Republicans, Democrats, Gays Agree On Old Fashioned AMERICAN Sweet Potato Pudding

Creamy and delicious sweet potato pudding

What are the benefits of eating sweet potatoes?

Just one medium sized sweet potato gives you 400% of the vitamin A you need each day. This helps keep your eyes healthy as well as your immune system.

Sweet potatoes are also rich in:

Zinc
B vitamins
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Calcium
Iron
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Potassium
Thiamin

Sweet potatoes not only contain complex carbohydrates, which will help you sleep better. 

Potassium can help relax your muscles, leading to better quality sleep all night long.

OLD FASHIONED GRATED SWEET POTATO PUDDING RECIPE

If baking Southern sweet potato pie is quite complicated for you, then try this pudding recipe. This easy sweet potato pudding recipe is just like traditional American grandmas used to make at home since 1887.

The sweet potatoes retain some texture as the pudding bakes. If you miss the warm, autumnal spices from your traditional recipes, go ahead and add a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg to the mixture before baking.

You can also add pecans on top before baking if you like. ;-)


INGREDIENTS:

A large sweet potato, weighing two pounds
Half a pound of sugar 
Half a pound of butter

½ cup of sweet cream (4 US ounces)
½ cup strong wine or brandy (4 US ounces)
One grated nutmeg (use whole nutmeg, smells more amazing than pre-grated)
A little lemon peel
4 eggs


COOKING PROCEDURE:

1) Boil the sweet potato until thoroughly done, mash up fine, and while hot add the sugar and butter. Do not forget to remove the skin.

2) Set aside to cool while you beat the eggs light and add the other ingredients and seasonings last. 

3) Line tin plates with oil or butter to prevent sticking, and pour in the mixture.

It is important to thoroughly coat the sides and bottoms of the tin plates or baking pan with solid shortening or non-stick cooking spray, particularly in the corners. A missed spot will result in sticking.

Use a non-stick baking pan or plate if you have.

4) Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake the mixture. Bake it until hot and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes

5) When the puddings are drawn from the oven, cover the top if you like with thinly sliced bits of preserved citron or quince marmalade. 

6) Strew the top thickly with granulated white sugar and serve, with the addition of a glass of rich milk for each person at table.

COOKING TIPS: Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pudding

How do you crack and grate whole nutmeg with shell?

The outer part of the seed is called Mace. Its flavor is similar to nutmeg inner core (perisperm) but more delicate.

It's the inner part of the seed (perisperm) that is grated. This inner core is the part that gives fragrant smell and contains essential oil.

The proper way to crack whole nutmeg is to split the shell by smashing it. Wrap first the nutmeg with a cloth or place it inside a cloth bag.

Use the flat side of the knife and press the nutmeg on a wooden cutting board. Don’t use the counter top of the tiled floor, it might break or crack.

Use Nutmeg Grater to grate only what you need for the freshest, ground nutmeg. Freshly ground nutmeg is stronger so you might consider using a little less than your recipe calls for.

The best kind of grater to use is a Microplane grater because it has sharper edges than a standard grater.

This tool can make your job a lot easier.

How do you know a sweet potato is bad?

Some frequent traits of bad sweet potatoes are discoloration and growths through the skin. 

The sweet potato will begin to get soft and water will leak out and then turn brown or black.

If part of the sweet potato goes bad, the whole potato should be discarded as the flavor is affected when used in cooking or baking.


Can you overcook sweet potatoes?

YES, you can overcook the sweet potatoes. Bake them in foil, steam, roast or barbecue. Roasting would give them an even smoky flavor. 

Get the sweet potatoes overcooked so they become soft and you can mash them with a fork easily.


What is the healthiest way to cook sweet potatoes?

When compared to baking or roasting, boiling has also been shown to have a more positive impact on blood sugar regulation and give sweet potatoes with a lower glycemic index (GI) value. 

In one scientific study, the average GI value for roasted sweet potato was 82, for baked sweet potato 94, and for boiled sweet potato 46.

Boiling sweet potatoes retains more beta-carotene, and makes this nutrient easier for the body to absorb.


