Stirring yourself for Xmas
‘Stir Up Sunday’ has been and gone – but in earlier times our forebears already had their home-baked Xmas puds and cakes stored in the larder.
For centuries, the Sunday closest to the start of Advent was a hive of activity in the kitchen. Traditionally called ‘Stir Up Sunday’, it was the day when family members, especially the children, took turns at stirring the pudding.
The name comes from the opening words of the prayer for the day, taken from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer:
‘Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people …’
But, as children always do on their way home from church, they customized the words to:
‘Stir-up, we beseech thee, the pudding in the pot;
‘And when we get home we’ll eat the lot’.
Once preparations were underway, traditions had to be followed. Every family member took a turn at stirring, while making a secret wish. You also had to stir in a set direction – from east to west recalling the journey the Magi took to Bethlehem. And, if the budget stretched, your Xmas pudding required 13 ingredients, representing Christ and his Apostles.
Likewise, you needed to add some coins and tokens to the mix – threepenny bits, silver sixpences, rings or thimbles were all deemed lucky to anyone finding one in their pudding bowl. Not breaking a tooth on one of these was lucky in itself! But our forbears stuck to tradition, hoping for a happy and prosperous New Year.
Oranges
If, like me, you missed ‘Stir Up Sunday’, there’s still time to make a Xmas pudding – if you don’t mind foregoing those luxury puds smothered in orange slices and edible gold a bit too fancy for my taste!
Here’s something simpler but equally tasty, an old Black Country recipe which a Smethwick reader sent me, some years ago – Fat Free Xmas Pudding.
Often contributing to the Bugle, Eva Warr gave me “a recipe for anyone interested in a fat free Xmas Pudding – the only stipulation is it has to be made three days before Christmas Day. It may suit someone who would like a simple fruit pud. It’s quite good. A relation of mine tried it as well, then asked for the recipe again. P.S. It can be made for any time of the year.’’
A winning combination – tasty, economical and versatile – and kinder on the waistline!
Ingredients: 12 oz day-old brown bread crumbs
1 eating apple – with or without peel 1 banana 4 oz crushed Brazil nuts 1 oz grated almonds 8 oz currants 8 oz sultanas 8 oz soft brown sugar (not demerara) 2 or 3 tsp mixed spice 1 tsp salt 3 eggs Juice and rind of a lemon Half pint of milk
You also need a large, oneand-a-half litre pudding basin, or two small ones, some greaseproof paper to cover the basin, and baking foil.
Mix all the ingredients together and put into the greased pudding basin. Secure with greaseproof paper and put foil over the top. Boil in a large pan of water for three hours (or for half the time if using a pressure cooker). When cooked, store in a cool, dry place then steam for 20 minutes on the day.
These days, we can microwave steamed puddings, in minutes. And talking of which, it was British scientists who developed the magnetron that produces microwaves – to improve radar accuracy during World War Two.
Eva’s recipe is typical of those used in days before we all had fridges and microwaves – perhaps dating from the late 1940s or early ’50s – when rationing meant dried fruits, sugar, fats and eggs, let alone bananas, were hard to come by.
The breadcrumbs might have been from the largely unpopular ‘National Loaf’ – which many disliked because of its gritty texture, despite the whole grain ingredients being more nutritious.
On the Home Front, the war against waste meant stale bread was always kept for baking and other recipes. People seen wasting food could be fined! So – no feeding the birds or ducks – unless you were fattening them for the table!
Wartime housewives had to save their rations for several weeks to have enough for a Christmas baking session.
As with the Xmas pudding, it’s still not too late to bake a Xmas cake – I seldom get round to making mine until about a week before the big day. There’s still time for the cake to mature, especially if you feed it with your favourite tipple.
Ministry of Food
Here’s a wartime recipe from the Ministry of Food. During the war, cooks had a hard time acquiring enough fat for baking. They had to use initiative, often saving the fat from tinned corned beef, or ham – apparently, even cod liver oil would do, when fat was really scarce! It was the same with fresh eggs, although dried egg powder imported from the USA was available. To get the traditional rich, brown colour, cooks often added tea or gravy browning to the mix.
Wartime Xmas Cake 4 oz margarine 3oz soft brown sugar 1lb dried mixed fruit 2 reconstituted dried eggs or 2 fresh eggs
3 level tablespoons of warmed treacle or golden syrup 8oz of plain flour Pinch of salt Half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon of mixed spice 3 tablespoons of cold, strained tea
(a good slug of rum, sherry or brandy – but booze was also in short supply back then!)
Line a 7 inch cake tin with greaseproof or parchment paper.
Pre-heat oven to 150 C (300F) Gas Mark 2.
Cream the margarine and sugar. Gradually add the beaten eggs then the syrup or treacle.
Stir all the dry ingredients together then add to the creamed mixture and then add the fruit and tea. (Add your booze here, or some brandy or rum essence if preferred.)
Spoon into the cake tin and make a hollow in the centre so the cake will be flatter on top.
Bake for two to two-and-ahalf hours or until the top is firm and the sides are slightly sinking away from the side of the tin. (You may need to cover the top with foil halfway through cooking).
Cool in the tin. When cool remove from the tin and place in an airtight container.
Over the remaining weeks you can feed the cake with the booze. Then decorate as you choose. Enjoy!