One of my favorite seasonal reads from the Victorian era is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. My family and I enjoy the performance of it at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. I’m happy to share we’ll be going back for the first time in three years this weekend.
I’m in love with the music, ghosts, food—and Christmas pudding! “A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastrycook’s next door to each other, with a laundress’s next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered—flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top” (Dickens, A Christmas Carol).
After reading about Christmas pudding for years, I decided to try it. Traditionally, Christmas pudding is made on Stir-up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, and served on Christmas. Over time, the flavors deepen, and brandy acts as a preservative. Christmas pudding is also called figgy pudding and plum pudding. It’s not made with plums, however. It’s made with raisins, which were called plums in the Victorian era. Most recipes suggest soaking the raisins in brandy overnight, which I did. They also suggest adding brandy to the pudding mixture and dousing the pudding with brandy before igniting and serving.
Other common ingredients include currants, bread crumbs, apples, and suet. Here I hit a stumbling block, as suet, which is basically the hard lard surrounding the kidneys of animals like cattle and sheep, is not widely available. But I soon found I could use butter, which I did, or Crisco.
The recipe is not hard, just time consuming. After I added the ingredients, I had each person in my family stir the pudding clockwise for good luck in the New Year. If you’ve read or seen Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, you’ll remember that sometimes, little trinkets are added to the pudding as well. I passed on this tradition. I don’t want anyone choking!
I steamed the pudding for about six hours. I didn’t have a pudding bowl (but you can bet this is on my Christmas list!), so I used a casserole-type bowl that fit inside a large kettle. (Traditionally, a cloth, not a bowl, was used, which explains Dickens’ references.) I placed a trivet on the bottom of the pan and then put in enough water to reach the sides of the pan. Every hour or so, I checked the water and topped it off if needed.
It was a wonderful sound, the bubbling of the pot all day long. I could almost pretend I was in Victorian England. As the time neared six hours, a nice spicy orange smell (I used fresh squeezed orange juice in my pudding) wafted through the air. Glorious!
I won’t be eating it until Christmas, so I can’t vouch for its taste yet, but I think you’ll agree, it looks very promising. If you’d like to try the recipe yourself, here’s the link to the one I used, but there are several others.
Until tasting day, happy baking!
FAQs
The Christmas Pudding Today
The idea of plum pudding as a Christmas dish rose to prominence during the Victorian period, as seen in A Christmas Carol (published in 1843) shown in this illustration of the Ghost of Christmas Present from the first edition.
Why does Mrs. Cratchit worry about the pudding? ›
Traditionally Christmas pudding is made several weeks in advance, set aside for the flavours to mature, and then re-steamed on Christmas Day. However, the fact Mrs Cratchit is concerned about the pudding not being done enough or in breaking when turning it out, means she likely only cooked it once. Broomfield, Andrea.
What pudding does Mrs. Cratchit make? ›
You can't get through the Christmas season without hearing about it, but have you ever stopped wondering what figgy pudding is? In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, you read that Mrs. Cratchit proudly presented to her guests her Christmas pudding, resembling a speckled cannonball.
What Christmas carol talks about figgy pudding? ›
Figgy pudding just might be one of the most talked-about Christmas dishes. Carolers sing “now bring us some figgy pudding!” In “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and the dish is a centerpiece in Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol,” when Mrs.
What does Tiny Tim say at the end of A Christmas Carol? ›
In the story, Tiny Tim is known for the statement, "God bless us, every one!" which he offers as a blessing at Christmas dinner. Dickens repeats the phrase at the end of the story, symbolic of Scrooge's change of heart.
What food was at Fezziwig's party? ›
When the Ghost of Christmas Past transports Scrooge to Fezziwig's ball, a splendid repast is detailed. . . . there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of cold roast, and there was a great piece of cold boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer.
What is the pudding in the 1938 A Christmas Carol? ›
Christmas pudding is also called figgy pudding and plum pudding. It's not made with plums, however. It's made with raisins, which were called plums in the Victorian era. Most recipes suggest soaking the raisins in brandy overnight, which I did.
What is the story of Christmas pudding? ›
It's said that Christmas pudding needs to be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. Every family member stirs it in turn from east to west to honour their journey. Historically, Christmas pudding wasn't even considered to be a dessert.
What kind of child is Tiny Tim? ›
Tiny Tim is one of Bob Cratchit's sons. He walks with a crutch and has 'his limbs supported by an iron frame'. Despite his physical difficulties, he is a positive and generous child. He thinks of others and is well-loved by his family.
