It’s a shame that the tradition of a Christmas Pudding never quite caught on in the United States. It’s not that Americans aren’t aware of Christmas pudding, or plum pudding, as it’s sometimes called. We’ve all seen Dickens “A Christmas Carol” way too many times for that. But still, a lot of us have never eaten one. And that’s unfortunate.
Christmas puddings have been around at least since the Middle Ages when they were boiled in cloth bags, and there are as many recipes as there are families who make them, but two elements never change: dried fruit and plenty of alcohol. Currants, raisins and prunes are the most usual dried fruit. In fact, the name plum pudding comes from raisins, which were called plums in pre-Victorian England. Port, sherry, mulled wine, rum and brandy are the most common forms of alcohol used in Christmas puddings, but it is really surprising that mead, which is just as “Merry Olde England” as Christmas pudding itself, is rarely used. That, too, is unfortunate.
Besides the history of Christmas pudding and mead being so compatible, the taste is not merely compatible, it’s a marriage made in heaven.
Mead, which in its purest form is honey and water fermented into a beverage that is essentially honey wine, predates medieval times. It is often claimed to be the first form of alcohol known to humans. Sometimes, fruit, spices or herbs are added to create varying flavors.
Windsor Run Cellars in Hamptonville makes several meads, and their “Honey Moon” golden mead, according to their website, “offers the lingering richness of sweet wild flower honey, warmed by the addition of our very own hand crafted liquor.” The description is accurate, and Honey Moon’s flavor profile is perfect for Christmas pudding.
Windsor Run is a distillery as well as a winery, and also offers a distilled spirit made from honey. Called “Killer Bee,” it is not only a distilled spirit made from honey, but a distilled spirit made from the honey of “Africanized” killer bees.
Again according to Windsor Run’s website, Killer Bee is “… a quite smooth liquor, bearing a distinct honey aroma, and a subtle honey flavor, which is altogether pleasant by itself in a glass or snifter, while remaining an interesting and highly flexible mixing option.”
It turns out one of those mixing options is Christmas pudding. Soaking the dried fruits destined for a Christmas pudding in Windsor Run’s Honey Moon golden mead and then dousing the finished pudding with Killer Bee for a glorious flambé has all the components of a spectacular finale to your Christmas dinner.
Since the late Victorian period, it has been customary to prepare Christmas pudding on the Sunday prior to the beginning of Advent, which is four or five weeks before Christmas.
The prayer for that Sunday in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer (as it was used from the 16th century, and still is in traditional churches), reads like this:
“Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
It must have seemed to Victorians that the church itself was commanding them to “stir up” a pudding. The Sunday before Advent is still known as “Stir Up Sunday.”
Everyone in the family, especially the children, should give the pudding a stir to bring good luck in the following year, preferably stirring from East to West, in honor of the direction in which the Magi will soon be traveling.
It’s also customary to insert a sixpence into the pudding, and the lucky recipient of the coin when the pudding is served, can expect to be “plenteously rewarded” in the coming year. Hopefully, that reward will be substantial enough to repair any dental damage resulting from chomping into a sixpence. Other tokens are also known to have been included in Christmas puddings, such as a tiny wishbone (to bring good luck), a silver thimble (for thrift), or an anchor (to symbolize safe harbor.) This tradition is totally optional. If you have any qualms about extraneous coinage, Monopoly tokens or poultry bones threatening the lives of your family, by all means, leave them out.
Unlike cooks in the United Kingdom and countries which formerly comprised the British Empire, you may not have a pudding basin. You’ll need one. Since only the upper classes had ovens back in the day, Christmas puddings are steamed in a pot of boiling water on top of the stove. The steaming requires many hours, and you need a vessel capable of handling that.
You can buy one, but if you order it online, give it plenty of time to be delivered. It’s probably traveling a good distance. Historically, pudding basins were ceramic or metal, but are now sometimes plastic. The plastic ones have the advantage of coming with a tight-fitting lid which simplifies steaming and storage. But for an American who has never experienced cooking something on the stove-top in a plastic container, it is a harrowing five hours of constant worry that one’s glorious pudding is, at any moment, collapsing into a puddle of molten plastic. Ceramic vessels are less expensive but require a somewhat complex structure of parchment paper, foil and kitchen string to cover the basin, make it airtight, and lift it out of the boiling water. There are plenty of YouTube videos that explain the process. It’s difficult to explain, but once you’ve seen it, it’s easy to do.
