ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS….
we made great grandma harris’s CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Even though in Australia we are in the height of the summer on Christmas day, it is my family’s tradition to have the full cooked turkey, vegetables and all the trimmings for our Christmas lunch.
I have memories of Christmas dinner being served, the house 10°C hotter than outside (because the poor oven has been working over time since 6am that morning,)and those portable evap air conditioners stationed around ever corner of the table groaning with food.
The most important part of our feasts was the desert. And the MOST important part of desert was the pudding.
When Mac and I moved back from Scotland my Nan and I would make the puddings for Christmas, with my mum joining in, and the Terrible trio jumping in every now and then to make a lucky stir.
Now that both my Nan and Gran are no longer with us, mum, the girls and I make the pudding, in their honour and to keep the tradition going and because it is bloody yummy!
There is something magical about the pudding making. Four, and now three generations of women taking turns stirring the pudding for luck, making the pudding in my Nan’s mothers bowl (the one which my Nan grew up learning to make the pudding in!). And when she was alive, three generations following the sometimes tyrannical directions, of the grand Matriarch of the family!
And every year, just as I have figured out the recipe and a centuries worth of tips and tricks Nan would tweak it again. (I think sometimes that this was deliberate!)
So in keeping with the spirit of giving and sharing for this season, I wanted to share with you my Great Great Grandmother Harris’ Pudding Recipe. (Which apparently took my aunty 40 years to pry this recipe out of my Nan, so I feel very privileged to be able to share it!
Now I cannot swear with 100% certainty that this is the full recipe! Like I said there were all kinds of tweaks and tricks to it which changed from year to year!
The pudding can be frozen too! Which is handy because having a boiling pot of water on for six hours in the summer makes the house super hot. Wrap it cloth and all in a plastic shopping bag on pop it in the freezer. Just make sure you take it out in plenty of time to defrost for Christmas dinner!
Let me know if you give this recipe a try – I would love to hear how it went. I was always terrified of making the Christmas pudding, but this is really one of the easiest recipes that my nan taught me!
TOMORROW – a little self care moment!
DAY ONE | DAY TWO | DAY THREE | DAY FOUR | DAY FIVE | DAY SIX
P.S The 12 days of Christmas is a collection of stories and traditions and fun things that we do in Casa da Mac in the lead up to Christmas. Pop back tomorrow for another post!!
