Christmas with Jo!
Today, it's Jo Wake's turn to come visit. Jo is a lady with the heart the size of a dragon and the wisdom of the best of grandmother's...and she can cook!
When Jo sent me her post, I thought, being an American who has never tried Christmas pudding, I thought I'd make this treat and feel a bit international this season.
The first ingredient was suet. The only suet I'd ever heard of was mixed with bird seed. I looked on the internet, and I could order suet (beef lard) from Amazon, but it would get here too late for Christmas. So, I emailed Jo for a proper replacement, and she suggested butter.
International Christmas dinner is back on! I'm also adopting the 12th night of Christmas. I like it!
I have lots of favourite Christmas movies, The Santa Clause
being one of them, but I think the most favourite of all is Miracle on 34th St.
I am not sure which version I like best, there are slight versions between the original and the second one, but
I enjoy both. I have a tape of the second one. It wasn’t/isn’t available on
DVD.
Favorite Christmas song?
I love real Christmas Carols when properly sung. I hate it
when they change the words or mess about with how the carol is sung. However,
for Christmas songs I think my favourite would be John Lennon’s So This is
Christmas.
Not sure I have a favourite Christmas tradition. When I was
younger, we put up the decorations a lot later in the year and never took them
down til Twelfth Night which is Epiphany or January 6. I still leave my
decorations up til then even though I am a tad fed up with them by that time.
Not sure about a favourite Christmas memory, but one that
comes to mind from when I was a kid, that was a loooong time ago, I had mislaid
my favourite doll – not perfectly sure how or for how long, but Christmas
morning there she was all dressed up in new finery sitting in a brand new
doll’s pram (baby buggy).
Christmas Recipe for me would have to be a good old British
Christmas Pudding which I used to make every year. Now I don’t do so because
there are only two of us and it is so rich one only eats a very little bit at a
time so it lasts forever. I used to freeze the leftovers and use them again the
following year. Mrs. Beeton was a Victorian journalist (didn’t know there were
such things) who wrote cookbooks. The one I have was published in 1935. It was,
of course, my mother’s cookbook. It doesn’t explain it, but we used to put the
pudding in a basin, then tie a cloth over the top. The ends of the cloth would
be brought up from the sides and tied in order to make a handle to lift the pot
out of the pan – NOT by hand. I imagine these days one could achieve the same
results in the Microwave, but you would have to look that up.
Christmas Pudding - Mrs. Beeton
1/2 lb suet
2 oz flour
1/2 lb raisins
1/4 lb mixed peel
1/2 a grated nutmeg
1/2 oz mixed spice
1/2 oz ground cinnamon
10 oz milk
1 wineglass brandy or rum
1/2 lb breadcrumbs
1/2 lb sultanas
1/2 lb currants
1 lemon
2 oz shredded almonds
4 eggs
1 pinch salt
1. Put all the dry ingredients in a basin and mix well. Add
the milk, stir in the eggs one at a time, add the liquor and the strained juice
of the lemon. Work the whole thoroughly for some minutes, so that the
ingredients are well blended. Put the mixture in a well greased basin. Cover.
Boil for about 4 hours or steam for at least 5 hours.
Servings: 8
Jo is a bowling blogger, a strong advocate of asparagus, and the best friend a writer can have. She's mean with an edit, though sweet in the delivery.
You can find Jo's blog Here!
Jo is a bowling blogger, a strong advocate of asparagus, and the best friend a writer can have. She's mean with an edit, though sweet in the delivery.
You can find Jo's blog Here!
I'd rather use butter than beef suet.
ReplyDeleteMy parents do the Twelve Days of Christmas as well and don't take down the decorations until January 6.
no comment...just hadn't told you hi in a while :)
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas pudding!! Especially topped with Brandy cream. Yummy! Wishing you a fantastic festive season.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mention Liz, but I always use rum butter on the pudding when serving. My mother always preferred cream. Thanks for featuring my ponderings - mean with an edit, surely not? Talking of which there's an edit or typo, yours or mine I don't know. Versions instead of variations.
ReplyDeleteWe always left the decorations up until into the new year as well.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I really like Jo's bio! I love asparagus too, though I don't get too creative w/fixing it. It was nice to meet Jo!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us know more about Jo. The pudding looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
DeleteWow, a traditional Christmas pudding. I'm not sure I have the courage to make one.
ReplyDelete'Miracle on 42nd Street" will always be my favorite Christmas movie!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your each holiday with it's special celebration! (smile). Dixie
Oops, 42nd St. Never was good at directions Dixie.
DeleteHi Jo,
ReplyDeleteAh yes, Traditional British Christmas pudding! Nice to see the delightful Jo featured on your site, Elizabeth.
Gary :)
I'm not keen on Christmas Pudding, but I love Christmas Cake - even though most people consider them to be very similar! One year though, I found a fantastic chocolate version - I obviously had to try that :-)
ReplyDeleteI made an English trifle for Christmas one year (my stepdad is British) and I couldn't find ladyfingers! You can find some British things at World Market, but that wasn't one of them. Not sure if they have suet. Hope it turns out yummy.
ReplyDelete