The customs of holidays and celebrations change as each era comes and goes, but through literature, we can look through history’s keyhole, and peek at what life was once like.
Plum Pudding, also called Christmas Pudding, was a Christmas tradition born in Medieval England when families would make their pudding four to five weeks before Christmas Day. This traditional day for making a family’s Christmas Pudding was commonly called ‘Stir Up Sunday’, with each family member taking a turn stirring the pudding for good luck. Sometimes trinkets were added to the pudding – coins (for wealth), wishbones (for luck), thimbles (for thriftiness), or anchors (for safe journeys).
But surprisingly enough, the Christmas staple ‘Plum Pudding’ doesn’t actually have plums in it – before the Victorian period, plain old raisins were commonly called ‘plums’. Historically, the rich, heavy pudding is steamed for several hours the day it is made, stored in a cool place and moistened regularly with stout or brandy, and then steamed again for several hours on the day it is served.
The reason plum puddings were once so highly esteemed, is that, historically, raisins were special. When the English nicknamed raisins ‘plums they were affiliating the fruits with a sweet ‘candy’, which the English called ‘sugar plums’. Sugar plums were fancy and festive, and the English, historically, thought the same of raisins.
Steamed puddings, like Plum Pudding, evolved from boiled puddings. In the mid-1800s, boiled puddings became less popular in North America. This was partly because of improvements in cooking technology. As stoves replaced open-hearth fireplaces, puddings were steamed or baked instead of boiled in a bag. A typical pudding could take four hours or more to boil and during this time, the cook continuously topped up the water as it evaporated. Baking or steaming a pudding was much easier. Slowly, boiled and steamed puddings became less common and the creamy, custard-style pudding became the pudding of choice in North America known as bread pudding.
Bread pudding dates back to the early 11th and 12th centuries in Europe, where it was born out of necessity, transforming leftover, stale bread into a delightful food during times of limited resources.
Since then, the dish has developed into a modern delicacy, gracing the dessert menus of top restaurants and incorporating fresh, artisanal breads like brioche, with exquisite ingredients such as bourbon, gruyere cheese, and pecans, depending on whether the pudding is sweet or savory.
In 2015, ‘The Taste of a Memory’, a memorabilia/cookbook I wrote as a tribute to my wonderful parents, was published. It contained a compilation of stories, articles, recipes and reflections that evoke an intimate memory, a special time period and fond emotion brought about by the aroma and taste of food. Writing them down not only put them in print but allowed me to take a mental journey back to a gentler time.
I’d like to share a recipe from that book with you today. This is not a traditional English plum pudding but rather a bread pudding that is made with plums. Christmas comfort food with an Asian twist!
| Servings |
|
- 454 gm tart, fresh plums, diced
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 200 gm Brioche, cut into 1-inch cubes Alternatively, Potato or Challah bread would work as well.
- 5 eggs
- 2 cups milk, whole
- 1 cup half & half cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 Tbsp Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur
- 1/2 tsp EACH Chinese five-spice powder & cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp coarse raw sugar, optional
- whipped topping for serving if desired
Ingredients
|
Rate this recipe!
|
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Combine the diced plums with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl. Let the plum mixture sit at room temperature for 30 minutes; the sugar will draw the juices out of the fruit & create a syrup.
- Put bread cubes on a baking sheet. Bake bread briefly, just to dry it out a little. Let cool.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then whisk in the rest of the sugar, milk, half & half, salt, liqueur, 5 spice powder & cinnamon.
- Add the bread cubes, folding gently, so all the bread is coated with egg mixture, then add plum mixture with all the syrup that has accumulated and gently mix again.
- Allow mixture to sit at least 1/2 an hour, to let bread absorb the egg mixture & plum juices.
- Butter 10 ramekins (custard cups). Divide bread/fruit mixture between them & sprinkle with the coarse sugar if using.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until center of the pudding wiggles slightly when you shake the cups & the top is golden brown.
- Remove from oven & cool. Serve at room temperature, with whipped cream if desired.
- Alternately you could use a 9 x 13-inch pan instead of the individual ramekins.