Carolers Finally Get Their Figgy Pudding
- Producing Organization
- WBEZ
- Contributing Organization
- WBEZ (Chicago, Illinois)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/50-80vq8cx9
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- Description
- Description
- When trick-or-treaters come to your door, you're probably prepared to give them what they demand. But how about those carolers who show up wishing you a Merry Christmas and demanding that you bring them some Figgy Pudding? Will they go away disappointed? Recipe for Mrs. Beeton's Fig Pudding Figgy pudding has had one of the most enduring word-of-mouth marketing campaigns of modern times. Singing: Oh bring us some figgy pudding, oh bring us some figgy pudding How badly do you want that figgy pudding, folks? Singing: We won't go until we get some, we won't go until we get some. But if figgy pudding is so darned fabulous, how come we never DO get some? Has anyone ever made it for you? Have you ever seen it on the cover of the Ladies Home Journal holiday baking issue? Even in the song, those carolers never actually get what they're after. Which makes me wonder, if they did, would they go away smacking their lips, or muttering those ancient words of wisdom, "Be careful what you wish for. That's the sound of my food processor pulverizing a pound of suet. I'm following the recipe for Fig Pudding from the 1861 first edition of Mrs. Beeton's Book of House-hold Management . It's essentially a bread pudding, made with figs. And, like many 19th century puddings, a big hunk of suet. Finding suet in the 21st century can be a problem. The meat department of your favorite supermarket won't give it to you-even if you threaten not to go until you get some-because it's already been removed from the cuts of beef they're packaging. ambi: Shop sounds But at Paulina Market, butcher Jerry Lekan cuts me some, straight from the carcass. Suet, as Jerry explains, is different from the greasy fat you find clinging to a steak. LEKAN: It's a drier fat, less water content, you can feel it with your hands, that it's actually drier. It melts clearer, renders out clearer. Because of these qualities, it was once prized as a shortening for pie crusts and puddings, imparting moistness without greasiness. ambi: water boiling But as my figgy pudding steams on the stove for three hours, according to Mrs. Beeton's instructions, the whole house is suffused with the stink of melting flesh. Possibly, I'm thinking, it's the stench of simmering suet that explains the disappearance of figgy pudding from our culinary landscape. Singing: Deck the Halls Compared to finding suet, finding a group of carolers upon whom to inflict this figgy pudding is a piece of cake. The Frozen Robins are performing that evening at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, and it seems none of them has ever seen or tasted figgy pudding before. They watch curiously as it emerges, still warm, from the pudding mould. FROZEN ROBINS: Oooooooh! CRAIG: It's really not like a pudding at all, it's like a cake! Randy Craig is surprised. He's always pictured it as the kind of pudding you make from the Jell-O box. Jacquelyn Krepka finds it distinctively British-looking. KREPKA: It looks like a castle turret. It's a tall dessert. It has shape, it has density, it has grandeur. I cut them each a slice, and top it with a dab of brandied whipped cream. CRAIG: Wow, that's good! It's fruity and figgy, like a Fig Newton cake. Karen Burris appreciates its savory quality. BURRIS: It's not overly sweet. But a lot of desserts which are not from America are not overly sweet. Then Mike Nowak weighs in. NOWAK: I'm really digging this brandied whipped cream. They don't seem to mind when I tell them about the pound of suet that was involved. Mike even points out: NOWAK: From what I understand, what you don't eat, you can use as soap. So just how good is figgy pudding? All I can tell you is that once those Frozen Robins got some, they did in fact, go. They had revelers to entertain, and now that they'd had their figgy pudding, they were singing a slightly different tune. Singing: Figgy pudding song For Chicago Public Radio, I'm Nina Barrett.
- Media type
- Sound
- Credits
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: WBEW
Editor: Rick Nitz
Producing Organization: WBEZ
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
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Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ-FM) and Vocalo.org
Identifier: (unknown)
Format: audio/mpeg
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Carolers Finally Get Their Figgy Pudding,” WBEZ, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 19, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-50-80vq8cx9.
- MLA: “Carolers Finally Get Their Figgy Pudding.” WBEZ, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 19, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-50-80vq8cx9>.
- APA: Carolers Finally Get Their Figgy Pudding. Boston, MA: WBEZ, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-50-80vq8cx9