Christmas Pudding

When we think of a Victorian Christmas dinner the first image to come to mind is a large platter featuring a perfectly cooked Christmas goose. However, many rural families instead served beef or chicken. The one thing though, that every family did have was the Christmas pudding.

Sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, it was not an actual milk-based pudding like we think of today. Pudding was an old word for foods boiled or steamed in a bag. Plum referred to the sweet bits of raisins in the pudding.

The origins of plum pudding date back to Medieval times and was prepared on Stir-up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent. Originally the pudding was prepared with thirteen ingredients for Christ and the twelve Apostles. Primarily made of suet, bread crumbs, raisins, sugar and spices, the making of the Christmas pudding was a family event.

Each person took a turn stirring and made a wish for good luck. Some sources mentioned the pudding was stirred clockwise and another said east to west, in honor of the Magi who traveled in that direction. Either way, after the stirring was done a ring, coin or thimble was tossed into the batter.

Next the pudding was packed into a cloth bag and hung until Christmas day. Then it was boiled in beef broth for four to eight hours. After dinner it was turned onto a platter and sprig of holly was placed on top. It was then coated with brandy, set alight and carried to the table.

The head of the household sliced and served the pudding and gave a blessing for all who prepared it. Biting into the portion, a person found the ring it meant marriage.

A coin promised wealth and the thimble, a happy but single life.

There seem to be as many recipes for Christmas pudding as there are internet sites, but this seemed to be the oldest I found, though if I were going to try making it, I would probably use one of the modern one.

"The American Domestic Cook Book For 1868"

Plum Pudding - Take half a pound of flour, half a pound of raisins, stoned and chopped, and some currants washed picked and dried; use milk enough to stir easily with a spoon; add half a pound of suet chopped fine, a teaspoonful of salt, and four well beaten eggs; tie it in a floured cloth, and boil four hours. The water must boil when you put it in, and continue boiling until it is done.

 

NEW RELEASE! After a magical waltz in a winter wonderland with the only man who has ever made her believe she is beautiful, Madeline Winthrop doesn't think life could be anymore perfect--until the night of the Christmas ball when she learns everything James Sullivan has told her is a lie. Revenge against Madeline's brother forces James to do what ever is necessary to get back what was stolen from him, even if he has to use Madeline to do it. But the one thing he doesn't count on is the way she makes him feel.

Excerpt:
He pulled away, and she blinked up at him in a daze. His chest rose and fell as his breath escaped his parted lips in wispy clouds. He shook his head and smiled. “Ye are not clumsy, Maddy. And when ye are in me arms, ye’ll glide around the room like a swan.”

Her heart leapt. “Oh, James, it sounds so wonderful, but...”

“We’ll dance all night. I’ll not be giving ye up to anyone else.”

“People will talk.”

“Let them talk. I want to marry ye.”

Madeline gaped at him stunned. Surely he was teasing. “But I’ve known you less than two weeks.”

“Marry me, Maddy, and we’ll dance every night for the rest o’ our lives.”

James offered her a lifetime with his smile, and because she ached so desperately to believe he loved her, she said yes.


http://www.kathyottenauthor.com

ANOTHER WALTZ NEW RELEASE (Victorian Holiday Novella)
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Trimming the Victorian Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree has been a tradition in Germany for hundreds of years. But it when Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German husband, introduced the Christmas tree to the Royal Family, that it suddenly became fashionable for every Victorian home to have one.

Originally trees were table-top size, but by the end of the century they stood from floor-to-ceiling.

Children helped to make the decorations, stringing popcorn and cranberry garland. They made paper chain flowers and set up nativity scenes.

The decorations were elaborate with tiny hand-dipped candles, gingerbread men, cookies, and marzipan candies. Paper cornucopias hung from the branches filled with fruit, nuts, and sweets. There were paper fans and angels, crocheted snowflakes, mittens, tin soldiers, whistles and wind-up toys.

Later in the century hand-blown glass balls, called kugels were imported from Germany along with Dresdens, cardboard painted in gold, silver and copper, to look like metal. They were usually done in the shapes of animals, birds, fish, ships, trains, and trolley cars.

On the top of the tree was a Christmas doll, or a Nuremberg angel with a skirt of spun glass, a crinkled gold skirt and a wax face.

When I wrote my holiday novella, Another Waltz, I tried to capture some of that Christmas magic and transport it onto the page. Here is an excerpt from Another Waltz.

                                       ****

Squinting, Madeline peered around the branches of the large Christmas tree, which filled the back corner of the ballroom.

Hoping to avoid the prying eyes of Lucille’s guests, Madeline had just stepped through the servants’ door and sidled along the back wall until she’d reached the wide boughs of the twelve foot Douglas Fir.

Red and gold ribbons, strings of popcorn and cranberries, all twined around the tree. Paper angels and cornucopias hung from the many branches. Silver and gold Dresdens in shapes of animals and trains filled the empty spaces, and hand-blown, glass ornaments from Germany had been clipped to the tree, each holding a candle, their tiny flames flickering like stars among the branches.

She focused her gaze on the blurry rainbow of beautiful gowns swirling across the floor. The gentlemen, austere in their dark tail coats with splotches of white waistcoats and shirts, partnered the perfect complement to the ladies’ finery. Garland of evergreens, ivy, dried flowers, and red bows festooned the large windows, doorways, and picture frames.

Stringed music floated from the raised platform at the north end of the ballroom to mingle with the laughter and conversation of more than seventy guests.

 

 

To Purchase Another Waltz

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