Christmas pudding is sometimes known as plum pudding, although recipes don’t call for plums. In pre-Victorian times, raisins were called plums, and then later other dried fruits.

Making these a Christmas pudding was a long process, using many ingredients. They were usually put into a pudding cloth or mold and boiled a long time, although sometimes they were baked. A sauce was usually poured over the pudding before serving.

Christmas puddings with high alcohol content were often aged for weeks or even months. 

INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS:

REAL CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Toast a pint of fine breadcrumbs to a good brown without burning. Pour on them half a cup of strong, clear black coffee and let stand till soft. Beat six egg-yolks very light with two cups of sugar and one of creamed butter. Add the soaked crumbs and mix very smooth.

Meantime, soak a cup of raisins, seeded and halved, a cup of clean currants, a cup of shredded citron,* and a cup of nut meats broken small, in a bowl with tumbler of sherry, a tumbler of rum, and wineglass of apricot brandy. When well soaked, add the fruit to the eggs and sugar. Mix in gradually a teaspoon of cinnamon, the same of cloves and allspice, half a cup of preserved ginger sliced very thin, and a dusting of black pepper and paprika. Beat smooth, then fold in six stiffly beaten egg-whites, alternately with a cup of browned flour. If too thick to stir handily, thin with a little milk or boiling water.

Pour into a clean pudding bag,* freshly scalded, leaving room for the pudding to swell. Put in a deep kettle of boiling water and boil for five hours, filling up the kettle with more boiling water as needed. Make several days beforehand, and boil an extra hour upon Christmas day. Serve in a blaze of brandy, with a very rich sauce, either fruit or wine flavored.

*citron – a large fruit similar to a lemon, but with flesh that is less acidic and peels that are thicker and more fragrant. The rind preserved in sugar is also called citron.

*pudding cloth or bag – a large square of cloth usually made of linen or cotton cloth, to hold a pudding securely in a boiling water bath.

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CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING
• 2 cups ground suet*
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons Dr. Price’s Baking Powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups seeded raisins
• 2 cups currants
• 1 cup finely cut citron
• 1 cup finely cut figs
• 1 tablespoon finely cut orange peel
• 1 tablespoon finely cut lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground mace
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup water or prune juice
• 1 cup grape or other fruit juice

Mix thoroughly all dry ingredients and add fruit. Stir in water and fruit juice and mix thoroughly. Add more water if necessary to make a stiff dough. Fill greased molds two-thirds full, and steam five or six hours. This pudding should be prepared and cooked a week or more before used. Before serving, steam one hour and serve with hard, lemon or foamy sauce.

*suet – the hard white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep, and other animals, used to make foods including puddings, pastry, and mincemeat.

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A PLUM PUDDING
3 dozen eggs.
3 pounds baker’s bread, stale, and grated fine.
3 pounds suet.
3 pounds brown sugar.
1 pound sliced citron.
3 pounds currants.
4 pounds seeded raisins.
1⁄2 ounce nutmeg, and the same of mace, cloves, and cinnamon.
Half pint wine.
Half pint French cooking brandy.

Mix and divide into six parts. Tie each part in a twilled cotton cloth, put them in boiling water, and let them boil four hours. Then hang them in the air to dry a day or two. Keep them in a cool, dry place. When you wish to use one, it must be boiled an hour before dinner. Serve with a rich sauce. It will keep six months or a year.

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POOR MAN’S PLUM PUDDING
One loaf of baker’s stale bread
One cup stoned* raisins
One cup currants, washed and picked
One cup molasses
One tablespoon butter
One-half teaspoon powdered cloves
One grated nutmeg

Slice the bread very thin and pour on it a little boiling water. Cover it closely and let it stand until it softens. Then mash very smooth, add the molasses, fruit, spices, and butter. Mix well and boil in a pudding cloth for an hour. Serve with an old-fashioned hot brown sugar sauce.

*stone – to remove the stones of fruit, such as the seeds in raisins and plums. Raisins and plums were sold with the seeds in the 1800s.

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A BAKED PLUM PUDDING
Grate all the crumb of a stale loaf of bread. Boil a quart of rich milk, and pour it boiling hot over the grated bread. Cover it and let it steep for an hour, then set it out to cool.

In the meantime, prepare half a pound of currants, picked, washed, and dried; half a pound of raisins, stoned and cut in half; and one-fourth pound of citron cut in large slips. Also, two nutmegs beaten to a powder, and a tablespoon each of mace and cinnamon powdered and mixed together.

Crush with a rolling-pin half a pound of sugar,* and cut up half a pound of butter. When the bread and milk is uncovered to cool, mix with it the butter, sugar, spice and citron; adding a glass of brandy, and a glass of white wine.

Beat eight eggs very light, and when the milk is quite cold, stir them gradually into the mixture. Then add, by degrees, the raisins and currants, (which must be previously dredged with flour) and stir the whole very hard. Put it into a buttered dish, and bake it* two hours. Send it to the table warm, and eat it with wine sauce, or with wine and sugar only.

In making this pudding, you may substitute for the butter, half a pound of beef suet minced as fine as possible. It will be found best to prepare the ingredients the day before, covering them closely and putting them away.

*loaf sugar – sugar was sold in a hard block, which has to be broken and then pounded into sugar granules.

*baking – there were no oven thermometers in the 1800s; therefore baking times in cookbooks weren’t common. People had to learn through experience how best to heat their oven and how long to cook their food.

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PUDDING SAUCES:

HARD SAUCE
• ⅓ cup butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon flavoring extract
Cream butter until very light. Add sugar very slowly, beating until light and creamy. Add flavoring and beat again.

FOAMY SAUCE
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons boiling water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream butter and add sugar slowly, beating continually. Beat egg yolks until thick and add gradually. Beat well, then add stiffly beaten egg whites, flavoring, and water. Before serving, heat over boiling water five minutes, stirring constantly.

LEMON OR ORANGE SAUCE
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons lemon or orange juice
Boil water, sugar and cornstarch mixed with little cold water. Boil 5 minutes, add fruit juice, and 1 tablespoon caramel if a dark color is desired.

Image from Deposit Photos

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Have you ever eaten Christmas Plum Pudding? Please leave a comment below.

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