How do you know when a sweet potato is done?

Since sweet potatoes are not always uniform in shape and size, you may need to cook them a little bit less or a little bit longer, depending on size. 

You can tell if your sweet potato is cooked through if it pierces easily with a fork or knife.


At what temperature is a sweet potato done?

Raw sweet potatoes are mostly starchy fibers, but they also contain an enzyme that will break down the starch into sugar at certain temperatures. 

The enzyme happens to work best when the sweet potato is between 135°F and 170°F.


Is it better to steam or boil potatoes?

Don't waste your time boiling sweet potatoes for Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pudding or other dishes, use steaming instead. Steaming has all the benefits of boiling, but at a fraction of the time. 

You need just half an inch or 1.5 inches water to soften the sweet potatoes up, as opposed to waiting for water to boil.


How long does it take to steam sweet potatoes?

Approximately 30 minutes. Put the sweet potatoes in the steamer and bring the water to a boil. 

Once the water is boiling, cover the steamer pot, reduce the heat to medium and allow the sweet potatoes to steam until you can insert a fork or knife without resistance.

How long to pressure cook sweet potatoes?

Sweet potatoes should be cooked in a weighted pressure cooker at 10 pounds pressure for 35 minutes for pint jars and 40 minutes of quart jars if you live at an altitude of 1,000 feet above sea level or less.


Puddings are very quick and easy to cook, you should try other Easy Pudding Recipes:

How to Make Saffron Rice Pudding- Easy Saffron Recipes

How to Make Arrowroot Milk Blancmange (American Style)? Old Fashioned Blancmange Recipe

How to Make Jasmine Rice Pudding- Quick Recipe for Jasmine Rice Pudding without Coconut Milk

How to Make Jamie Oliver’s EASY Plum Pudding- An English Christmas Pudding Recipe

Xìngrén Jelly- Chinese Almond Pudding- Molecular Gastronomy Recipe

Is the white sap in a sweet potato safe to eat? 

The white leak in your sweet potato is perfectly fine to eat. It is made up of polysaccharides. It is an edible starch that your body can use as energy. 

You do not have to discard your sweet potato out and can still cook it as normal and enjoy this delicious root crop.

Can I cut off the sweet potato part infected by molds?

If you notice some sprouts on your sweet potato, just cut off the growth sprouts and cook as soon as possible.

Select better sweet potatoes for better sweet potato pudding

You can also remove the spots, and cook and enjoy the rest of the sweet potato. 

The exception is mold spots; if a sweet potato has begun to mold throw the whole sweet potato away.

Can sweet potatoes cause food poisoning?

YES, sweet potato with black spots on it. If there are some black spot on the sweet potato, this is caused by the infection of bacteria.

It may cause food poisoning after eating.



REFERENCES:

Mrs. F.L. Gillette. 1887. The Whitehouse Cookbook, The Whole Comprising A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Information for the Home. Public Domain Book. Project Gutenberg

Jenne Claiborne. 2018. Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul: A Cookbook. Harmony. ISBN-13: 978-0451498892. https://amzn.to/2PY6no3

How to Make Arrowroot Milk Blancmange (American Style)? Old Fashioned Blancmange Recipe

 

Blancmange Pronunciation 

Blancmange is pronounced… bluh• maanj


Where is blancmange from?

In French, 'blanc' means white and 'manger' means to eat.

Blancmange Origin. Blancmange was first made in France in the 1200s, and was exported in England by the 1300s. Milk blancmange is a British dessert pudding.

Early European recipe versions of blancmange would use creamy almond milk and or ground almonds, flavored with rosewater. 

These old fashioned traditional recipe versions included shredded chicken meat.


What does blancmange taste like?

Arrowroot blancmange is sweet and soft velvety dessert. The taste can also be relative to what type of topping you put on it, like almonds that is the most common or berries.

Rose water and milk or cream was perfectly made for each other. There is something so delicious and heavenly about digging into a spoonful of soft blancmange that has just a hint of floral flavor.

ARROWROOT MILK BLANCMANGE RECIPE

This is an old-fashioned blancmange recipe. Milk blancmange is like a large-format Panna cotta. 

