Christmas Pudding

 There’s something magical about lighting your food on fire at the table. Maybe that’s why Christmas pudding has become a favourite tradition.

Paul’s mom always made the Christmas “pud” and the day the puddings were made, always seemed full of hustle and bustle. We would arrive to find the puddings simmering on the stove, the smell of cinnamon filling the air. It wasn’t until after she passed away that we realized we had no idea how she did it.

As I lamented the fact that we had no way to continue this tradition because it had been Marilyn’s thing, my mom unexpectedly and quite fortuitously came to the rescue. Since mom loves Christmas pudding, she had asked Marilyn for the recipe years earlier and had it filed away.

The pudding pot I inherited from Marilyn.

The first year I made it, it came as a big surprise to me that making the Christmas pudding was actually very easy to make. A bit of shredding and mixing, and the puddings are ready to go. 

I also inherited some vintage pudding basins.

Paul is in charge of the hard sauce. He likes to wing it so the recipe below is a best estimate. It’s rum, butter and brown sugar. Kind of hard to go wrong.

There are a couple of things to know. When you heat the rum to pour over the pud, don’t heat it in the microwave. All the alcohol will evaporate. Gently warm it on the stove. Traditionally, the booze was heated in special ladle, over a flame. We just use a small pot on the stove.

The second thing is that you should wash the raisins and currants. My grandma used to wash her raisins by soaking them in boiling water, draining, and then laying them out on a towel and patting dry. I always do this with raisins so that you don’t get shriveled little chunks that look like mouse droppings - instead you get plump juicy fruit.

Thirdly, when using butter in a recipe like this, grate it with a grater - like cheese for pizza. It will blend in much nicer.

Finally, if you crumple the parchment paper and wet it, it will be much easier to wrap over the bowl.

 
Christmas Pudding
 

Grate everything before you start mixing.
I used 2 apples, 1 large carrot and 3 small potatoes.

1 cup EACH grated carrot, apple, potato
1 cup raisins, washed and dried
1 cup currants, washed and dried
1/2 cup butter (grated)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1 1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg

 

Sift all dry ingredients into a mixture of the other ingredients.

Stir until combined.

Spoon into greased heatproof bowls or molds, filled 1/2 to 3/4 full.

Cover surface of pudding with circle of greased parchment paper.

Cover bowl with parchment paper circle, that you have wetted.

 

Tie with string, wrapping string around bowl 2 times.

Place bowl on rack in large pot. 

This pot is specifically for pudding, with rack and little pressure valve on the lid.

(alternatively, fold a strip of foil into thin strip then coil to make a “stand” for the bottom of the bowl)

Pour boiling water into the pot, about halfway up the side of the bowl.
 

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Then cover pot and reduce heat to medium low.  Simmer for 3 hours.

Keep checking on the water level, adding boiling water as necessary.

Let pudding cool then refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

To reheat pudding, steam for 1 to 2 hours until heated through.

Unmold onto a large HEATPROOF plate.

Pour warmed rum over surface of pudding, dim room lights and light pudding with match.
Say “ooooh”. Serve with sauce.

Pudding Rum Sauce
In a small saucepan combine
1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/3 - 1/2 cup rum

Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly.
Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Serve warm.