Leftover Plum Pudding?

The good thing about leftover Christmas pudding is that it does not have to be refrigerated, which is an enormous relief on this day when there is no shelf space between the turkey carcass, the pork bone, three-quarters of a leg of ham, and a precarious pile of leftover side dishes still on their original platters.

The very simplest thing to do with leftover plum pudding of course is to put it in the freezer for another day. The second simplest thing is to slice it, butter it, and eat it as if it were fruit bread or cake. If you are not yet tired of cooking however, the following ideas may appeal.

A Monday Pudding.

Butter a mould, and put into it, half-an-inch apart, some slices of a plum pudding cooked the previous day: beat four eggs, add a pint of milk, and fill up the mould. Put a paper on the top, and tie a cloth over it. Boil or steam it an hour; then turn it out, and serve with wine sauce.

It is also very good with the addition of a little bread pudding, put between the slices of plum pudding, and finished as above.

The young cook's assistant, and housekeeper's guide, (1841) by P. Masters.

Pudding, Monday’s.

Ingredients.  The remains of cold plum-pudding, brandy, custard made with 5 eggs to every pint of milk.

Mode. Cut the remains of a good cold plum-pudding into finger-pieces, soak them in a little brandy, and lay them cross-barred in a mould until full. Make a custard with the above proportion of milk and eggs, flavouring it with nutmeg or lemon-rind; fill up the mould with it; tie it down with a cloth, and boil or steam it for an hour. Serve with a little of the custard poured over, to which has been added a tablespoonful of brandy.

Mrs. Beeton’s Dictionary of Every-day Cookery (1865)

A Nice Way of Warming and Serving Cold Plum Pudding.

Cut the pudding into thin slices, and fry them in butter. Fry also, some fritters, and pile them in the centre of the dish, placing the slices of pudding around the outside. Powder all with sugar, and serve with pudding sauce in a tureen.

The Young Wife’s Cook Book, (Philadelphia, 1870) by Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson

Make-Over Pudding.

Take the remains of the plum pudding and break with a fork into pieces. If they measure half a pint, add two tablespoonfuls molasses, one egg, one cupful milk, one teaspoonful baking powder, and flour to make a drop batter; pour in a buttered bread-pan and bake until firm. Either a hard or egg sauce can be served with this.

The Christian Advocate, Vol 80 (U.S.A., 1905)

Left-Over Plum Pudding.

Slice some left-over plum pudding about ½ of an inch thick. Carefully roll the slices in a beaten egg and in bread crumbs. Fry in hot deep fat to a delicate golden color. Serve with Brandy or Lemon Sauce.

The French Chef in Private American Families (1922), by Xavier Raskin.

Quotation for the Day.

Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put it away, you feel thrifty and intelligent: ‘I’m saving food!’ Then a month later when blue hair is growing out of the ham, and you throw it away, you feel really intelligent: ‘I’m saving my life!

George Carlin.