Making your own Christmas Pudding

Thanks. I hadn't expected such a response.

I don't like the shop bought ones which is why I thought I would try making my own. I don't like some of the ingredients so will switch out things like currants with more sultanas and raisins. I'm also not a fan of candied fruit which the recipe above luckily doesn't contain. which is one reason for making my own. I know it sounds daft but...
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
How important so you think half a heated carrot is in this recipe for the Christmas pudding?
I'm meant to be making it today. lady who I had all of the ingredients, this week I don't.
Click to expand...
And an autocorrect/predictive text translation of this reads as..

How important so you think half a grated carrot is in this recipe for the Christmas pudding?
I'm meant to be making it today. last week I had all of the ingredients, this week I don't
 
I think you can leave out the carrot.
Though I do wonder how the auto got heated for grated.
 
morning glory said:
Or 'lady' for 'last week'
Click to expand...
its lady who, for last week and lady is easy when you look at a UK keyboard. I use swiping, not clicking on the letters on my tablet virtual keyboard...

uk.jpg


As for who and week, well I have no idea on that switch!
 
Right, back to this Christmas pudding.

It has had a variety of switches as per my needs (mostly relating to availability of either Australia or my pantry).

I've halved the recipe quantities in my version...

500g Raisins - yes
300g Sultanas - yes
300g Currants - yes
190g Whole blanched almonds - eventually had to blanche my own
375g Suet - yes vegetable suet easily available
1 Orange, zest & juice - yes
1 Lemon, zest & juice - yes
1 Medium Carrot, peeled & grated - yes
1 Bramley apple, peeled & grated - err - sent him with a specific requirement of cooking apple (Aussie equiv) he came home with 3 Granny Smith's :o_o: oh well
200g Breadcrumbs - 150g fresh breadcrumbs
375g Light brown sugar - err, sort of. Brown sugar plus demerara
6 Eggs - yes
1tbspn Cinnamon - yes
2tbspn Mixed spice - yes, tasted then doubled
125g Chopped candied peel - no
125g Glacé Cherries - no
330ml Guinness - no, replaced with New Zealand Black Ale
60ml Brandy - no, replaced with Whisky
200g Plain Flour - yes, wholemeal.

OK - Those in green are fine. Those in orange I had a work around for, more or less that is. Those in red are another matter. The Bramley apple should have been a cooking apple. I did explain I needed a cooking apple to him and he knows the difference but twice he came home with Granny Smiths saying... Well I had no option either to use it or not put it in, so it was used. The chopped candied peel neither of us like and we don't have any, so it hasn't gone in, the glace cherries were another matter, missed from the shopping list twice and as such we had none, so a combined weight (half of) of those and the candied peel were replaced with some additional currants.
.
 
Right - my question relates to the instructions/method.... I'll outline them below and see what you all think, because they make little sense to me in places.
  1. Put all the ingredients in a very big mixing bowl or even the kitchen sink! Mix well, then cover and refrigerate for a least 24hrs. - Done.
  2. Fill the pudding basins up to 2cm below the rim. Cover with greaseproof paper then a cloth and tie tightly with string. Place in a double-boiler or steamer and cover. - makes sense
  3. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1hr, topping up with boiling water when necessary. - make sense
  4. Transfer to a bain-marie or a shallow pan filled with water and bake in the oven at 150c for a further hour and half without the lid. This will help to dry out the top of the pudding a little – sealing it until Christmas. - here is where it starts to confuse me.
  5. Remove and check whether the pudding is cooked by gently pressing the top with your fingers – it should be firm to the touch. Alternatively, insert a knife into the pudding – it should come out clean.
  6. Leave to cool. The basin may be slightly greasy and sticky on the outside – wipe it off and tie on a clean cloth.
  7. Keep refrigerated and forget about the pudding until Christmas.
Step 4... it will have to be a shallow pan filled with water. I'll use a roasting dish. Now the roasting dish does not have a lid anyway so that's not a problem. Baking in the oven in this dish in water is also not a problem.
Step 5 says I can insert a knife into the pudding...
Step 6 says to leave to cool, and ... tie on with a clean cloth...

So when do I remove the cloth put on in step 2? Does that go into the oven and also be baked for one and a half hours without a lid.... Do I end up with 2 cloths tied over these Christmas puddings? I ask because there seems to be rather a lot of mixture which is only going to swell with that amount of liquid in it and I can't imagine that it is going to fit into the 2 basins we had planned, so I am going to need 4 which means I will need to use 8 T-towels? Are they going to be ruined?
 
1. I don't see anything that will cause swelling.
(What liquid are you thinking will swell?)
2. You remove the cloth in step 5.
3. Your towels will be fine. They will needed washed afterwards.
 
Cinisajoy said:
1. I don't see anything that will cause swelling.
(What liquid are you thinking will swell?)
Click to expand...
Not a liquid, but I had assumed that both the suet and the breadcrumbs would absorb some of the liquid as will the fruit itself (it always does) and they all had better because there is a lot of liquid that hasn't got a home otherwise! (eggs, ale, whisky)

Cinisajoy said:
. You remove the cloth in step 5.
Click to expand...
Err - isn't that remove from oven when they say remove and check pudding. Going with grammar, that is remove pudding and check pudding,
 
TBH I find this an unnecessarily complicated recipe. Yes - I know its Roux junior! But almost every Xmas Pud recipe I've ever seen or used has just one step cooking, usually steaming but I have heard of using a bain-marie. I can see absolutely no point whatsoever in doing both! Why would you want to dry out the pudding tops? I've never heard of this being required in order to 'keep' them

If I were you I'd just steam them for 2-4 hours depending on size and then let them cool to re-heat at Xmas.

If you do use the bain marie then I'm sure the recipe means to take off the cloth and paper when you put them in the oven, to 'dry out'. Then re-cover them with a clean cloth to keep. As I say. This seems bonkers to me!

You could cover them in pleated foil lined with greaseproof and tied with string instead of cloth. That's what I have always done!

But any old clean cloth will do. It doesn't have to be a T-towel.
 
Last edited:
Here, for example are the instructions from Jamie Oliver for his Nan's Xmas Pud
  1. Grease a 1.5 litre pudding bowl.
  2. Mix all the ingredients together, except the golden syrup. Put the mixture into the greased bowl and cover with a double layer of aluminium foil. Tie a piece of string round the side of the bowl. Place in a large saucepan with water halfway up the sides of the bowl. Bring the water to the boil, put on a tight-fitting lid, and simmer for 3 hours. (Don’t forget to check the water regularly, making sure that it never boils dry, because if it does, it will burn and the bowl will crack.)
  3. When it’s ready, remove the foil, turn out on to a plate, drizzle with golden syrup and decorate it as you like. You can also light it with brandy if you want to be really fancy.
Mary Berry's Xmas Pud instructions are similar
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom