Sunday, December 16, 2012

Another holiday photo

Taking a little bit of a breather today. I know, I know. What kind of an Advent Calendar is this?!  And there hasn't been a single piece of chocolate yet!

Oh but how about some of that legendary figgy pudding (photo by Christopher Elwell)?




So favorite figgy pudding recipe? Can there be such a thing?

Favorite holiday side dish recipe?

15 comments:

  1. I've never had figgy pudding, but I just bought fig jelly to go with cheese at Christmas time. :) My favorite Christmas pastry is a star shaped mince pie with plum marmalade filling (baked with puff pastry). A very traditional Christmas pastry here in Finland. Those are also so easy to bake that even I manage to make them... ;)

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  2. No figgy recipe here... but that picture sure makes me drool!

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  3. In answer to your question, it has been a wonderful Advent calendar, and you deserve the day of rest. It's a great picture, the codas have been all that is charming, and I look forward to the next one, whenever it comes.

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  4. One of the loveliest things about Advent Calendars is that you never know what you're going to find when you open it up. Pictures are A-OK! We never did the whole big meal on Christmas. We always had ham and potato salad and baked beans. Things that could be fixed the day before. That way no one had to spend Christmas day in the kitchen. But my mom always made homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast. Yum! I really miss my mom's cinnamon rolls. Thanks for a good memory!

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  5. OMG, Josh, that picture is gorgeous! Makes me want to dig a spoon into that pudding immediately.

    Sorry, no favorite recipes to impart; my mother was the cook. But I do have wonderful Christmas memories of mince pie and hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon sticks. Yum!

    As for taking a breather - as great as these codas are - they have to be fun for you, too, not crazy-making. Take as much time as required. I'm sure we readers are thrilled with whatever you send out. I know I am. Thanks again, Josh.

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  6. I have never tasted figgy pudding in my life - but it looks delicious.
    We eat baklava here - stolen dish from Turkey, we don't have our own sweet goodie.

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  7. I've never had figgy pudding either! I really would like to try it sometime. I'd like to try the whole classic Victorian Christmas dinner menu!

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  8. I did make christmas pudding 3 years ago - it was yummy but made in october, steamed for 4 or 5 hours, plus steamed again on the day for about the same - such a lot of faff, but it did taste nice, and no figs! Now i just get a ready made and microwave for 3 mins! I do make my own stuffing, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, christmas cake (also baked in october and fed brandy weekly), will be making the marzipan on tuesday and the cranberry vodka is looking good (too wet for good sloes for the gin this year)
    Phew!

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  9. Hmmm. I haven't had figgy pudding myself, but I know that Google Books has all sorts of neat Victorian Era cookbooks (I stumbled across them when doing research on old nursing recipes, like beef tea). So, I did a search.

    No relevant results for "figgy pudding," but that's because its name is officially "plum pudding." There are several recipes in this book:

    https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=MOMqAAAAYAAJ

    The very first entry in the book is about traditional Christmas dinner. No recipes there, just a description of what was eaten and how Christmas was celebrated--but fun to read. The next entry is "How to Cook a Husband" *grins*. After that comes all the recipes. You should be able to do a search for plum pudding and come up with a few (actually, *quite* a few) results scattered through the document. :)

    I get such a kick out of poking through 19th century books! I have an old nursing materia medica that lists things like arsenic and belladonna as medicines! ;D

    ...By the by, I'm still holding out for chocolate.

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  10. Can't beat this lady for cooking good English Christmas food. I always use her mincemeat recipe for my mince pies, and her Christmas cake recipe.

    http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-christmas-pudding.html

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  11. I've never had figgy pudding, although we did have plum pudding every Christmas when I was a child. My favorite part was the hard sauce. How can you go wrong with butter, sugar and a splash of brandy? It just occurred to me that my sweet grandmother fed me my first alcohol. :)

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  12. My Chocolate ganache chocoalate torte with shaved chocolate, Prime rib roast or rack of lamb with lingonberry perserves, steamed greenbeans with shaved garlic,roasted garlic and truffle smashed potatoes, homemade butter flaked rolls and steamed white aspagrus. Simple elegant and very good

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  13. My mouth started watering with that menu!

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  14. I just totally dig that picture. It makes me feel wonderful.

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