Help needed re Chrsitmas Puds!

Yes!!!

Do people really make their own Christmas Puds?

I mean real people, not supermarkets.

Yes. My bit of cloth does protect the basin.

And the long slow cooking. I think the long slow cooking is more necessary than the maturing, which you can can get by without.

The advantage of the saucer apart from protecting the bottom of your pudding bowl by lofting it off the bottom of the pan, is that you should be able to hear it rattling slightly and if it gets very loud - your pan is in danger of boiling dry. Do keep it topped up and if the lid doesn't fit perfectly use a double sheet of tinfoil.

It is the long slow maturing, not the long slow cooking that does it.

They are still bubbling away - Aka, your recipe sounds good and a lot less effort. I did wonder if I could microwave them - most of the bought ones are microwavable. These are a Delia recipe (from an ancient book!) guess I could look on her website and see if she has updated the cooking instructions but its nearly half way through the cooking time now so a bit late really :-)

Some things cannot be rushed.

No! You need looooong, slooooow boiling to develop the flavours! Ten hours is good.

I cook mine in my microwave. Takes between 5 - 8 minutes depending on the size of the pudding.

Which reminds me I'd better go and find that recipe book as every year it's a panic 'which book is it in?'

Me too Mishap I've got a lovely recipe where you bung simply mix all the raw ingredients together on the day and microwave for a few minutes. Typical comments are 'I don't usually like Christmas pudding, but this is good'.

I always microwave mine!

Thanks Jinglebellrocks - I think I'll go and take the saucers out!

They will only burn if the water boils dry. Even then it won't matter if you rescue them soon enough.

Folded cloth! Not "food"

I put a piece of foods cotton cloth under mine, just to protect the saucepan really. Think I did the saucer thing once. No idea why.