Steamed chocolate puddings - Eat Well Recipe - NZ Herald (2024)

FAQs

Why do you steam puddings? ›

Whether it's cake, pudding or a flan, steaming your desserts allows you to retain their pure flavour and moisture. So let's steam up the room!

Steamed pudding isn't the custard-like “pudding” you might assume, but a soft, moist, cake-like treat. Steamed puddings are a traditional British dessert at Christmastime. (“Bring us some figgy pudding!”) For wealthy Brits, steamed plum puddings were lavish affairs, loaded with eggs, butter, spices and even brandy.

Pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the side of the pudding basin. Set over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and leave to steam for 2½ hrs, topping up with boiling water if the level gets too low.

For these basins we suggest steaming initially for 3 hours, and then for a further 3 hours before eating. As steaming is a very gentle form of cooking it is difficult to overcook the puddings, so the same steaming time for both size basins is fine.

Puddings made for dessert can be boiled and steamed puddings, baked puddings, bread puddings, batter puddings, milk puddings or even jellies. In some Commonwealth countries these puddings are known as custards (or curds) if they are egg-thickened, as blancmange if starch-thickened, and as jelly if gelatin-based.

Nigella mentions that the pudding becomes more sticky and dense as it steams. We suggest oncovering or unwrapping the pudding and taking a spoonful from the top centre part of the pudding (this will be the base when the pudding is turned out sdo won't be noticeable).

American puddings are closer to what the Brits would call "custard." A British pudding is a dish, savory or sweet, that's cooked by being boiled or steamed in something: a dish, a piece of cloth, or even animal intestine.

Ideally we would suggest that when the pudding is made it is steamed for 8 hours (the combined time of the first and second steamings) as the steaming is important for the flavour of the pudding. The pudding can then be microwaved to reheat it on Christmas Day.

Unlike an oven, steaming adds moisture to the cake during the cooking process making it incredibly moist. Unlike in the oven, which uses dry heat. I am a sucker for a steamed pudding because they are just so incredibly moist and flavorful. Also the longer you leave them before eating the better the flavor.

A Christmas pudding is quite a dense mixture and needs long gentle cooking to prevent the outside burning before the inside is cooked. The same theory holds for reheating a pudding as it will take some time for the pudding to heat right through to the centre.

What is the advantage of steaming cooking method? ›

The steaming method does not require cooking with oil therefore it avoids producing unwanted fats. The resulting dishes are very light, healthier and gentle on the palate. When cooking fish and chicken, the steam dissolves the fat, making food lower in calories and more easily digestible.