Timings for Ultimate Christmas Pudding

Asked by tere48. Answered on 7th December 2012

Full question

The recipe says to steam for 5 hours when making and 3 hours on Christmas Day. Can the timings be altered to say 7 hours when making and 1 hour on Christmas Day as this would be the preferred option. Thank you.

Our answer

We have found that you can vary the cooking times of the Ultimate Christmas pudding slightly, but make sure that you keep to the total cooking time. We have made the pudding with 6 hours initlal steaming and then a second steaming of 2 hours on Christmas Day.

As the full-sized pudding is quite large we do feel that a 1 hour second steaming may be a little too short and there is a risk that the pudding will not heat through thorougly in that time. If you did want to risk the shorter second steaming then make sure that the pudding is hot in the centre before serving. It should reach at least 75c (167F) in the centre when it is steamed. You can also let the pudding stand in a warm place for up to an hour after the second steaming before you serve it, so this may help you if you are trying to juggle several pans on a small stove.