For the atomic model, see Plum pudding model. Christmas pudding is sweet dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. Many households have their own recipes for Christmas pudding, some handed down through families borscht recipe jamie oliver generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients — notably the sweet spices that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet.

Christmas puddings are often dried out on hooks for weeks prior to serving in order to enhance the flavour. This pudding has been prepared with a traditional cloth rather than a basin. Prior to the 19th century, the English Christmas pudding was boiled in a pudding cloth, and often represented as round. Initial cooking usually involves steaming for many hours. Most pre-twentieth century recipes assume that the pudding will then be served immediately, but in the second half of the twentieth century, it became more usual to reheat puddings on the day of serving, and recipes changed slightly to allow for maturing. To serve, the pudding is reheated by steaming once more, and dressed with warm brandy which is set alight. An example of a Great Depression era recipe for Christmas pudding can instead be made on Christmas Day rather than weeks before as with a traditional plum pudding, although it is still boiled or steamed.

Given the scarce resources available to poorer households during the depression, this recipe uses cold tea for flavouring instead of brandy and there are no eggs used in the mixture. As techniques for meat preserving improved in the 18th century, the savoury element of both the mince pie and the plum pottage diminished as the sweet content increased. People began adding dried fruit and sugar. The mince pie kept its name, though the pottage was increasingly referred to as plum pudding. As plum pudding, it became widespread as a feast dish, not necessarily associated with Christmas, and usually served with beef.

It was not until the 1830s that a boiled cake of flour, fruits, suet, sugar and spices, all topped with holly, made a definite appearance, becoming more and more associated with Christmas. It was in the late Victorian era that the ‘Stir up Sunday’ myth began to take hold. The custom of eating Christmas pudding was carried to many parts of the world by British colonists. Master of the Royal Household, requesting a copy of the recipe used to make the Christmas pudding for the royal family.

A 10-ton Christmas pudding, the largest ever created up until that time, was featured. The recipe became known as the “Prince of Wales’ Empire Christmas Pudding”. In America, the traditions of the Christmas pudding had already arrived in pre-independence days. A book entitled The Williamsburg Art of Cookery by Helen Bullock was published in the U. Jane Cunningham Croly published a 19th-century recipe for plum pudding contributed to Jennie June’s American Cookery Book by the American poet sisters Alice Cary and Phoebe Cary. Traditionally, every member of the household stirs the pudding, while making a wish.