2022 The Smile for Today Is...

[Roland]

Never had figgy pudding. Doesn’t sound tempting.

[Serinde]

Demanding pudding with menaces!

[richardandtracy]

I demand pudding with menaces. Christmas pudding. I also demand it at any time of year.

To permit this, I currently have a stock of 14 Christmas puddings in the kitchen. 12 are to be eaten any time up to December 14 2023, the other two are set aside for the next week.

At our last house we mislaid one in the larder for a few years, and when we found it, it was four years past the 'best before ' date. After a bit of rehydration with brandy, we discovered it had matured beautifully.

Regards,

Richard.

[Serinde]

We had a pudding not unlike that, it having got itself lost in the pantry. Entirely its own fault. Tasted great...

[Mabel Figworthy]

This is one of the things that tells me I have not yet gone completely native - the idea of a pudding (or cake) lasting that long is simply inconceivable to my poor Dutch mind (we don't really do steamed puds, and what we call "pudding" is more of a milk or cream-based blancmange-type thing. And our cakes tend to be sponges.)

[wendywombat]

My mum was the Maker of Christmas Puddings.
We always ate them one year old. She would make a batch each November and store them in a cupboard under the stairs. Each year we were given 2, one for Christmas and the other for Easter.
The recipe died with her and I've tried to make similar, but I still think her's were the best.
The cupboard under the stairs was dark and cavernous so often we would find a 'vintage pud'

[Roland]

We don’t do Christmas pudding, but we do Christmas cake.

My mom had two recipes, light and dark. I always hated the light, but it turns out, when I was little, one did not get sealed properly and so it was really dry. That is the one I remember eating. DH does not like the dark, so when I make them, I make both.

I copied all my mom’s recipes. Many got lost, but these two I saved.

One Christmas I invited my sister and one brother here. Before I brought out the deserts, I told them both to close their eyes and open their mouths. Then I put a piece of the cake in their mouth. My brother said “mom” and looked around. She had passed more than ten years previous.

I don’t make them every year because they are so expensive.

[rcperryls]

This is a conversation way out of my experiences. The only Christmas pudding I'm familiar with is the one Mrs Cratchett serves on Christmas in The Christmas Carol. All of which versions I love.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

[rcperryls]

Carole

[richardandtracy]

I love that cat...

Carole, Christmas Pudding is like condensed dark rich fruit cake. It's nearly black, moist but not soggy, dense with a sort of alcoholic sweet-tart taste with a sticky, fruity, clagginess to the caramelised sugar aftertaste. You eat it garnished with an almost equal weight of brandy butter (unsalted butter, brandy and icing sugar mixed into a smooth paste). As you can guess by the fact I'm not saying 'It tastes like...', the taste is unique. When my dad was posted to Germany we gave a 'Traditional' Christmas dinner to our German friends, and they adored roast potatoes (never had them before but were confused by the flat sides, never having thought of cutting the potatoes before cooking, thought they were a special type of potato) and were seriously divided about Christmas Pudding. Half loved and half hated the taste. The half who hated the taste thought it was a viscous English joke and we were really trying to make them ill.

I don't make my own Christmas puddings, but I do the cake, a dark rich fruit cake dense enough to break toes if you drop it. It took 3hrs 15mins to cook this time, which wasn't too bad. Depending on the house temperature, and the fact it's cooked long & cool, I've had it take up to 4 hrs, after which the house smells utterly delicious. The Royal Icing was a pain this year, as I had no eggs and had to pop out to get some just for that. Initially I thought we had two packs of eggs, but it appears one had a best before date of March 2022, and the other was August. Most of the eggs floated rather too high to risk cracking any open!
My mum used to cook the Christmas puddings, steamed them for 7 hours or so before putting them in storage for a few months to mature - did them in summer so we could have the doors & windows open to avoid steaming up the house. She always put coins into the mix, and after silver sixpences went out of circulation she wrapped the coins in aluminium foil before they were dropped into the mixing bowl. Unfortunately my step mother threw away all my mother's recipe books without asking if either my brother or I would like them. As a result, that recipe is lost along with a stupendous no-bake lemon cheesecake and a 'to-die-for' no-bake chocolate brandy cake (that cake made you put on weight just by looking at it, the biggest ingredient by weight was cooking chocolate, followed by butter and all the ingredients were mixed hot after melting the chocolate & butter in a water bath, and it was kept in a fridge to keep it from going revolting).

Regards,

Richard

[rcperryls]

Thank you Richard. Maybe one day I’ll get to taste one.

Carole

[Serinde]

My Christmas cake takes 4 hours flat in a 150C oven. It was something I had to learn to do, as my own mother disliked fruitcake in any form. Over time, my fruit combination has favoured taking the odd ounce of blackcurrants out and putting a few more cherries in... heresy in your book, I would guess.

Have sent Elder Son home with about a third of it for medicinal purposes (we drove him home last night, because if you are going to feel unwell, it's better to be in your own home; "exciting" ride through the driving snow to Glasgow...). He would take the whole thing if allowed.

I've never made a Christmas pudding, but have partaken of many (variable) ones. Many of these have been made edible simply by copious amounts of brandy butter (you will know that it freezes well...), but the best are exquisite. Just a shame they come at the end of a huge feast, and almost no amount of time between courses prepares you for its heft.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Hope Elder soon feels better, ministered to by cake!

In view of your comments about Christmas pud coming after a hefty meal, I thought I'd share something that a friend posted today...

[rcperryls]

Too too too true!

Carole

[fccs]

Too too too true!

Carole

So much truth!

[Roland]

This is what happens when I go to the bathroom.

[rcperryls]

And??? Is that a problem? Looks like she is protecting your privacy by guarding the door (assuming that is a photo taken inside the bathroom door)
If however, someone else took the photo from outside the door, it is obvious she is making sure you that should you fall in she can yowl for help!

Carole

[Roland]

I put it under “smile” not a thread to “vent”.

[Roland]

I hope this link works. Saw this video on FB, and every time I see it, I laugh again.

https://fb.watch/j5-sHge3rz/