For Lee

[velvetpage]

Dawn was asking about this on her post, and I thought I'd link to it for anyone else who's interested.

What to do with an English Christmas Pudding, from my memories of Puddingfest:

http://velvetpage.livejournal.com/49114.html

http://velvetpage.livejournal.com/37796.html

http://velvetpage.livejournal.com/38012.html

Basically: tie it down with a piece of old pillowcase as described above, and pin the ends of the pillowcase over the pudding mold to form a cloth handle. (This only works if it's in a ceramic, glass, or metal "pudding mold," aka a bowl. If it's not, rummage amongst your kitchen ware until you find something that fits it fairly snugly; a Pyrex bowl will work.) Put an iron or ceramic trivet in a pot with a few inches of boiling water in it, and lower the pudding in. Put the lid on the pot. Steam the pudding for an hour or two if you're just heating it up. Top up the water whenever it gets low, so that there's a constant amount of steam in the pot, but don't let water touch the pudding itself - it will discolour it. Use water that's already boiling to top it up. Take it out of the boiling water by inserting a long handle of some sort into the handle of cloth that you made. Turn the pudding out onto a cooling rack to dry off a bit. Serve warm, with a white sauce, or a rum sauce if you prefer.