As a little boy I was very aware of Stir Up Sunday. Stir Up Sunday is the last Sunday before advent on the Christian Calendar and the day on which, by tradition in our family, the Christmas pudding was prepared.

 

There are English records of what was then known as Christmas Porridge going back to the 14^th century with ingredients such as beef and mutton, prunes, spices and wine rather than the fruit and nuts which we know today.  In England in 1664, Oliver Cromwell banned the pudding as he thought eating it was “a lewd custom inappropriate for people who followed God.”  King George 1^st brought back the pudding in 1714, but it was Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, who introduced the pudding as we know it today - probably from Germany in the middle of the 19^th Century.

 

The sadness is that today we buy our Christmas puddings and our children have not had the fun of Stir up Sunday.

 

While my brother and my only task as boys was to put a handful of tiekies and sixpences and a card of sterling silver charms - bells, reindeers, buttons, snowflakes and horseshoes - bought each year for the purpose into the pudding and give a stir and “make a wish for Christmas”, major preparation began the day before as my grandmother, keeping up the tradition of her British born parents, fulfilled the various tasks required.

 

Pudding bowls were readied.  These had been pressed into service in winter for steamed puddings, usually of the vanilla kind with a generous dollop of either golden syrup or lemon curd in the base of the bowl which would then, on its upending just before being served flow down the sides of the pudding providing a sauce for it.  There was also the “Spotted Dog” aka “Spotted Dick” which was a pudding made with raisins and currants, heavily laced with Rhum Negrita, a Barbados Rum which was kept in our kitchen for cooking.  

 

My grandfather would always add an extra slug
much to our amusement with the comments to my
grandmother “you never put enough in” so much so
at times that if you breathed on a window pane after
eating a slice it would in all likelihood have cracked.

 

Squares of greaseproof paper were cut, small circles for the base of the pudding bowl so that the pudding would turn out easily, pudding cloth was cut with a large pair of pinking scissors, tying twine at the ready and the bowls buttered - melted clarified butter with a pastry brush - and floured and put upside down on a plate in readiness for the steaming the next day.  Eggs were taken out of the fridge so that they would be at room temperature when used.  

 

The dried fruit was soaked overnight in KWV brandy in small bowls with saucers on top.  Nutmegs grated onto small greaseproof squares and wrapped up in paper twists overnight to keep as much flavour intact as possible.  Suet fat bought from Uncle Morris Sher the local butcher had been hardened in the deep freeze and then grated was ready for use in the fridge.  Large steaming pots were filled to the required depth with water and triangular wooden trivets soaked overnight to give them weight.  The trivets prevented the pudding bowls from being in contact with the base of the pot where there was the most direct heat.

 

My grandmother had large earthenware Derby Pottery bowls in which cakes, pastries and pudding were made and these were the recipients of eggs, flour, liquids, fruit and spices and the all important brandy ready for mixing with a large wooden spoon.  At the right moment we were summoned to the kitchen to stir in our silver and make the wish - we stayed of course to lick out the bowls after the batter had been measured out and weighed to ensure that each pudding was the same size.

 

The Christmas puddings were then covered with the greaseproof paper with a fold in the middle in case of expansion, the mutton cloth was tied on with a big loop for ease of putting into and taking out of the pot.  The steaming seemed to go on all day as they were steamed for the first time for cooking and then put away wrapped in greaseproof paper in the cool pantry so perfect for keeping the puddings until the were finally steamed on Christmas morning.

 

The day before Christmas the Brandy Butter or “hard sauce” was made by creaming and beating until fluffy equal parts of butter and icing sugar.  Our farm butter was always bright daffodil yellow so the Brandy butter was always sunshiny in colour.  Brandy was beaten in until the mixture could take no more and then the mixture was rolled in greaseproof paper to appear sliced like thick pennies with the pudding after lunch.

 

The pudding always came to the diningroom table accompanied by a jug of warmed brandy which was ceremonially poured over the pudding when all were looking on in great excitement and anticipation.  Match applied and the blue flames danced round the pudding.

 

We could hardly wait to tuck in.  Jugs of runny custard were de rigueur if you could not take the alcohol in the Brandy Butter.

 

Leftovers were fried for supper and served with the scrapings of brandy butter and custard, which, if we were lucky were left over.

 

You may miss the last Sunday before Advent, but there is still time, here’s my favourite last minute Christmas pudding, courtesy of a favourite aunt who died many years ago, for you to make and to get your children to help you.  I’m afraid you can’t use anything less that one rand coins now!

 

AUNT MURIEL’S CHRISTMAS PUDDING

 

You’ll need : 250g stale brown breadcrumbs [insides only not crusts], 200g each seedless raisins, currants, unbleached Orange River sultanas, 80g chopped glacé pineapple, 80g glacé cherries, 250g soft brown sugar, 100g blanched almonds roughly chopped, 1 large Granny Smith apple grated with the skin on, the finely grated zest and rind of one lemon and one orange, 100g candied grapefruit peel or mixed citrus peel, 1 tsp of mixed spices made up of a little ground clove, freshly grated nutmeg, ground ginger and ground allspice, 4 Tbs brown or wholewheat flour, 100ml brandy, 250g vegetable suet and 4 large eggs.

 

Method: Prepare a large pot of water with a trivet in it for steaming.  Grease well with butter a 2 litre pudding steamer.  Put a disc of greaseproof paper on the bottom of the bowl and dust the bowl out with cake flour.  Have ready a circle of greaseproof paper cut to cover the top of the pudding and butter the side which will go next to the pudding, and a sheet with which to cover the pudding with a fold in the middle for expansion.  Have handy a piece of mutton cloth or unbleached calico to cover the bowl and a length of twine with which to tie it on. 

 

In a large earthenware bowl and using a wooden spoon add the ingredients one by one mixing well between each addition.  This should fill the pudding bowl to just below the rim.  Place the circle of greaseproof on it butter side down, cover with the sheet of greaseproof and the cloth which you tie down with the string leaving a loop on it for ease of lifting the pudding in and out of the pot.  Steam the pudding in simmering water for 5 hours taking care to add boiling water during the steaming to prevent the pot from boiling dry.  When cooked, wrap the whole pudding in greaseproof paper and keep in a cool place - or at the bottom of the fridge - until Christmas day when you will need to boil it again for 2 hours during which time it will get quite dark.

 

Serve by flaming first with warm brandy and then with Brandy Butter and runny custard.

 

Serve 8 - 10

 

Note: You can use two smaller pudding bowls and the first steaming need be no longer than 3 hours.