Wednesday, December 17, 2014

A Rhyming Recipe for Pudding.


I have featured rhyming recipes in a number of posts over the years (see the links below), and I have another one for you today. It is from The Dinner Question: Or, how to Dine Well and Economically (1860) by Tabitha Tickletooth (pseud. of Charles Silby.)

As rhyme is sometimes more impressive than reason, to complete my examples on this subject I will give you.

A Metrical Recipe for Christmas Pudding.
Air: Jeannette and Jeanot.

If you wish to make a pudding in which every one delights,
Of a dozen new-laid eggs you must take the yolks and whites;
Beat them well up in a basin till they thoroughly combine,
And shred and chop some suet particularly fine;

Take a pound of well-stoned raisins, and a pound of currants dried,
A pound of pounded sugar, and a pound of peel beside;
Stir them all well up together with a pound of wheaten flour,
And let them stand and settle for a quarter of an hour;

Then tie the pudding in a cloth, and put it in the pot,—
Some people like the water cold, and some prefer it hot;
But though I don’t know which of these two methods I should praise,
I know it ought to boil an hour for every pound it weighs.

Oh! if I were Queen of France, or, still better, Pope of Rome,
I’d have a Christmas pudding every day I dined at home;
And as for other puddings whatever they might be,
Why those who like the nasty things should eat them all for me.

For previous posts with rhyming recipes see:






1 comment:

  1. Just delightful -- a tiny present in itself. Thanks and Happy Holidays.

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