Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jdmessner]

Yesterday a neighbor asked if I could use a half bushel of plums. At first I had no idea on what to do with a half bushel of plums, then I was inspired! Several months ago I received a wonderful surprise in the mail. Kristen sent me two figgy pudding pans that her had mother used for some very elaborate Christmas dinners that she put on for her church. I was very humbled to receive such a gift. My intention is to dry the plums for the Christmas dinner my family and I put on each year for the people we work with and family friends. The smoked dried plums (OK, prunes) will be used for figgy pudding and sugar plums!

The party will be quite different this year. Between living in a new area and trying to host a party that meets Covid protocol, it is challenging to say the least! However, I do think I have a plan. Traditionally we have done a buffet style dinner or served a family style meal. This year I am thinking of having different food stations around the building. At each station people will be served finger food that can eaten standing or while seated. I am thinking of having some tables spaced out around each station for people to be able to social distance at their own level of comfort. Right now I am thinking beverage, appetizer, main dish, and dessert stations. The main dish would still be finger food, I am thinking along the lines of skewered chicken, veggies, and beef. It is a work in progress, with plenty of time to make lots of changes and adjustments. However, it is fun to get the ball rolling!

[02ebz06]

If you don't use all the plums, you could make some Plum BBQ Sauce.

[jdmessner]

If you don't use all the plums, you could make some Plum BBQ Sauce.

That is a very good idea. The plums were just dropped off, and there were more than I thought!! Do you have a good recipe?

[Kristin Meredith]

Your plan sounds wonderful.  Mom would be so pleased the molds are being put to good use after all these years!

[02ebz06]

If you don't use all the plums, you could make some Plum BBQ Sauce.

That is a very good idea. The plums were just dropped off, and there were more than I thought!! Do you have a good recipe?

I don't have one, but I have seen several online.
Saw a thread about it elsewhere and got me to thinking about making some myself, which is why I even knew it existed.

[jdmessner]

The plum BBQ sauce was a great idea. With the overabundance of plums I also made a fresh plum compote as well as smoking and drying them.

I dried 3 racks of plums in the electric smoker at 160* using peach wood for 18 hours. I didn’t use the pellet grill because it would not go that low. I have not dried a lot of stuff in the smoker, so I made a rookie mistake. When I was checking the fruit for some reason I only looked at the top rack and removed them when they had a nice leathery texture. I didn’t take into consideration how much hotter the other racks were closer to the heating element. I had foil on the racks so I imagine the air didn’t circulate real well. The middle rack was kind of crispy and the lower rack was extra crispy. I also did one rack in the oven without smoking them and they turned out fine. I am going to try and reconstitute the crispy ones and see what they are like. The extra crispy ones are not burnt, but I have never seen dried fruit shatter or crack in two! I think I will try and put them in the Magic Bullet and see if I can grind it into plum granules and mix it in with a dry rub. I have no idea if it will work or if it will be good, but it is worth a shot. I do think I have enough really nice plums to use for the figgy pudding at Christmas!!

For the BBQ sauce I had a 3 gallon stockpot about 2/3 full of plumbs and added catsup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. I don’t know how much of each, just kept adding stuff till it tasted right.

The compote was kind of fun. I started with about the same number of plums as the BBQ sauce and added white balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and a locally made spiced fruit wine. It had been so long since I had a bottle of wine I had to buy a cork screw! I really liked the way it turned out.

[jdmessner]

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

[Kristin Meredith]

Love to hear about ways folks can take food mistakes and make them into something useable.  All you plum ideas look great.

[pmillen]

I think I will try and put them in the Magic Bullet and see if I can grind it into plum granules and mix it in with a dry rub. I have no idea if it will work or if it will be good, but it is worth a shot.

I agree.  It might be great.  Test it on a half rack of pork ribs.

[jdmessner]

As it turns out the extra crispy plums were just too far gone. They did not reconstitute and were quite bitter tasting. The regular crispy plums reconstituted nicely and had a distinct smokey flavor to them. Put them in the Magic Bullet and it almost looks like ground coffee. I think it will work with a brown sugar based rub.

I may try granulated apples next!

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

[Bar-B-Lew]

If you can spare the money and have space to store it, buy yourself a dehydrator.  This one often goes on sale for $100 around Black Friday or Christmas.  I have it and the larger 12 tray that we use for dehydrating jerky.  Buy some frog mats on ebay and cut them to size to fit into the trays.  There are also fruit mats that are available to put a paste onto in order to make the equivalent of kids fruit rollups.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-10-tray-deluxe-dehydrator

BTW, great creativity in using up all of those plums.  You may be the new neighborhood go to guy with excess fruits from your neighbors.

[jdmessner]

Due to Covid the Christmas party is off, but I did want to do something. The new plan is to make some driveway stops and porch drop offs.  Since I have the dried plums and figs on hand, I thought I would make figgy pudding to drop off with a Christmas card and an ornimant.

Today was the test batch for the pudding. I am using mini bunt pans and baking them in the oven rather than the more traditional method of steaming them. I do plan on using the larger pans and doing a more authentic pudding a little closer to Christmas.

The pudding has figs, dates, and plums. I saved a whole lot of time by using pieces rather than chopping and dealing with the whole fruit. This recipe also calls for shaved dark chocolate. It was easier to use chips and they worked great. I did mess up and put in double the chocolate, but it did not seem to hurt anything.

I didn't make the sauce today, but plan to before I start distributing them. The sauce will be butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar. No booze this time around! The flames will have to wait until Christmas Eve!!

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

[Kristin Meredith]

Sounds nice and looks great.  Will love to hear how the steaming goes and can't wait for the flaming pudding!!!

[pmillen]

I'd like a bite.  They look soooo good.

[jdmessner]

I ended up distributing around 50 of the small figgy puddings. I also made two that were steamed in the traditional figgy pudding pans from Kristen's mom. We served one last night at my son's house and will serve the other today. There was a learning curve on igniting the pudding, hopefully I have the kinks ironed out and I will be able to post some pictures tonight.

The Christmas Eve dinner was impromptu. I didn't know I was making it until around midnight the night before. Not a lot of time to plan, so I used what I had! For dinner I made pork tenderloins. Two of them were stuffed with a small crumbled figgy pudding cake mixed with the plum fruit compote. The outside of the tenderloins were covered in a pork rub and basted with the plum BBQ sauce. The other two tenderloins were not stuffed, but seasoned with pork rub, basted with cherry BBQ sauce and topped with cherry preserves.


Here is what went in the card with the figgy pudding:

A History of Figgy Pudding
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen From the Book of Common Prayer

Christmas figgy pudding is an Anglican tradition, typically made on Stir-up Sunday; the last Sunday before the season of Advent. Stir-up Sunday gets its name from the beginning of the prayer for that day: "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people".

The Christmas figgy pudding is believed to have originated in the early 15th century and was introduced to Britain from Germany by George I in 1714. Most recipes for Christmas pudding require it to be cooked well in advance of  Christmas and then reheated on Christmas Day. The Stir-up Sunday prayer served as a useful reminder to begin preparing the pudding.

This Christmas may the work of the Holy Spirit continue to stir us to be fruitful in the coming year.