The 12 tales of Christmas: The Christmas Pudding Crisis
Hello good readers and welcome to another of the 12 tales of Christmas. For the fifth tale of Christmas Peach Wookiee asked from me…for 5 and pudding to be. That is 5 and pudding are the prompts for this story.
For this one we’re taking a chance on an original story not from any established universe. Rygar’s is one of the most popular restaurants in the galaxy. On Christmas Eve they're visited by some very important people. The kind who could make or break the restaurant. They must serve for these 5 important guests 5 Christmas Puddings.
But as is always the case there’s a problem for the restaurant. Get ready for a crazy culinary sci-fi romp. The Christmas Pudding Crisis is coming up.
Author’s note; Special thanks to Max Miller and his YouTube series Tasting history. He provided me with inspiration and the recipe for Christmas Pudding. Thank you, sir, for your help and inspiration. I appreciate it.
Space station Zeta-Prime was busier than usual. The station was a major travel hub in the galaxy. That day it brimmed with passengers going to and from their flights. The various businesses at the spaceport were super busy. Amid the chaos stood the restaurant Rygar’s.
Regarded by many as one of the best in the galaxy it too was filled with travelers. Out on the main floor waiters took orders and delivered them to the paying customers.
Amid the chaos a human male dressed in the attire of a cook made his way into the kitchen. Lance Stevens, a 36-year-old cook was climbing the ranks of culinary greats. He'd offered to work this big shift today. “And it’s a good thing I did,” The blonde-haired native of South Dakota muttered.
“Looks like Rygar and the rest have their hands full.” He observed.
The kitchen was a buzz with activity as various cooks were working away on various recipes. A green-skinned insectoid several inches taller worked the stove with his four arms. The insectoid noticed Lance and spoke up via his translator. “Thank you for coming in early Lance,” Rygar Colzzt chirped.
The man moved to get his apron and work gloves. Soon he had punched on to the clock before he answered. “No problem boss what’s up?”
“We’re going to need your help tonight my human friend. Five prominent restaurant critics are coming in to taste our Christmas pudding. So, I want the very best on this.”
“So, you need me to cook up some of my best pudding for the critics sir?” Lance asked.
“Damn straight!” the insectoid stated.
“These people could make or break this restaurant. And the more positive the review the more customers we’ll have.”
The insectoid paused before he continued. “Plus, if you do well, I’d be more than happy to upgrade you to my chief assistant chef at this restaurant.”
That took the human male by surprise. “You’d do that sir?”
“The others around here like you. And I still haven’t forgotten how you saved us when we had that crisis with those undercooked turkeys.”
The cook shrugged and said, “As I said don’t get me wrong, I love turkey. But those turkeys had some mold on them. And we did have that overstock of hams.”
The insectoid nodded and said, “Very true. The critics will be here eight hours. We’ll need to use the aging device to get the puddings ready for the critics.”
Another voice cleared their throat. Lance and Rygar turned to see a cat-like humanoid dressed in cook’s attire. “What is it Char-burrz?” the human asked of the black furred feline.
“I mean no disrrrrespect,” the feline stated rolling the r's.
“But we have a minorrr issue here.”
“What kind of issue?” Lance asked.
“The trrrransport with the Beef Suet has got delayed due to an ionic storrrm in the Carrrvox system.”
Rygar’s blue eyes turned red indicating anger and agitation. “Oh God damn it!” The insectoid swore.
“Those ionic storms are always a pain! Now because of them we may get a massive ding on this restaurant’s good name because of this setback.”
But Lance was already thinking back on the various ways to prepare Plum Pudding. It didn’t take him long to come up with something. “Hey Char-burrz, have we still got that extra stash of butter from the cows on Varkayis?”
The cat-like humanoid nodded. “I’m surrrrprised we haven’t had much use forrr it. The dairy prrroducts from the cows on that worrrld arrre quite tasty.”
A big grin flashed across the human’s face. “That's perfect!” he stated.
The insectoid’s eyes went jade with puzzlement. “You have an idea, Lance?”
The Stevens male flashed a cheshire cat smirk. He explained, “As good as beef suet is it’s also hard to get. Hence why it takes so long to reach here and is so expensive. The ionic storms enroute don’t help.
"I say let’s add some old-fashioned butter to the mix. It liquifies at a lower temperature and it’ll add some flavor to the pudding as it seeps in.”
The feline’s face furrowed at this. The insectoid’s eyes remained jade then went a sky blue in color. “That would help to hurry matters with the pudding. An excellent idea Lance, get on that right away!”
Lance looked at his fellow cook. “Char-burrz you and Icatia get the butter from the refrigeration room. Meanwhile I’ll have the others ready some pans to help melt the butter. Have Ganx fetch the brandy from the cellar room below.
"Gentleman and ladies, we have some critics to impress, and time is not on our side.”
The feline headed off to see to things. Rygar nodded his approval before lance went over and fetched some cleaned pans and moved to a stove. He settled into his cooking rhythm with the ease of a monk going into a meditative state. The next couple hours were a blur of activity as flour and breadcrumbs got brought out. Next came the butter followed by the stoned raisins.
Next came the currents and minced apples. Then came the brown sugar, the candied peel, and the nutmeg with a trace of mace in it. Finally came the salt, brandy, and the eggs.
Lance looked around and said, “All right now we’ll need some muslin cloths. I’ll need them to be 3 by 3 feet.”
The feline nodded and said, “I know wherrre to find them.”
