I just love Christmas Pudding! I'll have with custard, I'll have it with cream, I'll have it with vanilla ice cream, and I'll even eat it just on its own. I can't imagine Christmas without it to be honest with you.
I love it too. Only ever eat home made. Anything with dried fruits and spices is delicious and the epitome of Christmas season. I observe Stir Up Sunday every year too. And however full I am, there is always room for a second helping of pudding!
I’m Canadian and have had Christmas pudding all my life. Not all Canadians hate it. There are grated carrots and potatoes in my recipe as well as spices and dried fruits.
Alanna, I had two helpings of Christmas Pud yesterday and it was bloody gorgeous! I can never understand how Canadians and US people don't like it. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
@@AdventuresAndNaps Two slices yesterday, and one today...Made the pudding myself four months ago and basted it regularly with Drambuie. Steamed it for serving in a slow cooker for four hours. Sprig of holly on the top, brandy poured over it, then set on fire....hic! PS I use vegetable suet these days as my son loves Xmas pudding but is a vegetarian.....
I've had 3 medium Xmas puds so far this year, only 1 on Xmas day. I also stocked up with half price Xmas puds in boxing day reductions. Some of them will be good until my birthday in April 😁
@@AdventuresAndNaps , " if you have to add something to the basic then the basic is not very good " , so does that apply to the full English breakfast , curries , steak egg and chips , anything Italian , any sausages etc etc etc etc , basically 90% of all foods ??????
Canadian here, my Mom makes Christmas pudding, I love it but...I've been eating it every Christmas since I was a kid 50 some odd years ago. It's a recipe passed down several generations from England, where my ancestors came from 😊
Part of the explanation for the UKs high use of dried fruit from the medieval period recipes is the fact that dried fruit was a way of storing ‘sweet’ ingredients before refrigeration was available. Much of the ‘old’ world used dried fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants, plums [prunes], figs and dates). They are easy to store and ship to and around Europe alongside spices. Sugar was not a thing in medieval era so sweetness came from either fruits or honey. Dried fruit and spices weren’t cheap and so the idea of saving them for the Christmas festivities became the norm, so people could enjoy a “rich” treat as part of their celebration. Conversely, most American “sweets” where developed post the production of refined sugar. This meant that American pallets developed an obsession with dishes that are easy to eat and little more than high sugar content cakes, cookies and puddings with very limited flavours. Old world recipes are often challenging to American pallets because they frequently use ingredients that might be defined as “course” compared to the “refined” (but empty) ingredients used in American recipes.
One of the main reasons why North Americans don't like christmas pudding is not because of the fruit cake idea but also the strong taste of brandy or in some cases port as well. We always get this sort of reply from US service people around my area in the East of England Best way for me is after Christmas day the left over Christmas pudding gets fried in a frying pan with just butter and when hot served with brandy butter or double cream
@@jonathanpatrick8506 have you tried having the fried pudding with a fried breakfast? Christmas pudding isn’t massively different to the Scottish “clootie (cloth) dumpling” which is eaten with a fried breakfast.
It's not a dessert made of fruits. It's a steamed pudding made of dried fruits, suet, flour, nuts, mixed peel, breadcrumbs and eggs, and a good amount of brandy or rum. Served with brandy butter and/or brandy custard and/or brandy cream. When served, one can pour brandy or rum over it, and set fire to it.
Rule Number 1 - Never ever microwave a Christmas pudding, even if it says on the pack that you can; it has to be steamed for a couple of hours to get the full and proper effect. Rule Number 2 - To be eaten in small amounts, accompanied by either double cream, custard or (preferably) brandy butter or brandy sauce.
no 3 - it has to be fresh, some just are not right by time they've spent any time on xmas shelves, commercial ones also contain too much of the wrong fat to preserve them & definitely rule 2
It's terrible bc it has dried fruit and nothing can salvage that, even if it didn't have dried fruit it's still by far inferior to other desserts (and I am a native Brit)
The covering it in warm brandy and setting light to it is part of the ritual...and it makes it taste better (not sure it would improve the flavour enough for you though 😜)
I usually enjoy your videos, BUT … I’ve never seen anybody make such fuss over a simple dish. Many English deserts have dried fruits as a base, Christmas cakes and puddings, Eccles cakes , Dundee cake etc. I’m biased, I was brought up on them,and having reached 70 without coming to any harm, I love them!
Oh Alana ur face when u had that Christmas pudding just cracked me up ur hilarious. I absolutely love Christmas pudding and Christmas cake and custard or brandy sauce.💖
How can one NOT like currants, raisins and sultanas? They're sweet and natural and just generally wonderful. Custard? Custard? Brandy butter and double cream is what one should have with Christmas pudding. I love your videos and now I have to feel sorry for you that you're missing out on some of the best tastes in the world 😄 Look after yourself and have a brilliant new year.
Christmas pudding is awesome, my wife has been making ours since Christmas 1980, although since moving to the USA in 1995 we have had to go without the suet. Setting fire to it is the best. We also have double cream, brandy butter and rum butter to have with it.
My father served in the army in WW1. While in the trenches, the company cook managed to produce a Christmas pudding, much to the delight of the men.The cook was complimented by the captain , who asked where he managed to find the cloth it was cooked in The cook took off his tunic and proudly showed that one sleeve of his shirt, which he had been wearing for a week, was missing.
Happy Boxing Day, Alanna. Christmas Pudding is traditionally prepared soaked in Brandy and set alight. Then pour on rich gravy and serve with Chips and Curry Sauce. At least, that is how my Mother used to make it when we were kids. The daft bint.
I've never heard of anyone having Christmas Pudding with gravy, chips and curry sauce, and never seen it offered like that on a restaurant menu either. Is that a common way of eating it where you are (if so, where is that?), or is it just your own personal (or your mother's) preference?
