It's Stir-up Sunday tomorrow, the traditional pud-making day, so we called in an expert.
The secret to a perfect pudding is all in the fruit, explains Paul Gray, who is master cake-maker at Bettys, the famous bakery and tea shop in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
'Don't use dried sultanas you've found at the back of the cupboard,' he says. 'Buy the freshest and best quality fruit you can afford.'
Proof is in the pudding: The secret to a vibrant Christmas pudding is adding the freshest, best-quality dried fruit
He should know - he's made millions of cakes during his 20 years at Bettys. Today, I'm at their equally famous cookery school making my own Christmas pudding, along with other festive treats.
We start the pudding at 10am - although the kitchen fairies have soaked the fruit in brandy overnight for us. Along the way we learn many tips, such as always juicing and zesting fruit that is at room temperature - this give you double the amount.
Likewise, eggs should always be room temperature to prevent curdling (it's the change in temperature that causes it).
The day is a revelation, accompanied by friendly banter, good company and delicious treats for snacking - plus, you get to take home all your Christmas cooking.
After five hours of steaming, the pudding is ready to cool and then be put away for at least four weeks (longer if possible) to mature before the big lunch.
Christmas pudding perfected in just one day - what could be easier? Well, cheating and buying a Bettys pudding (www.bettysbypost.com, tel: 0845 345636), if you really must ask.
Makes 1 pudding, serves 6-8 people
INGREDIENTS
230g (8oz) raisins
50g (1 1/4oz) currants
75g (2 1/2oz) sultanas
50g (1 3/4oz) glace cherries
15g (1/2oz) flaked almonds
100ml (3 1/2fl oz) brandy
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 orange and 1/2 lemon
50g (1 3/4oz) vegetable suet
30g (1oz) wholemeal breadcrumbs
50g (1 3/4oz) plain white flour
90g (3oz) light brown sugar
2g (1/2tsp) mixed spice
1g (1/4tsp) each of ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground cloves
5g (1tsp) salt
2 medium eggs, beaten
METHOD
The day before, place all the dried fruits and flaked almonds in a bowl. Pour over the brandy and add the lemon and orange zest and juice. Mix together lightly. Cover with clingfilm and leave overnight.
Put all the remaining ingredients and the pre-soaked fruit in a large mixing bowl. Mix lightly with a wooden spoon, so as not to break up the fruit. Place a small disc of baking parchment in the base of a 1 1/2pt pudding basin and then fill it with the mixture. Smooth the top down evenly. Place another, larger disc of parchment on top. Cover the basin with foil and seal tightly.
Stand the filled pudding basin on a strip of foil long enough to make a handle (to help you lift the pudding out of the pan once it is steamed). Place the basin on top of a trivet in a deep-sided pan. Pour hot water into the pan, so it comes halfway up the pudding basin. Place a lid on the pan and bring back to the boil. Lower the heat and keep the water at a steady simmer. Steam the pudding for 5 hours. Check the level of water in the saucepan during cooking and top up if necessary.
Remove the pudding from the pan and allow it to cool completely. Remove the foil. Wrap the pudding basin in a piece of greaseproof and a layer of foil. Store in a cool, dark place for at least 1 month to mature. The longer the better.
On Christmas Day, steam the pud for 2 hours in a pan of water, as before. Warm some brandy in a ladle until it ignites and pour over the pudding to flambe.
The one-day Christmas cakes and pudding course costs £160, www.bettyscookeryschool.co.uk.
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Christmas pudding is traditionally soaked with alcohol, preferably brandy, for flavour maturation. However, many people prefer rum and whisky spirit with high alcohol content.
Use a mixture of flour and breadcrumbs, not just flour. Though in older times the choice was more to do with economy, breadcrumbs give the pudding a much lighter texture. And again, use just enough flour to hold the mixture gently together.
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.
The mixture should have a fairly sloppy consistency – that is, it should fall instantly from the spoon when this is tapped on the side of the bowl. If you think it needs a bit more liquid add a spot more stout. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.
Conclusion: Christmas puddings contain ethanol that does not all evaporate during the cooking process. However, the rise in BAC after ingestion of a typical slice of Christmas pudding was negligible and unlikely to affect work performance or safety or impair a health care worker's ability to make complex decisions.
What can be used instead of suet in a Christmas pudding? My family recipe for Christmas pudding has melted butter instead of suet and it is flourless. It replaces all the flour with fine breadcrumbs. It is a great keeper and I've kept puddings in a cool dry place for 3 or 4 years.
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. "Bear in mind if the pudding is alcohol-free, of course, it will last a good while with the sugar content, but it will not last as long without alcohol to preserve it," stresses Juliet.
Boil or oven steam the puddings for 8 hrs, topping up with water as necessary. Remove from the pans and leave to cool overnight. When cold, discard the messy wrappings and re-wrap in new baking parchment, foil and string. Store in a cool, dry place until Christmas.
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.
Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood. In America, Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.
Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year. This lovely tradition may date back as early as the 1300s when a dried pea or sometimes a small silver ring or crown was baked into a Twelfth Night Cake.
According to experts, the secret to Christmas pudding perfection is to heat it to precisely 71 °C. If it gets hotter than 89 °C, the sugars within the fruits in the pudding start to caramelise. So no matter how luxurious its ingredients are, your precious pud will taste bitter.
By tradition the pudding mixture is stirred from East to West in honor of the three wise men who visited the baby Jesus. In some households, silver coins are added to the pudding mix. It is believed that finding a coin brings good luck.
We would tend to err on the side of using a spirit with a higher alcohol content (such as rum or whisky) but a fortified wine with a long shelf life, such as a sweet Marsala or Madiera could also be used.
A sweet marsala or Madeira wine are good alternatives but if you only have a bottle of rum, whisky or brandy on hand then one of these could also be used.
Whip 250ml cream until it holds a figure eight shape and stir it into 250ml of cold custard. You can make this yourself or buy it pre-made. Pour in 35ml (one shot) of Irish Whiskey (or brandy) and add a pinch of grated nutmeg and stir until smooth.
The two deserve each other, especially if it's a vintage pudding. And, of course, you should always create whisky butter instead of the old-hat brandy butter. 'The fact that the alcohol used in Dickensian times was brandy is no great surprise.
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