Today we know only a little of Christmas Pudding lore.
 

Perhaps we know the term from a reading of Dickens or a handed-down recipe collection from someone’s great-grandmother. But there is little sense of how to do the cooking, or what it would taste like if we did.

          The following recipes are worth trying, especially if you have a well-preserved antique tin melon mold or tube mold with its original tight-fitting lid. Lacking an antique, you can use a ceramic "pudding basin" in the British way. These bowls have a thickened rim for tying on a covering of cloth or aluminum foil, and their deep cavities will give your puddings a nicely rounded shape reminiscent of the "cannonball" of the pudding bag shape. For that matter, any nicely rounded bowl will do. The flambe presentation alone is worth the effort, but its spicy, fruity richness, set off by the customary pudding sauce, is an adventure in itself. Unlike fruitcake, a not-too-distant cousin, its moistness is quite nice, and when good quality dried fruits are available (especially the whole candied citrons you can find in Italian specialty shops at this time of year) the flavor is far more interesting than what has passed for Christmas Pudding in commercial versions. Let me urge you to order kidney suet (the clear beef fat with little membrane) to chop and add to the mix as directed, as its contribution to flavor and texture is unbeatable. No Crisco, margarine or oil, please. A fine butcher can get it for you with a little advance notice.

And incidentally, should you opt for the pudding bag, set your bag into a large bowl so the top drapes over the sides, pour in the batter, and then tie it up at the neck so no water can get in. Allow extra string for hanging, secure it onto a wooden spoon large enough to rest across the top of a large kettle. You may also wish to use some flour and water "paste" to seal off the top so no water can get in.
 

English Plum Pudding

The Buckeye Cookbook: Traditional American Recipes, Minneapolis, 1883.

           Beat six yolks and four whites of eggs very light, and add to them a tumbler of sweet milk; stir in gradually one-fourth pound grated or chopped stale bread, a pound flour, three-quarters pound sugar, and a pound each of beef-suet chopped very fine, currants nicely washed and dried, and stoned raisins, well floured; stir well, then add two nutmegs [grated], a table-spoon mace, one of cinnamon or cloves, a wine-glass brandy, a tea-spoon salt, and finally another tumbler of milk.
Boil in bowls or molds five hours, and serve with sauce made of drawn butter, wine, sugar, and nutmeg. These will keep for months; when wanted, boil one hour before using. A pound of citron or blanched sweet almonds adds to the richness of the pudding, but may be omitted.

          Note: some recipes suggest plumping the raisins and currants with brandy. Others dredge the fruit and suet while chopping so it doesn’t stick together and will not sink to the bottom while cooking. Occasionally someone suggests using a plate at the bottom of the kettle so the pudding will not stick to the bottom and burn.

          Note also the frequent use of currants, which were sweeter than raisins, and which provided most of the batter’s sweetening. And the famous figgy pudding was nothing more than a plum pudding, with no figs.
 

A Plumb Pudding for boiling 

Martha Bradley, The British Housewife, 1758

   Cut a Pound of Suet moderately fine, break eight Eggs, and take all the Yolks and half the Whites, grate the Crumb of a Penny Loaf, then add it to a Tea Spoonful of powdered Ginger, half a Nutmeg grated, a little Salt, and a Pound of Flour. Set in Readiness a Pint of Milk, beat up the Eggs, and mix with them half the Milk, then stir in the Flour and the Bread, then the Suet and Sopice. The proper Quantity of Fruit for this Pudding is a Pound of Currants and a Pound of Raisins, and the Raisins must be stoned. When the Bread,

 Flour, Milk, Eggs, and Spices are mixed together, put in the Fruit, and then add as much more Milk as is needful to get them into good Batter, but it must be very thick.. This requires five Hours boiling.
 

Christmas Plum Pudding 

The Buckeye Cookbook: Traditional American Recipes, Minneapolis, 1883.

           One quart seeded raisins, pint currants, half pint citron cut up, quart of apples peeled and chopped, a quart of fresh and nicely chopped beef-suet, a quart of sweet milk, a heaping quart of stale bread-crumbs, eight eggs beaten separately, pint sugar, grated nutmeg, tea-spoon salt; flour fruit thoroughly from a quart of flour, then mix remainder as follows: In a large bowl or tray put the eggs with sugar, nutmeg and milk, stir in the fruit, bread-crumbs, and suet, one after the other until all are used, adding enough flour to make the fruit stick together, which will take about all the quart; dip pudding-cloth in boiling water, dredge on inside a thick coating of flour, put in pudding and tie tightly, allowing room to swell, and boil from two to three hours in a good sized pot with plenty of hot water, replenishing as needed from tea-kettle. When done, turn in a large flat dish and send to table with a sprig of holly, or any bit of evergreen with bright berries, stuck to the top. Serve with any pudding-sauce. This recipe furnishes enough for twenty people, but if the family is small, one-half the quantity may be prepared, or it is equally good warmed over by steaming.

          For sauce, cream a half pound sweet butter, stir in three-quarters pound brown sugar, and the beaten yolk of an egg; simmer for a few moments over a slow fire, stirring almost constantly; when near boiling add half pint bottled grape-juice, and serve after grating a little nutmeg on the surface.