Festive food without stress

THE plum pudding ‘scandal’ of 1989 still haunts Darina Allen some 25 years later.

Mention the first edition of her book A Simply Delicious Christmas and she goes back to that awful moment, two days after the book hit the shops, when she realised there was a mistake in Myrtle Allen’s plum pudding recipe.

Readers were advised to add 2lbs of breadcrumbs to the mixture — about three times the amount needed – and reports of bready puddings were coming in from all over the country.