@@primalengland Yes! That's what I thought too, I thought maybe he was winding Alanna up, but then I saw the daft bint comment about his mother doing that at the end and thought maybe it was real, so I got curious and decided to ask.
Alanna - maybe start off with mince pies - get used to sweet spiced dried fruits in suet, then graduate to Christmas cake and pudding... I've loved all since childhood - but there's no other item the rest of the year that's really similar. Hope the spring goes well for you
Hi Alanna, Brit born, Canadian raised, (in the Kawarthas ;) ) there are three things that make Christmas for this 76 year old, Dark Christmas cake, Mince pies/tarts and Christmas plum pudding. Merry Christmas dear and happiest of New Years, Peace, Love, and all Best Wishes.
I love it. I'm from Devon so serve it with clotted cream. Never tried it with custard. On boxing day fry slices of leftovers in butter and reflame with brandy. Oh delicious. Still each to their own. Happy New Year!
Canadian here... I love plum pudding. My mother used to make it, using my English grandmother's recipe. She would steam the pudding while we were eating Christmas dinner, flame it tableside and serve it with my father's hard sauce. Absolutely delicious!
Canadian born and raised. Not true that Canadians hate Christmas pudding! My late mum always made the best Christmas pudding (complete with rum sauce which was served flaming), always a treat and very much missed. It's all in how it's made and served and like many traditions, needs to be consistent and passed through the generations. Christmas pudding may not be everyone's favourite, but perhaps an acquired taste like liquorice all sorts or Marmite! 🤣
Hi Alana! watching you tasting the pudding of the GODS! cracked me up. I can eat Christmas Pudding all the time, cold, hot and doused in alcohol, also nice with a brandy cream in the style of Baileys or just brandy butter. oh and rich fruit cake (cannot abide sponges like Victoria sponge). Happy New Year to you and yours best wishes Mike.
As children we always stirred the Christmas Pudding and my parents always put a silver sixpence in the mix, though nor religious reason was ever mentioned. And my mother always kept a little of the mix as a starter for next year's pudding - and no we never got sick!🙂
Australian here, it will be 34*c, we eat our Christmas lunch of Roast Turkey, lamb and Chicken with all the roast vegetables. We will also have huge tiger prawns and salads... then...... we will have Christmas pudding, MUST be home made and hung for at least a month but we do cater for preferences of clotted cream or custard..... there is NO WAY we couldn't have our pud !
We very rarely ate Christmas pudding when I was a child because we were usually too full but one year we insisted and my poor dad was given the job of setting fire to it and it went up so violently that it melted the front of his polyester sweater 🔥
I am English and love Christmas pudding. Post Christmas I trawl the shops for reduced price puddings, 'cos they last for months. Next, Alanna will give us her analysis of Christmas crackers, wahay! Best Wishes Alanna, thanks for the entertainment.
Because Christmas pudding is very rich, a little sugar sprinkled on top works very well. Also, my family and I never "drench" it in custard; we put the same amount you would with any pudding. A lot of Brits don't eat it anymore because it is very filling, and after the biggest meal of the year, it's not what everybody craves straight afterwards, but on Boxing Day, a little Christmas pud fried in butter with a glass of sherry for brunch is one of the best treats you'll ever enjoy!
Personally I love Christmas pudding with loads of double cream. It's rich, fruity, slightly spiced but..... Heavy. My mom was very annoyed this year because I refused to serve a dried up, sunken mess from the microwave, I instead elected to steam it for 2 hours. I kept my mother waiting for pudding for 2 hours. Did she think it was worth the wait for the once a year festive treat?.... No!. Did she slag me off to my siblings?... Yes. Am I sorry?... No!
It's just a matter of acclimatisation. You're doing very well Alanna. Imagine the pride you will feel when you can honestly say that you like Christmas pud. Keep it up chief, keep it up.
As a kid growing up in the 60's and 70's my mum made both Christmas Pudding (including the silver sixpence as it was pre-decimalisation) and Christmas Cake. Both were usually made well in advance of Christmas, especially the cake which she would make around 3-6 months before Christmas and regularly 'feed' with either brandy, whiskey, sherry or rum every week until you were ready to add marzipan and icing
Alanna , you don't know what is good for you !! By the way, the family all stir the pudding and make a wish. I am 81 years old and have done this for as long as I can remember. You can't have Christmas without a lovely BIG Christmas Pudding
I LOVE Christmas pudding! With cream or custard? Yum! It's served after the Christmas meal, by which time we've all had enough to drink that it makes sense to set it on fire and bring it into the darkened dining room. It's sort of a combination candle, sparkler and dessert. And yes, a sixpence (and sometimes other silver charms, too.)
Heat brandy in a large spoon until it caches fire then pour the brandy over the pudding and I have never heard of pouring custard over it a large spoonful of clotted cream will do nicely
I worked in a butcher's shop as a teenager. I saw sausages being made in a sausage making machine which was a meat mincer to which you attached an animal intestine into which you forced minced sausage meat. I wonder it any sausages are made from animal intestine these days? It is the origin of sausages.
I am a South African living in Australia, Christmas Pudding “fruit cake” can be found in both countries and I agree with you on its own I dislike it with a passion however to moisten the cake/pudding I always sprinkle liberally with brandy and let it soak in and then I have it with vanilla ice cream and vanilla custard and enjoy it very much. My mum who is 90 years old still makes her own recipe and will put a silver coin in it usually a 5c piece. A side note a microwave will dry it out it should be steamed so it holds moisture…. I change you to try it again 😅
Just got home started watching this and thought I've got christmas pudding left over. so stopped video to put some in the steamer. Merry Christmas to you and yours
I love Christmas pudding! Brandy butter or cream for me please. I remember when I was at school we had sixpences wrapped in tin foil hidden inside our Christmas puddings (yes, I'm that old!). Waiting to hear how your nephews reacted to the Christmas box you sent them, fruit cake and all! If fruit cakes are offensive to you, it's not surprising you don't like Christmas pudding Please, please please, if you ever try it again heat up the custard first! It should be served hot!