Char-burrz headed off to grab them. Lance looked around and stated, “All right next we’ll need to set up some boiling pots. We’ll need to boil the cloth for twenty minutes! Meanwhile get the mixing bowls out and put in all the pudding ingredients!”
Rygar stated, “I will follow you on this one Lance.”
The human stated, “It’s all thanks to my mom’s knack in the kitchen that I learned so much.”
He returned to what he was doing. “Okay now mix all the ingredients together. Meanwhile we keep an eye on those cloths and take them out after 20 minutes. The rest of you keep an eye out for more orders!”
On cue one of the waiters came in and said, “We have an order for the Beef Strohganoff surprise with sour cream on table 7!”
“I’ve got this Lance you see to the pudding.” The head of the restaurant stated.
Lance sighed in relief and said, “Yes sir.”
It didn’t take long before the cloths were ready. “Now set them on the counter and begin greasing them with a generous serving of butter and flour. And don’t be shy on the flour!”
The others set to work on that as Lance took over his own cloth. His hands wove over the fabric greasing it like his own mother had taught him. It didn’t take long before he'd finished, and he got out a medium bowl. The cook then put the cloth in flour side up. He looked at the others and explained things.
“Okay get some medium bowls then put the cloth in flour side up. Make sure to tie it together with some string.”
The Stevens male tied up the pudding then said, “Be sure to shape it into a ball form."
Then another thought came to the human. “Char-burrz, is the steamer working?”
“Yes,” the feline answered.
"Okay stick the puddings in the steamer. We’ll use half the amount of water we’d have to if we boiled it.”
The other cooks’ responses ranged from, “Got it,” to “Understood boss.”
It didn’t take long for the steamer to start doing its job. Lance sighed once it was going. “Keep a close eye on things and make sure the steamer doesn’t run out of water. Other than that, we can concentrate on other orders.”
"What next,” the feline cook asked.
“After that we put it in a bowl to let it dry and then store it in a nice, refrigerated place to let it cool for the critics.” Lance explained.
“I surrre hope you know what you’rrrre doing my frrriend.” Char-burrz said in a tone of trepidation.
The human cook smirked and said, “Trust me, I've got this. And we won't need the aging device after all.”
In a few hours the puddings were complete and hanging in the refrigerator cooler. One hour later an avian humanoid creature in the attire of a waiter came in. “The critics from Galactic Connoisseur holozine are here.” The creature chirped.
“Get the plates ready,” Lance called.
The puddings got brought out and put on the plates. The cooks put the puddings on the tray the avian waiter carried. Lance said, “Okay Chirrup, let’s do this!”
As the avian waiter took it out Char-burrz walked up to the human. “Do you think what we did was enough?” the feline asked.
The human shrugged and said, “To be honest I don’t know. Food connoisseurs have a penchant for being very fickle. All we can do is offer up our A game and pray.”
To occupy their time the cooking staff took to taking other orders from the paying customers. 10 minutes later Chirrup came in. His feathers ruffled in a fashion that indicated he was nervous. “Rygar, Lance, the critics are demanding to speak with the two of you.”
The human and the insectoid looked at each other. The insect’s eyes turned violet indicating slight agitation and nervousness. Lance felt himself trembling in anticipation. It was true critics could be harsh. And the critics at Connoisseur holozine were some of the harshest critics in the galaxy.
“Let us do this Lance.” The insectoid restaurant owner said in resignation.
Chirrup led the two out through the common room of the restaurant. Their journey brought them to a table with five individuals. They were in various stages of eating their puddings. One of them was a human, another was a feline like Char-burrrz except he had orange fur. A red feathered bird was the third critic.
Two violet colored insectoid beings were the fourth and fifth. One of the insectoid’s adjusted their translator. “You are the owner of this establishment?” The praying mantis-like insect asked.
The insectoid cook stepped up. “Rygar Colzzt at your service.” The owner of the restaurant stated.
The human who looked to be middle aged looked on Lance and asked, “Who is this young man?”
Rygar explained, “This is one of my top cooks, Lance Stevens from South Dakota on Earth.”
“I underrrstand from our waiter you crrreated this Chrrristmas pudding.” The feline critic noted.
Lance felt like the eyes of the entire universe were on him. But he quelled any fear and stepped up. “Yes, I am sir,” he responded.
The red feathered bird said, “This Christmas pudding has a rich texture to it. The raisins and currents in this complement each other. And I couldn’t help but note there was butter in this pudding.”
Lance nodded and explained, “I felt that the butter would add something to the pudding.”
The human cook then let out a sheepish chuckle. “Also, the beef suet we ordered got delayed due to an ionic storm.”
The other insectoid who resembled Rygar looked at them. The eyes turned violet in mild annoyance. “That would explain a lot. Some of those ionic storms can be quite the inconvenience”
The human then said, “My name is Randall Clarke. I'm the chief editor for Galactic Connoisseur holozine. These are my associates Chrow-grruz, Twitten, Zygart, and Yirizz.
"Your pudding has exceeded our expectations!”
The man then looked at Rygar. “Mister Colzzt this employee has done quite well. Be assured we will be giving you an excellent report in the next edition we put on the holonet.”
At this Lance let out a sigh of relief. These critics did like his pudding. Which means I’ll be getting that promotion I’ve been seeking.
Lance nodded and said, “Thank you for your kind words. We aim to please here at Rygar’s.”
And so good readers the story has come to an end. But don’t go anywhere because the 12 tales of Christmas continue. Day 6 will bring a return to some action-packed adventure for the holidays. What it is you’ll have to see as the 12 tales of Christmas continue.
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