David Smith takes a look at the two stars of the traditional English Christmas dinner: the roast turkey or goose and the Christmas pudding. He charts the history of the Christmas goose from Elizabethan times, and explains how it was eclipsed by turkey in the years after the first world war. David examines old recipes for Christmas plum pudding, such as Mrs Beeton's from 1861, and shows how the tradition was so strong that even in the heat of Victorian era India, the English still made steamed suet puddings.