Christmas Pudding

I imagine that in the northern hemisphere, standing in a kitchen with the oven on all day, and a boiling pot of pudding would be just terrific at this time of year. Wonderful in fact. But no, I am in Queensland, Australia and cannot fathom how I thought doing ALL the Christmas baking on one day would be smart. Because it's not smart at all. It's as hot as anything and I'm thinking my mum's tradition of ice cream cake at christmas time is much more sensible than a pudding that has to be boiled for hours and hours on a day that no-one wants to be near anything that emits heat. And in the case of some families I imagine that can extend to not wanting to be near each other... 

This is not a recipe to be rushed, there are lots of ingredients, and you will need a giant mixing bowl. I do not have a giant mixing bowl, but I do have a large stockpot which managed the job just fine. As I used butter instead of suet, I had to rub it into the flour first and this took a long time and I got butter and flour all over my hands which I hate. I ended up mixing most of the the ingredients through with my hands. So much hate. And then managed to spread said ingredients around the kitchen because it was all over my hands. My phone has pudding on it. Everything has pudding on it.    

After getting the enormous pile of ingredients together, and then boiling the calico for a bit, I laid it into a large bowl in the sink and poured the mixture in the centre. After trying for an age to tie a knot into the cloth I, with a flourish, plunged the pudding into a pot of boiling water. The recipe said I had to 'plunge' the pudding I swear. As I am typing this while the pudding is still boiling, some 7 hours into the cooking, now is the time to mention that one should ensure the bottom of the pudding doesn't touch the bottom of the pot in which it is being boiled. Scorching can occur, and the cloth can be rent asunder, and the boiling water can start to look like pudding soup. 

In case you were wondering, I am not speaking hypothetically. Excuse me for a moment while I madly google how to re-wrap a Christmas Pudding so that it stays in good condition up until Christmas day. 

Anyway, I'll take more photos at Christmas of course, but here is the pudding post-wrapping, pre-boiling. Pre-scorching.  

Christmas Pudding

1½ cups plain flour

1½ cups breadcrumbs

450g. currants

450g. sultanas

225g. raisins

450g. suet (or butter)

450g. brown sugar

8 eggs

1 large carrot, finely grated

6 tbsp. rum/sherry/brandy (your choice)

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. spice

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

Pinch salt

Mix all the fruit, suet (if using suet) and grated carrot together.  

Sift flour, salt, soda and spices. Add suet mix.

If using butter, rub into flour, then add fruit, breadcrumbs and sugar. 

Beat all the eggs, gradually adding the rum/sherry/brandy. 

Stir into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Allow to stand for one hour. (oops)

Rinse pudding cloths in hot water, wring out and lightly flour. 

Place mixture into cloth, and tie tightly. 

Plunge into boiling water and boil for 7 to 8 hours, keeping pudding covered with water. 

Remove from water, and drain until cloth is dry, but pudding is still warm to touch. (a few hours)

Keep in cool dark place until day of use, then boil for 2-3 hours on day to serve.

~

For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.