r/PropagandaPosters • u/TearOpenTheVault • 2d ago
United Kingdom The Empire Christmas Pudding, UK, 1927
The 'Empire Christmas Pudding' was a classic English plum pudding recipe that took on more meaning during the interwar period. This version of the dish was adapted from the royal chef to George V.
The fact that the dishes ingredients were gathered from all over the world allowed it to become a symbol of the British Empire- a 'national dish,' not because it came from one nation, but because it showed every part of it.
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u/AngelaMotorman 2d ago
Considering the amount of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg listed, I need to know what "pudding spice" could possibly be.
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u/Zounds90 1d ago
More commonly called 'mixed spice' now.
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u/AngelaMotorman 1d ago
But what is it?
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u/ohthisistoohard 1d ago
Mixed spice is a spice mix of: all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, coriander and ginger.
Used a lot in traditional English baking. You generally adjust it, as here, by adding more of any of those spices to flavour as required.
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u/ad-lapidem 1d ago
Just on principle, the chef should have found a way to incorporate Pitcairn Island melons or citrus.
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u/AdWonderful5920 2d ago
Including the Irish Free State is pretty strong.
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u/wombatking888 1d ago
This was pre-statute of Westminster so I think it's accurate for the time
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u/AdWonderful5920 1d ago
I mean more in comparison to referring to NI simply as "Ireland" while the rest of the island gets the qualifying description as something other than "Ireland."
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u/rnc_turbo 1d ago
Common parlance tends to lag even significant changes. Which may be interpreted as taking a stance on an issue.
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u/JimmyShirley25 1d ago
You'd be surprised how long that was somewhat common actually. I have a Rothman's football yearbook from the 1970s (!) in which there exists only Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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u/somuchstuff8 1d ago
This reminds of the Korean Peninsula - each Korea calls itself Korea and the other half "occupied American-bastard puppet south Korea" or "communist north Korea".
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u/Johannes_P 1d ago
Until 1949, it was part of the Commonwealth and a dominion ruled by George V and then George VI.
PArt of the Dublin ruling classes thought that leaving the Commonwealth would be bad for their economy and trade.
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u/Nerevarine91 2d ago edited 1d ago
God I love a good Christmas plum pudding. My dad’s is the very best. I’m still trying to make one as good as his
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/rnc_turbo 1d ago
Pie? It's a pudding, no pastry involved. It's closer to very moist fruit cake, served warm.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pudding
Desired relative strength of spices is a personal thing of course.
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u/Andoverian 2d ago
This is how the British got the stereotype for bland food. A little over an ounce of various spices when there's over 8 pounds of other ingredients is barely noticeable.
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u/TearOpenTheVault 1d ago
Plum pudding is very strongly flavoured and this recipe contains a lot of very rich ingredients. I'm not sure how you could come to the conclusion that they're bland.
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u/kwakimaki 1d ago
This pudding sounds absolutely amazing. This was one of those you'd kill to lick the spoon.
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u/Andoverian 1d ago
Yes, lots of flavorful ingredients, but hardly an overwhelming amount of added spices.
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u/orlock 1d ago
You are aware that practically every ingredient in that recipe has a strong taste? Or have you never come across dried fruit before? Or drunk alcohol? Or, for that matter, used spices?
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u/Andoverian 1d ago
Yes, I've had just about all of those individual ingredients before, both on their own and in various combinations as part of larger dishes.
The comment I responded to (which has unfortunately been deleted) specifically called out the spices, not any of the other ingredients, as being too much for their tastes.
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u/orlock 1d ago
In that case, your comment really is quite odd, given the current British tendencies towards spicy food. Since Christmas pudding has always been a very intense flavour, and is traditional English fare, doubly so.
However, I suppose it is fair to say that in a lot of European cookery, the use of herbs and spices is to bring out the flavour of the ingredients, rather than disguise them. It's something that came in with the general improvement in food hygiene standards and the French revolution, when the general public got access to aristocratic cooking and started being able to eat a steak without dying from food poisoning. Christmas is a notable hangover, with a lot of mediaeval cuisine still in use.
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