What was wrong with Tim Cratchit? ›
He lived because of the conversion of Scrooge to a more generous path. Hence, the question: What ailed Tiny Tim? Tiny Tim has been the subject of medical detective work to establish his medical condition. Tiny Tim is believed to have had rickets, tuberculosis (TB), polio, and/or cerebral palsy.
Mrs Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family.
What does the pudding represent in A Christmas Carol? ›
This symbolises hope and the pudding also lights up the room, like the Ghost of Christmas Present did at Scrooge's house. The atmosphere is positive and good humoured. 'Nobody said or thought it was a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so.
What was once hidden in Christmas pudding? ›
Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year. This lovely tradition may date back as early as the 1300s when a dried pea or sometimes a small silver ring or crown was baked into a Twelfth Night Cake.
What is put inside the Christmas pudding as a surprise? ›
Silver sixpences
It should be no surprise then to learn that the English add a silver sixpence (coin) into their Christmas pudding. Whoever finds the silver sixpence in their slice of Christmas pudding is said to be granted good luck for a year.
What is the real name for Christmas pudding? ›
Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood. In America, Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.
What is the significance of Christmas pudding? ›
There is a popular myth that plum pudding's association with Christmas goes back to a custom in medieval England that the "pudding should be made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, that it be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles, and that every family member stir it in turn from east to ...
Why do carolers want figgy pudding? ›
As for the figgy pudding song, near the end of the 16th century, carolers began to sing the English folk song, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” When poor folks stood on the doorsteps of the wealthy and sang, “Oh bring us some figgy pudding,” and “we won't go until we get some,” they probably were having a bit of fun, ...
What is the last line of A Christmas Carol? ›
The last line of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," which reads, "And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" is a profoundly meaningful and significant conclusion to the story. It connects with the title of the book and encapsulates the central themes, characters, and messages of the novel.
What was the cause of Tiny Tim's death? ›
Death. On September 28, 1996, Khaury recorded a video interview at the Montague Bookmill. He later suffered a heart attack at a ukulele festival at the nearby Montague Grange Hall in Montague, Massachusetts.
What does Tiny Tim symbolize? ›
Tiny Tim is a symbol of hope. The end of the novella is a positive one. Dickens uses Tiny Tim to ultimately show that people, and society, can change for the better. Scrooge (the upper class) plays a key role in this – if he had remained selfish and cruel, Tiny Tim would have died.
Mr. Nigel Fezziwig is a character from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol created by Charles Dickens to provide contrast with Ebenezer Scrooge's attitudes towards business ethics.
What does Scrooge eat a bowl of? ›
And to save money, Scrooge works by the light of a single candle and eats nothing but a bowl of thin gruel.
What does the food heaped on the floor create in A Christmas Carol? ›
Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of ...
What is the dessert served in A Christmas Carol? ›
Until the 18th century, "plum” was synonymous with raisins, currants and other dried fruits. “Figgy pudding,” immortalized in the “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” carol, appeared in the written record by the 14th century.
What was Christmas pudding made of? ›
Christmas pudding is generally made from a combination of dried fruit, candied fruit peel, and citrus zests in a dense, sticky sponge cake. It can be flavored with cinnamon, brandy, rum, or other spices for moisture and taste.
Is it piggy or figgy pudding? ›
Figgy pudding or fig pudding is any of many medieval Christmas dishes, usually sweet or savory cakes containing honey, fruits and nuts. In later times, rum or other distilled alcohol was often added to enrich the fruitiness of the flavour.
After reading about Christmas pudding for years, I decided to try it. Traditionally, Christmas pudding is made on Stir-up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, and served on Christmas. Over time, the flavors deepen, and brandy acts as a preservative. Christmas pudding is also called figgy pudding and plum pudding. It’s not made with plums, however. It’s made with raisins, which were called plums in the Victorian era. Most recipes suggest soaking the raisins in brandy overnight, which I did. They also suggest adding brandy to the pudding mixture and dousing the pudding with brandy before igniting and serving.
Other common ingredients include currants, bread crumbs, apples, and suet. Here I hit a stumbling block, as suet, which is basically the hard lard surrounding the kidneys of animals like cattle and sheep, is not widely available. But I soon found I could use butter, which I did, or Crisco.
I steamed the pudding for about six hours. I didn’t have a pudding bowl (but you can bet this is on my Christmas list!), so I used a casserole-type bowl that fit inside a large kettle. (Traditionally, a cloth, not a bowl, was used, which explains Dickens’ references.) I placed a trivet on the bottom of the pan and then put in enough water to reach the sides of the pan. Every hour or so, I checked the water and topped it off if needed.
