The Queen of Plum Puddings.
1 lb. butter.
1 lb. of suet, freed from strings and chopped fine.
1 lb. of sugar.
2½ lbs. of flour.
2 lbs. of raisins, seeded, chopped, and dredged with flour.
2 lbs. of currants, picked over carefully after they are washed.
¼ lb. of citron, shred fine.
12 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately.
1 pint of milk.
1 cup of brandy.
½ oz. of cloves.
½ oz. of mace.
2 grated nutmegs.
Cream the butter and sugar; beat in the yolks when you have whipped them smooth and light; next put in the milk; then the flour, alternately with the beaten whites; then the brandy and spice; lastly the fruit, well dredged with flour. Mix all thoroughly; wring out your pudding-cloth in hot water; flour well inside, pour in the mixture, and boil five hours.
I can confidently recommend this as the best plum pudding I have ever tasted, even when the friend at whose table I had first the pleasure of eating it imitated the example of “good King Arthur’s” economical spouse, and what we “couldn’t eat that night,” “next day fried,” by heating a little butter in a frying-pan, and laying in slices of her pudding, warmed them into almost their original excellence. It will keep a long time—in a locked closet or safe.