Well cake duly made and in tin maturing nicely, had no intention of making any puddings this year but daughter asked if I would bring one along on Christmas Day so this afternoon I set to.
When I used to make puddings, cakes and mincement to order (blogged about some time ago here), people would say 'Oh gosh aren't you clever! I couldn't possibly make a Christmas cake/pud' etc. I can't understand that at all, I find it far easier than trying to produce a Victoria sponge that isn't like a frisbee, all you do with a pudding or a cake is bung everything in a bowl, give it a stir and slosh some booze in before cooking. If a cake is easy a Christmas pudding is even easier, only thing you must do is to check the ingredients list and make sure you have everything you need, assemble them on your work surface, get a bowl and a spoon and you are off.
The pudding I make is from an old recipe that my mum used to swear by. It came from a cook book issued by Be-Ro flour, which you could only get up North once upon a time (my mum comes from Newcastle) but now available everywhere. You can see from the state of the book and the page in question how well used it is. I have it tucked away and will never part with it. As this was in post war years it contains grated carrot which I sometimes put in or not depending if I have one. A dearth of carrot today so that was left out but here is the recipe I used:
4oz Self raising flour; pinch of salt; half teaspoon grated nutmeg and allspice; 3oz shredded suet; 4oz raisins, sultanas and currants respectively; 4oz soft brown sugar; 2oz mixed peel; grated rind and juice of a lemon; two eggs, 2 tablespoons of brandy or other spirit or milk.
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix, add brandy or whatever you are using, two eggs and mix well.
And that is it. Couldn't be simpler. I will admit to a slight variation or two on the recipe. I don't care much for currants, think they produce a dark pudding which I do not like so instead of 4oz currants I put an extra 2oz of sultanas in, and 2oz of candied orange and pineapple which I had about me left over from my Christmas cake. I also popped in an ounce of cherries left over. My eggs were medium so found I needed to put in three, if using large eggs two would probably suffice.
I had a miniature of whisky lurking in the back of the cupboard, heaven knows how long it has been there, but the good thing about whisky is that it doesn't go off (it was a single malt) so poured that in.
According to the recipe this is enough for a 2lb (1 litre) pudding but I divided it into two and made two smaller puddings. Grease the bowls well, I also put a little circle of greaseproof paper in the base so that when the pudding is turned out, half of it doesn't cling to the basin, grease foil and cover top and I always use string to tie it down. This recipe says that the pudding must be steamed for ten hours - as I am doing two smaller ones I have reduced this to seven but will check periodically and see how they are getting on.
One thing I dislike about steaming a Christmas pudding is, well, the steam. The entire kitchen gets soggy and humid even with the window open so I now use a bain-marie. Put the two puddings in a large roasting tin and surround with boiling water. Please ignore disgustingly awful roasting tin....
Then make a hood of foil and cover well, tucking the ends under the tin if poss. The water will evaporate, hit the foil, and run back down into the tin so that it does not burn dry. I check and top up the water after a few hours just to be on the safe side but I find it works well. In the days when I used to take orders and cook 2 dozen at a time this was the only method I used.
Now you have to admit that is easy peasy - let me know how you get on with your puddings and any variations - would love to hear.