I love Cristmas pudding, along with another UK favourite which North Americans don't get - fruit cake! Christmas pudding's original "packaging" was similar to the Scottish haggis.
No need to apologize, Alanna, I'm British born and bred and I find the stuff utterly revolting (I have similar feelings about Christmas Cake as well). Working my way through a couple of Chocolate Fudge Yule Logs over the Christmas period... now THAT'S a festive treat! Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
For many years growing up in Toronto, there were similar small loaf shaped, rather than dome shaped, British style fruit cakes available at grocery stores leading up to Christmas. They would be labelled as fruit cakes rather than as Christmas pudding. A fairly large portion of the local population then had British heritage. Today, that style of fruit cake is less commonly seen at grocery stores (but I have seen them still) as the population has become more diverse since then. I think even back then, though, many people didn't like it. Skip to today, the local grocery stores now commonly display panettone rather than British style fruit cakes. I have even seen stollen and some German Christmas cookies at one nearby grocery store. I found the fruit cakes to be too rich for me and I prefer panettone as I like to have it with a coffee. But not everyone here likes panettone either.
Custard ? Oh my lord , at the Day Centre the old folk like custard but its a no . Cream, single,double, clotted or brandied please . The fact that Americans would find it offensive only makes me love it more
Thanks Alanna, it's obviously just a cultural cullenary taste difference. I believe most English people would eat Christmas pudding over say Pumpkin pie, any day of the week. Thanks for your content, here's wishing you a happy healthy and peaceful New Year 🤗😘🤗🥂
i grew up with my nanna inviting people round to stir in the pud. and we would put a silver sixpence as good luck. silver sixpence were widely used anywhere you wanted to wish good luck/fortune. in your christmas stocking or when you get married for example.
My mum used to make Christmas pudding every year, and it was delicious. I think whatever you grow up eating, you consider normal. I grew up eating black pudding, haggis, Christmas pudding, and mince pies. I'm sure Americans and Canadians eat things i would consider weird. ❤ from Lancashire
Merry Christmas Alanna. I love the taste of Christmas pudding. Interestingly my Canadian son-in-law also loves it - and Christmas cake too. He was delighted not offended we'd make extra Christmas cake especially as he's in town this year. So maybe not all North Americans hate it?
Alanna if you really want to try a Christmas pudding you'll love , you need to make your own , I can recommend the James Martin Christmas pudding recipe , mind you you'll need to reduce the quantities of each ingredient by around 80% ( except the Brandy , I normally increase that one ) as the amounts in James recipe is enough to make several puddings .
My stomach would probably not agree with this mixture, but whomever loves it, shall eat it. I hope TH-cam will present you (for your channel) with a better gift in the near future. You're a pleasant to watch and always genuine. Have a safe and sober New Year's. America here.🎄🎁🥂
Love it! 😜 Don’t always manage to eat it Christmas Day now, after a big dinner and my wife won’t eat it, but I buy a large one which will last a few months. Cut a piece, microwave for a minute or so, pour on double cream, gorgeous! 🤪
Alanna, I know that in the modern era that the microwave is a thing, but with Christmas pudding and other steamed desserts it should be steamed for a couple of hours ideally to heat it through and moisten it, setting it on fire burns off the alcohol within the pudding, be it Brandy, Whiskey, Rum, etc, leaving the flavour but not the alcohol per se, it can then be served with, a flavoured butter such as Brandy butter, or Custard, Cream, some even like Vanilla ice-cream for the contrast between the hot and the cold.
Christmas pudding 🍮 is great, particularly being lucky enough to get the silver sixpence baked inside. Stir up Sunday (making the pudding and Christmas cake) marks the start of the build up to Christmas in our house.
the issue is the microwave, they are crap done in the microwave, all the microwave does is heat it up and remove the moisture from the pudding, the one you had serves 2 to 3 people, the better ones are darker and moist and smell of brandy, the best way to to do it is make your own pudding the way its meant to be... It has its origins in medieval England, with early recipes making use of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spice, along with liquid such as milk or fortified wine. Later, recipes became more elaborate. In 1845, cookery writer Eliza Acton wrote the first recipe for a dish actually called "Christmas pudding". i steam the puddings i make, which keeps the moisture in the pudding. 'mary berry' makes a good christmas pudding.
When I arrived in the UK 24 years ago, I hated xmas pudding as well as minced pies. But they have both grown on me, it took me a few years, but now I am hunting for those mince pies from October and I would terribly miss the xmas pudding at the end of our xmas meal if we did not have one.
The best part of Christmas IS Christmas pudding, I love it!! My mother always used to make Christmas pudding in the days leading up to Christmas, but it would be for the following year! We usually had it served with brandy butter. I cannot understand why you wouldn't like it 😊
People get this all wrong... it's actually a sacrificial offering.. You douse it in as much brandy ( or other flammable liquid) and take it outside and apply a ma5ch (or blow torch) and stand well back...😆
A belated Merry Christmas Alanna. Yes I love it and even cold it's still delicious. I agree with the comment below. Never, ever, not no how, microwave a Christmas pudding it goes rubbery. Home made ones need to be made at least 3 months before and even if kept for 6 months will still be as good.
