In time for the season
Aug. 26th, 2003 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_t_220So, barring any sudden and inexplicable hot spells, the fan has been mostly turned off and the window has spent a little more time being shut. It's no longer too unbearably hot to have candles on the go, I've started listening to early Aerosmith again and without the fan I can once again plug in my coloured lights...
Looks like we're starting to edge into autumn.
This auspicious event deserves a recipie moment.
It seems a little pre-emptive but this actually is the perfect time of year for this because it's a recipie that requires about 3-4 months maturation. So yeah...
Grandma's traditionally traditional, tried, tested and proven Christmas pudding recipie
quarter lb dried apricots
1lb beef suet
1lb currants
1lb sultanas
1lb raisins
10oz mixed peel
8oz glace cherries (chopped)
half tsp nutmeg
half tsp mixed spice
half tsp cinamon
2 tbs ground almonds
1 tsp salt
1 and a quarter lb light brown sugar
2 lemons - rind and juice
1lb plain flour
1 and a half lb white breadcrumbs
6 eggs
2 tbs dark treacle
1 large grated carrot
1pt traditional ale or stout
brandy or rum as needed (at least half a pint usually)
WARNING: This recipie makes a whole HEAP of puddings. Seriously, it's big, BIG recipie. I tend to make them once every 2-3 years unless we're giving them away as gifts because they do keep REALLY well, but if you're not the bulk-making, long-storing type I'd recomment halving or quartering it all or something. Or just donating them to lots and lots of friends...
If you ARE the bulk-making, long-storing type though, remember that it's the alcohol that helps keep them good, so don't skimp on the booze.
Method: put all the dried fruit, peel and cherries together in the ale. Add around half a pint of brandy/rum and leave the whole lot to soak overnight.
Get a really, REALLY big bowl. Or a jam-pan or something...
Put the fruit and alcohol together with all the other ingredients and mix together. This usually involves getting your hands in there and smooshing it about. You might also need to add in a splash more of the brandy/rum for extra moisture if it needs it.
It looks like a whole huge lot of dry ingredients and not anyehere near enough liquid, but it does usually come together alright without adding too much more brandy.
Just be patient and keep smooshing. It'll come to about the same consistency as christmas cake mix.
Next find a big load of pudding basins. Divide the mixture out into whatever size puding you require, adding a tinfoil lid to stop water splashing up over the rim. Steam cook/boil for between 8-12 hours depending on the size, or until cooked through.
The best things to use are usually those plastic pudding basins you get around supermnarket puddings because they come with their own lids. :D
After cooking, let them cool in their basins them tip them out onto a large sheet of greaseproof paper. Rub them liberally with the remaining brandy/rum or whisky. Wrap them up in the greaseproof and store in a cool dry place until christmas.
To re-heat them for eating, put back in a suitable sized pudding basin and steam again for another couple of hours.
As they get older, the puddings will start to dehydrate somewhat. If you're keeping them for more than a year, as we often tend to, the flavour gets better but come the second year you may need to soak them overnight in a bowlfull of sherry before cooking.
It is, to be honest, the only use we've ever found for sherry.
OK, one down, and now for....
LT's unorthadox, unusual and blindingly good mincemeat
4oz currants
4oz sultanas
4oz raisins
2oz glace cherries (chopped)
2ox mixed peel
4oz cooking apples (chopped)
4oz suet
8oz demerara sugar
1 level tsp mixed spice
juice of 2 lemons
brandy to mix (for what is christmas without brandy...?)
Method: Take everything. Put it in a bowl with enough brandy to make it all moist. Cover it with a cloth and leave it for 2 days, stirring with a wooden spoon every now and then. All the juices settle to the bottom so you have to move it about a bit, adding a splash more brandy if it all seems to dry. It should produce a nice syrupy goo if all has gone to plan.
After 2 days transfer it all to jars and let it mature for at the very least 2 weeks.
This also keeps very, VERY well. We've had this stuff sitting in the cupboard for over 2 years and it's been as good as the day it was made, so again, don't skimp on the liquour.
