RECIPE AND FOOD STYLING: POLLYANNA COUPLAND. PHOTOGRAPHS: INDIA WHILEY-MORTON
Best of the best.
No shortcuts. No cheat ingredients. Our best of the best series takes the view that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Each month we take a deep-dive into a classic dish, then give you our ultimate recipe. This month: Pollyanna Coupland perfects her granny’s figgy pudding, ready for Stir-Up Sunday on 26 November
Love it or hate it, Christmas pudding is the stalwart sweet of British Christmas. I suspect there are more haters than lovers these days (sadly), but figgy pudding fans embrace its dark, rich density with gusto. We only get to eat it once a year and there’s no denying its intensely festive flavour, so even if you’ve turned your nose up at shop-bought offerings in the past, I hope I can convince you to have a go at making it yourself.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Christmas puddings have been around since at least the 14th century, when they were known as ‘frumenty’ (actually more like a spiced porridge). By the 17th century the dish had evolved into ‘plum pudding’, dried plums being today’s sultanas. Come the 19th century, the Victorians – thanks in large part to Charles Dickens – made the pudding a key part of Christmas.
Along with this came religious significance: traditionally made with 13 ingredients, the pudding is said to represent Jesus and his 12 disciples, with the decorative holly symbolising the crown of thorns and the flames representing Christ’s passion. The Victorians also established the custom of hiding a sixpence in the pudding mixture before it was steamed. Whoever found it would gain good fortune in the year ahead – although the tradition of hiding something in the pud had been around for centuries.
You’re supposed to make a wish while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon (clockwise, or from east to west, as a nod to the Three Wise Men travelling to see baby Jesus). Okay, that wish is unlikely to come true, but you have to be in it to win it so it’s worth a go.
WHY DRIED FRUIT?
The benefits of using dried versus fresh fruit in baking is the deeper, comforting flavour they provide, along with a chewy fudginess. Removing moisture from fruit via dehydration not only intensifies a fruit’s flavour but also reduces its size, meaning you can cram in more fruit per unit of volume – hence the pudding’s richness and density. Dried fruit keeps for longer, too.
CHOOSING YOUR FRUIT
There are lots of dr