It is a sweet soft dessert usually made with milk and sugar thickened with arrowroot flour, rice flour, gelatin, cornstarch or Irish moss, and often flavored with almonds or rose water. 

It is typically set in a mold and served cold. Although traditionally white, milk blancmanges can be given alternative colors like pink, chocolate or red.

This easy arrowroot blancmange recipe uses only a handful of thrifty ingredients. This traditional milky blancmange is infused with rose water and can be topped with juicy fresh or jam berries.


INGREDIENTS:

Fresh Milk

Arrowroot Flour/ Starch

White sugar

Salt

Rose water


COOKING DIRECTIONS:

1) Mix one even tablespoonful of arrowroot mixed to a paste with cold water. Then add two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, pinch of salt. After that flavor with rose water. 

2) Mix the above mixture with a large cupful of boiling milk. Boiling and stir it for eight minutes.

3) Put into a wet mold and wait until firm. Then put it in the fridge.

4) Served cold. Serve the arrowroot blancmange with cream and powdered sugar.


Related Recipe: How to Make Saffron Rice Pudding- Easy Saffron Recipes

COOKING TIPS: HOW DO YOU MAKE BLANCMANGE FROM SCRATCH?

A perfect milk blancmange will have a slight wobble but not be so firm that it feels like “eating a gummy bears.” 


How do you get arrowroot blancmange out of the mold?

To remove the milk blancmange, gently loosen the edge from the mold. Then lower the mold into a bowl of very hot water and hold for a few seconds. Lift out and place the serving dish over the mold.

Silicone molds are naturally non-stick and flexible to make popping out perfectly shaped arrowroot blancmange.

Try LetGoShop Silicone Molds

Glass and ceramic molds will need longer than plastic, and metal molds require very little time. 


How long does blancmange take to set?

Arrowroot blancmange will set or will be perfectly firm in 8-10 minutes.


Why won't my blancmange set? 

Milk blancmange needs to be simmered for 8-10 minutes and you should see it thicken properly. At this time, you should be stirring preferably with a wooden spoon or the arrowroot flour will set on the bottom.


How long does blancmange last in the fridge?

Place the milk blancmange in an airtight container. You can store blancmange in the fridge for two days. 


Related Recipe: How to Make a Raindrop Cake- Mizu Shingen Mochi Recipe

RELATED QUESTIONS ABOUT OLD FASHIONED BLANCMANGE RECIPE

Is Blancmange the same as custard?

Some food bloggers describe arrowroot blancmange as a form of custard. It is not really custard. Custards is softer compared to blancmange.

Custard is a word best describe for something with eggs in it (however, some milk blancmange recipe versions in the 1600s have eggs). 

Blancmange is closer actually to a stiffer version of those creamy desserts that North Americans call a pudding.

What is the difference between blancmange and Panna cotta?

The key difference between blancmange and Panna cotta is the thickener. 

While Panna cotta is uncooked and gelatin-set, most blancmange recipes also use cornstarch or arrowroot as a thickener, in which case the mixture is cooked because arrowroot/cornstarch needs to come to a boil and constantly stirred to thicken properly.


Related Recipe: Vanilla Panna Cotta -Marcus Wareing Recipes

What is blancmange powder?

Blancmange powder is pre-mixed instant blancmange usually a corn flour base with added flavor and color, mixed with hot milk to make a dessert.

No preservatives - Natural Flavor. Ingredients: - Corn flour, Flavoring, Colors: Carmine, Annatto.

Does Amazon.com sell blancmange?

YES, Pearce Duff's Strawberry Blancmange 35g (Pack of 12). You can choose from Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate.


Does Asda sell blancmange?

Yes, Pearce Duff's Blancmange Strawberry Flavour - ASDA Groceries.


Does Tesco sell blancmange?

Yes, Pearce Duff's Strawberry Blancmange 35G - Tesco Groceries.

How to Make Jasmine Rice Pudding- Quick Recipe for Jasmine Rice Pudding without Coconut Milk

Creamy Jasmine Rice Pudding for All Seasons

This is a classic rice pudding of everyone’s childhood. It is sweet and creamy, no fancy or exotic ingredients.