And at the risk of being controversial, the North American pallet is soooooo dumbed down with with sugar, fat and processing that they are not actually used to flavour!! And no! That is how you spell flavour!!
a small portion of hot xmas pudding with hot devonshire custard.. cant beat it! I think the strong fruit flavour can put people off, but a proper brandy pudding is supposed to be very rich, hence custard!!
I absolutely love the taste of this - not just a tradition! I think that brandy butter and cream is the best. I also love a good fruit cake and would choose it over most chocolate ones! I , however, have yet to enjoy a pumpkin pie. Had them as a kid and loathed it! But would’nt the world be a boring place if we all liked the same things? He he. Happy Christmas! 🎄
10:47 come on now, we drown our Christmas dinner in gravy and it makes it better, not because everything else is disgusting. Now, buy another one, steam that bad boy up and heat up the custard to a point where it burns your throat, then go again. The shamelessness of her blaming our love of pudding on nostalgia :D
I've had a Christmas pudding in a cupboard for ten years and decided to open it to see what it looked like, i ate it on Christmas day and it tasted delicious, i had bought it from Lidl's in Dec 2013 and forgot all about it, i'm glad i didn't just throw it in the bin.
The only Christmas “fruitcake” i ever loved was the one my mother (from NL Canada but who had English heritage) baked which actually had more cake in it and less candied fruit and nuts. Ironically when I taught Conversational English in South Korea back in the late 1970s I missed her fruitcake come Christmas time! I visited numerous high-end bakeries but was never able to find one who made any type of fruitcake..!! 😢
Sausages are made in animal intestines, that is the skin of the sausage. The new 5p coin is very similar in appearance to the old 6d coin. The tradition as far as I'm aware is to make the Christmas pudding on around Boxing Day for next Christmas. I searched on Walmart for "Christmas Pudding", the top two suggestions were "English Christmas Pudding", and "Christmas Pudding British". Prices are about $30 for something that you would pay about £3 here for.
Xmas pudding, heated in a bowl. Custard heated and poured over the top (or brandy cream for cold). If all your getting is raisin you need to find a better pudding, it should be a mix of flavours / textures.
I wait for a couple of hours after the Xmas dinner, then microwave wave(I don't care) rather than steam a couple of individual ones, which take forever! I like the posh boozy variety, with double cream. 30 minutes later, I,m asleep. Merry Christmas. ⛄
I hate Christmas pudding so much that the last time I had one, which was over a decade ago, it sat in my cupboard for another 4 months after I bought it until I got so sick of seeing it I had it at Easter.
Make it every Christmas. As did my mother. Literally thee taste of Christmas. Brandy Hard Sauce makes it. Nothing like a little ground suet to coat the arteries. Steamed for 90 minutes.
I am one of those 'Brits' that cannot stand Christmas Pudding or indeed Mince Pies and much to my Mother's chagrin she had to go to the trouble of making Apple Pie for me while the rest of the family tucked in with relish. For me I don't thing the problem is the dried fruit as I enjoy both Fruit Cake and Eccles Cakes, I think my problem is that I don't like alcohol in my food - further evidence of this is my dislike of Sherry Trifle though I love Trifle without the Sherry. Happy Christmas.
I just love Christmas Pudding! I'll have with custard, I'll have it with cream, I'll have it with vanilla ice cream, and I'll even eat it just on its own. I can't imagine Christmas without it to be honest with you.
How Poetic .
Same , i even make my own.
It's better with Creme Fresh.
I love it too. Only ever eat home made. Anything with dried fruits and spices is delicious and the epitome of Christmas season. I observe Stir Up Sunday every year too. And however full I am, there is always room for a second helping of pudding!
Try frying the leftovers. You can thank me later.
I’m Canadian and have had Christmas pudding all my life. Not all Canadians hate it. There are grated carrots and potatoes in my recipe as well as spices and dried fruits.
Potatoes? Potatoes?? Seriously, no. No one in the entire history of the United Kingdom has ever put potatoes in a Christmas pudding.
Would you like to bet on that?
@@lauraharmour
We are in the Uk and have mashed potatoes in our puddings. Goes back to wartime recipes when fruit was scarce, but it actually lightens the texture.
I ❤ Christmas pudding at Christmas. It's great with brandy sauce or double whip cream. Even ice cream. Lock someone else mentioned pumpkin pie help🤮
Happy Boxing Day, from the Pacific West Coast of Canada. It's okay, depends whose grandmother is making it.
Alanna, I had two helpings of Christmas Pud yesterday and it was bloody gorgeous! I can never understand how Canadians and US people don't like it. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Merry Christmas!! 🎄
@@AdventuresAndNaps Two slices yesterday, and one today...Made the pudding myself four months ago and basted it regularly with Drambuie. Steamed it for serving in a slow cooker for four hours. Sprig of holly on the top, brandy poured over it, then set on fire....hic! PS I use vegetable suet these days as my son loves Xmas pudding but is a vegetarian.....
North Americans are weird and their food is laced with toxins that are banned in most of the sensible world.
I've had 3 medium Xmas puds so far this year, only 1 on Xmas day.
I also stocked up with half price Xmas puds in boxing day reductions. Some of them will be good until my birthday in April 😁
@@AdventuresAndNaps , " if you have to add something to the basic then the basic is not very good " , so does that apply to the full English breakfast , curries , steak egg and chips , anything Italian , any sausages etc etc etc etc , basically 90% of all foods ??????
Canadian here, my Mom makes Christmas pudding, I love it but...I've been eating it every Christmas since I was a kid 50 some odd years ago. It's a recipe passed down several generations from England, where my ancestors came from 😊
Part of the explanation for the UKs high use of dried fruit from the medieval period recipes is the fact that dried fruit was a way of storing ‘sweet’ ingredients before refrigeration was available. Much of the ‘old’ world used dried fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants, plums [prunes], figs and dates). They are easy to store and ship to and around Europe alongside spices. Sugar was not a thing in medieval era so sweetness came from either fruits or honey.
