ten hours the pot will boil dry unless you add boiling water regularly. Set the bowls on a rack or folded cloth so they do not sit on the pan bottom, cover each with pleated parchment and foil tied down, and keep the water at a steady simmer at roughly the halfway point up the bowls.
- "Three quart bowls" is ambiguousThe line can be read as three one-quart bowls or as three-quart bowls. The batter here comes to roughly 5 to 6 quarts of raw mixture, which rules out one-quart bowls; plan on three vessels of about 3 quarts each, filled no more than three-quarters full to allow rise.
- SuetThis means raw beef suet, the hard fat from around the kidneys. Butchers will still supply it and shredded packaged suet is sold for baking; grate it while very cold. Vegetable shortening works but gives a softer, less crumbly crumb.
- Citron and candied peelCandied citron is a thick-skinned citrus preserve, not lemon. If you cannot find it, use additional candied orange and lemon peel rather than dried fruit, or the sugar balance shifts.
- A quart of fine bread crumbsAbout 4 cups of crumbs from stale white bread. Fresh soft crumbs pack differently and will make the pudding wetter.
- Steaming timeTen to twelve hours is not an error; long, gentle steaming darkens the pudding and melts the fruit into the crumb. A pressure cooker will cook it through in a fraction of the time but produces a paler, less mellow result.
- Yield and keepingThe batch makes roughly 8 to 10 pounds of pudding, enough for well over twenty servings. Cooled and rewrapped in fresh parchment, the puddings keep for months in a cool place and are reheated by steaming 1 to 2 hours before serving.
- ServingTurn out hot and serve with hard sauce, brandy butter or a warm custard. If you flame it, warm the brandy first in a small pan; cold spirit poured over will not light.