This classic Christmas pudding has a lighter flavor and texture than some, but can still feed a large group, so make it for a crowd. Ask a butcher for beef suet or pork leaf lard, or just use frozen Crisco—especially if there are any vegetarians.
Traditional Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 pound mixed dried fruit, such as figs, prunes, currants, raisins and apricots
- ¾ cup Pedro Ximénez Sherry
- 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 6 ounces suet, pork leaf lard, or vegetable shortening, frozen and grated
- 3 eggs, beaten
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 medium apple, peeled and grated
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- Unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing bowl
- ½ cup liquor (vodka, rum, brandy or Bourbon)
Ingredients
Chop fruit until pieces are all roughly the size of a raisin. Place in a bowl with the Sherry, stir well, cover and let sit at room temperature overnight, or for a few days in the fridge.
When ready to steam the pudding, first ensure that you have a covered stockpot with a metal steaming rack or other insert that will fit a 1 1/2-quart pudding basin or other heatproof bowl. Holding the bowl against the rack, add enough water to come halfway up the bowl. Remove bowl and bring water to a boil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the breadcrumbs, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and ginger. Add grated suet (or other fat) and rub with your fingers until it’s a uniformly crumbly texture.
Add eggs, lemon zest, orange zest, almonds and molasses to the bowl with the chopped fruit and mix well. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Cut a round of parchment paper a little larger than the top of the bowl. Generously butter the bowl and one side of the parchment. Add pudding batter to the bowl, level the top, put parchment on top, buttered side down (pressing it gently against the batter), then wrap tightly with two layers of aluminum foil with at least a couple inches of overhang all around. Cover the foil-wrapped bowl with a pot lid or something heavy that will hold the foil in place so no liquid can enter the bowl. (Alternatively, you can tie the foil in place crosswise with string.)
Carefully place bowl in the pot, cover, then reduce heat to low and steam for about five hours, adding boiling water if the water gets too low. If you have an instant-read meat thermometer, put it to use here to pull the pudding when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. (It’s hard to overcook a Christmas pudding, but they can start to get dry and bitter above 190°F.) Start checking the temperature after 3 hours of steaming and just re-cover with another layer of foil to cover the thermometer hole.
When pudding is cooked, carefully remove from the pot and cool on a rack. It can keep in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 10 days, and much longer if you brush the surface weekly with a tablespoon of rum, brandy or Bourbon.
On the day of serving, rewrap and steam—or heat in a 325° oven—for an hour or until hot throughout. To serve, run a knife around the inside of the bowl to loosen, and invert onto a serving platter. For the proper flourish it deserves, heat the 1/2 cup liquor in a small skillet, light with a match (or tip toward a gas flame), and pour the flaming liquor over the pudding at the table. Serves 8 to 12.
Wine Pairing
Buy extra—and extra-special—Pedro Ximénez Sherry, so there’s plenty left to serve with the pudding (plan on 4 servings per 375 ml bottle). PX Sherries are among the sweetest and densest of all wines—important given the sticky richness of the pudding, but with age they’re balanced with notes of coffee, licorice, burnt caramel and spiced fruit compote. Those last notes mirror flavors in the pudding, but since the wine’s sweeter, it makes the dessert seem brighter and more complex than if you eat it on its own.
WE Recommend: Alvear NV Solera 1927 Pedro Ximénez (Montilla-Moriles)
If you don’t want to use all the good stuff for cooking, use a less expensive Sherry for the pudding, or replace half of it with brandy or rum. But if you’re able, buy one from a longstanding solera system, like this remarkably complex (and well-priced) bottle, which includes liquid almost a century old.
This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!
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Published: October 29, 2024