Dried fruit and spices weren’t cheap and so the idea of saving them for the Christmas festivities became the norm, so people could enjoy a “rich” treat as part of their celebration.
Conversely, most American “sweets” where developed post the production of refined sugar. This meant that American pallets developed an obsession with dishes that are easy to eat and little more than high sugar content cakes, cookies and puddings with very limited flavours.
Old world recipes are often challenging to American pallets because they frequently use ingredients that might be defined as “course” compared to the “refined” (but empty) ingredients used in American recipes.
One of the main reasons why North Americans don't like christmas pudding is not because of the fruit cake idea but also the strong taste of brandy or in some cases port as well. We always get this sort of reply from US service people around my area in the East of England
Best way for me is after Christmas day the left over Christmas pudding gets fried in a frying pan with just butter and when hot served with brandy butter or double cream
Great response Andrewpinks4925.
@@jonathanpatrick8506 have you tried having the fried pudding with a fried breakfast? Christmas pudding isn’t massively different to the Scottish “clootie (cloth) dumpling” which is eaten with a fried breakfast.
Andrew - 'Coarse'!
@@stevebarlow3154oops!
Its a dessert made of fruits.... americans have a dessert made of pumpkin.....glass houses Alanna
Spot on!!
I was just thinking that
Pumpkin pie is awesome.
It's not a dessert made of fruits. It's a steamed pudding made of dried fruits, suet, flour, nuts, mixed peel, breadcrumbs and eggs, and a good amount of brandy or rum. Served with brandy butter and/or brandy custard and/or brandy cream. When served, one can pour brandy or rum over it, and set fire to it.
I know what it is regardless of what descriptors you choose most people understand the concept of starter, main , dessert @@lauraharmour
You know what we need after the heaviest meal of the year? The heaviest pudding ever made.
And then, three hours later turkey and pork sandwiches, followed by Christmas cake
@@admiralcraddock464 And a steady stream of booze and chocolate throughout the day
Always room for a little bit o' pud.
Rule Number 1 - Never ever microwave a Christmas pudding, even if it says on the pack that you can; it has to be steamed for a couple of hours to get the full and proper effect.
Rule Number 2 - To be eaten in small amounts, accompanied by either double cream, custard or (preferably) brandy butter or brandy sauce.
Totally agree with rule number 1. Rule number 2 will not happen for me. I find it too moreish
no 3 - it has to be fresh, some just are not right by time they've spent any time on xmas shelves, commercial ones also contain too much of the wrong fat to preserve them & definitely rule 2
It's terrible bc it has dried fruit and nothing can salvage that, even if it didn't have dried fruit it's still by far inferior to other desserts (and I am a native Brit)
The covering it in warm brandy and setting light to it is part of the ritual...and it makes it taste better (not sure it would improve the flavour enough for you though 😜)
And hope you had a merry Christmas 🎅🏻
I usually enjoy your videos, BUT … I’ve never seen anybody make such fuss over a simple dish. Many English deserts have dried fruits as a base, Christmas cakes and puddings, Eccles cakes , Dundee cake etc. I’m biased, I was brought up on them,and having reached 70 without coming to any harm, I love them!
Christmas pudding and mince pie are my favourite Christmas treats!
Mine too! And, I am Canadian!
Day after boxing day now so of to the shops to see if they is any Christmas pudding reduced in price for a new year's treat!
I love both too.
I love xmas pudding, but then again I love sprouts and marmite
I hate sprouts but like the others.
Oh Alana ur face when u had that Christmas pudding just cracked me up ur hilarious. I absolutely love Christmas pudding and Christmas cake and custard or brandy sauce.💖
How can one NOT like currants, raisins and sultanas? They're sweet and natural and just generally wonderful. Custard? Custard? Brandy butter and double cream is what one should have with Christmas pudding. I love your videos and now I have to feel sorry for you that you're missing out on some of the best tastes in the world 😄 Look after yourself and have a brilliant new year.
Christmas pudding is awesome, my wife has been making ours since Christmas 1980, although since moving to the USA in 1995 we have had to go without the suet. Setting fire to it is the best. We also have double cream, brandy butter and rum butter to have with it.
I have a Christmas pudding every year made by a good friend of mine,, and I love it!! Forget custard, have it with cream or brandy butter. Delicious!
And light the brandy
Custard makes the pudding 😊
My father served in the army in WW1. While in the trenches, the company cook managed to produce a Christmas pudding, much to the delight of the men.The cook was complimented by the captain , who asked where he managed to find the cloth it was cooked in The cook took off his tunic and proudly showed that one sleeve of his shirt, which he had been wearing for a week, was missing.
Happy Boxing Day, Alanna. Christmas Pudding is traditionally prepared soaked in Brandy and set alight. Then pour on rich gravy and serve with Chips and Curry Sauce. At least, that is how my Mother used to make it when we were kids. The daft bint.
😂 Merry Christmas!!
I read the first part of that and thought WTF! 😂
I've never heard of anyone having Christmas Pudding with gravy, chips and curry sauce, and never seen it offered like that on a restaurant menu either. Is that a common way of eating it where you are (if so, where is that?), or is it just your own personal (or your mother's) preference?
@@neilp1885 I thought his joke was amusing.
@@primalengland Yes! That's what I thought too, I thought maybe he was winding Alanna up, but then I saw the daft bint comment about his mother doing that at the end and thought maybe it was real, so I got curious and decided to ask.
