British Christmas Pudding & the French Connection

In 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy conquered England, the course of English history was changed. And so was the language. For the next 300 years, French became the language of the English courts, eventually filtering through into everyday use. It’s estimated that to this day there are some 7000 originally French words still in use in the UK – from attaché to zest.

The influence of the French on British cuisine

And it wasn’t just the language that took hold. The food did too. By all accounts William the Conqueror had a robust appetite. It’s said he got so large that at one point he put himself on a diet of wine and spirits. Didn’t work. Quel surprise!

The culture of French dishes of the time was strictly for the rich. Us peasants continued to eat whatever was affordable as usual. In the royal kitchens, French chefs ruled and French cuisine remained popular – and still is. An advert posted for a sous chef based in Buckingham Palace in 2021 required that applicants be “thoroughly trained in classical French cuisine.” Two of France’s most famous chefs worked for the British royal family. The great Auguste Escoffier often cooked for King Edward VII and was known as “the king of chefs, and chef of kings.’ Marie-Antoine Carême, arguably the first celebrity chef, worked for George, Prince of Wales, the future King George VI, in 1816 and was reportedly paid a fortune for his services.

French gastronomy’s influence on British cuisine passed into the mainstream and can be found in many dishes, sausages – from saucisson, blancmange, and even cottage pie, an adaptation of hachis parmentier (minced beef and mashed potatoes).

British Christmas Pudding & the French Connection

And even that most British of puddings – the great Christmas Pudding, has a soupcon of French influence!

Now, before I get a million emails telling me I’m wrong, Christmas Pudding, also known as plum pudding, is of course a British invention and a beloved tradition for Christmas. Day. It should have 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and the 12 disciples, traditionally boiled in pudding cloth, decorated with a sprig of holly to represent Jesus’ crown of thorns. And before serving you should pour brandy over it and set fire to it. Yes. If you’re not British and reading this. We really do this.

So, what’s the French influence you might ask.

Well first, the ingredients include dried fruit and since the mid-1800s, the best Christmas puddings used glacé cherries and candied fruit from Apt in Provence.

The fruity bit

Apt has been famous for its crystallised fruit production since medieval times. The Popes of Avignon were fans, and the dried fruit has long been a key part of the famous 13 Desserts of Provence, a southern French Christmas tradition. When British pudding maker Matthew Wood visited in the mid-1800s, he fell head over heels for the quality of Apt’s dried fruit and imported it for use in cakes and of course Christmas puddings. It gained a reputation for being the crème de la crème of dried fruit, and all the best British cake producers sourced their supplies from Apt for many years. Today crystallised fruit from Apt has Intangible Cultural Heritage status, and the town has “Site Remarquable du Goût” (Remarkable Site of Flavour) status. And at the Maison du Fruit Confit, you can discover all about the history of the sweet, sugared fruit.

The French chef who created a royal pudding

But an even more important French connection occurred around 100 years ago. In the 1920s, King George V commissioned a Frenchman to reinvent the Christmas pudding. The King’s chef was Loire-born Henri Cédard. He worked for a grand total of six British sovereigns from 1885 to 1935. In the late 1920s, Henri was asked to adapt the Royal family’s traditional pudding recipe so that it could be shared with the public. It was an enormous success. And to this day, it’s a traditional recipe that is made in thousands of homes in the UK.

For the last few years, on “stir-up Sunday”, the last Sunday before Advent Sunday, The Royal Family have shared the recipe for their Christmas Pudding on Twitter – which always causes quite a stir!

Here’s a recipe for this great British (French influenced) Christmas pudding