Christmas Pudding: Tips & Techniques

[bkeith]

I am working on Julia Child’s “A Glorious Plum Pudding For Christmas” from The Way to Cook. I think I have the steamed pudding part down pat now. 

I snuck some plums into this no-plum plum pudding by substituting them for black raisins (she calls for 1 cup each of black raisins,  yellow raisins and currants).  Otherwise I did as told, well almost. I used Panko crumbs instead of homemade white bread crumbs. And I added some cardamom. Yum. 

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As I recall, at the time plum pudding got its name, the word "plum" was a general reference a to piece of dried fruit. Much like "corn" referred to a chunk of something (corned beef has nothing to do with the grain; rather it was preserved using little chunks or "corns" of salt).

So plum pudding probably doesn't require plums at all -- just raisins and currants. Sounds like a delicious substitution, though.

[Terrasanct]

We didn't use any alcohol in our cooking, so the hard sauce and vanilla sauce that went with our plum pudding weren't alcoholic at all. My grandmother called the sauces "soap" and "paste" because the one looked like soft soap to her and the other like wallpaper paste. Presumably they tasted much better, but as kids we loved asking for soap and paste on our plum pudding!

Also according to our family cookbook, it was called plum pudding because it was "plum full of good things."

HARD SAUCE (soap)

1-cup confectioners sugar

2 to 4 Tbsp. butter

Pinch salt

1 tsp. vanilla, lemon juice or rum flavoring

Sift confectioner’s sugar. Beat butter until soft. Beat ingredients until well blended and fluffy. Add salt and flavoring. If desired, you may add 1 well-beaten egg or 1/4 cup cream. Grandma served spoonfuls of this over steamed pudding or apple crisp.

VANILLA SAUCE (paste)

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 cup water

3 Tbsp. butter

pinch salt

1 to 2 tsp. vanilla or rum flavoring

Combine sugar, cornstarch and water in pan and cook over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and add butter, salt and flavoring.

[nibor]

This is my first baking venture after being away for a year. I came home to an empty house and pantry, and thought, Great!, who needed all that stuff anyway. Well, I did. So off to the store to get cornstarch for my paste, and confectioners sugar for my soap. The names are great.

Bkeith and Terrasanct, thanks for the differing notes on why a pudding would be called plum. I was afraid that my first steamed pudding attempt was going to go "plum" into the garbage, but it turned out really well. I don't celebrate Christmas personally, but was invited to a Christmas dinner this year, and wanted to do something traditional. It would have helped to have had some idea of where I was headed with this, but as usual Julia is a great place to start.

[Terrasanct]

I think the other reason for the name of plum pudding is more accurate, but I always like the family story explanations. They're more fun.

I haven't tried the "paste" and "soap" for years, so I hope they're okay. I remember the plum pudding as being really good. I should probably post that recipe, too. I'm not sure where it's from originally, but my family used the same recipe for a long time.

This is cut and pasted from my family cookbook at http://www.maystar.org/Cookbook/Holidays.htm I haven't made this myself, so use at your own risk.

GRANDMA MILLECAM’S PLUM PUDDING WITH 'SOAP' & 'PASTE':

This recipe makes 1 pudding

(This was called plum pudding, not because it contains plums, but because it is 'plum full' of good things.

3/4 cup Crisco

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup grated potatoes

1 cup grated carrots

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups raisins

candied peel

2 cups currants

Wash, peel and grate carrots and potatoes. Cream together Crisco and brown sugar. Mix well. Sift flour. Reserve about 1/2 cup to sprinkle over raisins, candied peel and currants.

Sift remainder of flour with baking soda and spices and add gradually to wet mixture. Stir in raisins, candied peel and currants.

Pour batter into greased gallon mold or coffee can with lid. Can or mold should only be two-thirds full. Place on rack in heavy kettle over 1 inch of boiling water. Cover kettle closely. Use high heat at first, then as steam begins to escape, turn to low heat for rest of cooking. Steam for 5 hours. Don’t let pan run out of water.

Grandpa Millecam was the one who named the sauces. Vanilla sauce was called 'paste' because it looks like wallpaper paste and hard sauce looks like soft soap.

[nibor]

I think the other reason for the name of plum pudding is more accurate, but I always like the family story explanations.  They're more fun.

I haven't tried the "paste" and "soap" for years, so I hope they're okay.  I remember the plum pudding as being really good.  I should probably post that recipe, too.  I'm not sure where it's from originally, but my family used the same recipe for a long time.

This is cut and pasted from my family cookbook at http://www.maystar.org/Cookbook/Holidays.htm  I haven't made this myself, so use at your own risk. 

