Full question
My Ultimate Christmas Pudding recipe was a disaster - obviously totally my fault, but I can’t work out what I did wrong. I followed the recipe carefully but the result was a solid lump of pudding that clearly hadn’t cooked properly. I did it for the time specified and topped up the water as directed. I have made other Christmas puddings in the past that I’ve steamed in a ceramic bowl that have been successful. I suspect it might have been the plastic steaming bowl which is quite old? I’m going to try again next year and am not giving up but will purchase a new plastic bowl. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Our answer
Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is made in a plastic pudding basin with a clip-on lid. The basin is then wrapped in foil before being steamed for the allotted time.
If the basin was old then it is most likely that the lid did not quite seal tightly and steam would have gone into the basin. This will make the pudding quite soggy and dense (it may feel like it is undercooked but it won't be). Even if the bowl is wrapped in foil, this is only really to stop the lid popping off and some steam could still get in. If you are in any doubt about how snugly the lid fits then you can always wrap the plastic basin in the same way that you would wrap a ceramic bowl for steaming (and see the pressure cooker directions in the Additional Information box for instructions on wrapping). After steaming, remove the wrapping and snap the lid onto the plastic basin for storage. If you are reheating the pudding in a microwave then you can just loosen the lid. If you are steaming the pudding to reheat it then you may want to wrap the pudding again before steaming.
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