Christmas traditions: Chestnuts, figgy pudding

Once you’ve roasted a chestnut over an open fire, what do you do with it? And just what the heck is a figgy pudding?

This Christmas, we decided to look at the edible side of Christmas carols and poems. We all know the words, but do we ever think about what they mean?

Chestnuts, for instance. Nat King Cole made the act of roasting them over an open fire an iconic part of the holiday.

Chestnuts actually taste wonderful by themselves. They are nutty, of course, but slightly sweet and with a mild, mellow flavor. But chestnuts by themselves are not festive enough for the holidays. So I decided to make candied chestnuts, known to the French as marrons glacés. These are delicate marvels of creamy, nutty sweetness.

Figgy pudding also has a definite fruitcake vibe to it. Figgy isn’t so much a pudding as it is a dense cake.

But the figgy part is accurate; it uses quite a lot of chopped figs, plus raisins and currants. These are mixed with dark brown sugar, self-rising flour, bread crumbs, grated apples and allspice.

And brandy, of course. Brandy goes into the batter, and then, if you really want to put on a show, you can pour heated brandy over the finished product and set it ablaze.

That is the traditional way to serve it. But for an extraspecial treat, you could also serve it with a caramel-flavored sauce. It’s easy to make — no actual caramelizing necessary — and it goes great with figgy pudding.

CHRIS LEE/ ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/TNS You can pour heated brandy over figgy pudding and set it ablaze.