Christmas pudding: A plum delightful tradition

By POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
Of the many Christmas tradi­tions, few are as endearing as getting together and preparing a family recipe.
For Chris Wulf and daughter, Nancy Pannell, the smells of nana’s plum pudding fill Pan­nell’s kitchen during the holiday season. The treat has been a Christmas staple for generations. “My mother helped Grandma, I helped Mother, now I help Nancy,” Wulf said.
“It’s the partnership,” she said. “We’ve done it for 40 years and never missed a year.”
With a dash of this and a pinch of that, the recipe came with Wulf’s maternal family when they moved from England and settled in Salt Lake City.
In England, plum pudding was an important part of the Christ­mas celebration. It contained dried fruit and spices, mostly dried plums, or prunes — which have been replaced by raisins — nuts, and raw beef or mutton fat (suet).
It was made five weeks before Christmas on “Stir up Sunday,” when each member of the family stirred the pudding and made a wish. Traditionally, small silver charms were baked in the plum pudding, signifying good luck, safe harbor, wealth, etc.
Today, these tiny charms may still be bought and baked in the steamed pudding. Covered with a wonderfully rich sauce, deco­rated with a sprig of holly, doused in brandy, and set aflame, the plum pudding is cer­emoniously brought to the table. Many Americans are familiar with the plum pudding traditions as told in many carols and Christmas stories.
From Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol,” Mrs. Cratchit brought the pudding to the table, “blazing in half of half a quartern of brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck on top.”
When it came to ordering pud­ding ingredients, Wulf said her grandmother was a “feisty little thing.” She would tell the grocer exactly what she wanted.
“That meant that the suet was not to come from anywhere but the beef kidneys,” Wulf said.
These days it’s difficult to acquire suet, so Wulf and Pan­nell have adapted the recipe to include butter, which is mixed in with the bread crumbs. They also add dates, pecans, candied cherries and a bit of brandy, all of which is meticulously hand stirred.
It’s carefully ladled into well­greased tin cans, covered with foil and securely tied with string
See PLUM PUDDING, 2L Plum pudding: A family tradition

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before being submerged into a long, hot steam bath. Wulf said that the pudding also may be made in a mold and put in a water bath in the oven.
Every year, mother and daugh­ter meet in Pannell’s kitchen as part of the holiday tradition to make pudding and to remember the family and friends who have come and gone through the years. “We’ve lost a lot of pudding eaters over the years,” Wulf said.
NANA’S PLUM PUDDING
1 cup dark molasses (if very thick, soften for a few seconds in the microwave)
½ tsp. baking soda Fruit mixture:
2 cups bread crumbs processed in Cuisinart with ¾ cup cold butter
2 cups golden raisins
1½ cups chopped dates
1½ cups candied fruit
8 ounces candied red cherries
8 ounces candied green cherries
1 cup broken pecans or walnuts
½ cup flour Dry ingredients:
1½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder Moist ingredients:
¼ to ½ cup brandy, rum or whiskey
¾ cup whole milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix molasses and baking soda and set aside until fluffy and light colored.
Measure bread crumbs, can­died fruit, dates, nuts and ½ cup flour into a large bowl. Toss to combine. Measure and mix together 1½ cups flour, sugar, spices and baking powder. Add to bread crumb mixture and mix well by hand. Add brandy, rum or whiskey, along with molasses mixture to dry ingredients. Mix well. Set aside.
In small bowl, beat together whole milk, eggs and vanilla.
Add to ingredients in large bowl. Mix well, by hand. The dough should be the consistency of muffin dough. If necessary, add more flour.
Ladle mixture into well­greased aluminum cans. Fill cans two-thirds to three-quarters full. Leave room for pudding to puff up when steamed.
Top cans with heavy duty foil tied with double string so the cans are airtight. Trim foil evenly so as not to touch water bath.
Steam in oven in water bath or use an electric roaster. Water should be one-third to one-half of the way up on the can.
To steam: Set temperature at 350° and steam for three hours. Lower temperature to 250° and steam for 1½ hours. Add more water if necessary during steaming time to avoid scorching the bottoms of the puddings. Re-move. Cool. Store in refrigerator or freeze. It will keep for up to one year.
To serve: Steam pudding in a covered saucepan in about 1 inch of water for 45 minutes. Remove foil from can. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the can and carefully unmold pudding onto plate. Slice and top with sauce.
Makes about 10 soup cans of pudding
WHIPPED CREAM SAUCE
Whip 1 cup cream almost to butter; fold carefully, the follow­ing ingredients one at a time to keep cream as stiff as possible.
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp. melted butter
Powdered sugar to taste
½ tsp. vanilla.
Refrigerate until serving time.
BRANDY OR RUM SAUCE
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup water
½ tsp. lemon juice

Cataldo Mission story

Historic mission is worth a visit

High on a grassy knoll above Interstate 90, 24 miles east of Coeur d’Alene, the Cataldo Mis­sion church is situated elegantly above a leafy forest. For years, as I traveled to and from Seat­tle, I passed by the Cataldo Mis­sion with little more than a glance. But finally, “The House of the Great Spirit,” as the Coeur d’Alene Indians called it, lured me in.
After you take Exit 39 and wind through the woodsy land­scape, you can almost feel the pull of the past along the trails in Old Mission State Park. The visitors center offers an orienta­tion video.
Connecting Fort Benton on the Missouri River with Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia, the Mullan Road passed in front of the mission, which became an impor­tant stop for traders, settlers and miners. It was a port for boats head­ing up the Coeur d’Alene River.
What stands today dates back to the 1850s, when the tribe put a call out to St. Louis and the “blackrobes,” the Jesuits, to establish a mission in the rugged wilderness.
The beloved Father Antonio Ravalli, who built St. Mary’s Mission near Stevensville, answered the call to work with the Coeur d’Alenes.
Safe from flooding, the hill above the Coeur d’Alene River, long a holy place to the Coeur d’alene Indians, was chosen as the site for the church.
David Leeds, park interpreter and history buff, shared infor­mation about the Old Mission.
“Many generations of Indians came here to offer prayers for successful journeys,” he said.
Father Ravalli and the Native Americans worked for nearly six years to construct a magnifi­cent church 90 feet long and 40 feet wide. Built in the Roman Doric style, it mirrors architec­ture Ravalli studied in his native Italy. The facade remains a tes­tament to his skill.
Inside the church looms a carved ceiling colored with huckleberry juice, the stain being the closest they could get to the heavenly blue they were aiming for. The workers had only meager tools, using an ax but no saw. Even so, they were able to craft wood­en statues and fur­niture, and painted pictures. Ravalli carved with his pocket knife and plucked tail hairs from his cat which he used for his paint brushes.
Visitors can see into the building’s walls in side rooms and see the original wattle and daub, using river grass and clay. Timber beams are held by hand-carved pegs.
There is a credence table, hand-hewn urns and exquisite small chandeliers cut from used tin cans. When newspapers became available, they were glued to the walls and painted to resemble wallpaper.
Just over the doorway hangs a framed painting of the Sacred Heart done by Ravalli.
In 1877, the mission was left outside reservation boundaries and the Coeur d’Alene Indians were relocated. Another priest, Father Cataldo, took over the mission which eventually became Cataldo Mission.
In 1961, the mission was des­ignated a National Historic Landmark.



PHOTO COURTESY POLLY KOLSTAD
The Cataldo Mission in Idaho.


On the Road
— Polly Kolstad