PUDDING....

 

MRS. HERFORD’S 1930’s ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING (Powell River 1930. Original recipe circa 1911) (Mrs. Herford was a good friend of  mum’s, from Bethune Saskatchewan. One year, when Mrs. Herford was a child, she caught her hand in a grain auger, and lost a finger. But she still made puddings……) Updated recipe for 2013….

 

¼ lb flour, ½ lb brown sugar, ½ lb fine bread crumbs, pinch salt

½ cup crumbled margarine ( this would formerly have been beef suet)
3 eggs (eggs used to be preserved in straw, and doled out, as if they were gold)
12 oz dark raisins, 6 oz golden raisins, ½ lb cranberries
1/3 cup orange juice and peel from one orange
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup Napoleon brandy, or other good booze ( no sampling!)
1 apple chopped fine and 1 carrot shredded
¾ cup chopped almonds
1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp each nutmeg, cloves, allspice,
Enough MILK to make a moist sloppy  batter

 

Soak fruit and nuts in booze, orange juice, lemon juice and peel

Grease pudding bowl/ or metal bowl.Line with parchment.

Beat rest of ingredients  together with  milk, to be  slippery

Put into greased basin.I use a pudding basin. It is wonderful! Steam in stock pot, for about 6 hours.  Do not let batter get wet. When done invert basin.

 

Add more boiling water as water evaporates. Kitchen will get steamy…….Serve pudding with cream or hard sauce.

 

                               Parchment paper ready to be peeled off.

 Peel off. Resteam, or heat in microwave if pressed for time to serve hot to company.  Put a spring of holly on top for  presentation. You could also douse it with more whiskey, adn set it ablaze. I'm rather scared to do it as there is always a cat nearby......and they are rather flammable I must imagine. So to keep things safe, safe the fire for the candles...... Pour cream ( not whipped cream, just whipping cream) over top of each serving. Magnificent. Mum made this ever year, for many years. She always talked about her friend Mrs. Herford. I like to think that Mrs. Herford always spoke of my mother fondly.......they were great friends.