The Chronicles of Ellie’s Christmas Pudding: Flambing and Serving
Christmas has a habit of sneaking up on me. Even though I’ve been preparing for this moment for five weeks, it still feels like it came quickly. It’s the final chapter in my six-part series – Ellie’s Christmas Pudding Chronicles – and ready or not, it’s time to toast the fig pudding.
I began this research on a Sunday in November, fascinated by the holiday tradition of making Christmas pudding. If you’re just joining the party, Christmas pudding is a savory, cake-like dessert made mostly of dried fruit, breadcrumbs, sugar and fat. It is commonly produced in the UK and various countries including New Zealand, Canada and Australia. As someone born and raised in the US, where cakes with dried fruit are often mistrusted and the term “pudding” is reserved for custard, I was looking forward to trying this unfamiliar Christmas treat.
It certainly didn’t disappoint. Every step was an adventure, from soaking the fruit , steaming it , weekly ” feedings ” of brandy , brandy butter (a solid sauce) and now serving it as a fireball. There is a lot to talk about in this post. Before you can even think about flambéing, we need to heat up the pudding. Let’s get to it.
Re-steam the pudding
Just when you thought steaming a dessert for five hours seemed weird and elaborate, we head back to the sauna. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, also called Sunday Sunday, I made the dough, poured it into a heatproof glass bowl, carefully wrapped it in foil, parchment and kitchen string, and steamed the pudding. potty for five hours. Well, I had to steam it again, but this time for two hours instead of five.
If you’re joining me with your pudding, a few hours before you plan to serve the pudding, wrap the bowl and do the same. ( See this post for pictures of how to wrap the bowl and set up the steamer.) The idea of steaming again is to simply reheat the pud thoroughly without losing any moisture. Since the pudding “sets” over a period of five weeks, it is natural that it will dry out slightly, even if it has been well covered and branded weekly.
Although I’ve read that you can remove the pudding from the pan, wrap it in foil and place it in the oven to warm for an hour at 300°F, or alternatively cover it with ventilated plastic wrap and microwave it for 15 minutes, these are the options may dry out even more. pudding or worse. (If you’ve ever forgotten a soft roll in the microwave, you know what I mean—mummified.) The steamer creates a moist environment with gentle heat. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve already done all this work, why risk ruining it?
As I’ve mentioned in previous parts of this series, I’m using Nigella Lawson’s recipe as a guide. Some say one hour of steaming is enough, but Lawson’s instructions call for three hours. Although the Christmas pudding is dense, my pudding bowl is wide rather than deep, so I steamed it for about 90 minutes.
Unwrap the pudding
Once the pudding is completely hot, remove from the steamer and let cool on a wire rack. It should be cool enough to handle but still warm; It took me about 20 minutes. Place the inverted plate on top of the bowl and invert both so that the pudding falls onto the plate. Remove the bowl and there you have it. Does it look like a big mottled brown blob? Yes. But I know what it really is. A gently steaming, spiced pudding, studded with plump fruit and dripping with tablespoons of alcohol.
A few small pieces of my pudding stuck to the bowl, but it wasn’t a disaster. I used a rubber spatula to scrape up the pieces and glue them back onto the cake where they belonged. If your cake is difficult to separate, turn it right side up and run a knife around the edge. Run the knife or fork towards the bottom. The cake may be stuck to the bowl and making a hole for the air to break the vacuum will help it escape. Peel off the parchment circle from the bottom and top it with some faux holly or candied cranberries for presentation .
Flambé and serving
Traditionally you toast the Christmas pudding, but of course you can skip this part and just chop it up. Don’t skip it though. It’s so fun. There are several ways to safely ignite alcohol, and you can read some flambe tips here if you’re new to it. I usually heat and light the alcohol on the stove, but I tried a more frugal method I’d read about using a candle to light the pudding table, so I did what any proud professional does and watched a YouTube video .
To ignite alcohol, you need to follow two steps: heat the alcohol to create more smoke, and ignite the smoke. Typically, while eating, you can heat the alcohol in a pan on the stove and then light it with a lighter or gas torch. In this case, you set up your station at the dining table (or coffee table, because that’s apartment life sometimes). Light a candle and place the covered pudding next to it. For flambéing, use strong alcohol. The ideal ABV is somewhere between 80 and 90, so vodka, rum or brandy will likely work. I used the same Neversink Spirits Orchard brandy that I had been using all along to “feed” Lil Pood.
Also bring a metal ladle to the table. Pour alcohol into it; you only need about 2 or 3 ounces. Point the ladle at the lit candle and move it around to heat the alcohol. I did this for about 20 seconds or so. Then tilt the ladle towards the flame and try to light the smoke. It looks pretty simple in the video, however I was unable to get the flame to work properly without pouring brandy into the candle. So I needed to bring a lighter to help. I reheated the brandy over the candle and finally lit the edge of the ladle with a lighter. The blue flame flared up and I poured the lit brandy over the Christmas pudding. This is the closest thing to feeling like a wizard.
The flame goes out in a matter of seconds, but it is very exciting to watch it happen in such a short time. Serve it with the brandy butter you made last week ( it only takes a minute to prepare ) and snack on it. I can say with confidence: Fruit cupcake haters can go crazy. This is a damn good pudding. The dried fruits remained moist even after soaking long ago, and the combination I used was sweet but still imparted a nice tangy flavor. The strange greasy smell of beef fat (the lard didn’t work out) was completely unnoticeable. There were only warming spices and deep, tart aromas of molasses and fruit. Oh, and brandy. This weekly anointing has absolutely cut through the pudding and that’s a big statement. The texture was light, spongy and incredibly moist.
I can see why making Christmas pudding is something we look forward to every year. It’s kind of an edible way to keep track of the entire holiday season, and I might as well start my own tradition with it. Although I think I’ll cut the recipe in half and make a mini pudding next year – it will take me a while, but at least I know it will keep for a few weeks. Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Pudding Chronicles. Of course I did.