A rhyming recipe for a Christmas pudding

Yes I know I’ve written about Christmas pudding here below, but I have no picture of one, so thought I’d share a photo of a Christmas cake I made a few years ago. It tasted much better than the photo suggests!!

I’ve begun to think about our Christmas Day meal – unlike in past times there will only be four of us and I’m thinking of doing something different, maybe a festive pie, instead of a roast bird. I will probably make some sort of dessert and not a traditional pudding, and was looking at recipes. Having thought not a pudding, I came across this from a newspaper published in 1890, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t written by William McGonagall, but who knows!:

A RHYMING RECIPE FOR A CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Of flour take a pound and a half,
With salt (two teaspoons) mix it,
Two pounds of suet add as well;
That quantity should fix it.
Of sugar moist, two pounds will do,
The same of well-washed raisins,
Of currants and sultanas, too,
Mix well in largish basins.
Peel, candied, and selected well,
A pound and a half’s sufficient;
One pound of bread crumbs will be found
Decidedly efficient.
Two spoons quite full of mingled spice,
Eight eggs, a little candy.
A wine-glass keep before you, to
Remind you of the brandy.
Beat eggs for quite ten minutes, and
To strain them well be sure,
Then on the rich and doughy mass,
The brandy quickly pour.
Stir well, and. boil for hours two,
Hang up and drain it nicely,
When it’s required, boil again
Two hours, please, precisely.
If it’s been mixed with proper care,
And to our recipe,
Delightful both to sight and taste
Your plum pudding will be.