Full question
I've just made the Ultimate Christmas Pudding for the first time (making the 2 pint and 1 pint sizes) and realised that there's a different steam time for the smaller sized pudding basins. I have already steamed for 5 hours when it should have been 3. Should I further steam on Christmas Day for just 1 hour or keep to the 3 hours?
Our answer
Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is a recipe for either a single 1.7 litre/3 pint pudding or a 1.2 litre/2 pint plus a 600ml/1 pint pudding. The larger pudding is usually steamed initially for 5 hours and the smaller ones for 3 hours. Fortunately steaming is a very gentle method of cooking and if the smaller puddings have been steamed for 5 hours then it is unlikely that they will have come to too much harm.
The second steaming is mostly to reheat the puddings and if you have already steamed the puddings for 5 hours then you can cut the second steaming time a little. However we would suggest giving them 1 1/2 to 2 hours of steaming to make sure that they are hot all the way through. You can insert a metal skewer into the centre of the pudding and then very carefully test the tip to see if it is hot. If you have a probe thermometer to check with then we would aim for a temperature of above 76c/168F. Traditionally Christmas puddings are made on Stir-Up Sunday and this year it is on Sunday 26th November 2017.
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