Series: Christmas Specialties

In our continuing series on special Christmas treats in Europe, we this time travel to London for traditional Christmas pudding. Careful preparation is required for the dough, and some planning is required as most Christmas puddings take about two days to make. Our reporter Mathias Stamm goes to the Grand Hotel Langham for a lesson on how it’s done.Christmas Pudding from Britain The recipe yields one large or several small puddings and serves 12. Ingredients:4 eggs200 g raisins200 g currants100 g prunes120 g breadcrumbs1/2 cooking apple1 firm eating apple60 g almonds, ground or finely chopped60 g candied cherries65 g brown sugar35 g white sugar1 large orange1 organic lemon1 large carrrot100 g flour1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg(optional additions: powdered cloves, powdered ginger, and/or pimiento) 1 teaspoon salt100 ml brandy or rum100 g butter1 shot stout, such as Guinnessextra brandy or rum to flambébutter, confectioner‘s sugar, vanilla essence and brandy for the brandy-vanilla sauce. Preparation:Allow two days for preparation. On the first day, you will mix all the ingredients into a batter. The pudding will be baked on the second day. Day 1 Chop prunes, candied cherries, apples and carrots, squeeze the orange into the bowl and grate the lemon peel. Put the firm and dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Add eggs, brandy and stout, and let stand overnight. Day 2 Grease molds well and pour batter in. Cover with backing paper to keep water out, then place the molds in a bain-marie. The smaller molds will take six hours, the large one eight.Serve pudding either warm or cool. Many Britons make their pudding weeks or even months before Christmas, because the longer it steeps, the more flavor it will have. After pudding has cooled, you can cover it with fresh baking paper and store in a cool dry place for up to one year. Before eating, you can warm it in a bain-marie. Before slicing, the pudding can be flambéed using a high-proof bra...

Channel: Deutsche Welle Video Length: 4m 54s Date Found: Thu, Dec 16 2010 11:01 PM Category: Lifestyles Date Produced: View Count: 0