Saturday, December 25, 2010

A Christie for Christmas: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! And, since we know longer have a Christie for Christmas from the Queen of Crime, I thought I'd share these covers of Agatha Christie's The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding! Recipe sans poison below!






MRS BEATON'S OLD-TIME RECIPE FOR CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING: 
Too late for this year, you can start now for next! :-)

Adapted from Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1865), a compendium of the quintessential dishes of Victorian England.

Ingredients
340 gr (12 oz) raisins
230 gr (8 oz) currants
230 gr (8 oz) mixed peel
170 gr (6 oz) bread crumbs
170 gr (6 oz) suet
4 eggs
1/2 wineglassful of brandy

Method
1. Stone and cut the raisins in halves, but do not chop them
2. Wash, pick, and dry the currants, and mince the suet finely
3. Cut the candied peel into thin slices, and grate down the bread into fine crumbs
4. When all these dry ingredients are prepared, mix them well together
5. Moisten the mixture with the eggs, which should be well beaten, and the brandy
6. Stir well, that everything may be very thoroughly blended, and press the pudding into a buttered mould
7. Tie it down tightly with a floured cloth
8. Boil for 5 or 6 hours. It may be boiled in a cloth without a mould, and will require the same time allowed for cooking.
9. When the pudding is taken out of the pot, hang it up immediately by a hook, and put a plate or saucer underneath to catch the water that will drain from it. Leave it to dry out until Christmas Day.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Janet - Thanks for reminding me of this terrific story! And the recipe looks delicious :-).

Kerrie said...

What a good collection of covers. Merry Christmas Janet

Kerrie said...

No flour in the recipe?

Janet Rudolph said...

Kerrie, in the original 1865 recipe, there doesn't seem to be flour. In the 1923 Mrs Beeton's recipe there is flour.. and lots of other things..http://www.fashion-era.com/Christmas/christmas_food_beeton_pudding_recipe.htm

Anonymous said...

Just one thing about the surname: It is BEETON not Beaton.

This is a very common error.