Rich Plum Pudding

Wash and seed the raisins; rub the currants with a little flour, then sift out the flour and allow water to run over the currants in the sieve until they are clean. Spread them on a towel and remove any stems, stones, etc., that may be among them. Let them stand, covered with a towel to keep out dust, until they are dry. Cut the orange peel and citron very fine, or put them through a food-chopper. Chop the suet or put it and the raisins through a coarse food-chopper; a trifle of the flour may be mixed with the suet before it is chopped to help to keep it from sticking to the chopping-knife. Beat the eggs till blended. Mix all the dry ingredients very thoroughly, add the eggs and then the brandy. Put the pudding into a covered, greased mould, chopping down through it a few times with the end of a knife, to be sure that it fills the mould without hollow spaces, and to avoid packing it firmly. Stand it in at least three quarts of warm water, in a cooker-pail. Heat it slowly but steadily till the water boils; let it boil one hour if the pudding is in one mould, or one-half hour if it is in two smaller moulds. Put it into the cooker for five hours. Remove it at once from the mould. If it is not to be used when first made, it may be kept several weeks, replaced in the mould and reheated before serving, by putting it in warm water, heating it to the boiling point and boiling it one-half hour or more. Serve it with [brandy sauce].

Serves ten or twelve persons.