Obligatory warning here too:
The thing about this mincemeat is that... well... it doesn't make terribly NEAT looking mince pies. It's quite moist so the pies tend to blow their pastry tops and get a little gungy round the eges, but this isn't really too much of an issue. Cause that gunge tastes really, reeeeally good.
Also if you dust the pies with icing sugar it doesn't show up as much. ;)
In consumer testing (a caroling party some several years ago) when placed along side Marks and Sparks and Mr Kipling mince pies, consumers were at first reticent to try due to mild pastry gunging. However, after first tasting, word spread quickly that actually they were really rather good and they were devoured within about the space of 5 minutes, leaving a very large tray of immaculate brand-name pies feeling somewhat dejected.
This is all the proof I required. ;)
Personally I usually make a jar or two minus the mixed peel because I can't stand the taste of it, but that's just me and my peculiarities. Similarly, adding glace cherries isn't exactly TRADITIONAL, but it works really, really well.
Looks like we're starting to edge into autumn.
This auspicious event deserves a recipie moment.
It seems a little pre-emptive but this actually is the perfect time of year for this because it's a recipie that requires about 3-4 months maturation. So yeah...
quarter lb dried apricots
1lb beef suet
1lb currants
1lb sultanas
1lb raisins
10oz mixed peel
8oz glace cherries (chopped)
half tsp nutmeg
half tsp mixed spice
half tsp cinamon
2 tbs ground almonds
1 tsp salt
1 and a quarter lb light brown sugar
2 lemons - rind and juice
1lb plain flour
1 and a half lb white breadcrumbs
6 eggs
2 tbs dark treacle
1 large grated carrot
1pt traditional ale or stout
brandy or rum as needed (at least half a pint usually)
WARNING: This recipie makes a whole HEAP of puddings. Seriously, it's big, BIG recipie. I tend to make them once every 2-3 years unless we're giving them away as gifts because they do keep REALLY well, but if you're not the bulk-making, long-storing type I'd recomment halving or quartering it all or something. Or just donating them to lots and lots of friends...
If you ARE the bulk-making, long-storing type though, remember that it's the alcohol that helps keep them good, so don't skimp on the booze.
Method: put all the dried fruit, peel and cherries together in the ale. Add around half a pint of brandy/rum and leave the whole lot to soak overnight.
Get a really, REALLY big bowl. Or a jam-pan or something...
Put the fruit and alcohol together with all the other ingredients and mix together. This usually involves getting your hands in there and smooshing it about. You might also need to add in a splash more of the brandy/rum for extra moisture if it needs it.
It looks like a whole huge lot of dry ingredients and not anyehere near enough liquid, but it does usually come together alright without adding too much more brandy.
Just be patient and keep smooshing. It'll come to about the same consistency as christmas cake mix.
Next find a big load of pudding basins. Divide the mixture out into whatever size puding you require, adding a tinfoil lid to stop water splashing up over the rim. Steam cook/boil for between 8-12 hours depending on the size, or until cooked through.
The best things to use are usually those plastic pudding basins you get around supermnarket puddings because they come with their own lids. :D
After cooking, let them cool in their basins them tip them out onto a large sheet of greaseproof paper. Rub them liberally with the remaining brandy/rum or whisky. Wrap them up in the greaseproof and store in a cool dry place until christmas.
To re-heat them for eating, put back in a suitable sized pudding basin and steam again for another couple of hours.
As they get older, the puddings will start to dehydrate somewhat. If you're keeping them for more than a year, as we often tend to, the flavour gets better but come the second year you may need to soak them overnight in a bowlfull of sherry before cooking.
It is, to be honest, the only use we've ever found for sherry.
OK, one down, and now for....
4oz currants
4oz sultanas
4oz raisins
2oz glace cherries (chopped)
2ox mixed peel
4oz cooking apples (chopped)
4oz suet
8oz demerara sugar
1 level tsp mixed spice
juice of 2 lemons
brandy to mix (for what is christmas without brandy...?)
