Heston's Fantastical Christmas

The Chrismologist's Advent Calendar - Day 19

Don't miss Channel 4 at 9.00pm* tonight!

In our modern world, Christmas has lost some of its wonder. Super chef Heston Blumenthal wants to change that and plans to create a supersized festive food adventure, to be enjoyed by a group of adults who normally have to work on Christmas Day. Heston visits Hampton Court, and discovers that instead of turkey, our ancestors preferred to eat pig's head. Heston wants to put this on the menu alongside edible Christmas decorations.

The final part of Heston's historical yuletide wonderland takes inspiration from the Victorian period, and their love of Christmas pudding. Heston makes the biggest Christmas pudding ever - one that's large enough to step inside.

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To find out more about the history of the traditional Christmas dinner, why not pick up a copy of What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas (published in the US as Christmas Miscellany) today?



* Or Channel 4+1 at 10.00pm, for that matter.

F is for Figgy Pudding

Let’s get one thing clear right from the start; figgy pudding is not Christmas pudding. That’s plum pudding. The constituent ingredient of figgy pudding is figs, whereas plum pudding – the traditional Christmas pudding – should be made with plums. Easy, isn’t it? So, in that case, why is everyone so familiar with figgy pudding when it’s hardly eaten anymore?

Well, it’s all down to the carol ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ in which the name of the pudding is mentioned:

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer.

We won't go until we get some;

We won't go until we get some;

We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here.

Many people would be surprised by the appearance of figgy pudding, which looks more like a white Christmas pudding.

What is Myrrh Anyway? - and its American counterpart Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas - contains a recipe for figgy pudding, as well as recipes for two different plum puddings.