LCBO Food and Drink Holiday 2015

ORIGINS  HOLIDAY BAKING

A sk someone to name an item of holiday baking, and fruitcake will probably be the first thing from their lips—but not past their lips, judging from the endless supply of jokes based on fruitcake’s density and lon- gevity. Charles Dickens, in Martin Chuzzlewit , described it as “a highly geological homemade cake.” Johnny Carson quipped: “The worst gift is fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the

   In its richest form the dish was always re- served for feast days, but by the middle of the 17th century it was associated with Christmas alone and became known as Christmas pud- ding. In 1657, the Puritan Oliver Cromwell, self- proclaimed Lord Protector of England, banned the trappings of Christmas, including Christ- mas pudding and mince tarts. The decree was echoed in many towns in the Puritan colonies of New England. When Charles II ascended the throne in 1660, holiday feasting resumed, but the law banishing plum pudding and mince pie was never repealed. Technically, they are still illegal.    Plum pudding and its rituals assumed their present form in the Victorian era. Trin- kets were stirred into the batter to foretell the finder’s fortune: a thimble (originally for spinsterhood, now for luck), a ring (for mar- riage), or a coin (for wealth). After hours of steaming, the pudding is decorated with holly and set ablaze with rumor brandy. Each of these customs hearkens back to the pagan origins of the festivities—a celebration of the winter solstice, when lengthening days bring new light (the burning pudding) and the promise of nature’s rebirth (the green sprigs of holly).    Variations on plumpudding were once pop- ular throughout Europe, but during the Renais- sance they were replaced on the continent by lighter fare. These fruit- and nut-filled cakes, such as German stollen , Italian panettone and Spanish Roscon de Reyes (“Three King’s Bread”), are still an important part of their respective national traditions. Plum cake , an 18th-century vari-

they enlivened. To prevent spoilage they were infusedwith generous amounts of brandy or rum.    In Britain, fruitcake is still covered with marzipan (sweetened almond paste), yet an- other delicacy the Crusaders brought home from the Middle East. The marzipan, in turn, is covered with a layer of hard white royal icing. In North America, where fruitcake is not usu- ally iced, we’ve developed our own variations, which might include pineapple, cranberries and/or coconut. P Mince pies are miniature pies filled with dried fruit steeped in brandy or rum, apples, nuts and spices, a mixture called mincemeat.    Minced meat ? Yes: in medieval times mincemeat pies, like plum puddings, were made with meat, as well as hard-boiled eggs and ginger. By the 1500s they were already a Christmastime treat, the meaty filling enriched with sugar and dried fruits, and spiced with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to symbolize the gold, frankincense and myrrh the three Magi presented at the Nativ- ity. The pie was topped with a pastry star to represent the star that led them to Bethlehem.    As spices and dried fruit became more affordable,

SETTING a plum pudding ablaze symbolizes the winter solstice, when lengthening days bring new light.

entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” On The Tonight Show in 2003, Jay Leno sampled a fruitcake baked in 1878. After chewing thoughtfully on a piece, he declared, “It needs more time.” (But see page 180 for a rich and satisfying recipe that’ll silence any comedian.)    The story of fruitcake begins with its par- ent, plumpudding , which remains a Christmas staple in its English homeland. Plum pudding is a moving target, constantly evolving since it began, in the early 1400s, as plum pottage, a main-course stew of minced beef or mutton, blood, cracked wheat, root vegetables, dried fruit, ground nuts, bread crumbs and spices such as cloves, mace and ginger. Then as now, it contained no plums; “plum” is an old term for dried fruit in general.    The fruit sugars and spices in plum pottage enhanced (or perhaps masked) the flavours of the meat while acting as natural preserva- tives. And as expensive imports introduced to Europe by Crusaders returning from the Middle East, they also served as a conspicuous show of wealth.    Over the centuries, the meat diminished and eventually disappeared, and the dish became known as plum pudding. Molasses gave the pudding the same dark colour once provided by blood, although suet (hard beef fat) was an essential ingredient until very recently, and remains so for traditionalists.

ation on plum pudding that was baked instead of steamed, became the precursor to fruitcake. Plum cakes were thought to improve withmonths of aging, so theywere made long in advance of the celebra-

tions—wed- dings, birth- d a y s a n d holidays—

176  FOOD & DRI NK HOLIDAY 2015