MRS BEATON'S OLD-TIME RECIPE FOR CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING:
Too late for this year, you can start now for next! :-)
Adapted from Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1865), a compendium of the quintessential dishes of Victorian England.
Ingredients
340 gr (12 oz) raisins
230 gr (8 oz) currants
230 gr (8 oz) mixed peel
170 gr (6 oz) bread crumbs
170 gr (6 oz) suet
4 eggs
1/2 wineglassful of brandy
Method
1. Stone and cut the raisins in halves, but do not chop them
2. Wash, pick, and dry the currants, and mince the suet finely
3. Cut the candied peel into thin slices, and grate down the bread into fine crumbs
4. When all these dry ingredients are prepared, mix them well together
5. Moisten the mixture with the eggs, which should be well beaten, and the brandy
6. Stir well, that everything may be very thoroughly blended, and press the pudding into a buttered mould
7. Tie it down tightly with a floured cloth
8. Boil for 5 or 6 hours. It may be boiled in a cloth without a mould, and will require the same time allowed for cooking.
9. When the pudding is taken out of the pot, hang it up immediately by a hook, and put a plate or saucer underneath to catch the water that will drain from it. Leave it to dry out until Christmas Day.
5 comments:
Janet - Thanks for reminding me of this terrific story! And the recipe looks delicious :-).
What a good collection of covers. Merry Christmas Janet
No flour in the recipe?
Kerrie, in the original 1865 recipe, there doesn't seem to be flour. In the 1923 Mrs Beeton's recipe there is flour.. and lots of other things..http://www.fashion-era.com/Christmas/christmas_food_beeton_pudding_recipe.htm
Just one thing about the surname: It is BEETON not Beaton.
This is a very common error.
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