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As an American living in Britain in the 1990s, my first-hand experience Christmas Pudding This was somewhat shocking. I expected figs or plums, as in “We Wish You a Merry” Christmas, carolBut there was no one there. Nor did it resemble the cold custard-style dessert that Americans commonly call pudding.
Instead, I was greeted by a simmering mass of suet – a raw, rancid animal fat that is often replaced with a vegetarian alternative – as well as flour and dried fruits that were often soaked in wine and set on fire.
There’s no danger of this making it into my top ten favorite Christmas foods. But as a historian great britain And its empire, I can appreciate Christmas pudding for its rich global history. After all, it is a legacy of British EmpireWith ingredients from around the world it once dominated and is being enjoyed in places where it once ruled.
Christmas pudding takes its shape
Christmas pudding is a relatively recent mixture of two old, at least medieval, recipes. The first was a liquid porridge known as “plum potage” which could feature any mixture of meat, dried fruit and spices – foods that could be preserved until winter feasts.
By the 18th century, “plum” was synonymous with raisins, kismis, and other dried fruits. Figgy pudding, immortalized in the carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, appeared in written records as far back as the 14th century. A mixture of sweet and salty ingredients, and not necessarily containing figs, it was packed with flour and suet and steamed. The result was a strong, round hot mass.
During the 18th century, both became the more familiar plum pudding – a steamed pudding filled with the ingredients of the burgeoning British Empire of governance and trade. The key was less a new form of cooking than the availability of once-luxury ingredients, including French brandy, Mediterranean raisins and citrus from the Caribbean.
Few things had become more affordable than cane sugar, which, thanks to the labor of millions of enslaved Africans, could be found in the poorest and most remote British homes by the middle of the century. Inexpensive sugar, combined with the wide availability of other sweet ingredients such as citrus fruits and dried fruits, made plum pudding an iconic British festive dish, although not yet particularly associated with Christmas.
Such was its popularity that the English satirist James Gilray made it the centerpiece of one of his famous cartoons, which depicted Napoleon Bonaparte and the British Prime Minister carving the world in the form of pudding.
related to christmas
In line with other modern Christmas celebrations, the Victorians took plum pudding and redefined it for the holiday season, making it “Christmas pudding”.
In his internationally renowned 1843 novel a Christmas CarolCharles Dickens hailed this dish as the ideal centerpiece of any family’s Christmas feast: “Mrs. Cratchit entered – red, but smiling proudly – with the pudding, like a speckled cannonball, so hard and firm, half-quart flaming in half of brandy, and stuck to the top with Christmas holly.”
Three years later, Queen Victoria’s chef published her favorite recipe, creating the Christmas tree-like Christmas pudding that families across Britain aspired to.
The enduring appeal of Christmas pudding is due to its socio-economic accessibility. Victoria’s recipe, which became a classic, included candied citrus peels, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon, cloves, brandy and a small mountain of raisins and raisins – all affordable recipes for the middle class. Those with fewer means may opt for either smaller quantities or a replacement such as brandy in place of the wine.
About the author
Troy Bickham is a professor of history at Texas A&M University. This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. read the original article,
Eliza Acton, a leading cookbook author of the time who helped rebrand plum pudding as Christmas pudding, offered a particularly frugal recipe that relied on potatoes and carrots.
The desire of white colonists to replicate British culture meant that versions of Christmas pudding soon began appearing throughout the Empire. Even European diggers in Australia’s goldfields included it in their celebrations by mid-century.
The high alcohol content gave the puddings a shelf life of a year or more, allowing them to be sent even across the borders of the Empire during Victoria’s reign, including to British soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Christmas celebrations for British soldiers fighting in the Crimea in 1855 included Christmas pudding – a respite from the bitter cold.
Empire Pudding
In the 1920s, the British Women’s Patriotic League promoted it heavily – calling it “Empire Pudding” in a global marketing campaign. He praised it as a symbol of empire, to be made from ingredients from Britain’s colonies and possessions: dried fruits. Australia and cinnamon, spices from South Africa, Ceylon India and Jamaican rum in place of French brandy.
Press coverage of London’s 1926 Empire Day celebrations showed representatives of the Empire pouring ingredients into a ceremonial mixing bowl and stirring collectively.
The following year, the Empire Marketing Board received permission from King George V to promote the royal recipe, which contained all suitable ingredients sourced from the Empire.
Such promotional recipes and the mass production of puddings from reputable grocery stores such as Sainsbury’s in the 1920s combined to put Christmas puddings on the tables of countless people who lived in an empire where the sun never set.
after empire
Colonization did not diminish the allure of Christmas pudding. Travelers passing through London airports can find them in abundance at this time of year. Their size and density have confused airport security scanners for some time, leading to requests to carry them as hand luggage.
In former white settler colonies such as Canada, this tradition persisted, although in Australia, where Christmas falls in the summer, trifle and pavlova are at least equally common. In parts of India, where it is sometimes known as “pudim”, it remains a traditional favourite, “steeped in tradition”, according to the leading English national daily newspaper, Hindustan Times,
Reflecting modern tastes and trends, renowned British chef and author Jamie Oliver has gluten-free and more modern options this year. However, his “classic” recipe would not have been out of place on Queen Victoria’s table.
Like so many adaptations based around the former empire, it includes some American ingredients: pecans and cranberries as well as substituted bourbon for the brandy – an Anglo-American blend – just like my own family. And I will embrace it.