Top 8 puddings tested
It’s not too late to make a Christmas pudding. Buy the best fruit you can afford — there’s great quality fruit in speciality shops and delis, and if using nuts make sure they are fresh and crunchy as they can go rancid easily.
Free range eggs make a better pudding and choose your breadcrumbs carefully too, using one with the least number of additives. A simple batch loaf is ideal. The fun is in getting friends and family to have a stir and make a wish.
A glass of warmed brandy poured over the pudding and set alight just before bringing to table makes an occasion of it.
However, not everyone has the time or inclination to make puddings. To see what was worth buying this year, I found plenty to replicate the best of homemade. I sought out some new producers and kept an eye on the old, and experimented with the new idea of a panettone pudding.
Next week we will have mince pies and on Dec 14, our last edition before Christmas, we will survey classic panettone and stollen, to celebrate our multicultural society.
On my blog you will find some more ideas, along with cookery book reviews and some hints for making a good gravy to go with the festive roast.
Traditional mixed peel, plenty of cherries, Murphy’s stout, free range eggs, Irish whiskey, spices, fresh oranges and lemons are a refreshing blend with a perfect balance of richness and lightness. All tasters liked this best.
Available in Roughty King, English Market, Cork, Rohus, Inishannon, Fresh 4 You Douglas, Cork, Barrett butchers (Kinsale & River-stick), Twomeys butchers (Macroom & Bantry), and at Beechwoood farm shop at Ballyregan, Kinsale (086-8292771).
Labelled Proper Christmas Pudding, this one is in a proper Mason Cash bowl which is worth over €3 itself. Free range eggs, rum, stout, subtle spices and good quality fruit combine in a deliciously lively, flavour-some pudding. Liked by all tasters. Made in Kinsale and available at Mahon Point and Douglas Farmers’ Markets and from www.greedypig.ie.
A satisfyingly shortlist of ingredients give this pudding an old-fashioned sense of tradition with particularly good quality fruit, including plenty of cherries and some mixed peel. The light texture was enjoyed by all tasters. From Barrons of Cappoquin, Co Waterford, and at Dungarvan Farmers’ Market.
Tasters didn’t know this was gluten free when tasting blind and liked this pudding’s texture. Rice and potato flours, tapioca, maize and buckwheat are the wheatflour substitutes here and are blended well. Various additives are used to keep the product suited to those with intolerances and the overall result is a little oversweet for some tastes, but acceptable to all. From Supevalu and Dunnes.
Rich and moist with plenty of flavoursome fruit, this was too sweet for older tasters. The mouth feel was a little sticky and pasty once it cooled a little. Good value with the intense sweetness best for small portions.
Tasters who like genuine Milanese panet-tone found this idea of a panettone pudding unsatisfying, but those who had never tasted panettone were happier. This one, with lots of good almonds, is like a light Christmas pudding crossed with a sticky toffee pudding. Tasters were divided with younger team members loving it. Not cheap.
This is the booziest of the selection, rich and a little heavy, enjoyed most by older tasters. Lots of nuts not liked by some tasters. Overall, too much alcohol flavour for tasters and a little heavy in the mouth. However, in small portions, it will go a long way.
This small pudding, ideal for two servings, is a cross between a Christmas pudding and a lighter golden syrup pudding. Large raisins and plenty of almonds are a plus, but the texture didn’t work, with none of the lightness of a panettone nor the festive, spicy richness of a regular Christmas pudding.
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