Christmas pudding | Jamie Oliver Christmas recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is traditionally in the middle of a Christmas pudding? ›

It was common practice to include small silver coins in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by the person whose serving included them. The usual choice was a silver threepence or a sixpence.

No British Christmas is complete without a Christmas Pudding. Unlike American puddings, a Christmas Pudding has a sticky, dense sponge, much like a fruitcake, made from mixed dried fruit, candied fruit peel, apple, citrus juice, and zest. Brandy and spices provide a deep, complex flavor and signature dark color.

Well Christmas pudding (also called plum pudding, Christmas pudd or Christmas pud) is traditionally the main dessert served with Christmas dinner in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries, but it's origins are very much British. Plum pudding is a very rich dessert which is boiled or steamed.

For the pudding, the most likely cause of mould is moisture. If it's steamed for 8 hours, left to cool completely and then you replace the paper and foil.

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.

Religious significance

It is believed that a Christmas pudding must contain thirteen ingredients. These ingredients each represent Jesus and each of his twelve disciples. Traditionally, brandy is poured over the Christmas pudding and set aflame before serving. The flames are believed to represent Christ's passion.

Figgy Pudding

“Now bring us some figgy pudding” is the well-known refrain of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas." So, here it is. This seasonal favorite is essentially the same as a Christmas pudding but with the sweet addition of – wait for it – figs.

How do I flame the Christmas pudding? Turn out the steamed pudding onto a serving plate with a good-sized rim around the edge to catch any spirit. The important thing is to get the spirit really hot. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of brandy, rum or whisky into a long-handled metal ladle and heat it over a gas flame until hot.

American puddings are closer to what the Brits would call "custard." A British pudding is a dish, savory or sweet, that's cooked by being boiled or steamed in something: a dish, a piece of cloth, or even animal intestine.

The tinned pudding is believed to be one of the oldest in the world. A 120-year-old Christmas pudding given to Royal Navy sailors fighting in the Boer War has gone on display.

Do the Scots eat Christmas pudding? ›

For dessert, the most traditional is the Christmas pudding, usually served with brandy sauce cream. Bakewell's, fruit mince pies, shortbread and the Scottish Iced Christmas cake are other sweets also served during Christmas Day.

It's not traditional, but it is becoming more common, at least the commercial varieties are, which are the same as those in the UK. My grandmother in the 1960s made a traditional Christmas pudding that had no flour in it at all, and used beef suet.

So, as long as it's unopened, your pudding will keep for two years after the production date, which you'll find on the outside packaging.

Any pudding using fresh fruit for moisture will go off more quickly, whereas a Christmas pudding soaked in booze with high sugar and dried fruit content will last much longer. Some Christmas puddings, made with dried fruit in the traditional way, are fine to be eaten as much as two years after they were made.

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.

The is the all-time classic sauce to slather over the traditional Christmas Pudding is a brandy sauce. A pudding already will have either brandy or rum in it depending on your taste, so a splash added to a lovely white sauce becomes a perfect partner.

Plum duff, one of the fortifying puddings of Old England, is essentially the same in its beginnings as plum pudding, before it went up-market to become Christmas pudding—in other words a plain boiled suet pudding enlivened with a more or less generous addition of raisins or currants (duff represents a former northern ...

It's deeply rich, made with vanilla pods, caster sugar, cream, whole milk and (yes, you guessed it) a few tablespoons of brandy. It's more festive than serving pudding with simple double cream and can take a supermarket Christmas pudding to the next level or finish off your homemade Christmas pudding perfectly.

Christmas cakes contain much the same ingredients as Christmas pudding, but they're a little less dense and of course they're baked in the oven. Traditional Christmas cakes are usually made a couple of months earlier than Christmas puddings as they really improve in flavour and richness with maturation and feeding.