Steaming a Christmas pudding?

[RubaiyatOfAnyone]

I’ve never done the Christmas pudding before, but have been volunteered as officially Grown Up enough this year.

I’ve got St Delia’s recipe but don’t quite understand the steaming bit - the only steamers i’ve got that go over saucepans are much shallower than a pudding basin. I assume the pudding bowl has to be covered by a lid to get the effect of the steam? Am I just being thick here?

Have you got a slow cooker? It can go in there with water half up the basin. Overnight or first thing in the morning depending when you want it for.

All you need is a pan big enough to fit the pudding bowl, an old saucer to stand in the bottom of the pan, tin foil, grease proof paper and some string.

The most important thing is to remember to top up the boiling water, don't let it boil dry I have and it smells vile

Helpful video from the BBC:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-steam-pudding

Yes, if steaming the steamer needs to be big enough to hold the pudding basin and the lid needs to fit tight.

Are you making in on Stir up Sunday which is this weekend? I always use Delia's recipes for pudding, cake, mince pies and sausage rolls. The first time I made it I didn't read the recipe properly beforehand and then discovered that the fruit needs soaking overnight - hopefully you have already spotted that. Also, it will need steaming for quite a long time (can't remember how long), so good to make sure that you can spend the day at home as the water under the steamer will need topping up regularly.

You don't need a steamer. Just a large pot big enough to put the pudding in and as someone else said, raise it off the bottom with a saucer or something. The lid should then fit snuggly on top and weight the pudding down so it doesn't bob about in the water. Pop the lid on the pan and steam. Make sure to top up the water.

Oh brilliant, thank you all for the quick responses.

Yess, i’m doing it on stir up sunday, and luckily the online version of the recipe begins “start the day before...” or i would probably have missed that fact!

I never even thought of just raising it up in a normal saucepan, thank you all - shall do that. Presumably the water shouldn’t touch the bowl, just the saucer beneath? You must have to top it up endlessly over 8 hours!

The water should come half way up the sides of the bowl. The water should just be simmering.
A big pud takes over 5 hours to steam- if you can fit it in your slow cooker, it is much easier to put it in there.

Great, thank you.
Sadly no slow-cooker: there’s not much use for them in a vegetarian household, and it seems a waste just to get one for this once-a-year event.

Do you have a slow cooker?

I do suet puddings in the sc, put it in a pyrex or plastic bowl, put the bowl in the SC and add 2-3 inches of water.

Just read Grace's post. So I'm not the only one.

I'm not sure what being a vegetarian household has to do with not having a slow cooker.

Great for Dahl, baked potatoes, chilli, (veg) suet pudding - jam roly poly is fab in the sc.

It's also useful if people are eating at different times.

Okay, this is really off topic but since i seem to have started it...

you’re right, my experience isn’t everyone’s. But i’ve never felt a need for a slow cooker as a vegetarian because things like dahl and chilli take me less than half an hour from start to finish in a saucepan, and i don’t think i’ve voluntarily eaten suet pudding since school dinners. I also don’t really get the concept - are you supposed to do all the prep in the morning before going to work and then leave them cooking unattended all day whilst you’re out? That sounds like a huge amount of work to add to getting kids/self ready in a short time frame in the mornings, and i’d be constantly worried about the fire risk whilst i was away. Friends who use them a lot seem to do so mostly for tender meat and long-cook meat stews, and i can just about see the point for that since it sounds hard to get meat tender. Adding another bit of clutter to my already crowded counter tops when i don’t really need it also seems a bit pointless.

Anyway, back on topic - thank you everyone who has shown me the way forward for my christmas pud! Success awaits, i’m sure or at leadt less abject failure

OP

Sorry I wasn't meaning to pick on you, I realise I might have come across as quite rude.

I was just trying to point out that £10 for a sc doesn't mean it would never be used.

As for prep, I do tend to do that on a morning, but I can do it in the time it takes to boil the kettle. I do mostly use mine for meat but other things benefit from long slow cooking eg spices so although I could make a chilli in 30 mins I would put it in the SC for the flavour to develop.

Anyway I hope your pud is delicious.

How did it go OP?

I had some spare mixture, so made an individual pudding as well as the big one which I ate for lunch yesterday, very nice!!!