I made my Christmas pudding today, according to our family recipe. That is to say, it's Delia Smith's recipe tweaked to our family's preferences.There are several traditions associated with the pudding. One is that it is made on "Stir Up Sunday", the Sunday five weeks before Christmas, at which the following prayer is read:
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Another tradition is that everyone in the household (especially children) stirs the pudding mixture and makes a wish. It is also traditional to include a silver sixpence in the mixture, and whoever gets the sixpence in their portion on Christmas day gets to be "king" for the day, and all their requests must be fulfilled.
3 comments:
Hmm - I found an Elizabeth I silver sixpence (worth around £80) metal detecting a few weeks back, but I won't be putting it in a pudding. Besides, my Dad swallowed a 5-pence piece wrapped in greaseproof paper one Christmas, and then had to endure the "still no change?" gags for years after...
I steamed the puds today (I split the mixture into two), but I forgot to put a coin in. What a dummy. I also let the pan go dry on one of them and melted the basin to the bottom of the steamer. I've done that before though and the pud tasted fine.
Yup, I remember when you did that, and the pressure knob on the pressure cooker blew off and idiot me (I admit it) scambled into the corner of the floor to retrieve it. Ouch, burnt fingers!! The pud was lovely that year though, you're right.
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