I had never made steamed pudding before, until Sunday. Seeing as this month’s theme is winter warmers I figured it fitted perfectly. Furthermore, sitting on my shelves in the dining room I have the most beautiful ceramic pudding basin which dates back to 1911, and in which I thought I would make this delicious dessert. It was given to me by my beautiful 86 year old Grandma who bought it from an internet auction site a few years ago (yup – she’s pretty technologically saavy!) It is cream in colour and is decorated with beautiful green type spelling out a list of instructions on how to use the basin, as well as proudly bearing the name of the manufacturer; Grimwade. The name Grimwade you see, reaches back somewhere in the annals of time and forms part of my family tree. My Grandma eagerly browses auction sites in search of similarly branded pieces which she proudly displays on her shelves as part of our family history.
This recipe provides the basis for a delicious steamed pudding which once you have mastered you can experiment with to explore different flavour combinations. Use fruit which is in season, or otherwise canned and frozen fruit is a good substitute. Mandarins are in season at the moment so I’d like to experiment with a version using manadrins…..perhaps combined with lemon and chocolate. Or a pear and cardamom pudding with a caramel syrup – the possibilities are endless. If you do experiment then please report back your findings, we love to hear about your kitchen exploits!
