Christmas Food - 2019 edition

nabby

Yep, I'm starting this one early

Just finished making and steaming the Christmas pudding for this year and have now fed it more Pedro Ximenez sherry and wrapped it up to store in a cool and dry place.  I'll feed it again in 6 months, then another top up pre-Christmas.  I'm aiming to not make it too boozy as I find that makes it sickly to eat.

It's a 1.4l pudding basin, in case you're wondering about scale/size.

                                                                       

IronGiant

That's keen...  Nice one

nabby

Well last year was the first time I'd made a Christmas pudding and I did it 10 days before Christmas so having heard that it was better to make them early and let them mature, I figured I'd make it now and it's one less thing to have to think of nearer the time.

I've got to make two more for family (they'll be smaller ones) so I'll be doing that tomorrow (if I survive the FA Cup game tonight against West Ham).

mjn

Super keen.

mjn

I bet ya someone in Britain already has the sprouts on the boil as well.

damianmcr

You got a recipe?

IronGiant

1kg sprouts, 1 litre water, pinch of salt, simmer gently for 323 days, top up with leftover dishwater as required.

nabby

I used this one and adapted it slightly:

How to cook the perfect Christmas pudding

My variations are in the type of fruit and nuts.  The quantities I've kept the same.  

In terms of the stout I used, I tried it with regular Guinness, and the latest one is with Guinness Original export (7.5% abv).  The one I'm about to make will be with Fuller's Black Cab Stout.

I used 30 YO Pedro Ximenez sherry, which is not cheap but tastes amazing and has such a deep flavour profile, I'll only need to feed a little more to the pudding in about 6 or 7 months time.