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| The pudding after five hours of boiling |
Since I was confined to my home for much of yesterday (locksmith had to open the door for me, jammed lock) I decided to make my Christmas Puddings early.
I used a basic recipe, but instead of just using raisins and currants, I substituted some of them with apricots, dates, and figs. I also threw in some candied ginger for good luck. And I used homemade candied citrus fruit peel. All carefully chopped, of course.
Christmas Pudding gets better the longer you keep them, so there is no problem with making them early. I usually make little rather than large puddings - too much to eat in one sitting otherwise.
And no, I didn't add silver coins or lucky charms - one wrong bite and there goes another tooth!
Since puddings have to be boiled for such a long time, be prepared for a chalky substance to form on the outside of the pudding bowl and your boiling pot. This is the result of boiling hard water for a long time, and is the same stuff you find in your kettle. Nothing to worry about, but a good reason not to invest in expensive beautiful looking pudding bowls, and don't use your best cooking pots to boil the pudding, either.
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| Assembled ingredients, nicely chopped |
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| Notice that bottle of dark ale? I only needed a quarter of that, and had to drink the rest myself. How much difference can such a little amount of ale make? Is this just an excuse to get drunk after making the pudding mix? There is twice as much dark rum in the mix as well - a good Christmas pudding needs lot of alcohol, as everyone knows! |
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| A large chopping board is useful for extending one's work surface by putting it over the sink! |
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| Use the biggest mixing bowl in your possession - this one is bigger than my sink! |
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| Mix dry ingredients first, then add the wet ones (you know, the alcohol and eggs). The white things that look like chopped up white worms is suet, by the way. Great stuff, suet! |
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| Butter the inside of the pudding bowls well |
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| That's what I mean by 'well' |
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| Cut some kitchen paper circles the size of the bottom of your pudding bowls |
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| Put into bottom of pudding bowl - it sticks well onto the butter. Pour batter over this paper circle, it makes the pudding less likely to stick when the time for up-ending it prior to serving it in its flaming halo arrives. |
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| Three pudding bowls full of pudding mix, ready to be boiled |
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| Cover with aluminium foil, secure foil with string, set onto the steamer inset, add water until it reaches half way up the pudding bowl, cover the pot with its lid, and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 4 to 7 hours, depending on size of pudding. Once pudding is boiled, leave to cool. Remove foil, dry of any water with kitchen paper, cover with new aluminium foil, secure with string, and put away to a cool dry place until needed for use. Before use, boil it again for another hour. Then take out of the bowl onto a nice plate, and do the usual flaming etc. Make sure you have a nice sauce to go with it, like brandy sauce or heavy cream infused with Amaretto, that sort of thing. Leftovers keep well, can be frozen, or fried in slices. |