You may already have a vessel that can be appropriated for steaming your pudding. A stoneware or Pyrex bowl of the proper size and shape could easily do the trick. Do NOT attempt to use a plastic bowl that wasn’t expressly made for the purpose because it obviously will not possesses the Christmas magic to defy the laws of physics and melting points. Even with a purchased plastic pudding basin, place it on a saucer or a steamer insert or something to keep it from touching the bottom of your pot during steaming. Even Christmas magic needs a little help.
When the big day comes, decorate your Christmas pudding with a sprig of holly, just like Mrs. Cratchit did in “A Christmas Carol.” Mrs. Cratchit was surprisingly nonchalant about strolling to the dinner table bearing a flaming pudding doused in accelerant, considering the prevalence of tenement fires in Victorian England. You should perhaps be more careful. Be especially careful of dangly sleeves and long, flowy hair.
There’s going to be plenty of drama without setting yourself or your house on fire. And if you really love your guests, offer them a glass of “Honey Moon” mead as a dessert wine.
Christmas Pudding
Serves 8-10
1-¼ cups currants
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup roughly chopped pitted prunes
¾ cup Windsor Run Cellars Honey Moon Mead
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
2-⅓ cups fresh breadcrumbs
14 tbsp. coarsely grated lard or vegetable shortening (freeze overnight to make it easier to grate. Beef suet is traditionally used and can be ordered online, but like a pudding basin, takes a long time for delivery. Do not use butter. The melting point is too low.)
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. baking powder
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
1 medium apple (peeled and grated)
2 tbsp. honey
½ cup Windsor Run Killer Bee Distilled Spirits (to flame the pudding)
Directions
You will need a 1.7 litre/3 pint/1-½ quart heatproof pudding basin, and also a sprig of holly to decorate.
Put the currants, golden raisins and scissored pitted prunes into a bowl with the Mead, swill the bowl a bit, then cover with plastic wrap and leave to steep overnight or for up to a week.
When the fruits have had their steeping time, put a large pan of water on to boil, and prepare your pudding basin for steaming.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the remaining pudding ingredients (except the Killer Bee Spirits.)
Add the steeped fruits, scraping in all the Mead with a rubber spatula, and mix to combine thoroughly, then fold in coins or charms if using.
Scrape and press the mixture into the prepared pudding basin, squish it down and put on the lid if you have one. Otherwise do the foil and parchment paper origami explained above. Place in the pot of boiling water with the water coming halfway up the basin and steam for 5 hours, checking every now and again that the water hasn’t boiled down too much. Once an hour is probably good.
When it has steamed for 5 hours, remove carefully and, when manageable, unwrap the foil. If you have a tight-fitting lid, put it on. If not, use foil to seal up the pudding as airtight as possible. Store in a cool, dark place until Christmas Day. Every week or so, splash a bit of Killer Bee Spirits over the top and seal it back up. You don’t want the pudding to dry out. As long as it stays moist with liquor, it won’t spoil.
On Christmas Day, steam again, this time for 3 hours.
To serve, remove from the steaming pot, take off the lid or covering, put a plate on top, turn it upside down. Then remove the basin – and you’re almost there.
Put the sprig of holly on top of the pudding, then heat the Killer Bee Spirits in a small pan, and the minute it’s hot, but before it boils – you don’t want the alcohol to burn off before you attempt to flambé it — pour the hot Killer Bee Spirits over the pudding. Now light the pudding, preferably with a long kitchen match. Remove the holly before flaming if it makes you nervous. A healthy respect for fire and liquor’s properties as an accelerant is a good thing.
Traditionally served with Hard Sauce, which you can easily make while the pudding is steaming, but you may prefer whipped cream (use some Mead instead of vanilla extract) or ice cream.
Make ahead: Make the Christmas pudding up to 6 weeks ahead. Keep in a cool, dark place, periodically dousing with a bit of Killer Bee. Then proceed as per the recipe on Christmas Day.
Freeze ahead: Make and freeze the Christmas pudding for up to 1 year ahead. Thaw overnight at room temperature and proceed as per the recipe on Christmas Day.
Hard Sauce
¼ pound butter (1 stick), at room temperature
6 to 8 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. (or more, to taste) Killer Bee Spirits
Cream the butter and sugar together thoroughly. Beat in the spirit, a little at a time, until the mixture is quite smooth. Serve by spoonfuls over individual slices of pudding.
Bill Colvard is a freelance writer who enjoys cooking with wine almost, but not quite, as much as drinking it.