Stir-up Sunday and Plum pudding (2024)

Just a word from me first! Hello everyone, a few months ago I sent out an email asking my subscribers if they wanted my website and newsletter to stay alive. To my surprise, I was inundated with lovely emails from people explaining why they want my website to stay and why they’d love to still get an email from me. I’ve since been working on moving my website from www.missfoodwise.com to www.regulaysewijn.com - a work still in progress as I’m building the website from scratch. So here we are with a new newsletter on another platform that I’m still learning. Bear with me while I figure this out and meanwhile, I have this first try for you below! Let me know if you like it! I’m still on twitter as @regulaysewijn and instagram as @missfoodwise. I am also on Mastodon in case twitter collapses: @regula@mastodonapp.uk.

Stir-up Sunday and why plum pudding is too heavy as a dessert.
This weekend will mark the last Sunday before advent which is traditionally Stir-up Sunday.According to (rather recent) tradition, plum pudding or Christmas pudding should be made on this day. It is a custom thatis believed to date back to the 1549 Book of Common Prayer (though it is actually not); where a reading states ‘stir up,we beseech thee’. The words would be read in church on the last Sunday before Advent and sothe good people knew it was time to start on their favourite Christmas treat.

It wasa family affair: everyone would gather to stir the pudding mixture from east to west,in honour of the Three Kings who came from the east. Sometimes coins or trinkets would behidden in the dough; finding them on Christmas Day would bring luck and good fortune.

This is also your deadline to prepare your Christmas cake and Mincemeat
Plum pudding or Christmas pudding, isn’t the only mixture you have to make today, today or this week at the latest is also your deadline to prepare your Christmas cake and Mincemeat to go into Mince pies. You can find a recipe for Christmas cake and Mince pies in my book Oats in the North, Wheat from the South, the Mince pies recipe is also on my website here.

What is plum pudding
But lets talk about Christmas pudding today, a pudding known to every Brit but in the rest of the world plum pudding is still quite elusive. Plum pudding is a boiled or steamed cake made with a lot of dried and candied fruits, a little flour, breadcrumbs, shredded suet (kidney fat, which creates beautiful airholes) and booze. You make it in advance so that the flavours can mature resulting in a dark and intense fruit pudding.

Non-Brits and to be fair some Brits wonder why on earth would you eat such a heavy pudding after a massive Christmas meal? It doesn’t make sense! Indeed! A plum pudding isn’t supposed to be eaten for pudding (are you following?), it is supposed to be eaten along with the roast meat as the main affair.

The first written record of a recipe for plum pudding as we know it today can be found in JohnNott’s The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary from 1723.There is, however, no suggestion that the pudding is associated with the practiceof Stir-up Sunday, or the Christmas feast.

In this era, plum puddings were a common companion to beef on festive days; they were eatenbefore or along with the meat, not after the meal topped with plenty of cream as we know ittoday. A plum pudding would often be sliced up and arranged under the dripping of a roastingjoint of meat in front of the fire.

The ‘Hack’ or ‘Hackin’ pudding (recipe also in my book Pride and Pudding), a relative of the haggis and plum pudding from the north ofEngland, was eaten in the same fashion. It is possible that the tradition of eating a plum pudding with roast beef on festive occasions evolvedto it becoming the highlight of the Christmas feast, inspired by customs in the north of England.

People love a legend connected to food
There are a lot of legends and claims made about the origins of the plum pudding.Some say it was King George I who requested plum pudding as a part of the first Christmas feastof his reign, in 1714. George I was christened ‘the Pudding King’ because of this myth but thereare no written records prior to the twentieth century to tell us that this king deserved this title.

By the Victorian era the Christmas pudding was well and truly the symbol of Christmas,although the Christmas tree would soon take its place. Printing methods improved and itbecame possible to print in various colours so Christmas cards became popular. Many of thesedepicted puddings as centrepieces on the festive table and cards featured puddings dressed uplike little men.

The whole history of plum pudding is too long for a single posting – but you can read more about how it became the food to show your patriotism to Britainin the pages of my book. One thing seems for sure to me, Stir-up Sunday is a fairly recent tradition. But even though it’s not as old as the 16th century reading in the Book of Common Prayer, it has been around since Victorian times which makes it part of traditions today.