This one is not a traditional stove top creamy jasmine rice pudding recipe
But this is one of my all-time favorites. The basic mixture of cooked jasmine rice, milk, and egg can become the basis for many exciting flavor combinations. 

During summer, I fold whipped cream into the rice and then gently fold sweetened berries into the mixture. In winter, I stew dried fruits and fold them into the rice and cream. You can also use any of the spoon fruits or sauces available.

Whole milk is best, but 2 percent works fine. It is slowly simmered in the rice cooker and ready to eat as soon as it cools. Remember that rice pudding thickens considerably when chilled as the starch in the rice sets up.


YIELD: Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup Jasmine rice 
4 cups milk
1 large egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


COOKING DIRECTIONS:

MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker; fuzzy logic only

CYCLE: Porridge

1) Place the rice and milk in the rice cooker bowl; stir to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.

2) When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, combine the egg, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl and beat with a whisk. Open the rice cooker, spoon a few tablespoons of the rice milk into the egg mixture, and beat with a wooden spoon. Beating the rice milk constantly, pour the egg mixture into the rice cooker bowl. Stir for a minute to combine. Close the cover and reset for a second Porridge cycle. Stir every 15 to 20 minutes until the desired thickness is reached.

3) Pour the pudding into 6 custard cups or ramekins. Serve warm or let cool slightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When cold, cover with plastic wrap and store for up to 4 days.


RICE PUDDING VARIATIONS:

RICE PUDDING WITH STEWED DRIED APRICOTS. Flavor the rice pudding with ¼ teaspoon almond extract in addition to the vanilla. Combine 8 ounces dried apricots, 1½ cups water, and a cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. 

Heat to a simmer; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 15 minutes or until the apricots are very soft and most of the liquid is absorbed. Let cool slightly. Remove the cinnamon stick. 

Stir the apricots to break them up into loose, rough pieces. Let cool. Fold the apricot compote into the plain rice pudding or the version lightened with whipped cream.

RICE PUDDING WITH SWEETENED BERRIES. Combine 2 cups berries (cut-up strawberries mixed with raspberries and blueberries, or any combination) with 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl; stir to blend. 

Let stand until juicy. Fold into the plain rice pudding or the version lightened with whipped cream.


Related Recipes: WHAT SHOULD I EAT FORE DINNER?

1) What Should I have for Dinner? Try this Jewish Noodle Pudding Recipe

2) What Should I Eat for Dinner? Try this Easy Hasty Pudding Recipe


PUDDING COOKING TIPS

Sweet Pudding Basics

1) Basmati rice makes a fragrant pudding, but will not be as creamy as pudding made with regular long-grain rice. Short-and medium-grain rice formulates the creamiest puddings.

2) Sugar will interfere with the ability of the rice to absorb the milk. Therefore, when making pudding with uncooked rice cook it first in the milk (or other liquid) before adding the sugar, or be prepared for the rice to take longer to cook.

3) The soft texture of the rice in warm pudding will change when the pudding is chilled. The hardness can be lessened by using soft cooked rice (cook it for a longer period of time) or reversed by reheating the pudding in a microwave, in a boiling water bath in a warm oven, or a double boiler.

4) Milk, sugar, and rice—the three main ingredients in pudding—scorch easily. Use a heavy saucepan and stir often over low heat.



REFERENCES:

Beth Hensperger. 2012. The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook: 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings, and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker, Revised edition. Harvard Common Press. ISBN-10: 1558326677

Marie Simmons. 2002. The Amazing World of Rice: with 150 Recipes for Pilafs, Paellas, Puddings, and More, 1st edition. William Morrow Cookbooks. ISBN-10: 0060938420

What Should I Eat for Dinner? Try this Easy Hasty Pudding Recipe

Are you still wondering what to eat for dinner? This Hasty Pudding recipe is a top suggestion for you. 😎

Hasty pudding is a pudding (cooked in a mold) or porridge of grains cooked in milk or water. In America, it often refers to a version made of ground corn. Hasty pudding is mentioned in a verse of the early American song Yankee Doodle and Little House on the Prairie.

