Figgy Pudding (2024)

FAQs

What is the saying for figgy pudding? ›

Often associated with the original traditions of Christmas, it is most notably referred to in the Christmas carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in the lines "Now bring us some figgy pudding," "We all love our figgy pudding," and "We won't go until we get some!" Figgy pudding is not plum pudding, although it can be ...

Figgy pudding is a pudding in the British sense of the word, which means it is a steamed cakelike dessert. This particular Christmas version is traditionally made with suet (which is raw beef or mutton fat), eggs, brown sugar, breadcrumbs, spices, dried fruits and, last -- but certainly not least --- brandy.

" 'Figgy' — certainly at some time figs would have been incorporated into Christmas pudding recipes, but today, not traditionally." It's also a pudding in the British sense, meaning dessert — not the creamy, custardy dish most Americans associate with the word. It's a steamed cake full of raisins, currants and brandy.

Carolers sing “now bring us some figgy pudding!” In “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and the dish is a centerpiece in Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol,” when Mrs. Cratchit serves the steamed pudding set ablaze with brandy and garnished with holly.

When someone you love dies, you get a big bowl of sadness put down in front of you, steaming hot. You can start eating now, or you can let it cool and eat it bit by bit later one. Either way, you end up eating the whole thing.

The Christmas Pudding Today

In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered: flushed, but smiling proudly: with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.

As for the figgy pudding song, near the end of the 16th century, carolers began to sing the English folk song, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” When poor folks stood on the doorsteps of the wealthy and sang, “Oh bring us some figgy pudding,” and “we won't go until we get some,” they probably were having a bit of fun, ...

Figgy pudding today

That's likely why the dish also goes by a number of other names including plum porridge, Christmas pudding, and steamed pudding. And whatever the name, people still eat it today. In Britain, in particular, figgy pudding is still a Christmas staple.

Mrs. Cratchit, Bob Cratchit's wife, serves figgy pudding in A Christmas Carol.

As time went on other dried fruits were used in the cake but the word “figgy” stuck around. By the Victorian era raisins and currants were typically the fruits to use, although confusingly raisins (and dried fruit in general) were known as “plums” at the time — hence why the dish is sometimes called “plum pudding.”

What country eats figgy pudding? ›

As Maggie Black writes in History Today, the dish that eventually evolved into plum pudding originally contained preserved, sweetened meat “pyes” and boiled “pottage” (that is, vegetables) and was enjoyed in Britain as early as Roman times.

: containing or resembling figs.

History of Figgy Pudding

Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy. If it contains figs, it is called a figgy pudding.

SPAM^® Figgy Pudding brings a blend of warm spices and seasonal ingredients that will be the star in many wintertime recipe favorites.

Figgy pudding is dense and moist — a perfect finale to your Christmas dinner. Though traditionally steamed or boiled, this figgy pudding recipe is baked in a fluted tube pan. Orange zest, orange marmalade, and orange flavoring add fruity flavor to every bite.

The proof is in the pudding is an expression that means the value, quality, or truth of something must be judged based on direct experience with it—or on its results. The expression is an alteration of an older saying that makes the meaning a bit clearer: the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

History of Figgy Pudding

Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy. If it contains figs, it is called a figgy pudding.