Ah, well, Steve, your Christmas pud is a different class of article. That recipe I posted above is a Canadian confection of probably German origin, but also influenced by English and Scottish foodways — not to speak of what happens to a recipe that has passed through several generations (including the Great Depression and at least one world war) and lateral transfers from family to family.

As written, it consisted only of the list of ingredients and the instruction to steam it for three hours. I have made it at least a dozen times, with my own adjustments. The sauce recipe that came with it is a real Depression artifact — consisting of brown sugar, butter and boiling water thickened with cornstarch and jazzed up with vanilla, it’s familiar to many Canadians as a component of « pouding chômeur » (pogey pudding).