Carrot Pudding

Carrot pudding is an Irvine family tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many people think it sounds gross. American "pudding" is chocolate Jello pudding. This is a steamed British pudding. Similar to plum pudding and figgy pudding. It is kind of like cake. I googled to see where it came from.

Wikipedia says forms of pottage existed for a long time, but started becoming like modern British pudding in the 1400s. It continued to evolve to its modern form, and carrot pudding has been served in Ireland since the 1700s.

Plum pudding is the most common/popular, and it commonly called Christmas Pudding. However, the Practically Edible website says, "Steamed Carrot Pudding became popular in Canada at Christmases during the First World War as a substitute for Plum Pudding and all its rationed ingredients such as sugar. Many Canadian families, particularly on the West Coast, have never lost the preference for it at Christmas."

I wonder if my ancestors originally made plum pudding, but changed to carrots because of rationing, or if they have always been carrot pudding people. Whatever the case, carrot pudding is the absolute best dessert ever. Thank you, British/Irish/Scottish ancestors who brought the carrot pudding tradition to our family.

Carrot Pudding

This will be cooked in a steam bath in the oven. I used a large casserole dish with a lid and a 9x13 pan.

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grate 4 c. carrots and 4 c. apples (a total of 8 cups, yes it is a lot)
3. Boil a pot of water. Some of this water will go in the 9x13 pan.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together:

• 3 t. baking soda
• 4 c. flour
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. ground cloves
• 2 t. nutmeg
• 2 t. allspice

5. In another bowl, a large bowl, mix together:

• 2 c. butter
• 4 c. brown sugar

6. Add to the butter/sugar mixture:

• 4 beaten eggs
• the 4 c. grated carrots
• the 4 c. grated apples

7. To the butter, etc. mixture, add the dry ingredient mixture.
8. Then add:

• 4 t. vanilla
• 2 c. raisins
• 2 c. chopped nuts

9. Fill the 9x13 pan halfway with the hot, boiling water. Place the casserole dish in the 9x13 pan (make sure that the water doesn't overflow.)

10. Fill the casserole dish 2/3 of the way full of carrot pudding. As it cooks, it will expand, so don't fill it completely full. Don't worry if it does overflow; the 9x13 pan will catch the mess.

11. Put the lid on the dish, and put the entire contraption in the oven.

12. Cook it at 350 for 4 hours. Avoid checking it! When you open the oven, it disturbs the steam bath. If you have an oven light, you should keep an eye on it to make sure the water doesn't boil dry. If the contraption runs out of water, add more.

When it is cooked, serve it with this sauce ladled on top of individual servings:

Spiced Sauce

1. Combine these ingredients in a saucepan:

• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1 and 1/2 T. cornstarch
• 1 c. boiling water (if you make this at the same time as the pudding, you could use some of the boiling water from that)
• 2 T. butter

2. Cook it on medium heat until it is thick and clear.
3. Add 1 and 1/2 t. vanilla.
4. Serve over hot carrot pudding.