GRANDMA MILLECAM’S PLUM PUDDING WITH 'SOAP' & 'PASTE':

This recipe makes 1 pudding

(This was called plum pudding, not because it contains plums, but because it is 'plum full' of good things.

3/4 cup Crisco

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup grated potatoes

1 cup grated carrots

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups raisins

candied peel

2 cups currants

Wash, peel and grate carrots and potatoes. Cream together Crisco and brown sugar. Mix well. Sift flour. Reserve about 1/2 cup to sprinkle over raisins, candied peel and currants.

Sift remainder of flour with baking soda and spices and add gradually to wet mixture. Stir in raisins, candied peel and currants.

Pour batter into greased gallon mold or coffee can with lid. Can or mold should only be two-thirds full. Place on rack in heavy kettle over 1 inch of boiling water. Cover kettle closely. Use high heat at first, then as steam begins to escape, turn to low heat for rest of cooking. Steam for 5 hours. Don’t let pan run out of water.

Grandpa Millecam was the one who named the sauces. Vanilla sauce was called 'paste' because it looks like wallpaper paste and hard sauce looks like soft soap.

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I compared this to the Julia Child recipe. Julia uses bread crumbs where Grandma M uses potatoes. Julia uses "bitter" orange marmalade, Grandma M uses carrots. Interesting substitutions in terms of sweetness, texture and color.

It is also interesting to see Crisco here, where Julia called for melted butter. I was the one who said "yuk" in the thread on using shortening instead of butter in cookies. I do think Crisco is gross. Taste some, and taste butter, and tell me I am wrong... But my mom and her family (midwestern farm types, all dead now) used Crisco, a lot, and in all sorts things, without a second thought.

Someone should write a thesis on the sociology of Crisco usage. I wonder how it was introduced to the average home cook via advertising. My mom thought butter-flavored Crisco was the ultimate solution for pie crusts. And hers were to die for. I do not have an opinion on that yet. After 50+ years of not caring what went down the hatch, I am a novice cook, and still working on the concept of a steamed pudding.

[Terrasanct]

I noted the use of Crisco, too, something I don't even keep in my cupboard anymore. But that was new, clean shortening that people started using when lard lost favor. It's interesting how so many things became popular because of a perception of being clean or more modern. Of course, the older plum pudding recipes call for suet, not lard, but it's the same idea.

I looked up the carrot and potato plum pudding recipe and actually found quite a few that had the same ingredients. I wonder if that was the American version, using things that were more likely to be at hand? Or if it was one of those recipes changed during the war because of rationing of certain ingredients?

[Kim Shook]

Bumping this up to ask a question.  I have in my possession a packaged Xmas pudding - like this.  It is in a pudding bowl, covered, and sealed in thick plastic.  The directions say to steam in a saucepan (still sealed) for 1 1/4 hours.  Should it be on a rack, or should it just sit in the steaming water?  How many inches of water for that amount of time, do you think.  Also - does anyone, by some chance, have any experience in doing this in the IP?  Thanks!

[gfweb]

9 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Bumping this up to ask a question.  I have in my possession a packaged Xmas pudding - like this.  It is in a pudding bowl, covered, and sealed in thick plastic.  The directions say to steam in a saucepan (still sealed) for 1 1/4 hours.  Should it be on a rack, or should it just sit in the steaming water?  How many inches of water for that amount of time, do you think.  Also - does anyone, by some chance, have any experience in doing this in the IP?  Thanks!

 

I don't think that the IP would help unless you don't have a pot that is deep enough

 

The idea is to cook at steam temp, not in boiling water or at higher temps.

 

Place it on a rack that keeps it about half  out of the water and add water as needed to keep it steaming.

 

Cover the pudding with foil or a towel that is secured.

 

ETA https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-steam-pudding-video

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by gfweb (log)

[Pete Fred]

You just want something in the bottom of the saucepan to keep the bowl off the metal. (I think I read somewhere that traditional earthenware bowls can sometimes crack if touching the bottom directly.) In the past I’ve used scrunched up tin foil, jar lids, tart ring, silicone mat, tea towel. 
 

If you pour in enough boiling water to come half-way or two-thirds up the bowl, there’s no way it will boil dry in the hour or so it takes to heat through. Stick on the lid, bring it back to the boil, then reduce the heat so you can hear it gently bubbling away (no need for a rolling boil anymore) or you can see steam coming from the top of the saucepan. 
 

I’ve also done this in an IP-like. Same drill, just don’t actually pressure cook it.