Holy Week and Easter have been at the heart of my growth in the faith. From my late teenage years as a progressively more arch and spiky Anglo-Catholic, all the way through to my becoming a Catholic, entering religious life, and now a priest, those great days of the Triduum and the Octave of Easter have nourished a deepening of my faith and sense of vocation.
The beauty of the Catholic faith is the physical way in which we celebrate this mystery with its sights, smells and sounds. The crack of the crotalus at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, seeing the very old and the very young making their way to kiss the feet of the Lord on the Cross, and the smell of balsam as the head of the neophyte is anointed after baptism, all of these go towards making these days so beautiful.
Forget Christmas, this is surely the most wonderful time of the year. But these liturgical experiences which form our view of the quintessential Holy Week have their counterparts in those “behind the scenes” preparations of Holy Week, and the celebrations afterwards. The smell of fresh flowers in the sacristy on Holy Thursday, the Good Friday fish pie, the smell of brass polish on Holy Saturday, and the taste of the perhaps rather strong gin and tonic after Second Vespers of Easter Sunday. These are all as much part of the celebration as those more liturgical aspects.
Of course, this is as it should be. Associating the liturgical celebrations of Easter with the smell of starch, polish and lilies isn’t a cheapening of the mystery, but a sign that the celebrations are etched onto our very senses.
Food is also at the heart of this. Many of our parishes will see Polish members of our Catholic communities bring their baskets of produce to be blessed on Holy Saturday – a tradition that survived the move of the Easter Vigil from Holy Saturday morning to the evening. The Roman Ritual (in its older form) includes a blessing of the paschal lamb. I have even seen the smashing of a chocolate egg done in semi-liturgical style with a special hammer. Holy Week and Easter have their ubiquitous culinary experiences all over the world, but after six years at Blackfriars in Oxford I always associate Easter Sunday with Fr Richard Conrad’s Charlotte Plombière.
Charlotte Plombière
According to Fr Richard’s directions this makes enough for 12 “moderately greedy” people.
8 egg yolks
11oz sugar
1 pint of milk
Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4/5oz powdered gelatine
1 pint of double cream
Candied orange peel
Golden and red glacé cherries
Crystallised pinapple
Stem ginger in syrup
Sponge fingers
A little more cream for decoration
Soak the gelatine in enough water to cover it. In a heatproof bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar with a pinch of salt until pale. Bring the milk to the boil. Ladle some of the milk into the eggs to temper it, beating all the time. Once tempered add the rest of the milk. Place the bowl over simmering water and stir the mixture to make a custard. A thermometer is helpful, and you should aim for 83º. Do not go above 85º!
As soon as it’s thickened remove from the heat, add vanilla extract and the gelatine. Stir well and strain if necessary. Leave to cool while you chop the fruit and ginger to 1/2cm bites. Pour in a little of the stem ginger syrup and then add it all to the custard. Stir again and refrigerate.
When the custard is cool but not set, whip the cream and then fold it into the custard. Return to the fridge.
Line the bottom of a spring release cake tin with baking paper, and then stick the top on. You can cut away the excess around the bottom of the cake tin. Line the inside of the tin with sponge fingers. This bit is a little fiddly, and you have to cut the fingers flat so that they stand up.
Give the custard mixture a vigorous stir so that it pours easily into the tin. Do this carefully so as not to upset the sponge fingers. If any become dislodged, readjust them. Cover with cling film and leave to set, ideally overnight.
Once set, undo the spring release and slide the pudding onto a plate. Decorate the top with stiffly whipped cream and golden glacé cherries. Serve with cold, sweet pudding wine of your choice – after all, there’s a feast to be kept.
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