My father's family is English. His father came to this country from Liverpool as a young adult. His mother grew up in Wales in the home of her grandparents. She joined her mother in NYC when she was only 17 or 18. So, our Christmas menu was a typically English one prepared by my grandmother.
First, there was the most marvelous roast beef - that according to my father was purchased from the same butcher in New York and had hung until there was green mold on the outside. I think I'm really glad I didn't know this as a child or I might not have eaten it with such relish. With the roast there was always Yorkshire Pudding - a light egg batter that was baked at high heat in some of the fat from the roast. Mashed potatoes, gravy, a couple vegetables and crisp carrots and celery rounded out the main meal.
The crowning glory of the feast was dessert - a plum pudding, which is neither made from plums nor is a pudding in the truest sense. It was made in early November of suet, candied citron and other fruit, currants, white raisins and spices which were steamed for several hours and then saturated with brandy and wrapped in white linen. It was stored in a bowl in a cool place where it was regularly moistened with more brandy. On Christmas Day it was placed in a pot with water in the bottom on the stove to steam until heated through. When it was time to serve it, there was more brandy poured over it after it was placed on a heat resistant platter and brought to the table in flames. When the alcohol was burned out of the brandy the flames subsided and the pudding was served with hard sauce (which was not hard but was also flavored strongly with more brandy). The sauce was made of butter, confectioner's sugar and vanilla flavoring. As a child I really didn't like the plum pudding but would eat it because I LOVED the hard sauce. Later I developed a taste for it and really enjoyed it's fruity texture and flavor. I have never tried to make it so the tradition died when my mother was no longer able to make it using my grandmother's recipe and adding some touches of her own.
2 comments:
I think I'm going to have a hangover from reading about the plum pudding.
My Grandma Nell was born in Liverpool and came over when she was 2. It would have been aroun 1914.
That is curious Pam, Bills family is French Canadian and they always made the Rib Roast and Yorkshire pudding, which is was I make every year.
That plum pudding and all that brandy reminds me of my mothers Fruit cake and all the rum she poured on it for a month
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