No reason to give up steamed puddings

Published 4:28 pm Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Just because Christmas is now behind us for another whole year, that’s no reason not to go right ahead and enjoy what’s usually filed away as a holiday-only tradition.

Not in my humble opinion, anyway and very possibly not in yours. After all, pumpkin pie — at least at many restaurants, especially those featuring pies — is offered all year long.

Well, then, here we go with the first of several dandy steamed puddings to arrive at the Forum in response to the recent request from Caroline Oberg of Camano Island.

“This is the pudding that my grandmother, Queen Irene (nee Harper) Smith, always made for Christmas,” Edmonds cook Michele Unger writes.

“The Smith clan would gather in Mount Vernon, Wash., on Christmas Eve at Grandma Smith’s, and ‘Nana’ (cousin Tony Cahill named her that and all the cousins called her Nana) would make a huge turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

“Dessert was always this steamed pudding, with hard sauce. My mother, Pete Rawlings (nee Eleanore Irene Smith), always made the hard sauce.

“This recipe was lost for years, but found in the ‘Channel Nine Cooks Holiday Dessert Cookbook.’

“The recipe is from Stacy Hani of Delta, B.C., and she got it from her great-grandmother Edwards. Everyone in the family who remembers Nana’s pudding says this is it. Even down to the grated potato.

“I have two pudding molds, and I make a double batch and fill them both. These puddings can be made a couple of months ahead of Christmas and can be frozen, either cooked or uncooked. It is a nice, light pudding.”

Steamed Christmas pudding

1cup grated raw carrot

1cup grated raw potato

1cup grated raw apple

1cup grated suet

1teaspoon baking soda

1teaspoon nutmeg

1teaspoon allspice

11/4cups flour

3/4cup granulated sugar

11/2cups raisins

1/2cup chopped nuts

1teaspoon salt

1teaspoon cinnamon

2teaspoons vanilla extract

Hard sauce (recipe follows)

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients in the order given. Mix well and turn into a well-greased, heat-proof bowl or pudding mold, filling bowl or mold two-thirds full. Cover tightly and steam over boiling water for 3 hours. Serve with hard sauce. Makes one pudding, but the recipe can be doubled.

Note: This pudding can be prepared several months before Christmas and can be frozen, either cooked or uncooked.

Hard sauce

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

11/2cups powdered sugar

1egg yolk

1-2tablespoons brandy or rum, if desired

In a small mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy.

Add the sugar gradually and continue beating until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the egg yolk. Blend in the brandy or rum, if desired. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is hard. Serve over warmed steamed puddings or mincemeat pie and allow the hard sauce to melt.

The next Forum will appear in Friday’s comics pages.