Gertrude Mackay’s 1913 Recipe for ‘Apple Christmas Pudding’
“Pare, core and quarter six tart apples. Add a cup of water, cover and boil quickly for five minutes. Press through a sieve; add a tablespoon of butter and a cup of sugar. Beat three eggs until light; add one pint of milk and a cup of hot boiled rice. Add the apples and bake for half an hour. Lemon or orange rind may be added. Serve cold with cream or lemon sauce.”
Gertrude Mackay, Two Hundred and Nine Ways of Preparing the Apple (1913)
‘Tis the Season! And here’s another suggested recipe for your Christmas dinner table, should you fancy mixing it up and cooking something a little different this year.
Today we’re back in the company of Gertrude Mackay, who has another recipe for us from her 1913 apple preparation collection. We’ve already heard about her saucy ‘Apple Ginger‘, her savoury ‘Stuffed Apples to Serve With a Roast‘. This time she’s offering up an apple-based alternate version of the classic Christmas Pudding. Or so I assumed from the title of the recipe.
Let’s see… boil apples, pass them to a mush, add butter, add sugar. Beat eggs, add milk, add cooked rice… right. Is that it?
Okay, so, I’m a big, big fan of Christmas Pud, especially if it’s served piping hot with a good dollop of brandy cream. I just love the rich, deep flavours, the hint – or hopefully more than a hint – of booze, the fruitiness, the chewiness, all of it. Yes indeed, I could quite happily eat figgy pudding all year round.
Which is why, at the risk of being accused of not getting into the spirit of the season, I’m going to have to call Gertrude out on this one, because her recipe doesn’t sound like ti will result in anything like a Christmas Pudding to me. I mean, there’s no brandy, no currants, no raisins, no glacé cherries, no rich, dark, molasses flavours, no spices! Come on, it doesn’t exactly scream “Iiiit’s Chriiiistmaaaas!“, does it?
However, having finished my little rant, I also have to point out that it actually sounds rather delicious to me. (Not that I’m saying it wouldn’t be improved by the addition of some dried fruit, some dark sugar, some spices, maybe a drop or two of brandy… but still. It’s essentially an apple-enriched rice pudding, and I’m a big, big fan of rice pudding as well. But calling it an “Apple Christmas Pudding”? Bit of a mis-labelling there, surely?
Although if you do happen to be one of those poor, unfortunate souls whose palate doesn’t thrill to the supreme deliciousness that is Christmas Pud, then perhaps this alternative pudding of boiled rice, apple, eggs, butter, sugar and orange / lemon rind might make for quite an attractive alternative?
What do you reckon? Am I being a terribly unfair to a perfectly viable alternative to the standard seasonal stodge? Or do you agree that maybe Gertrude has pulled the wool over our eyes and sold us a bit of a duff one with her non-plum pudding?
Do please let me know, via the comments.