Hasty Pudding, originally cooked in England with wheat flour, was made from cornmeal after the first pioneer settlers arrived in the New World. It was a favorite pudding in colonial times. 

Seventeenth-century English colonists brought hasty pudding to North America and transformed it completely to their liking. Lacking wheat, they substituted cornmeal, a grain they learned to cultivate from the indigenous Indian people, which led to the new name Indian pudding, derived from their name for cornmeal, Indian meal (colonial Indian pudding).

Today we think of puddings as desserts, but in the 1700s puddings were more than just the last course of a meal. Most colonial households served pudding topped with milk and butter for breakfast and with gravy for dinner. Sometimes pudding was the whole meal to save time and money.

Modern American Hasty Pudding Recipe

6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups milk
1 cup yellow cornmeal
Butter to grease can
1/2 cup maple syrup


TOOLS:

2-quart double boiler or electric pressure cooker
Measuring cups
Wire whisk
Wooden spoon
4-gallon cooking pot
2-pound coffee can with plastic lid or pudding cups
Oven mitts
Wire rack
Deep bowl


COOKING DIRECTIONS:

1) Fill the bottom pan of double boiler or electric pressure cooker halfway up with water and bring to a boil.

2) Put the milk in the top part of the double boiler. Bring to a boil directly over medium heat.

3) Add the cornmeal into the boiling milk while mixing with the wire whisk to keep lumps from forming. Remove from heat.

4) Put top part of the double boiler over bottom part. Lower the heat. Add maple syrup to the cornmeal mixture and cook over simmering water, stirring often with the wooden spoon, for about 15 minutes. The cornmeal will look smooth and creamy.

5) Rub the inside of the coffee can or pudding mold with butter. When cornmeal is done cooking, pour it into the buttered mold (can).

6) Grease the inside of the can's plastic lid. If you don't have a lid, grease a piece of aluminum foil and fit it tightly over the can opening. Tie it with string.

7) Place can in large cooking pot filled with enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the mold. Cover the pot. Cook over high heat until steam comes from the lid.

8) Lower the temperature. Cook for 2 1/2 hours. Add more water if level lowers around can.

9) When done, remove mold carefully with oven mitts. Cool on rack while covered.

10) Uncover can and hold it upside down over a deep bowl. Tap the bottom of the can to remove pudding. Serve hot with butter and milk.


My other favorite easy and faster pudding recipes. Try one recipe now! 

How to Make Saffron Rice Pudding- Easy Saffron Recipes

Xìngrén Jelly- Chinese Almond Pudding- Molecular Gastronomy Recipe

Jewish Noodle Pudding Recipe

How to Make Jamie Oliver’s EASY Plum Pudding?

11 Yummy and Easy Pudding Recipes without Oven (Video Recipes)

How Did the Colonists Make Hasty Pudding? Try this Colonial Hasty Pudding Recipe (Hasty Pudding Recipe on the Little House on the Prairie)

Eliza Leslie, a prominent American cookbook author of the early 19th century, contains a recipe for flour hasty pudding in her 1840 Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches, and named the corn type "Indian mush." She termed an oatmeal version burgoo. 

She emphasized the need for slow cooking rather than haste, and also recommends the use of a special mush-stick for stirring to prevent lumps. (This mush-stick is perhaps related to the spurtle, or the pudding stick of the nursery rhyme beating.)


INGREDIENTS:

The first settlers made Hasty Pudding (hasty pudding recipe colonial) with just water and cornmeal. Then as times became more prosperous, milk, molasses or maple syrup, and sometimes eggs were added to the pudding.

This hasty pudding was once a popular American food because of its low cost, long shelf life, and versatility, and was eaten with both sweet and savory accompaniments.

In early days the colonist lacks wheat, so they substituted cornmeal, a grain they learned to grow from the Native American, which led to the new name Indian pudding.


COOKING DIRECTIONS AND EQUIPMENT USED:

Instead of a wire whisk, the colonials used hand-made beaters like birch twig whisks. After the pudding was mixed, it was baked in a buttered pan or wrapped in a loose, floured sack and boiled for several hours. As the pudding steamed, the cornmeal swelled and filled the sack.



