460 current recipes

Traditional British Christmas plum pudding: a dense steamed pudding rich with suet, dried fruit, candied orange, and brandy. Made weeks ahead to mellow, then reheated and flamed for the holiday table.

Cranberry pear tart with a walnut-cinnamon shortbread crust, tangy cranberry-pear filling, and golden meringue lattice top. A stunning holiday dessert with three distinct layers.

No Christmas feast in medieval times was complete without a 'grete pye'. In some recipes, it could contain many varied meats, but quite often only two or three different kinds were suggested; change the meats suggested here if you wish.

Traditional Irish porter cake made with stout beer, currants, raisins, mixed peel, and brown sugar. A dense, rich fruit cake that improves with a week of resting before slicing.

Traditional holiday fruitcake loaded with raisins, currants, citron, and pecans, enriched with sherry, honey, and orange marmalade. Baked low and slow, best after aging.

Sweet raisin sauce for ham or tongue made with brown sugar, currant jelly, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire, cloves, and mace. Make-ahead friendly and ready in 20 minutes.

A scrumptious and decadent fruitcake made with golden raisins, candied fruit and delicious blackberry cordial wine.

Lithuanian strawberry torte layers three light butter cake rounds with whipped cream, currant jelly, strawberry preserves, and pecans. Eastern European holiday celebration cake.

Oven-baked five grain pilaf with barley, wheat berries, millet, wild rice, and brown rice, studded with mushrooms, orange-soaked currants, and toasted almonds.

Curried tuna salad stuffs a hollowed-out red bell pepper with tuna, chickpeas, currants, almonds, and a yogurt-curry dressing. A bright Indian-spiced lunch that uses the pepper as both bowl and ingredient.

Authentic Victorian mincemeat with boiled calf's tongue, suet, dried fruit, candied citrus peel, brandy, and whiskey. Cures in a crock for 7 weeks before becoming Christmas pie filling. Yields 96 servings.

Flour-dusted chicken browned golden and simmered in a fragrant curry-tomato sauce with sweet currants, bell pepper, and toasted almonds. Served over rice with coconut and chutney for a vibrant one-pot dinner.

Grilled Sicilian involtini with beef pounded thin, stuffed with Pecorino, pine nuts, currants, and parsley, then skewered on rosemary sprigs and grilled fast.

Rich boiled fruit cake with currants, raisins, and sultanas simmered in sugar water with mixed spice and ginger before baking. A dense, moist British classic.

Lemon fluff custard baked in a water bath with sour cream, rice, currants, and freshly grated nutmeg. An old-fashioned baked rice custard with a bright lemon twist.

Apple crumb coffeecake layers a buttermilk batter with pre-cooked apple-currant filling under a buttery crumb topping. Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, ideal for brunch tables.