Suet puddings?

[Tobus]

I spent most of yesterday in the kitchen.

I made the Nigella Lawson Christmas pudding posted earlier (thanks for posting that, Usonian!). I can't wait to see how it turned out! It sucks that I have to wait until Christmas - and risk disappointment on the big day - to taste it, although I rather tend to think it's going to be spectacular. I had to make a few substitutions since I didn't want to make the 60-mile round trip drive to a decent grocery store for specialty ingredients. So rather than using currants, sultanas, and prunes, I instead used craisins, golden raisins, and figs (the latter being cut up into small pieces). The craisins (dried cranberries for those of you not familiar with the term) bled a lot of red colour into the batter from the soaking in sherry, which will make it interesting and festive. I couldn't find Pedro Ximenez sherry, and she wasn't very descriptive in her recipe as to what type of sherry it is, so I used Taylor golden sherry.

This was my first time using real suet as opposed to shortening. I had bought some chunks of it from the butcher, and kept it frozen. I tried grating it by hand, which didn't work at all. So I put the blocks in my handy-dandy "salad shooter" (which is very useful for grating cheese), and it worked quite well, although it was a bit messy. It tended to want to gum up the grating holes, but I made it work. And I went ahead and hand-grated cinnamon sticks instead of using cinnamon powder, which makes quite a difference.

For steaming it, I placed a small wire rack in the bottom of a large pot, then put my batter into a 1.5-liter Pyrex bowl. I greased and wrapped aluminum foil tightly over the top and placed a metal lid over that for protection, then covered it all with the large lid over the pot. Steamed it for the whole 5 hours as instructed, keeping the water level about 1/2-way up the side of the bowl. The pudding expanded a bit inside, filling up the void space perfectly so that it was touching the aluminum foil but not straining it. After it cooled, I wiped the white mineral deposits off the outside of the bowl so I could see through the glass, and the pudding looks wonderful inside. Nice and moist with just the right size voids in it. I'm not even going to unwrap the foil from the top until after the 2nd steaming on Christmas Day. Since this is Texas and we don't have holly growing here, I'll garnish it with agarita, which grows abundantly on my land.

I made the Black Bun while the pudding was steaming. Again, I had to make substitutions. Rather than raisins and currants, I used raisins and golden raisins. So maybe I'll call this version a "Black-and-Tan Bun". And once again, I had to use a lot more liquid than the recipe called for. I kept splashing brandy and milk in there until it was the proper moisture consistency. I had forgotten how heavy and dense this thing is; it feels like a large brick!

[Dixiecat]

Just want to contribute my experience with puddings, Figgy Duff. Newfoundland is a curious mix of cultures. Even though I grew up with British grandparents and a Newfoundlander mother, their customs weren't all that different or should I say strange, from everyone else (does fried baloney count?), it wasn't until I lived in St. John's that I experienced very interesting traditions. Figgy Duff was one of these.

http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2007/12/figgy-duff.html

[usonian]

I couldn't find Pedro Ximenez sherry, and she wasn't very descriptive in her recipe as to what type of sherry it is

I found this article and guide while reading up on "P.X." sherry:

http://www.oregonlive.com/mix/index....e_made_of.html

Basically, it's a dessert sherry. To my pleasant surprise I managed to find a bottle of Hartley & Gibson's last night; I'd looked at a couple of other places and all they had was cheap dry cooking sherry. (At one place the guy behind the counter didn't even know what sherry was!)

It had been a while since I had sherry of any sort, but I always liked Harvey's Bristol Cream and was expecting something more or less like that... but man, I am blown away. This stuff is over the top - in a good way! Definitely something to be enjoyed after dinner... it's so rich and sweet that it could stand as a dessert itself, but I can also see it poured over vanilla ice cream as recommended on the label, or paired with a cheesecake or other delicately flavored dessert. Huge, fruity flavor with elements of toffee, vanilla, and spice... a lot of complexity that I can imagine really adding a lot to the end result. I've got the fruit soaking in it now, I'll probably assemble it tomorrow morning and steam it throughout the day (a perk of working at home.)

[Tobus]

Cool, thanks for the info. Yes indeed, it sounds like it would add a lot to the recipe, which is why she prefers that particular one. I'll have to shop around and see if I can find it for next time.

[Angstrom]

I'm pleased to report that this year's Christmas pudding(s) and the Black Bun came out well and got good reviews from the folks around the table. Flaming the pudding is good fun.

[usonian]

Mine was a resounding success, and I think perhaps the start of a new annual tradition!

[Tobus]

I had the same resounding success with my pudding! I served it to four English friends, one of whom doesn't even like Christmas puddings. They all raved about it and said it was perfect. To quote one of them, it would be at home on any table in England, and no one would be the wiser that it was made by a bloody American. This will indeed be a new tradition, using that Nigella Lawson recipe. I am very pleased with it!