![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageWhat follows is a list of equipment needed to make a Christmas pudding. I have not included such items as large mixing bowls, which should be obvious. Anyone coming to my Pudding Party needs to ensure they have access to at least one, preferably two, of each of these items. (One pudding recipe makes two small-to-middling puddings. We're making at least three recipes.)
1) a pudding mold. This is a glass, ceramic, or metal dish which can withstand being boiled for several hours. I use Pyrex bowls, or a metal bundt pan. Something with an interesting pattern on it makes for a nice-looking pudding. My grandmother had four or five different pudding molds of different sizes, which now belong to my aunt. Eventually, at least one of them will be mine.
2) an old white pillowcase or sheet, out of which you cut a pudding cloth. This is a shape about double the size of the open end of your pudding mold. It must be possible to cover the mold, leaving some cloth around the rim, and then pin the corners of the cloth to make a handle for the pudding. These can be reused every year. You need one pudding cloth for every pudding you are making, obviously.
3) wax paper or parchment paper. More on that later.
4) A diaper pin, kilt pin, or other large fastener, with which to fasten the corners of the pudding cloth together.
5) a large soup pot, big enough to put your pudding mold in and still have room around the outside to add more water without touching the pudding.
6) a trivet which will withstand a long submersion, fit into your soup pot, and support the weight of your pudding. This will allow water to circulate underneath the pudding during steaming. I use an iron one, which is beginning to rust. Several hours in boiling water will do that to iron trivets. My aunt uses one that looks like a very small cooling rack for cookies. It's very light, and getting a bit warped from heavy puddings, but it's still quite serviceable. If you're really stuck, a saucer turned upside down will work for a small pudding; a big one won't cook all the way through that way.
7) an electric kettle to boil more water to add to the steaming pudding partway through. (If you're planning to stay for the steaming at my house, be advised that I only have four burners. Therefore I cannot possibly steam everyone's puddings. My aunt and I have discovered through experimentation that puddings do not need to be steamed instantly after being mixed. Our feeling is that they should last six to eight hours before needing, absolutely, to be cooked. Therefore the person coming from the farthest distance may steam her puddings at my house to extend the visit. The rest of you will be kicked out to steam your puddings in your own kitchens.)
8) String, for tying down paper and pudding cloth.
Recipe to follow. Pictures will be forthcoming on the sixth, specifically for tying down the pudding and pinning up the pudding cloth. Everything else you can figure out on your own.
1) a pudding mold. This is a glass, ceramic, or metal dish which can withstand being boiled for several hours. I use Pyrex bowls, or a metal bundt pan. Something with an interesting pattern on it makes for a nice-looking pudding. My grandmother had four or five different pudding molds of different sizes, which now belong to my aunt. Eventually, at least one of them will be mine.
2) an old white pillowcase or sheet, out of which you cut a pudding cloth. This is a shape about double the size of the open end of your pudding mold. It must be possible to cover the mold, leaving some cloth around the rim, and then pin the corners of the cloth to make a handle for the pudding. These can be reused every year. You need one pudding cloth for every pudding you are making, obviously.
3) wax paper or parchment paper. More on that later.
4) A diaper pin, kilt pin, or other large fastener, with which to fasten the corners of the pudding cloth together.
5) a large soup pot, big enough to put your pudding mold in and still have room around the outside to add more water without touching the pudding.
6) a trivet which will withstand a long submersion, fit into your soup pot, and support the weight of your pudding. This will allow water to circulate underneath the pudding during steaming. I use an iron one, which is beginning to rust. Several hours in boiling water will do that to iron trivets. My aunt uses one that looks like a very small cooling rack for cookies. It's very light, and getting a bit warped from heavy puddings, but it's still quite serviceable. If you're really stuck, a saucer turned upside down will work for a small pudding; a big one won't cook all the way through that way.
7) an electric kettle to boil more water to add to the steaming pudding partway through. (If you're planning to stay for the steaming at my house, be advised that I only have four burners. Therefore I cannot possibly steam everyone's puddings. My aunt and I have discovered through experimentation that puddings do not need to be steamed instantly after being mixed. Our feeling is that they should last six to eight hours before needing, absolutely, to be cooked. Therefore the person coming from the farthest distance may steam her puddings at my house to extend the visit. The rest of you will be kicked out to steam your puddings in your own kitchens.)
8) String, for tying down paper and pudding cloth.
Recipe to follow. Pictures will be forthcoming on the sixth, specifically for tying down the pudding and pinning up the pudding cloth. Everything else you can figure out on your own.