Alanna - maybe start off with mince pies - get used to sweet spiced dried fruits in suet, then graduate to Christmas cake and pudding... I've loved all since childhood - but there's no other item the rest of the year that's really similar. Hope the spring goes well for you
Hi Alanna, Brit born, Canadian raised, (in the Kawarthas ;) ) there are three things that make Christmas for this 76 year old, Dark Christmas cake, Mince pies/tarts and Christmas plum pudding. Merry Christmas dear and happiest of New Years, Peace, Love, and all Best Wishes.
I love it. I'm from Devon so serve it with clotted cream. Never tried it with custard. On boxing day fry slices of leftovers in butter and reflame with brandy. Oh delicious. Still each to their own. Happy New Year!
Canadian here... I love plum pudding. My mother used to make it, using my English grandmother's recipe. She would steam the pudding while we were eating Christmas dinner, flame it tableside and serve it with my father's hard sauce. Absolutely delicious!
Canadian born and raised. Not true that Canadians hate Christmas pudding!
My late mum always made the best Christmas pudding (complete with rum sauce which was served flaming), always a treat and very much missed.
It's all in how it's made and served and like many traditions, needs to be consistent and passed through the generations.
Christmas pudding may not be everyone's favourite, but perhaps an acquired taste like liquorice all sorts or Marmite! 🤣
Hi Alana! watching you tasting the pudding of the GODS! cracked me up. I can eat Christmas Pudding all the time, cold, hot and doused in alcohol, also nice with a brandy cream in the style of Baileys or just brandy butter. oh and rich fruit cake (cannot abide sponges like Victoria sponge). Happy New Year to you and yours best wishes Mike.
As children we always stirred the Christmas Pudding and my parents always put a silver sixpence in the mix, though nor religious reason was ever mentioned. And my mother always kept a little of the mix as a starter for next year's pudding - and no we never got sick!🙂
Australian here, it will be 34*c, we eat our Christmas lunch of Roast Turkey, lamb and Chicken with all the roast vegetables. We will also have huge tiger prawns and salads... then...... we will have Christmas pudding, MUST be home made and hung for at least a month but we do cater for preferences of clotted cream or custard..... there is NO WAY we couldn't have our pud !
I’m going to have to go out and get myself a Christmas pudding after this.
We very rarely ate Christmas pudding when I was a child because we were usually too full but one year we insisted and my poor dad was given the job of setting fire to it and it went up so violently that it melted the front of his polyester sweater 🔥
omg 💀
Amazing 😂 Mum did the same to a Christmas Pudding one year but it was just the napkins that got charred… Melted jumper is another level though haha
An excessive amount of brandy, methinks.
🤣
I am English and love Christmas pudding. Post Christmas I trawl the shops for reduced price puddings, 'cos they last for months.
Next, Alanna will give us her analysis of Christmas crackers, wahay!
Best Wishes Alanna, thanks for the entertainment.
They don't last for months. They last for years. I've had four year old Christmas puds just recently and they are the biz!
Dried fruit was used because that’s what was available in winter. We used what was available and spiced it with what we had,
My grandmother (1883 - 1977) used to make the most fantastic Christmas puddings.
It was always a highlight of Christmas dinner when I was a lad.
No one tell her that some people fry up slices of left over pudding to be served with spiced cream.
Because Christmas pudding is very rich, a little sugar sprinkled on top works very well. Also, my family and I never "drench" it in custard; we put the same amount you would with any pudding.
A lot of Brits don't eat it anymore because it is very filling, and after the biggest meal of the year, it's not what everybody craves straight afterwards, but on Boxing Day, a little Christmas pud fried in butter with a glass of sherry for brunch is one of the best treats you'll ever enjoy!
Personally I love Christmas pudding with loads of double cream. It's rich, fruity, slightly spiced but..... Heavy. My mom was very annoyed this year because I refused to serve a dried up, sunken mess from the microwave, I instead elected to steam it for 2 hours. I kept my mother waiting for pudding for 2 hours. Did she think it was worth the wait for the once a year festive treat?.... No!. Did she slag me off to my siblings?... Yes. Am I sorry?... No!
It's just a matter of acclimatisation. You're doing very well Alanna. Imagine the pride you will feel when you can honestly say that you like Christmas pud. Keep it up chief, keep it up.
Happily eat Xmas pud everyday, cold if I must, but best piping hot with a nice bit of brandy butter.
As a kid growing up in the 60's and 70's my mum made both Christmas Pudding (including the silver sixpence as it was pre-decimalisation) and Christmas Cake. Both were usually made well in advance of Christmas, especially the cake which she would make around 3-6 months before Christmas and regularly 'feed' with either brandy, whiskey, sherry or rum every week until you were ready to add marzipan and icing
Alanna , you don't know what is good for you !! By the way, the family all stir the pudding and make a wish. I am 81 years old and have done this for as long as I can remember. You can't have Christmas without a lovely BIG Christmas Pudding
I LOVE Christmas pudding! With cream or custard? Yum! It's served after the Christmas meal, by which time we've all had enough to drink that it makes sense to set it on fire and bring it into the darkened dining room. It's sort of a combination candle, sparkler and dessert. And yes, a sixpence (and sometimes other silver charms, too.)
Heat brandy in a large spoon until it caches fire then pour the brandy over the pudding and I have never heard of pouring custard over it a large spoonful of clotted cream will do nicely
I worked in a butcher's shop as a teenager. I saw sausages being made in a sausage making machine which was a meat mincer to which you attached an animal intestine into which you forced minced sausage meat. I wonder it any sausages are made from animal intestine these days? It is the origin of sausages.
She has yet to be introduced to haggis! And she likes black pudding, which really is disgusting.
