Christmas Pudding Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Can I use butter instead of suet in Christmas pudding? ›

It's best not to. Suet is a very hard fat, which melts slowly through a mixture during the cooking, whereas butter melts very easily and quickly through a mixture. They are different types of fats and shouldn't be substituted for each other.

Christmas pudding is traditionally soaked with alcohol, preferably brandy, for flavour maturation. However, many people prefer rum and whisky spirit with high alcohol content.

If water has entered the wrapped pudding basin then it is likely that the pan was boiling a little too hard, and may also have been too full of water, meaning the water came up and over the top of the pudding basin which makes it easier for water to enter.

The pudding will not be particularly dark in colour after the first steaming but darkens on the second steaming. If you cooked the pudding in a slow cooker then sometimes the temperature isn't high enough to fully melt the suet and you should do the second steaming in the regular way.

Alternatives to Suet in Your Cooking

Some recipes recommend using frozen butter as a substitute for suet, but this is risky as the butter melts much faster than suet and your dish will become greasy and heavy. If you can't find suet or you just don't want to use it, try shortening instead.

Outside the UK suet can be difficult to find and vegetable shortening is the best alternative. The same weight should be used - 150g and for the US it is 14 tablespoons. As shortening is quite soft it is best to freeze it overnight before grating.

Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.

Use a mixture of flour and breadcrumbs, not just flour. Though in older times the choice was more to do with economy, breadcrumbs give the pudding a much lighter texture. And again, use just enough flour to hold the mixture gently together.

Conclusion: Christmas puddings contain ethanol that does not all evaporate during the cooking process. However, the rise in BAC after ingestion of a typical slice of Christmas pudding was negligible and unlikely to affect work performance or safety or impair a health care worker's ability to make complex decisions.

Ideally we would suggest that when the pudding is made it is steamed for 8 hours (the combined time of the first and second steamings) as the steaming is important for the flavour of the pudding. The pudding can then be microwaved to reheat it on Christmas Day.

Do you steam Christmas pudding with the lid on or off? ›

Steamed puddings need to be properly sealed before cooking to prevent them from going soggy. This is possible even if you don't have a special pudding dish with a dedicated lid. -Lay a sheet of aluminium foil over a sheet of greaseproof paper (these need to be large enough to wrap generously around the pudding bowl).

If you have difficulties finding a pudding basin then a Pyrex bowl, or similar heatproof glass bowl, could be used. However the shape is different so you will have a wider, squatter pudding.

Superstitions say that Christmas pudding must be prepared with 13 ingredients, which are said to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. It is also said that the mixture should be stirred in turn from east to west, by each family member, to honour the disciples' journey.

The pudding is ready when it's slightly puffed and dark brown. Remove the pudding from the steamer by the handle. Set on a rack until completely cool. Remove the paper, and prick the pudding with a skewer or a fork in several places.

However, they're often just whacked in on 'high' for a few minutes until they look cooked. “Quite frankly, overcooking Christmas puddings kills the flavour, and that's a shame after all the effort and wonderful ingredients I've put into it!

Frozen butter: Use shredded frozen butter as an alternative to suet in pie crusts. It's important to note that butter has a lower melting point than suet and will melt much faster.

you kan use either butter or margarine or lard in same quantity or oil, 20% less in weight. Not all recipes of course, but most of cake recipes or similar it's ok.

Suet is the essential fat in many British puddings, both sweet and savoury, as well as stuffings and dumplings, mincemeat at Christmastime and – of – course suet pastry. It makes some of my most favourite British foods. It's role is to enrich and lubricate mixtures, producing a good crust in steamed suet puddings.

Mix the almonds, apples, candied peel, nutmeg, raisins, flour, breadcrumbs, light muscovado sugar, eggs and 2 tbsp brandy or cognac in a large bowl. Holding the butter in its wrapper, grate a quarter of it into the bowl, then stir everything together.