Does DIY include making Xmas puddings?

[Huge]

I believe the average age of uk.d-i-y posters is well into the 60's.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Yes, carrying a burning Christmas pudding in to the dining room is probably one of the most risky things I do each year, but it seems to be an important family tradition.

This reminds me of a letter published in The Times a few decades ago. It was a thank-you note posted back from some friends in Kenya, IIRC, which went something like this...

Dear Annie and Bill, It was wonderful to hear from you at Christmas, and to know the family is all doing well. And thank-you very much for the gift. We weren't too sure how to care for it, but we put it in a shady position, and watered it from time to time. However, I'm sorry to say that by the beginning of February, it was clear that it didn't like the climate here and was dying.

The "gift" was a Fortum and Masons Cristmas pudding with a sprig of holly in the top...

[Peter Parry]

White breadcrumbs made by getting standard real loaf (but not one of the pre packed sliced soggy horrors). Slice into about 10mm slices. If you have a food processor put the slices in and churn until they make breadcrumbs. See below for drying.

If you don't have a food processor put the slices to dry

Drying - either breadcrumbs or slices spread onto a tray, leave in a very low oven for a few hours to dry. For the slices simply crush them in your hands to make breadcrumbs.

Don't forget to soak the fruit in Brandy, Rum or Port as you wish for several weeks beforehand.

The puddings do not need to be made months in advance, originally they were made when fruit came into season. Using dried fruits, as long as the fruit has been soaked in alcohol for weeks you won't notice the difference between a months old or week old one.

Also - spices - ideally grind your own but failing that buy some fresh ground mixed spice each year. The bottles of ground mixed spice once opened degrade very quickly (days or weeks at the most).

[Huge]

We sent an Xmas pud to some friends in California once. Despite explicit instructions on heating it, they sliced & ate it cold. They were too polite to tell us how vile it must have been.

[Robin]

I agree that is the way to make *dried* breadcrumbs. But all the pudding recipes I've tried used *fresh* breadcrumbs. See eg

But I ain't arguing with anyone's granny :)

[Capitol]

My grandmothers fruit suet pudding was almost pure suet and when sliced and eaten cold you could feel it lining your insides! I loved it.

[Peter Parry]

Supermarket dried breadcrumbs are desiccated hard things made from the cheapest Chorleywood bread they can get. Some are then powdered to make the hideous orange stuff.

You can use home made "dried" breadcrumbs quite happily if fresh are called for. The advantage of drying is that it increases the storage life. The advantage of using a decent loaf is in the flavour.

[spuorgelgoog]

It's basically the same as a clootie dumpling which can be sliced and eaten cold with butter and/or jam, or fried up

Owain

[spuorgelgoog]

Steering well clear of the paper chains hanging down over the dining table!

Owain

[spuorgelgoog]

And don't be tempted to substitute Paxo instant stuffing thinking you won't taste the parsley. You will.

Owain

[Robin]

I'll leave you to tell Mary Berry ;)

[Robin]

I agree - so long as it's *after* the pudding's been steamed. Goes well in a full English, especially if there's no black pudding to hand!

[spuorgelgoog]

Before it's been steamed it's cake mixture, which from my childhood I remember as also being edible.

Or slices of fruit pudding and black pudding topped with a grilled tomato half and a small slice of watercress. .

Owain

[Max Demian]

They don't have them in the US. Or proper Christmas cakes. Even their wedding cakes are sponge.

[tabbypurr]

equired, so I hunted out the card for the recipe handed down over several g enerations. Seems simple enough apart from managing the 8 hours steaming. But it uses breadcrumbs - is there a guru here who knows if this can be wh olemeal or does it have to be white bread ?

After that pudding you soon won't notice anything :)

NT

[Bob Eager]

One tier of our wedding cake was sponge. F-I-L didn't like fruit cake.

[Robin]

But would you eat uncooked a pudding mix made with suet? (IME it's suet puddings which call for fresh breadcrumbs.)

[spuorgelgoog]

I think mum used Trex :-)

Owain

[Roger Hayter]

Not, surely, the voice of experience?

[Nick Odell]

I'd endorse most of what's been written here. Anyone who might have been following another thread in another newsgroup this weekend will know I make my Christmas cakes and puddings on an alternate two-year cycle and there's no doubt that careful maturation makes for a nicer pud or cake the second year around.

There are some fantastic cakes and puds to be bought in the shops ranging from superb to absolutely awesome, but nothing at Christmas time can replace being part of a tradition that mattered to my wife and her mother and my mother and her mother before her. They have all passed away and this part of the family is all men now so we have to do the best we can. So we try, And in trying we bond with our past.

Nick