I am a South African living in Australia, Christmas Pudding “fruit cake” can be found in both countries and I agree with you on its own I dislike it with a passion however to moisten the cake/pudding I always sprinkle liberally with brandy and let it soak in and then I have it with vanilla ice cream and vanilla custard and enjoy it very much. My mum who is 90 years old still makes her own recipe and will put a silver coin in it usually a 5c piece. A side note a microwave will dry it out it should be steamed so it holds moisture…. I change you to try it again 😅
Just got home started watching this and thought I've got christmas pudding left over.
so stopped video to put some in the steamer. Merry Christmas to you and yours
You can swap out any ingredient in it. Syrup for treacle, apricots for raisins etc. Some of us were just grateful to eat anything sweet.
I love Christmas pudding! Brandy butter or cream for me please.
I remember when I was at school we had sixpences wrapped in tin foil hidden inside our Christmas puddings (yes, I'm that old!).
Waiting to hear how your nephews reacted to the Christmas box you sent them, fruit cake and all! If fruit cakes are offensive to you, it's not surprising you don't like Christmas pudding
Please, please please, if you ever try it again heat up the custard first! It should be served hot!
I love Cristmas pudding, along with another UK favourite which North Americans don't get - fruit cake! Christmas pudding's original "packaging" was similar to the Scottish haggis.
No need to apologize, Alanna, I'm British born and bred and I find the stuff utterly revolting (I have similar feelings about Christmas Cake as well). Working my way through a couple of Chocolate Fudge Yule Logs over the Christmas period... now THAT'S a festive treat! Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
For many years growing up in Toronto, there were similar small loaf shaped, rather than dome shaped, British style fruit cakes available at grocery stores leading up to Christmas. They would be labelled as fruit cakes rather than as Christmas pudding. A fairly large portion of the local population then had British heritage. Today, that style of fruit cake is less commonly seen at grocery stores (but I have seen them still) as the population has become more diverse since then. I think even back then, though, many people didn't like it.
Skip to today, the local grocery stores now commonly display panettone rather than British style fruit cakes. I have even seen stollen and some German Christmas cookies at one nearby grocery store. I found the fruit cakes to be too rich for me and I prefer panettone as I like to have it with a coffee. But not everyone here likes panettone either.
Love Christmas pudding but ideally needs brandy sauce
Brandy sauce is also an acquired taste - I love Christmas pudding but always with cream.
Custard ? Oh my lord , at the Day Centre the old folk like custard but its a no . Cream, single,double, clotted or brandied please .
The fact that Americans would find it offensive only makes me love it more
Thanks Alanna, it's obviously just a cultural cullenary taste difference. I believe most English people would eat Christmas pudding over say Pumpkin pie, any day of the week. Thanks for your content, here's wishing you a happy healthy and peaceful New Year 🤗😘🤗🥂
i grew up with my nanna inviting people round to stir in the pud. and we would put a silver sixpence as good luck. silver sixpence were widely used anywhere you wanted to wish good luck/fortune. in your christmas stocking or when you get married for example.
My mum used to make Christmas pudding every year, and it was delicious. I think whatever you grow up eating, you consider normal. I grew up eating black pudding, haggis, Christmas pudding, and mince pies. I'm sure Americans and Canadians eat things i would consider weird.
❤ from Lancashire
Have a happy New Year.
Merry Christmas Alanna. I love the taste of Christmas pudding. Interestingly my Canadian son-in-law also loves it - and Christmas cake too. He was delighted not offended we'd make extra Christmas cake especially as he's in town this year. So maybe not all North Americans hate it?
Alanna if you really want to try a Christmas pudding you'll love , you need to make your own , I can recommend the James Martin Christmas pudding recipe , mind you you'll need to reduce the quantities of each ingredient by around 80% ( except the Brandy , I normally increase that one ) as the amounts in James recipe is enough to make several puddings .
Christmas pudding with brandy sauce is fantastic, merry Christmas to you
Thank you! You too!
Merry Xmas Alanna x
Had some yesterday. Tasted amazing with cream and custard. No brandy on mine though. Driving…
You burn the brandy so alcohol disapears....!!!
My stomach would probably not agree with this mixture, but whomever loves it, shall eat it.
I hope TH-cam will present you (for your channel) with a better gift in the near future. You're a pleasant to watch and always genuine. Have a safe and sober New Year's. America here.🎄🎁🥂
That's not drowning it in custard!!! Fair play you keep giving it a go! Enjoy the rest of the Festive Hols! 🙏🙏
She obviously thinks paddling is swimming!
Love it! 😜 Don’t always manage to eat it Christmas Day now, after a big dinner and my wife won’t eat it, but I buy a large one which will last a few months. Cut a piece, microwave for a minute or so, pour on double cream, gorgeous! 🤪
Alanna, I know that in the modern era that the microwave is a thing, but with Christmas pudding and other steamed desserts it should be steamed for a couple of hours ideally to heat it through and moisten it, setting it on fire burns off the alcohol within the pudding, be it Brandy, Whiskey, Rum, etc, leaving the flavour but not the alcohol per se, it can then be served with, a flavoured butter such as Brandy butter, or Custard, Cream, some even like Vanilla ice-cream for the contrast between the hot and the cold.
Christmas pudding 🍮 is great, particularly being lucky enough to get the silver sixpence baked inside. Stir up Sunday (making the pudding and Christmas cake) marks the start of the build up to Christmas in our house.
the issue is the microwave, they are crap done in the microwave, all the microwave does is heat it up and remove the moisture from the pudding, the one you had serves 2 to 3 people, the better ones are darker and moist and smell of brandy, the best way to to do it is make your own pudding the way its meant to be... It has its origins in medieval England, with early recipes making use of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spice, along with liquid such as milk or fortified wine. Later, recipes became more elaborate. In 1845, cookery writer Eliza Acton wrote the first recipe for a dish actually called "Christmas pudding".
i steam the puddings i make, which keeps the moisture in the pudding. 'mary berry' makes a good christmas pudding.