Method: Take everything. Put it in a bowl with enough brandy to make it all moist. Cover it with a cloth and leave it for 2 days, stirring with a wooden spoon every now and then. All the juices settle to the bottom so you have to move it about a bit, adding a splash more brandy if it all seems to dry. It should produce a nice syrupy goo if all has gone to plan.
After 2 days transfer it all to jars and let it mature for at the very least 2 weeks.
This also keeps very, VERY well. We've had this stuff sitting in the cupboard for over 2 years and it's been as good as the day it was made, so again, don't skimp on the liquour.
Obligatory warning here too:
The thing about this mincemeat is that... well... it doesn't make terribly NEAT looking mince pies. It's quite moist so the pies tend to blow their pastry tops and get a little gungy round the eges, but this isn't really too much of an issue. Cause that gunge tastes really, reeeeally good.
Also if you dust the pies with icing sugar it doesn't show up as much. ;)
In consumer testing (a caroling party some several years ago) when placed along side Marks and Sparks and Mr Kipling mince pies, consumers were at first reticent to try due to mild pastry gunging. However, after first tasting, word spread quickly that actually they were really rather good and they were devoured within about the space of 5 minutes, leaving a very large tray of immaculate brand-name pies feeling somewhat dejected.
This is all the proof I required. ;)
Personally I usually make a jar or two minus the mixed peel because I can't stand the taste of it, but that's just me and my peculiarities. Similarly, adding glace cherries isn't exactly TRADITIONAL, but it works really, really well.
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 09:58 am (UTC)Also, treacle? I remember Alice from Through The Looking Glass having an arguement with someone at the Tea Party about it, but I'd always assumed it was a made up food.
Other than that, I'm assuming your pudding is similar to a fruit-cake, and it sounds yummy
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 10:16 am (UTC)Also, treacle? I remember Alice from Through The Looking Glass having an arguement with someone at the Tea Party about it, but I'd always assumed it was a made up food.
Technically suet is the very concentrated fat from around the kidneys, BUT it's highly refied and virtually tasteless by the time it makes it to store shelves. You can also get vegetarian alternatives.
It IS the stuff used in bird-feeders, but it's the fat that glues the other parts together.
It's used in all kinds of suet pastries, steamed puddings and stuffings.
And treacle... uhh... Molasses or something maybe?
Thich, thick, black unrefined sugar syrup anyway.
And yes, it was the doormouse's story about Elsie, Lacy and Tillie who lived down a well, learning to draw treacle... because it was a treacle well. ;)
And it's sort of similar to fruit cake but the texture is different...
Am I assuming the great british traditional christmas pud is a non-transatlantic thing...?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 10:55 am (UTC)I can't believe I'm gone my whole life thinking treacle was a fictional foodstuff! I feel kinda silly.
Although suet is something I think I've lived just fine without, thankyewverymuch.
I can't speak for the nation, but our traditional Christmas food would probably be the fruitcake. No one claims to like them, but no Christmas party has ever been held without one.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 11:09 am (UTC)You mean you've never covered one in brandy sauce and set light to it, bringing it to the christmas table aflame...?
*shock horrors again*
I can't believe I'm gone my whole life thinking treacle was a fictional foodstuff! I feel kinda silly.
*snickers at you*
Although suet is something I think I've lived just fine without, thankyewverymuch.
It's just like using butter or lard but it comes pre-shredded and is a little dryer. It doesn't leave your hands greasy cause it's been coated in some kind of flour to stop the shreds sticking together.
It's the most important part of making the pastries for steamed puddings though, and it's only used in bird feeders because it's cheap and concentrated.
Vegetarian suet though, I have NO idea WTF they make that from... XD
but our traditional Christmas food would probably be the fruitcake
Oh that's traditional here too. Heavily coated in icing and decorated with intricate piping and stuff... or at least it is if you grew up with a granny who decorated wedding cakes as a sideline. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 11:34 am (UTC)Holy cow! It's aflame?? I had no idea! In that case, I've DEFINATELY never had a traditional british pud.
My family is waaaay to soused on holidays for flaming food- we're lucky nobody catches fire as is.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 11:38 am (UTC)Oh hell yeah!
I mean you can NOT light it and that's ok too, but technically, it should be aflame...