>>615
I usually make a Christmas Pudding after a recipe from the Napoleonic Wars, but this year I'm gonna make Nesselrode Cream instead and pair it with some buttered beer instead of the usual brandy-based punches and spiced red port.
Chokladbollar are also popular with my family.
Here, the recipe and method for the pudding, which can only be recommended:
>1 cup flour
>2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (old air-dried bread, blitzed or crushed, do not use store-bought, they're oven-dried and ruin the texture)
>0.5 cup dark brown sugar, well-packed
>0.5 tsp salt
>1 tsp freshly ground cinnamon
>mace, nutmeg, ginger, 0.5 tsp each, freshly ground
>0.25tsp cloves, freshly ground
Combine well. Add
>1 cup dried currants
>1 cup raisins
>1 cup sultanas
>Zest of 0.5 lemon, coarsely chopped
>0.33 cup candied orange peel, coarsely chopped
>0.33 cup candied citron, coarsely chopped
>0.75 cup slivered almonds
Mix. Add
>0.25 pound suet, Atora brand suffices
Mix. Add
>3 eggs, lightly beaten
>0.5 cup of brandy
Work mixture well to form a nice dough. Scrape into 6 cup pudding basin (Can be bought cheaply on Amazon, or can be substituted by a new flower pot of good quality with no holes in the bottom or anything else with a similar shape).
Put a freshly washed cloth (canvas is good, but an old shirt or non-fluffy towel suffices) into boiling water for a second so it's wet all over. Squeeze out the water and lay it out, then lightly flour the entire surface. Put it, flour-side down, on top of your pudding basin and put some twine (if hemp, boil it for a couple minutes first to get rid of bad smell) under the rim, securing it with a butcher's knot. Then take the flaps of your cloth and tie them round the top, creating a handle.
Place in a large pot of boiling water with some wooden skewers or some other spacer in the bottom, ensuring the boiling water does not go over the lip of the pudding basin, but close to it.
Cover and let steam for 5 hours, refilling with boiling water as necessary. Don't open too often.
Take out and let cool. Remove cloth, pour in
>0.25 cup of brandy
taking care to distribute it evenly. Cover well and store in a cool place for at least 3 weeks, but one aged a whole year is even better. If you store it longer, you may want to occasionally re-brandy.
On Christmas day, tie the pudding up again, steam it again for at least 2 hours, unmould.
Serve en flambé by heating a quarter cup brandy to 50 degrees or so and pouring it over the hot pudding as you serve, then lighting it.
It is quite rich on its own, but if you wish for more, serve with hard sauce, which consists of 0.5 cups of butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp brandy, beaten to a fluffy consistency.
Ensure you serve with enough spirits, possibly some digestive bitters, because it fills up the stomach like a heavy meal. Never fails to produce great satisfaction in all.