This recipe is based on early Plum pudding recipes but it evolved in my kitchen over the years. It really is no trouble at all making it so maybe this year you’ll give that M&S Christmas pud a miss and try your hand at your very own. In my book and on my website you’ll also find a war-time Christmas pudding, maybe I’ll share that recipe with you another year!

Also listen to the Delicious Mag podcast here > to hear @deliciouseditor Karen Barnes talk about her mother’s recipe for Christmas pudding!

Or take a look at Jamie Oliver’s nan’s recipe here >with Vin Santo.

Hate Christmas Pudding (what’s wrong with you!!) then maybe this ‘Chocolate pudding for Christmas pudding haters’ by Nigella Lawson is your thing! It has hot chocolate sauce. One persons food hell is another person’t delight!

This recipe for plum pudding is from my book Pride and Pudding (Murdoch Books)

What you need

Makes 2 puddings using16 cm (61/4 inch/No. 36)basins (moulds), or 6–7 mini(150 ml/5 fl oz) puddings.

• 200 g (7 oz) shredded suet

• 75 g (2. oz) plain (allpurpose)or spelt flour

• 150 g (5. oz/2. cups)fresh breadcrumbs (no shortcuts here!)

• 150 g (5. oz) muscovado(dark brown) sugar

• 150 g (5. oz) currants

• 150 g (5. oz) raisins

• 40 g (1. oz) candiedorange peel

• 1 small dessert apple, grated

• 2 teaspoons mixed spice

• 1/2teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

• 3 large eggs

• 150 ml (5 fl oz) brandy ordark rum

• 75 ml (2. fl oz) stout (beer)

• butter, to grease the puddingbasins

Prepare the pudding basins for steaming

Generously grease the pudding basin (mould)with butter and cut a circle of baking paper thesame size as the base of the pudding basin. Placethe paper circle in the basin; it will stick perfectlyto the butter. This will make it easier to get thepudding out of the basin.

Spoon the batter into the pudding basin, thencut another two circles of baking paper with adiameter about 8–10 cm (3–4 inches) largerthan the top of the basin. Make a narrow foldacross the middle to leave room for the papercover to expand slightly. I like to use two layersof paper. Tie securely around the top of thebasin with kitchen string, then cover with foiland tie kitchen string to create a handle so itwill be easier to lift the basin out of the panafter steaming.

Now get yourself a pan large enough to hold yourpudding basin(s) or, if you are steaming littleones all in one go, a large baking dish. I prefer touse the oven for this as I do not like to have a potof boiling hot water on the stovetop for 2 hoursor more, depending on the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 160C (315F) or thetemperature suggested in the recipe.

Stand the pudding basin on an invertedheatproof saucer, a jam jar lid or trivet in thebase of a deep ovenproof saucepan or pot.

Pour in boiling water to come halfway up theside of the basin. Cover the pan, either with itsown lid or with foil, in order to trap the steam.

Place in the preheated oven and leave for aslong as your recipe states. This can be between30 minutes and 7 hours depending on the sizeof your pudding. See the recipe below.

When you are steaming little puddings, it issufficient to place the puddings in a deep bakingdish and fill the dish with boiling water once youhave put them in the oven. Cover the dish withfoil and steam for as long as your recipe states.

The pudding

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then addthe eggs, brandy and stout and mix well by gently stirring witha wooden spoon. You can stir from east to west if you fancy it.If you have the time, leave the mixture to rest overnight.

Preheat the oven to 160C (315F). Spoon the batter intothe prepared pudding basins. Steam for 3–4 hours for small puddings and5–7 hours for large ones.

After the puddings are steamed you can either serve themstraight away or, if Christmas is still a while off, cool thepuddings in their basins, change the baking paper covers forclean ones and tie up. Store the pudding in a cool cupboardand, if you like a boozy pudding, feed it with a couple ofteaspoons of brandy or rum once a week. This will also helppreserve the puddings.

To serve on the day, steam for 1 hour and serve with custardsauce , clotted cream (see recipe in my book Pride and Pudding) or brandybutter and enjoy.