Water In Christmas Pudding

Our answer

Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) cooks the pudding mixture in a plastic basin with a clip-on lid. The basin is wrapped in a layer of foil to help prevent the lid from popping off during steaming. This should keep the pudding watertight, but if the water in the pan boils too hard then it can still seep into the pudding basin.

Unfortunately the amount of water that entered the basin will determine how the pudding is affected. If it is only a little then the pudding should be fine and once the pudding is cold you can blot any excess water that you see from the surface of the pudding or carefully invert the pudding basin onto a plate and let any water drain out, blot this away and then turn the basin, with the plate still in place, back the right way up to let the pudding slip back into the basin. Excessive extra water can affect the keeping quality of the pudding, so if you are concerned then store the pudding in the fridge until Christmas Day. You could also freeze the pudding and defrost it overnight in the fridge or in a cold place.