Small Carrot-and-Potato Plum Pudding, Adapted from Beeton (1861)

A small batch with the fruit intact

Most of the source quantities are weights. Here they are halved: four ounces of flour, three ounces each of raisins and currants, and two ounces each of suet, sugar, prepared carrot and prepared potato. Keeping those weights makes the smaller batch easy to follow without guessing how tightly a cup of mashed vegetables was filled.

The fruit still has several forms. Raisins are the larger dried grapes; the currants are the small dried grapes sold as Zante or Corinth currants. Fresh red or black currants aren't substitutes for that ingredient. Candied lemon peel and candied citron have separate places in Beeton's list, and this version keeps both, chopped into small pieces that can be distributed through the mixture.

Beeton's brief method doesn't explicitly name the raisins or citron when it tells the cook what to mix. Their quantities are clear in the ingredient list, so both are included in the dry mixture here.

Plain mash, plain suet

Carrot and potato need to arrive without the additions that might accompany a dinner mash. Butter, milk and stock aren't part of their preparation here. Cook the vegetables until soft, drain them well and mash them plain; weigh the stated quantities after they have cooled. Raw purchase weights would describe a different stage of preparation.

The fat deserves a similar look when shopping. Plain beef suet is different from packaged shredded suet containing added flour. Adding a flour-containing product by the same weight would change both the fat and flour in the pudding. Finely chopped plain suet keeps that choice clear. The pudding is eggless, but the suet means it isn't vegetarian.

Black treacle is the selected syrup for this adaptation. The measured 7.5 milliliters is a modern choice for this small batch, rather than an exact interpretation of Beeton's historical spoon. The source's no-added-liquid direction stays: the mixture gets no separate milk, water or fruit-soaking liquor.

Room in the basin, time in the pot

A basin is one of the vessels Beeton herself permits. This version uses a small heatproof basin, with a pleated cover and space above the mixture. The empty space matters; a smaller household doesn't need a basin filled to its rim.

The four-hour cooking baseline is retained from the source. Reducing ingredient quantities doesn't supply a shorter time by arithmetic, and the center still needs to be fully cooked and set. The rest before unmolding gives the cook a pause between handling the steaming basin and serving the pudding.

Our existing Titanic-inspired plum pudding follows a different Beeton formula with bread crumbs, eggs and milk. This one keeps its own vegetable-and-fruit mixture. Serve it warm in small portions, with the candied peel and dried fruit visible in each slice, rather than expecting the crumb of an egg-raised cake.

Compare the ingredient and cooking choices in Eggs, Milk or Neither? Reading Old Pudding Recipes.