2008 Comment

Whilst I've only managed a handful of Christmas pudding reviews since I started the blog I have eaten many different puddings over the last few years in particular. At one stage I think we moved house with around two dozen puddings, much to the amusement of the removal men. If you're looking for a decent pudding this Christmas then hopefully the following comment will help.

Top Puddings

For a number of years I would always buy the most expensive Marks and Spencer pud for Christmas Day. In my mind this has always reliably been a very tasty pudding and well worthy of being eaten over the Christmas period. At the same time I have generally bought a few of the slightly cheaper puddings too and they have also been tasty, but their top pud was normally the one I picked to eat on the 25th. At the end of September this year I had an organic one from there that I bought in 2006 and this was also very good.

One of the nicest puds I can remember eating was a gift from HRH Prince Charles. No, really. So, as you might expect, it was a Duchy Originals pudding. It was a 454g pudding that was steamed as the friends who served it to us did not (and probably still don't) own a microwave. I still think that steaming a pudding gives the best results and will be doing so on Christmas Day this year. Recently I ate a small, 100g Duchy Originals pud and this was not so good. It suffered the same fate of a lot of the 100g puds I have eaten and that is the alcohol content is overpowering. This is worth noting if you are the only one eating Christmas pudding - it may be worth buying a slightly larger one. You can always save the leftovers for boxing day and fry up slices with some butter, so I'm told. You won't see any leftovers in my home.

More recently I have had a Carved Angel (http://www.thecarvedangel.com/) Traditional Christmas Pudding. I have one on my shelf at the moment and it's a contender for being eaten on Christmas Day again. It will depend on my mood I suspect and whether I want to try something new. You can order them from their web site or often find them in Waitrose. They do have something about them that tastes a touch different, which I quite like. Not sure what it is, partly because I haven't had one for at least 12 months!

A more recent discovery is the LEWIS & COOPER hand made puds. I was given one as a gift and it performed well. However, I can't recommend microwaving it, as I did. I suspect steaming one would give better results and I must try and get another one to try this with.

One year the CCCPC tried one of every type of Harrod's Christmas Pudding. We expected great things. How disappointed we were! None of them were great, and indeed the more money you spent the worse they got. So, if you must buy from Harrod's then buy the cheapest. I'd hope they might have improved their puddings by now - although I'm not in a position to get there to buy some at the moment to find out.

Regular supermarket puddings are normally pretty reliable - particularly if you go for the "standard" puddings. They will be pretty fruity and tasty. It has been my experience that more expensive ones are a bit hit and miss. Sometimes you can get a good one, but often you do not. One of particular note was from ASDA. We tried their most expensive pudding that year, in gold wrapping, and we loved it. It was probably something like "ASDA Luxury Christmas Pudding". My recent Sainsbury's tasting showed their SO Organic pud to be very tasty. I admit to not having tried anything from Tesco. I had a couple of Morrison's puds a couple of years back and they were nice enough. I also had some good ones from Budgens which I picked up after Christmas half price (this is fairly common for me - bargain pud shopping post Christmas!).

Overall though my top recommendation is probably a Carved Angel Traditional Pudding. I think second, as it's a recently bought pudding, goes to the Sainsbury's SO Organic Pudding that I had earlier in the week. LEWIS & COOPER also worth a look in if you know where to get them and make sure you steam it!

Other Stuff

I would always recommend steaming your pudding on Christmas Day if you can. I think this gives the best results over destroying it in the microwave. It's a much gentler process that warms it through nicely over a couple of hours or so, depending upon the size. Depending on how the pudding is packaged it may also keep it really nice and moist.

I'm not a massive fan of brandy butter or brandy cream. I normally stick to regular cream or custard. One year, however, on the box of our Champagne Marks and Spencer pudding was a recipe for some white chocolate sauce. We made it and it really did work well with the Christmas pudding. I'm gutted to have lost the recipe, but it might be worth doing a quick Google for one and trying it out.

Most of the year I don't bother lighting up my Christmas puds. On Christmas Day however it always something nice to do. Some people say it can ruin it, but I think the key is not to use too much brandy when doing so. The best way to do this, in my experience, is to put some brandy in a (metal) ladel and heat this over your gas hob for a short while. If you don't have a gas hob you'll have to think of some other way! Then, carefully, really carefully, take this to the table and light it before you pour it over the pudding. Sometimes, if you're a bit careless with your gas hob, you might light the brandy before while you are still heating it.

Updated (post Christmas)

I had a Carved Angel Pudding on Christmas Day and did not enjoy it as much as I have previously, so perhaps things have changed. It was still a good pudding, but not as nice as I was expecting. Perhaps next year's recommendations will be different... watch this space.