REFERENCE:

Loretta Frances Ichord and Jan Davey Ellis. 1998. Hasty Pudding, Johnnycakes, and Other Good Stuff: Cooking in Colonial America. School and Library Binding – 1869. Millbrook Press. ASIN: B01FGOW2Y6

What Should I have for Dinner? Try this Jewish Noodle Pudding Recipe

What should I eat for dinner; your dinner question tonight. Make this easy noodle pudding in a jiffy. You can eat alone or share it with family and friends.

Pudding is a type of food that can be either a dessert or a savory dish.

Noodle pudding is welcoming on a cold winter day. You can cut it in its baking dish and serve it in wedges, or run a knife around it and turn it out like a cake. If you have any left over, you can wrap it in foil and heat it in a toaster oven, or microwave uncovered slices on a plate. No stress!


NOODLE PUDDING INGREDIENTS:

1 pound wide noodles 
1 quart buttermilk 
4 eggs 
1/2 cup sugar (or less) 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/8 (2 tablespoons) butter or margarine 


COOKING DIRECTIONS:

1) Cook noodles in salted water till tender; drain well. 

2) Beat eggs until fluffy. 

3) Melt butter or margarine and add to noodles. 

4) Add sugar, eggs, salt, and buttermilk. Mix well. 

5) Turn into buttered 9 x 13 greased pan. 

6) Cover and bake 45 minutes at 350°. 


FOR TOPPINGS:

1/2 cup brown sugar 
2 tablespoons melted margarine 
1/2 cup cornflake crumbs (This is the best brand I purchased online) 
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

1) Mix all ingredients and sprinkle on top of noodle pudding.

2) Cover and bake 30 minutes or more.

3) Let set 5–10 minutes before cutting. 


Noodle pudding reheating tip:

Slice it single-serving cuts before reheating.

Related Easy Pudding Recipes:

How to Make Saffron Rice Pudding- Easy Saffron Recipes

Xìngrén Jelly- Chinese Almond Pudding- Molecular Gastronomy Recipe

How to Make Jamie Oliver’s EASY Plum Pudding- an English Christmas Pudding Recipe

11 Yummy and Easy Pudding Recipes without Oven (Video Recipes)



Did you know?

The saying, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating", dates back to at least the 14th century. The saying means that “you can only say something is a success after it has been tried out or used”. 

The phrase is widely attributed to the Spanish author Cervantes in his novel The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote. The phrase is often incorrectly stated as "the proof is in the pudding.”



REFERENCE:

Miriam Lerner Satz. 2003. Heirloom Cookbook: Recipes Handed Down by Jewish Mothers and Modern Recipes from Daughters and Friends (Adult Interest). Kar-Ben Publishing. ISBN-10: 158013095X

How to Make Jamie Oliver’s EASY Plum Pudding- An English Christmas Pudding Recipe

What should I have for Christmas dinner? Try making an English Christmas pudding. This is a vegan Christmas pudding recipe. It is a modern easy plum pudding recipe which gives you a much lighter result or taste than a traditional Christmas pudding. 

It has more dynamic flavors, and is super-easy to make. This is exactly the way you like it best. You will enjoy it!

This easy plum pudding recipe was created specifically so that it can be cooked in your microwave. (Don’t have a microwave? Turn to the traditional method of cooking or baking below.)

The “plum” in plum pudding refers to dried prunes. Over the years, some recipes evolved to exclude the prunes in favor of raisins. Today it can be made with all manner of dried and candied fruits you prefer or available.

Quick Background about English Christmas Pudding

Plum pudding (English Christmas pudding) or raisin pudding is another Christmas delicacy with origins older than Catholic religion itself. Druids or Celtic priests believed that Dagda, the god of fertility and agriculture, celebrated the winter solstice by mixing up a pudding of the earth’s bounty, including variety of fruits, meats, and spices. 

For centuries the pudding was somewhat unceremoniously boiled in a sack. The Victorians finally utilized the pudding in a mold or basin to give it the more uniform shape we have today.

