Enjoy George Orwell’s personal Christmas pudding recipe
Although he might have reached the pinnacle of dystopian fiction with 1984 and showed us the ills of human greed in Animal Farm, George Orwell was much more than simply one of the finest authors of all time. When he wasn’t writing about the horrors of totalitarianism or the bleak living conditions of the British working class, Orwell was immersing himself in the world of cookery.
It might come as a surprise to discover that the man who gave his name to the adjective “Orwellian” and fought in The Spanish Civil War enjoyed time in the kitchen, but such is life; it’s full of surprises. In 1946, commissioned by the British Council, Orwell wrote the essay British Cookery, which also features a host of the writer’s personal recipes. However, due to the presence of rationing in the post-war world, the work wasn’t published until decades later.
Orwell opens the work with a historic quote from the philosopher Voltaire, which claims that Britain has “a hundred religions and only one sauce.” In Orwell’s reading of Voltaire’s quote, he deemed that it “was untrue”, and through 1946’s lens, he maintained that it “is equally untrue today”.
Open Culture reports that although Orwell defended his country’s cuisine, he did provide some criticisms. He opined the British had “a simple, rather heavy, perhaps slightly barbarous diet”.
Elsewhere, he compared Blighty’s food to that of his beloved France: “Cheap restaurants in Britain are almost invariably bad, while in expensive restaurants the cookery is almost always French, or imitation French.”
His essay provided a complete survey of the British food of 1946 before concluding with some of the author’s recipes for sweets. These included treacle tart and orange marmalade; however, the highlight has to be his Christmas pudding, which adds an extra dimension to how we view the late author in the modern world.
Enjoy George Orwell’s recipe for Christmas pudding below, just in time for the big day.
The George Orwell Christmas pudding recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 lb each of currants, sultanas & raisins
- 2 ounces sweet almonds
- 1 ounces sweet almonds
- 1 ounces bitter almonds
- 4 ounces mixed peel
- ½ lb brown sugar
- ½ lb flour
- ¼ lb breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoonful salt
- ½ teaspoonful grated nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoonful powdered cinnamon
- 6 ounces suet
- The rind and juice of 1 lemon
- 5 eggs
- A little milk
- 1/8 of a pint of brandy, or a little beer
Method
“Wash the fruit. Chop the suet, shred and chop the peel, stone and chop the raisins, blanch and chop the almonds. Prepare the breadcrumbs. Sift the spices and salt into the flour. Mix all the dry ingredients into a basin. Heat the eggs, mix them with the lemon juice and the other liquids. Add to the dry ingredients and stir well. If the mixture is too stiff, add a little more milk.
“Allow the mixture to stand for a few hours in a covered basin. Then mix well again and place in well-greased basins of about 8 inches diameter. Cover with rounds of greased paper. Then tie the tops of the basins over the floured cloths if the puddings are to be boiled, or with thick greased paper if they are to be steamed. Boil or steam for 5 or 6 hours. On the day when the pudding is to be eaten, re-heat it by steaming it for 3 hours. When serving, pour a large spoonful of warm brandy over it and set fire to it.
“In Britain, it is unusual to mix into each pudding one or two small coins, tiny china dolls or silver charms which are supposed to bring luck.”
