Christmas Pudding

kah22

It’s that time of the year again when minds turn to Christmas at the moment I’m thinking Christmas pudding

This year I’ll not need as much as I have in previous so I was wondering whether or not I could steam a two pound Christmas pudding and immediately after taking them from the freezer transfer them to two one pound basin. Thus avoiding two goes at steaming: I’m thinking time as well as cost.

VfM4meplse

No idea, but you've reminded me that stir-up Sunday is on the 25th Nov.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Mine is maturing on the shelf. There’s that much sugar an whisky in her she does not need freezing!

bouicca21

In the days when I made Xmas puds they were so steeped in good stuff that it never occurred to me to freeze them. Nowadays, no longer having hordes to feed, I just go to to Lidl.

maman

I'm finding it hard to get my head round what you're asking.:)


I haven't made a Christmas pudding in years but are you saying that your 2lb pudding be liquid enough after steaming to pour into 2 1 lb bowls and freeze one?


Why do you need to freeze a Christmas pudding? They last for years. What you could do I suppose is freeze in slices and just take some out at a time throughout the year.


Or you could put 2 x 1lb basins in a very large pan for steaming


Or you could do what I do now which is look out for recommendations of the best supermarket brands and buy one (or better still buy in January and keep until next year:money:).

buildersdaughter

Yes, I'm having some difficulty in understanding as well. This is what i think you are asking:
You want to end up with 2 x 1lb puddings
You don't want to steam them individually
You want to do the initial cooking all together, then transfer in to 2 basins and freeze.

I think that any cooked pudding is not going to take well to being cut up. This is what I do (in a similar circumstance)
Make 2 x 1lb puddings
Either put both basins in a large saucepan for steaming, or ,as I do, steam in a slow cooker. Another method, if you have an old fashioned oval metal 'roaster' tin is to put them in that, fill about half way with boiling water, and put in the oven at 90 degrees.
To re-heat, follow the instructions for cooking. I have always re-heated mine in the slow cooker - after Xmas breakfast, on it goes, with an inch or so of boiling water in the bottom, and sits there until we're ready!

Hope that helps.

suki1964

Another one who has never frozen a Christmas pudding

this years one, sell by date is 2012, it will be fine

PollyWollyDoodle

I don't think a 2lb one can be transformed into two 1lb ones without losing its integrity. You could of course steam a 2lb one and then cut it in half, but then it wouldn't be a Christmas pudding! I have never frozen one, they keep for years.

If you want to avoid the steaming, you can cook it in a pressure cooker if you have one, it will only take a couple of hours.

A useful tip - you don't need to do 8 hrs steaming all in one go. When I worked full time, I really struggled to find a date when I could do this. It's perfectly acceptable to steam it for four hours one night and another four the next.

kah22

Ok sorry for the confusion. I should be more careful. I offer no excuse.

I don’t know why I wrote ‘after taking it the from the freezer.’

Neither am I saying that my 2lb pudding should be liquid enough after steaming to pour into 2 individual 1 lb basins and then frozen. I know you don’t freeze the pudding, that they keep for ages in a cool dark place: the booze, the sugar and the fat see to that!

I was asking whether or not I could steam a two pound Christmas pudding and immediately after the steaming divide it into two and transfer each half to an individual 1lb pudding basins. Each half would be stored in a cool dark place.

buildersdaughter made the comment:

I think that any cooked pudding is not going to take well to being cut up

. That was another implied question ‘will it take kindly to been divided?’ Would you agree with buildersdaughter?

Kevin

buildersdaughter

Got it now!
I think that if you cut a pudding in half, you could wrap it tightly in greaseproof paper (or baking parchment) then foil, and it would keep OK (but not really as well as if kept whole). You would also have to be careful with reheating. A pudding which occupies its original basin re-heats well. But I think you could reheat half a pudding.
I would plan to do 2 separate puddings. I have re-heated wrapped slices that were left over. They were OK, but a bit drier.

PollyWollyDoodle

Ah, it's all clear now! I agree with builders daughter.

For me though, the pudding-bowl shape is an important part of it. If you love it so much that you eat it all year round, maybe it doesn't matter, but if you're going to serve it up on Christmas Day with a sprig of holly, I'd feel disappointed to get half a pudding!