In England and Australia, a homemade plum pudding is usually enormous and steamed in a big heatproof bowl for hours. You can use a typical 6-cup tubed steamed plum pudding mold to reduce the cooking time. 

It can be aged for days, weeks, or even months, just like a fruitcake, doused every week with about 1/4 cup of brandy, dark rum, or both. For American discerning and sophisticated tastes, a couple of days are enough. 

HOW TO MAKE EASY PLUM PUDDING? - AN ENGLISH CHRISTMAS PUDDING RECIPE

YOU SHOULD TRY THIS! If you decide to cook a Christmas pudding, so make your celebrations less stressful or demanding by cooking it in advance and simply reheating when needed.

COOKING TIME: 15 MINUTES
SERVES 10

PUDDING INGREDIENTS:

Butter, for greasing
90g (3 oz) plain flour
¼ tsp salt
90g (3 oz) vegetable suet
½ tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
45g (1½ oz) breadcrumbs
60g (2 oz) caster sugar
60g (2 oz) chopped mixed candied peel
60g (2 oz) dark soft brown sugar
60g (2 oz) glacé cherries, chopped
90g (3 oz) currants
90g (3 oz) raisins
120g (4 oz) sultanas
45g (1½ oz) blanched almonds, chopped
30g (1 oz) peeled, cored and chopped cooking apple
Juice and finely grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
2 tsp golden syrup
2 tsp gravy browning
4 tbsp brandy
2 eggs, beaten
4 tbsp milk

Brandy butter or rich white brandy sauce, to serve


COOKING PROCEDURE:

1) GREASE A 1.7-LITRE (3-pint) pudding basin. Sift the flour and salt together into a large mixing bowl, and then add all the dry ingredients on the list, down to and including the apple and lemon zest and mix until combined. Stir in all the remaining ingredients and pour the pudding mixture into the greased basin.

2) COVER SECURELY WITH A LID or double layer of greaseproof paper. Cook in an 800W (or above) microwave on the High setting for 5 minutes, leave to stand for 5 minutes, then repeat. 

3) Transfer the pudding mold to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Invert the pudding onto a plate. Cool completely. Wrap the pudding in aluminum foil and refrigerate at least overnight and up to 3 days.

4) You can serve straight away or store in the fridge until needed and reheat as described below. 

5) Douse in rum or brandy, set alight if you wish, and serve with your choice of brandy butter, rich white brandy sauce, custard or cream. 

6) You can either drizzle it with golden syrup and a swig of Bourbon or be a bit flashier and gently heat a good few swigs of Bourbon and flame the plum pudding.

HOW TO FLAME A CHRISTMAS PUDDING? In a small saucepan, heat the brandy over low heat just until warm. Do not allow the brandy to come to a boil. (Brandy won’t flame unless it is warm, but if overheated, it could unexpectedly ignite.) 

Carefully pour the warm brandy over the pudding and light the brandy with a match. Present the flaming pudding, spooning the brandy over the top of the pudding until it extinguishes. You can serve it hot, with the Hard Pudding Sauce.

When the flame subsides drizzle with golden syrup. Serve with cream, custard or even ice cream.

7) TO REHEAT A PUDDING COOKED IN A MICROWAVE, REMOVE THE PUDDING from the basin and sprinkle with 1½ teaspoons of water. Cover with cling film and cook in the microwave for 4 minutes. Leave for 4 minutes, and then cook for a further 3 minutes.

HOW TO BAKE A TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PUDDING?

1) Grease two 1.1-litre (2-pint) pudding basins or one 2.3-litre (4-pint) basin. Pour the mixture into the greased basin(s), right up to the top. 

2) Cover securely with a lid or foil and steam the smaller puddings for 6 hours or the larger one for 10 hours.

3) When the time’s up, lift out the bowl, remove the foil and paper, then carefully turn the pudding out on to a plate ready to serve, or leave to cool and reheat just before you need it. 

HOW TO MAKE AN APPETIZING CHRISTMAS PUDDING SAUCE?

