Already wondering what you’re going to do with the leftover Christmas pudding or Christmas cake? This could be worth trying. Might even be alternative on the day itself.
Here’s another Plum Pudding recipe for you. It’s an old CWA one published by the Herald Sun in the 70s. Back then Mum didn’t serve custard with the Christmas Pudding she would make a sweet white sauce and would whip some cream. Every family differs though, my son-in-law’s family in WA always have Brandy Sauce or Hard Sauce as it’s called below. I’ve never tried the Fluffy Cream Sauce, but I think it would be pretty good too.
I think this recipe, published by the Women’ Weekly in 1974, shows how differently we buy meat these days – no need to ask the butcher to remove the bones, its already done for you now. That’s great, but I don’t like the way its wrapped in netting. I find that it sticks to the crackling and is hard to get off. Laying the meat out, stuffing it and then tying it with cooking string like this recipe suggests is a much better idea. I’ve included the apple sauce recipe although it’s not like Mum’s version. She left out the cloves and lemon and always put a knob of butter in after she’d pureed it.
Some years ago we were spending Christmas at a holiday house on the NSW south coast and our son decided to bring his girlfriend. That was no problem until it came to cooking Christmas lunch – she was a vegetarian………. Vegetarian Christmas recipes were few and far between in those days and I ended up serving her a stuffed eggplant. I just wish I’d found this recipe as it’s much more colorful and I suspect she would have enjoyed it more. Especially as the power went out due to a bushfire in the area and we ended up cooking the entire meal on the bbq – it was a very Australian Christmas.
This is a fairly traditional recipe for a Christmas pudding and gives instructions about tying off the top of the pudding bowl with string. Mum always made a string handle to make it easier to lift out of the boiling water. Easy to do – lay a double thickness of string, long enough to go about 10cm over each side, across the bowl and catch it in when you tie around the bowl, then tie the overlap to secure the handle.
Traditionally Christmas cakes and puddings were made months before Christmas. I don’t ever seem to be that organised and intend to do mine tomorrow. It made me realise that it’s also time to hunt out some Christmas recipes for you. I’m surprised this one is titled ‘Traditional Christmas Cake’ as the old, traditional, recipes don’t have butter and definitely don’t have chocolate. It’s a much more modern version.
When I read this recipe my first thought was to use smoked cod, but of course that’s only one type of smoked fish. You could also use smoked trout or smoked salmon, really whichever you like best. Served with a salad it would make a great summer dish.
