So I've steamed Delia's Christmas pudding, now what?

[drspouse]

It says cool it, then "take off the baking paper and the cloth and put on new ones".
It didn't say "and wash the outside of the pudding basin with washing up liquid because it will be all greasy". But I did.

Can I just wrap it in foil, or do I have to nick two more of DD's zebra muslins and tie them on with string? She might notice if they are gone for a month.

And on Christmas Day do I have to steam it or can I go supermarket and microwave it?

I just wrap mine in a fresh double layer of baking paper and then a layer of foil, tie tightly with string and then put at the back of the cupboard until Christmas. I don't bother with cloths/muslins at all, either for cooking or for storage and it seems fine every year.

I always steam mine on Christmas day so can't 100% help with your second q, but I would have thought it would be OK to microwave gently - you might find the texture goes a bit dry or claggy compared to steaming especially on the outside of the pudding but you could remedy this with a large portion of brandy butter .

Mmmm brandy butter!

I’ve steamed it on the day (as Delia says to) then one year microwaved some to see if there was a difference - there wasn’t as far as I could tell.

You should wrap it in a couple of layers of Greaseproof paper first, before wrapping in foil. This is because the acids present in the dried fruit can eat in to the foil causing it to disintegrate (and possibly make the pud taste metallic).

They are still in the bowls with greaseproof paper on top, then the foil.