Mix thoroughly together:
6 ounces butter
1 teaspoon mixed spice
6 ounces brown sugar
Add to that mixture:
2 ounces self-raising flour
4 ounces breadcrumbs
Thoroughly combine all of that with:
6 ounces raisins
6 ounces zante currants
6 ounces golden raisins
4 ounces dried cherries
2 ounces candied peel
2 ounces chopped pecans
2 ounces chopped almonds
Stir in:
1 peeled, cored, and diced apple
the zest of ½ an orange
the zest of ½ a lemon
In a separate container, beat:
3 eggs
Add to the eggs:
3 fluid ounces brandy
3 fluid ounces stout
Then add to the drunken eggs:
the juice of 1 orange
the juice of 1 lemon
Stir the egg mixture into the bread-fruit-nut mixture very thoroughly. Then let the whole thing sit for at least 8 hours in a cool spot.
When you come back to the mixture, put it into a greased metal bowl. Cover the bowl completely with aluminum foil. Now cover it again. Now cover it again. Maybe even cover it again. Once you've got it thoroughly covered (have you noticed a trend of thoroughness here?), steam it for 8 hours.
Then put the pudding back in a cool place for about 4½ weeks. To help guide you in choosing a good day to start in time for Christmas, I suggest making the pudding on Stir-up Sunday, which is the last Sunday before the first Sunday of Advent. In the U.S., that's the Sunday before Thanksgiving except when Thanksgiving falls on the 22nd or the 23rd.
Then, on the day you plan to serve it, take it from its cool place and steam it another 2 hours or so. If you're going to err, err on the side of oversteaming.
Take it out of the steamer; unwrap it as many times as you covered it before; slip a rubber spatula in along the sides of bowl to loosen the pudding. Then turn the pudding out onto a heated plate (make sure it's a plate that can handle plenty of heat).
Heat a ladle full of brandy over a flame and when it's warm, light it. Then pour the flaming brandy out all over the pudding as the final presentation when you serve it.
It can be nice to serve with brandy butter.
Merry Christmas!
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1 comment:
Wow! What a rich treat! After waiting over a month, we finally got to try it. I should warn you that ours came out looking black, even before we flamed it. But it tasted great!
I definitely recommend eating it with brandy butter, and you'll probably want something to drink afterward. I also found a mint was a nice follow-up to it.
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