Christmas Pudding Basin

Our answer

Nigella tends to use plastic pudding basins for her Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from Christmas and on the Nigella website) as they come with snap-on lids and this saves a lot of the fiddly wrapping that you need to do with other basins for steamed puddings.

Traditionally an earthenware basin was used for the pudding and pyrex pudding basins are also popular. Metal is usually avoided as the metal can react with the dried fruits in the pudding, giving them an odd taste. If the basin is enamelled then this should provide a barrier between the fruit and the metal However, if there are any scratches or chips than this effect can be diminished so on balance we would prefer not to use an enamelled basin. You could line the base of the enamelled basin with some baking parchment (parchment paper) and once the pudding has had its first steaming and has cooled fully remove the pudding, peel away the parchment, tightly wrap it in a double layer of clingfilm and a layer of foil and then keep it in a cool, dark place or even freeze it. On Christmas eve unwrap the pudding and put it back in the basin then wrap the basin ready for steaming on Christmas day.