Well, it's not so much what's for dinner, but what's for dessert at Christmas dinner and/or for New Year's Day: I like it so much it's served both times, flaming with a brandy butter on the side.
I had intended to make this diary longer and include German holiday cookies, however I have been rather ill for the past couple of days and have had to pare down my efforts. Nothing serious, just a winter cold with a nagging fever. So I apologize for the brevity.
Follow me over the break for a look at English steamed puddings....
Steamed puddings of the kind we generally call "Plum" or "Christmas" puddings are quite ancient, though what we eat today mostly came to its adulthood in Victorian England and Ireland. In fact, the recipe I use is adapted from one which comes from my great-grandmother, who got it from her grandmother. Wikipedia has an excellent article on the history of steamed puddings HERE and so I will spare us a long history lesson. Suffice it to say, plums are often not a part of Christmas or Plum pudding, though some recipies I have seen call for them along with other dried fruits.
Traditionally, the pudding is begun on the Sunday before Advent--called "stir up" Sunday after the collect or opening prayer for that Sunday in the Book of Common Prayer: "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful peoples..." The tradition is that each member of the family should give the pudding a stir, and make a wish upon it. Some people start their pudding earlier than that--I have been known to start mine before Thanksgiving and even to keep some over for the next year, resulting in a truly rich, deep flavor when steamed the following holiday season.
The puddings can be steamed in a bowl or simply wrapped in cheesecloth and lowered into simmering water. I use a bowl, which results in a shape which is easy to serve. A very little of this dessert goes a long way.
Brandy butter, a mixture of butter and confectioners' sugar whipped together with brandy or rum (or better, some of both) accompanies it. To those of us with some British heritage, nothing quite says "Christmas" like this dessert. So, here follows an excellent recipe for Christmas Pudding. I never follow it exactly, nor should you....
Nan's Christmas Pudding
About 3/4 cup of flour
two generous pinches of salt
pinch or two of baking powder
about 1 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg
pinch of allspice or cloves
1 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/3 lb of beef suet, chopped fine
1/4 cup of milk, half a bottle of Stout and two eggs, beaten together
about 3-4 cups of currents, raisins, candied or fresh peel of lemon and orange, and/or other dried fruits such as chopped prunes or dates which have been all mixed together with enough flour to coat (this is to prevent them from all sinking to the bottom)
a handful of breadcrums
brandy and rum
Combine the dry ingredients except bread crumbs in one bowl and the suet and wet ingredients in another. Mix both well. Add fruit to dry ingredients and mix, then stir in the wet ingredients. Make sure to let everyone around give it a good stir! Add a couple of ounces each of brandy and rum and mix well. Add enough breadcrumbs to make it rather stiff at the end. Set this aside in a cool place (for us it was always the cellar steps where many dry goods were kept, but it could be an enclosed porch (if it will not freeze) or the refrigerator, not in the coldest part though. Do this just after Thanksgiving. Once a week, stir in more brandy and rum and 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of Guinness Stout (my great grandmother always said half a bottle for the pudding, half for the cook but I find the cook should get the better part of the bottle, the pudding the lesser). The pudding will get quite dark. Don't worry, this is what you want. It will also dry considerably even with the addition of more liquid.
The week before Christmas, place some in several small bowls (holding I would say about two cups each) and do not add any guinness but do add brandy and rum. Cover with a piece of waxed paper pressed down hard on the surface and them tie over several layers of cheesecloth or some muslin. Tie this tight with a string. Put back in your cool place. On the day of serving, place in a bain marie or other pot with enough simmering water to come up to within an inch or so of the top of the bowl. Steam the pudding for about two to three hours, taking care to replace water with boiling water as the pudding steams. Don't let the water in the bain maire do more than simmer, though, or you'll have a very wet pudding indeed!
When done, allow to rest for about twenty minutes. Turn out of bowl upside down on serving platter. Douse with brandy or 151 proof rum which has been heated gently. Garnish with some holly, if you like, and light the pudding afire just as it is being brought to the table. Serve very small slices (this is a rich dessert) with brandy butter.
I hope you enjoy this recipe: I have been making it for years. Also, feel free to experiment with it--as I said above, I never make it exactly the same way twice and don't do much measuring (I have gotten to know what "handful" means in this recipe and only can approximate the measurments here).
I wish you all the very best of holidays and look forward to seeing all of you in "What's For Dinner" in the coming year! Peace to all.