Some hard-line traditional cooks wouldn’t dream of serving plum pudding without hard sauce (creamed butter and confectioners’ sugar spiked with brandy). Most people prefer the coolness of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream with the warm pudding. It’s up to you!

1) How to Make Hard Sauce?: In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer set at high speed, beat  1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature unsalted butter until creamy, about 1 minute. 

2) On low speed, gradually beat in 1 cup confectioners’ sugar. 

3) Beat in 2 tablespoons brandy, 2 tablespoons dark rum, and 1 /4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. 

4) Serve at room temperature. (The hard sauce can be prepared up to 1 day ahead, covered tightly and refrigerated. Return to room temperature.)

HOW TO REHEAT PLUM PUDDING OR ENGLISH CHRISTMAS PUDDING?

To reheat plum or raisin pudding, butter the steamed pudding mold well. Unwrap the pudding. To heat by steam, slip it back into the mold. Place the mold in the pot and steam again in simmering water until heated through, about 1 hour. 

To reheat, steam the smaller puddings for about 1 hour; the larger for 2 hours. 

To reheat in a microwave, place the pudding, upside down, in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover the pudding with plastic wrap. Heat on Medium-High (70 percent power) until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the wattage of your oven (the higher the wattage, the less time needed to reheat the pudding). 

The pudding is heated through when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center reads 165°F. Be careful of the steam when you uncover the pudding. Invert the pudding onto a rimmed heatproof plate.


FAST AND EASY PUDDING COOKING TIPS:

1) Cold plum pudding leftovers are delicious with a slice of British cheese, such as Lancashire.

2) How long can you keep a Christmas plum pudding? Plum pudding is usually aged for a month or more, or even a year; the alcohol content of the pudding prevents it from spoiling during this time.

3) Old recipes for plum pudding call for beef suet, the hard, crisp fat around the kidneys. My grandmother prefers to use butter because it’s easier to find, but you can substitute shredded beef suet.

4) Suet (beef suet) can be bought in natural form in many supermarkets. As it is the fat from around the kidneys, the connective tissue, blood and other non-fat items must be removed. 

It then needs to be coarsely grated to make it ready to use. It must be kept refrigerated before use and used within a few days of purchase, just like meat. 

Pre-packaged suet sold in supermarkets is dehydrated suet. It is mixed with flour to make it stable at room temperature. Because of this, some care is needed when using it for older recipes that call for fresh suet as the proportions of flour to fat can alter. Most modern recipes specify packaged suet. 

5) Caster sugar, often spelled castor sugar, is a term that is used in England, but most of us here in the U.S. of A. have never heard of it. It is actually just superfine granulated sugar and you may find it labeled as plainly superfine.


Try Other Pudding and Related Recipes:

How to Make Saffron Rice Pudding- Easy Saffron Recipes

How to Make Sweet Potato Pie with Condensed Milk- Easy Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

11 Yummy and Easy Pudding Recipes without Oven (Video Recipes)

Sansa Lemon Cakes Medieval Recipe- Game of Thrones Food Recipes

HOW TO MAKE VEGETARIAN CHRISTMAS PUDDING (PLUM PUDDING/ RAISIN PUDDING)?

Vegetable suet is available in supermarkets in the United Kingdom and also on Amazon.com, made from fat such as palm oil combined with wheat flour (Atora/Tesco) or rice flour (Morrisons). 

It resembles shredded beef suet, and is used as a vegetarian substitute in recipes, but with slightly different results from animal suet. Vegetable suet is also available in light versions with lower fat content. Please refer PUDDING INGREDIENTS list above if you want to purchase one.



REFERENCES:

Jamie Oliver. 2017. Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook: For the Best Christmas Ever. Flatiron Books. ISBN-13: 978-1250146267

Rick Rodgers. 2009. Christmas 101: Celebrate the Holiday Season from Christmas to New Year's (Holidays 101). HarperCollins e-books. ASIN: B000W93BJQ

The Pudding Club (Author). 2014. Great British Puddings: 140 Sweet, Sticky, Yummy, Classic Recipes from the Pudding Club of Great Britain. Ebury Press. ISBN-13: 978-0091945428