British Expatriate Network

you just about have time to do this and let it mature for a bit if you get cracking this week!

If you want to convert, use 1oz to 25g

Mix together
100g SR flour
half tsp grated nutmed
half tsp mixed spice
75g shredded suet
100g raisins
100g currants
100g sultanas
50g mixed peel
100g soft brown sugar
grated rind of half lemon

Add 2 eggs and 2 tbsp brandy mix well

put small circle of greaseproof paper in bottom of 1 litre (2 pint) pudding bowl then put mixture in. cover with pudding cloth or greaseproof paper and foil and steam for 10 hours.

To reheat, recipe says steam for 2 hours, but we find a few minutes in the microwave works just fine.

Ooh this is helpful, thank you monster. I have a few questions that might sound stupid, but I'm pretty new to the USA & to cooking and I want to make a Christmas pudding for my husband & his family.

How do you steam the pudding? I never paid attention when my mum made one.

Hmm, sounds like I'm supposed to make it sooner rather than later and then store it?

I looked at http//www.onlineconversion.com/ but I couldn't find grams to cups/spoons. Am I just not looking hard enough?

Any recommendations on where to buy a pudding bowl?

Thanks for the help, Jennie ???

Easiest way is to peel off about 24 inches of aluminum foil and scrunch it up into an "S" shape type snake. You're looking for a height of about 4"

Then, place this into the bottom of a deep heavy pot and enough boiling water to come 2/3rds up the side of the foil. Make sure you keep a pot of boiling water on hand for the duration to keep the level constant.

Place the prepared bowl onto the "S" and steam according to the direction - DO NOT WALK OFF AND LEAVE IT!!! Cover with a lid. Check periodically and top up with boiling water as required. If you have a pressure cooker, then it's a darnsite easier and mondo quicker.

Yes, the earlier you make it, the more time it has to allow the rawness of the flavours to subside and thus they will combine to make an extremely rich and fwooty cake. I wouldn't make it more than about 8 weeks in advance (in a normal world) and make sure you store it in a cool draft free place.

Don't try to convert, either work in *grams* or in *cups* or in *imperial*.

Sometimes conversions can screw up a recipe. Always remember, that baking is a chemical reaction, the ingredients work together to create the necessary rise/coagulation etc. Therefore it is important to remain constant throughout and measurement should be pretty much exact.

Whereas with "cooking", you can always add/take away to taste.

Buy yourself a good quality electronic scale that does grams and punds and ounces. One that will weigh upto about 10 lbs or so. It will be invaluable with cross continental recipes. Also, make sure that you obtain one that you can tare (zero) correctly.

Any Pyrex round bowl with a good lip will work.

Weckum! :smile:

Wow, thank you so much for all the detailed answers and you replied quickly too. razz
I was watching that Martha Stewart Xmas program tonight and it made me freak out a little, as it was all about traditional recipes from all over the world & how all these Americans were carrying on the recipes from their countries of origin. And I was like "Ahhh, must make Christmas pudding and carry on heritage."

So yeah, thanks, I can give that a go too. We used to have money in there too. I'm guessing I don't need to know any special secrets about that - just wrap it in grease proof paper and add it. Hmm, though maybe my mum cheated and added it when she served it to us.

A very grateful Jennie.

I remember as a child watching Mum put sixpences in the pud. before steaming! I always tried to note how near the chip on the china bowl one was as I wanted to make sure I got I got the dish with that piece in! There were less coins than people!

Do you remember taking a turn at stirring and making a wish?

I'm going to save monsters recipe for next year, as I brought back a pud in my stash of goodies when we visited home last Feb. razz

Awww, hehe, yeah I do have a vague memory of stirring and wishing - that's fun to remember. Wow you were thinking far ahead back in Feb. smile I've seen some puddings online - if mine turns into a disaster at least I can cheat. razz

~ Jennie

Yes -everyone who's awake and home gets stir and a wish (only my daughter and I this year -the lads were all out for the count --probably including the one that was at work!)

...and I put coins in. I decided to use British ones this year to start a tradition -sadly I don't have any sixpences so I used to use new 5 pences- but I didn't have time to root out my bag of UK dosh, so I raided my piggy bank of old and foreign coins and used one shilling and one old five pence. I wrap them in foil befor ehtey go in (it's so little metal it doesn't cause a problem in the microwave).

Hi again,

I just wanted to say thanks again, as I made the pudding last Sunday & it turned out pretty well - I think. We'll see when we eat it. I added a grated carrot and some cherries on the advice of my mum.

Good idea about the British coins. I should try that next year. I totally had a hard time with the suet. My mum said she'll send me some next year. The only stuff we could find here was mixed with bird seed and in a net for bird food. So I heated it up over boiling water and then drained it through a cloth, so all the bird seed was removed. It totally grossed out my husband though - he's not too impressed with British cooking now. Though he did like trifle a lot and even made some himself for the people he works with.

Season's Greetings, Jennie

<!-- BBCode Start --><font color=#ffff00>NOOOOOOOOOOOO</font><!-- BBCode End --> :eek:

If it's in a parcel you could quite possibly get everything confiscated. You're not allowed to import any meat products (by mail or in person) into this country. Also, bear in mind *everything* is being gone over with a fine toothed comb (parcels etc etc).

Do a search in this forum for "suet", I posted a recipe or tip some while ago on how to make it yourself or how to ask a (good) butcher for suet.

Just don't get it in the mail...bad...

Andrew

Calm down, calm down! I've use vegetarian suet in this recipe and it's fine. I've imported it this year and declared it and no-one had any problems. (I've also imported and declared beef suet and stock cubes this year -they customs guys even looked it up in their manual and said it was ok, but via the post I'd go for the veggie stuff to be on the safe side.) I also brought -and declared- corned beef in a tin and that was OK too, but they said that might change next year if FMD hadn't been brought under control in Argentina.

You can add coins just before serving -that's what we used to do before we found out a small proportion of metal is OK in the microwave.

Yes, cherries are a common addition to puddings -hate them myself- but I've never come across carrots in a pudding before. Carrot cake is nice, though -let us know how it turns out!

Yes, no problems with vegetarian suet, it's the *real* suet that might get a bit tricky.

Fray Bentos? You know there is a town in Argentina named Fray Bentos don't you?

:lol:

Andrew

Eeek dear, I'll let my mum know about that and maybe stick to the vegetarian version. I spoke to my Gran about the suet thing and she suggested a butcher but my husband totally laughed at that saying butchers were old fashioned. :smile:

Season's Greetings, Jennie

Ben & Jennie's US-UK Marriage

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