Treat Your Guests To A Sumptuous Home-Baked Traditional Plum Pudding

When it comes to desserts, nothing delights guests more than enjoying a delicious home baked traditional plum pudding to end an enchanting meal. Fancy afters and culinary experiments can take a back seat when it comes to savoury treats, because with tradition comes heritage and with plum pudding comes smiles all round.

To start off on your quest to bake the most sumptuous traditional plum pudding you are going to need the very best ingredients you can find. A good pudding is as much about the baking as it is the tasting, so take note of what you will need and do your best to find each item.

You Will Need:

• 85g of self-raising flour
• 85g fresh breadcrumbs from white bread
• 140g of muscovado sugar
• ¾ of a tablespoon of mixed spice
• 140g of shredded suet
• 140g of raisins
• 140g of sultanas
• 140g of currants
• 25g of varied candy peel
• 25g of glacé cherries
• 1 small grated carrot
• 2 tablespoons of black treacle
• 2 tablespoons of your favourite sweet stout
• Very finely grates orange and lemon zest
• And finally a rich brandy to pour over after baking

First up, stir the flour, suet, mixed spice, sugar, and breadcrumbs into a bowl and begin mixing. After the mixture has evened out, add the grated carrot, the glacé cherries, the peel and the fruit and stir well to mix these ingredients together.

After this has been stirred for a minute or two, you can add the rest of the ingredients to the mix and continue to stir until the mixture comes together nicely in the bowl. Continue to beat the mixture with alternate folding to allow the air to be mixed out and for the ingredients to combine well together.

Prepare The Bowl for Steaming

Gather a large pudding bowl of roughly 1.2 to 1.5L in capacity and butter the bowl well. Further butter a sheet of greaseproof paper and line the bowl accordingly. Empty the mixture into the bowl, ensuring that you pat the mixture down well enough that it produces a rich deep texture, as well as allowing for the pudding to rise a little during cooking.

Add on another buttered sheet of greaseproof paper on top of the mixture and secure the pudding in place with the aid of pudding cloth (if you have some) or just a regular breathable heavy cloth that isn’t likely to catch fire whilst in the oven. A small teacloth will suffice, so long as you tie it down with string over the top of the bowl.

Bring out the Moistness with a Long Cooking Time

Stand the bowl in a saucer and fill with boiling water and then cover again to start the cooking process. Puddings are steamed to give it a velvety, rich and moist texture that baking cannot compete with. The traditional puddings are steamed for a long period of time, the more steam the better, but in this instance, 8 hours is a reasonable cooking time to provide a delicious pudding with a delicious texture.

After the steaming process is finished, remove the pudding cloth, dishcloth or teacloth that you have used to cover the pudding and cover with a fresh and clean cloth to allow for storage. Store the pudding in a cool and dry place to ensure no outside interference messes with your pud!

A Loving Spoonful

 

Pour over a few tablespoons of brandy every once in a while to allow it to absorb the full richness of the flavour. Pour on a few extra spoonfuls just before serving and stead again for a further 2 hours to bring the pudding to its maximum deliciousness.

A traditional pudding requires a tasty meal to be enjoyed beforehand, as it is the perfect accompaniment to any rich meal. Traditionally, Christmas time was the best time to enjoy this festive highlight, but with so many different ways of cooking a traditional pud, this may be the time to pass on the tradition and create your very own family favourite recipe.

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How to Make Your Christmas Meal One to Remember

Christmas is one of the most celebrated times of the year. People are generally excited and make grandiose plans that often prevent them from remembering the simple and most important details of the season. 

Christmas cooking is one of the most important activities that people are involved in, and yet despite its importance, many approach the task with fear and trepidation, unsure how to impress their visitors and families. It is understandable as this time of year we may be cooking for over ten people and this logistical nightmare is one that we may not encounter at any other time of the year.

The truth about Christmas is that more often than not, families and friends will prefer lighter foods and desserts during Christmas. This is because the general state of excitement forces a natural inclination towards lighter instead of heavier foods.

In order to avoid embarrassments, and also save your declining energy as the day goes by, it is important that you stick to simplicity when it comes to the display of your culinary skills. Your families and friends will then be able to truly enjoy your meal and will no doubt compliment your accomplishments.

Source: www.nigerianfoodtv.com

One top tip is to prepare what you can the night before. The Christmas stuffing can be prepared, the main dish, the Christmas Turkey could even go in overnight. Any preparation that can be done should be done. This will dramatically relieve the stress and pressure on the day.

If you have ever heard the saying “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”-then you should have no excuse not to know what it means for your Christmas. Homemade or locally made puddings are one of the best ways of finishing the meal with real panache. Serving a well made chocolate or a traditional plum pudding, can be an exciting experience. You could even use brandy and bring the pudding in flaming to the awe of your family and guests. Dining is all about the experience. Anything exciting or different will enhance the mood and atmosphere.

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Other Christmas additions that can add flavor and increase smiles are devilled eggs, seasoned mashed potatoes, apple pie, and mince pies. Don’t forget to have plenty of custard and to whip the cream yourself.

The whole essence of Christmas is to bring together families and friends, whether it is just the nuclear family or also the extended ones that live far and wide – Christmas is to bring great memories for everybody, and the food that is served can go a long way in forcing or inspiring those memories. In the spirit of the day it can be a good idea to ask guests in advance if there is any particular food they enjoy. This can help you to ensure that everyone is catered for to their tastes.

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The next time Christmas arrives to make sure you make it a memorable one for your family. If you have less time and culinary skills, just keep it simple and buy good ingredients; and don’t forget the plum puddings!