WWI Christmas Pudding
A wonderful lighter, moist, ration-friendly pudding with a bit of carrot cake flavor
City/Region: England
Time Period: 1915
This recipe was truly a wonderful surprise. It leaves out usual Christmas pudding ingredients like generous amounts of eggs, cream, and brandy, which were very difficult to get due to rationing. The mixture itself ends up being very dry, but cooks up to be a delicious, lighter version of the traditional Christmas pudding which I actually prefer to richer ones. The butter, sugar, and brandy for the sauce would have been precious during the war and very rare at the front, but I highly recommend making it (I could drink it by the glassful, it’s that delicious).
“Half a pound of finely chopped suet, ¾ lb of raisins and currants, ½ lb. each of flour, sugar, potatoes, and carrots, one nutmeg, 2 oz. of candied peel, a little salt and cinnamon.
Grate the potatoes and carrots raw, and add them last. It is an improvement to use half flour and half breadcrumbs. This quantity makes two large puddings, which must be steamed nine hours. ”
Ingredients:
Pudding
- 1 cup (120 g) flour
- 1 cup (112 g) breadcrumbs
- 1 cup (213 g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (120 g) suet*
- 1 1/3 cup (170 g) raisins and currants
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) candied peel*
- 1 heaping cup (120 g) grated potato
- 1 heaping cup (120 g) grated carrots
- Butter, for greasing
Brandy Sauce
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar
- 2 oz brandy or sherry*
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- For the pudding: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, breadcrumbs, brown sugar, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add the suet, the raisins and currants, and the candied peel and stir it all together.
- Add the potato and carrot and stir well. Don’t squeeze out any of the liquid from the grated potato and carrot, as this is where any moisture for the pudding comes from.
- Butter a pudding basin well. Cut a circle of parchment paper the size of the bottom of your basin and butter one side of the paper. Place the circle butter side up in the bottom of the basin.
- Pour in the pudding mixture, gently press it down, and smooth the top. Now it’s time to make a water-tight seal around the pudding.
- Take a large piece of aluminum foil, and place a slightly smaller piece of parchment on top of it. Fold the whole thing in half, then fold one side back onto itself to make a pleat. This will allow for the pudding to expand when it cooks. Set the pleated foil/parchment on top of the pudding basin, parchment side down, and wrap it around the rim of the basin. Tie a string around it as tightly as possible. Trim the parchment paper and tuck the foil in under it to form the seal. Finally, make a handle by tying another piece of string onto the string that’s tied around the rim of the basin and test it to make sure that it doesn’t fall when you lift it.
- Set the pudding in a large pot and add boiling water to the pot until it comes ⅔ up the side of the basin. Cover it, put the pot over medium heat, and let it steam for 9 hours. Check the water level every hour or so and add more boiling water if needed.
- Using pot holders or oven mitts, take the pudding basin out of the pot, and very carefully remove the string and the foil/parchment. Turn the pudding out onto a serving plate.
- For the brandy sauce: Cream together the butter and sugar, then slowly add the brandy, mixing well before adding more. Use as-is or warm it just enough so that it’s pourable.
- To serve: Slice the pudding, pour or dollop some brandy sauce on it, and serve it forth. Merry Christmas!
Notes
- Suet is the hard fat from around an animal’s kidneys and is used in a lot of baking. It’s really great, but can be hard to find in the US.
- You can find brandy, sherry, and other liquors used on the channel in my curated collection at Curiada.
- Link to beef suet: https://amzn.to/3rSHoGI
- Link to vegetarian suet: https://amzn.to/3oCvi2y
- Link to candied peel: https://amzn.to/3dCL7jn
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