Plum Pudding this Christmas?

[LJay]

How many of you will have it this year? Will it be bought or home made?

It was a part of our Christmas dinners when I was a kid and up through high school. I miss it and find that most people don't know what it is.

I am also fond of the old dark--nearly black--fruitcake that is made weeks or even years ahead and kept well preserved in cheesecloth soaked with brandy. Anybody know that?

Christmas makes me a limp nostalgic!

[InbetweenDreams]

I've never had the stuff...

My dad made a fruitcake but from what I heard it didn't turn out quite right, said the baking flower was old or something... I can't have any of the good stuff this year since I'm trying to cut all of it out and it is just too soon to be sneaking stuff here and there..

[LJay]

Grandma's plum pudding had brandy in it and was soused with hot brandy before being set alight to bring to the table. After the flame died down it was served with a sauce whose main ingredient was--you guessed it--brandy. We kids somehow were ready for a nap after the long dinner.

It is very, very rare to see the kind of fruitcake I am talking about. It was kept form year to year in the sideboard and dosed once in a while. I have found a recipe that looks close if anyone is curious.

Axle, you are right. You do not want to break your progress with this stuff. Potent and caloric.

Such fruitcakes and puddings were actually a form of pemmican for the English and Scots who made them. Highly packed with calories/fuel for the chill.

If you poke around in the mountains, Axle, you may find some old families that remember or still do this sort of food. There is certainly some British and Scots influence in the area. You can hear it in the folk tales and music, too.

[Insertnamehere]

Never heard of the stuff.

[Cridders88]

Yes, it's quite popular over here. My parents have it every year, and my grandparents did when they were alive. Not a fan of it myself. Normally prefer to stuff my face with trifle after the dinner is done and dusted.

[matty7]

Not had it myself though I my grandmother loved it, im with Cridders on the trifle though, I do love that with a passion

[LONDONER]

I remember it as a kid but I wouldn't eat it now as I'm type II diabetic. I remember making it and my recipe called for all the dried fruit to be marinated overnight in brandy! It was a potent cake.

[LJay]

Londoner, there is a bakery here that makes fruitcakes and they use some of the batter to make little cupcake-sized ones--to be sold at a high price, of course. I decided to get two of them this year to try to quell my longing for the stuff. They didn't soak the dried fruit! It was like eating bad cake with rocks in it. I kept picking little chunks out of my mouth. Won't do that again.

[LONDONER]

Londoner, there is a bakery here that makes fruitcakes and they use some of the batter to make little cupcake-sized ones--to be sold at a high price, of course. I decided to get two of them this year to try to quell my longing for the stuff. They didn't soak the dried fruit! It was like eating bad cake with rocks in it. I kept picking little chunks out of my mouth. Won't do that again.

Oh, that sounds really bad. Nothing quite like cake made at home. I have a sensational recipe for a cake that contains no eggs, no butter, no sugar and it tastes fabulous!

[Pcolakuntryboy]

I've never had plum pudding, I had to Google it to see what it looked like. Is it more like a bread... or is it kinda wet like bread pudding?

Most folks I know hate fruitcake, but I like it, especially if there's lots of nuts in it. My grandmother used to wrap them in cheesecloth and soak with brandy, but I don't think she kept them for a whole year. Now I usually just buy the Claxton fruitcake logs in the store.