When I arrived in the UK 24 years ago, I hated xmas pudding as well as minced pies. But they have both grown on me, it took me a few years, but now I am hunting for those mince pies from October and I would terribly miss the xmas pudding at the end of our xmas meal if we did not have one.
The best part of Christmas IS Christmas pudding, I love it!!
My mother always used to make Christmas pudding in the days leading up to Christmas, but it would be for the following year!
We usually had it served with brandy butter.
I cannot understand why you wouldn't like it 😊
I love it. I buy more so i can eat it throughout the year.
Everyone in my house adores you Alanna 😎 👍🏻
You're too kind! 🙏
Love it. Flame off with a good brandy, and then loads of brandy butter!
I grew up with it. English heritage. A very small slice and some Brandied hard sauce will fill you up, big time! Also, minced pie!
People get this all wrong... it's actually a sacrificial offering.. You douse it in as much brandy ( or other flammable liquid) and take it outside and apply a ma5ch (or blow torch) and stand well back...😆
A belated Merry Christmas Alanna. Yes I love it and even cold it's still delicious. I agree with the comment below. Never, ever, not no how, microwave a Christmas pudding it goes rubbery. Home made ones need to be made at least 3 months before and even if kept for 6 months will still be as good.
When you first brought it out to be eaten, I mistook it for a plant pot full of soil.
And at the risk of being controversial, the North American pallet is soooooo dumbed down with with sugar, fat and processing that they are not actually used to flavour!! And no! That is how you spell flavour!!
I love Christmas pudding I have it hot with custard or cold with cream yum!
a small portion of hot xmas pudding with hot devonshire custard.. cant beat it! I think the strong fruit flavour can put people off, but a proper brandy pudding is supposed to be very rich, hence custard!!
I absolutely love the taste of this - not just a tradition! I think that brandy butter and cream is the best. I also love a good fruit cake and would choose it over most chocolate ones! I , however, have yet to enjoy a pumpkin pie. Had them as a kid and loathed it! But would’nt the world be a boring place if we all liked the same things? He he. Happy Christmas! 🎄
10:47 come on now, we drown our Christmas dinner in gravy and it makes it better, not because everything else is disgusting. Now, buy another one, steam that bad boy up and heat up the custard to a point where it burns your throat, then go again. The shamelessness of her blaming our love of pudding on nostalgia :D
I've had a Christmas pudding in a cupboard for ten years and decided to open it to see what it looked like, i ate it on Christmas day and it tasted delicious, i had bought it from Lidl's in Dec 2013 and forgot all about it, i'm glad i didn't just throw it in the bin.
DRENCH it in custard,! You said it yourself Alana
Hear In the north east of England a pudding sweat or savory boiled in a cloth is called a clotty pudding
The only Christmas “fruitcake” i ever loved was the one my mother (from NL Canada but who had English heritage) baked which actually had more cake in it and less candied fruit and nuts.
Ironically when I taught Conversational English in South Korea back in the late 1970s I missed her fruitcake come Christmas time! I visited numerous high-end bakeries but was never able to find one who made any type of fruitcake..!! 😢
I’ve buy 2 or 3 and have them throughout the year 🇬🇧🇬🇧
As a proud Englishman I'm crying into my Earl Grey. Saying Americans would hate this when they make Hershey's chocolate, that's a violation 🤣🤣😂
Actually Christmas puddings are not liked by many Brits we just tolerate it because it's considered truly traditional.
I love Christmas pudding and eat them all year round
Sausages are made in animal intestines, that is the skin of the sausage.
The new 5p coin is very similar in appearance to the old 6d coin.
The tradition as far as I'm aware is to make the Christmas pudding on around Boxing Day for next Christmas.
I searched on Walmart for "Christmas Pudding", the top two suggestions were "English Christmas Pudding", and "Christmas Pudding British". Prices are about $30 for something that you would pay about £3 here for.
I love Christmas Pudding! 1:49
Xmas pudding, heated in a bowl. Custard heated and poured over the top (or brandy cream for cold).
If all your getting is raisin you need to find a better pudding, it should be a mix of flavours / textures.
Absolutely Delicious on the Day. Even Deliciouser, fried in slices (without the custard) next day.
I wait for a couple of hours after the Xmas dinner, then microwave wave(I don't care) rather than steam a couple of individual ones, which take forever! I like the posh boozy variety, with double cream. 30 minutes later, I,m asleep. Merry Christmas. ⛄
Custard has to be hot. it's amazing.
LOL This UK Christmas tree that would make Americans cry, I watched it anyway, Cromwell is needed today in the happy way
With the amount of alcohol in a xmas pudding. you should love it Alanna
I hate Christmas pudding so much that the last time I had one, which was over a decade ago, it sat in my cupboard for another 4 months after I bought it until I got so sick of seeing it I had it at Easter.
Make it every Christmas. As did my mother. Literally thee taste of Christmas. Brandy Hard Sauce makes it. Nothing like a little ground suet to coat the arteries. Steamed for 90 minutes.
I’m Canadian and I LOVE Christmas pudding. I’m extremely thankful that my local UK import store brings in gluten free puddings.
I am one of those 'Brits' that cannot stand Christmas Pudding or indeed Mince Pies and much to my Mother's chagrin she had to go to the trouble of making Apple Pie for me while the rest of the family tucked in with relish. For me I don't thing the problem is the dried fruit as I enjoy both Fruit Cake and Eccles Cakes, I think my problem is that I don't like alcohol in my food - further evidence of this is my dislike of Sherry Trifle though I love Trifle without the Sherry.
Happy Christmas.
No on the alcohol taste for me as well.
Christmas isnt Christmas without Christmas pudding
Try it with brandy butter and vanilla icecream