# I want to make Christmas pudding! Okay, how? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564 "2012-11-30T13:43:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/1 "2012-11-30T13:43:26Z")
Anyone have any recipes? Do you really have to boil it for five hours? Any help would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/2 "2012-11-30T13:53:31Z")
Plenty of Internet sites on this. Here’s the first one that came up for me: > **[Christmas Just Isn't Christmas Without a Traditional British Pudding](https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-christmas-pudding-recipe-435070)** > > A Christmas pudding is a traditional British dessert for the holiday. This tried and tested recipe includes suet, fat from beef kidneys. When I returned from the UK just before Christmas many years ago, I brought a Christmas Pudding with me. The customs guy was reluctant to let me take it out of the country, but finally relented, making me promise to learn how to make it myself. I still haven’t tried, I’m ashamed to admit. ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/3 "2012-11-30T14:02:06Z")
You better make up some “figgy pudding” or else a bunch of random assholes may occupy your house and “Won’t go until they get some.” Always struck me as odd…😕 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/4 "2012-11-30T14:12:43Z")
For any traditional english recipe, I find [Delia Smith](http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-christmas-pudding.html) is your friend. It looks like it takes several days! I’ve chickened out and already bought my Heston from Waitrose pud. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/5 "2012-11-30T15:04:04Z")
I’ve only had store-bought, but they are yummy. One day I’ll make one from scratch. **OtisCampbell** , that song is left over from when Christmas was primarily a holiday for drunken hoodlums, who went from house to house demanding booze and food on threat of vandalism. Kind of like Trick or Treat for grownups. It was called “wassailing”. No, [really](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassailing). > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Although wassailing is often described in innocuous and sometimes nostalgic terms, the practice in England has not always been considered so innocent. Wassailing was associated with rowdy bands of young men who would enter the homes of wealthy neighbours and demand free food and drink in a trick-or-treat fashion. If the householder refused, he was usually cursed, and occasionally his house was vandalized. The example of the exchange is seen in their demand for “figgy pudding” and “good cheer”, i.e., the wassail beverage, without which the wassailers in the song will not leave; “We won’t go until we get some, so bring some out here.”[ ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/6 "2012-11-30T15:21:37Z")
Reminds me of a Doctor Who Christmas episode, _Voyage of the Damned_… [quote=] " I shall be taking you to Old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by Good King Wenceslas. Now human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner, like savages!" _— Mr. Copper_ [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/7 "2012-11-30T17:54:00Z")
My cousin makes this every year to bring over, along with the “hard sauce”. Douse with a bit of brandy and light it, and it makes for a dramatic desert. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/8 "2012-11-30T18:53:58Z")
Assuming I can’t find suet, what can I substitute? If the answer is lard please let me know but also a non-porcine alternative too. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/9 "2012-11-30T19:17:32Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Assuming I can’t find suet, what can I substitute? Vegetable oil solid shortening (Crisco-type stuff) will work, although it is less flavorful. You can easily render suet, which is beef fat, from cheap-o (high fat content) hamburger meat. Cook the ground beef in a skillet, breaking it up. Pour off and cool the fat – that’s the suet part. Use the meat in any recipe that calls for cooked ground beef – chili, sloppy joes, pot pies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/10 "2012-11-30T21:50:56Z")
Do folks really put coins in it – and then you have to be careful eating it? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/11 "2012-11-30T22:28:08Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Do folks really put coins in it – and then you have to be careful eating it? Traditionally, yes, to both questions. Just one coin, though; whoever finds it will be brought good luck. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/12 "2012-11-30T22:32:47Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Assuming I can’t find suet, what can I substitute? > If the answer is lard please let me know but also a non-porcine alternative too. > **[Suet recipes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/suet)** > > A speciality of England, this is cooking fat made from beef or mutton that is obtained from the area around the kidney and loins. Widely used until the mid-twentieth century, it is less popular now. It is prized for giving food a distinctive... ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/13 "2012-11-30T23:06:37Z")
Two years ago I made figgy puddings using a carrot cake mix but substituting figs for carrots. They were figgy. My family wouldn’t eat them, but I put them in the break room at work and they were gone by lunchtime. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/14 "2012-12-03T10:10:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Traditionally, yes, to both questions. Just one coin, though; whoever finds it will be brought good luck. Not forgetting to wrap the coin in foil, so everyone doesn’t get poisoned. My Dad always put enough coins in so all the children could get one. Cheating, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/15 "2012-12-03T10:11:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > My cousin makes this every year to bring over, along with the “hard sauce”. Douse with a bit of brandy and light it, and it makes for a dramatic desert. Hard sauce?? Do you mean brandy butter? (Which is just butter, icing sugar and brandy mixed together. Drool). ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/16 "2012-12-03T20:02:01Z")
I did [this one](http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/nov/21/christmas-pudding-mince-pie-recipes) just this weekend. I substituted vegetable suet as I don’t eat meat. I’ve done this recipe a couple of years and it works well. The steaming is a pain, but is worth it. The longer you steam it the first time, the darker and better the pudding seems to be. Apparently, leaving the pudding to cool in the same bowl helps too. On Christmas Day you do need to give it another couple of hours to warm it through. Hugh F-W suggests using apple brandy in his brandy butter, I’m looking forward to trying that one! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/17 "2012-12-03T20:27:29Z")
This is my Christmas plum pudding recipe - it’s based on a very old traditional one that I adapted - it’s never let me down: [http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/plum\_pudding](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/plum_pudding) When I make it now, I cover the bowl with baking parchment, then foil, then tie it around - so the foil can’t be corroded by the fruit acids in the pudding. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/18 "2012-12-04T08:47:38Z")
Oh, the other thing I do now is to\* make next year’s pudding this year\*. That is, just before Advent, we make two - and each Christmas we (at some point - not necessarily both on Christmas day) eat one pudding that’s six weeks old, and one that’s over a year old. To get the pudding to store for a year, I uncover it, prick the top surface, pour on about half an inch of brandy, then re-cover tightly and store in a cool place. ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/19 "2012-12-04T12:37:54Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > I’ve only had store-bought, but they are yummy. One day I’ll make one from scratch. > > **OtisCampbell** , that song is left over from when Christmas was primarily a holiday for drunken hoodlums, who went from house to house demanding booze and food on threat of vandalism. Kind of like Trick or Treat for grownups. It was called “wassailing”. > > No, [really](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassailing). OK, that explains a lot! Certainly the kind of behavior not consistant with celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour! Sorry for the delayed response and mild highjack OP. I had to round up and dispatch a bunch of wasaillers from my house. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564/20 "2012-12-04T13:59:16Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > For any traditional english recipe, I find [Delia Smith](http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-christmas-pudding.html) is your friend. > > It looks like it takes several days! I’ve chickened out and already bought my Heston from Waitrose pud. Got one in a dark corner of the basement now, waiting for Xmas eve. Based mostly on this recepie. Took some hunting to find suet around here. You wouldn’t think beef fat would be hard to find. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-make-christmas-pudding-okay-how/642564.md?page=2)