Hestons Hidden Christmas Orange Pudding - Waitrose

Has anyone managed to get hold of one of these must have Christmas puds this year?

It is described as a succulent moist Christmas Pudding made with English Cider and Spanish Sherry, containing a whole candied orange hidden in the centre infusing the entire pudding with strong citrus notes. It has to be steamed for 3 hours in order for the orange to seep into the delicious fruity pudding.

I was lucky enough to get one of these much sort after Christmas musts. In fact the pedestrians on the footpath were even luckier I didnt run them over when I discovered that my local Waitrose had just received their last delivery of these puds, in my eagerness to park, I drove halfway on the footpath near to the store, well it was dark and not very well lit The audacity of people walking on the footpath getting in my way and delaying me from diverting my car then running into Waitrose to grab the pud.

I had a much more relaxed drive home and reflected on the film Jingle all the Way starring Arnie Schwarzenegger when he was trying to obtain that years top toy for his son.

I just cannot wait for Christmas Day to arrive so I can tuck into this luxurious aromatic pudding with lashings of extra thick Cointreau cream. Strawbs, any suggestions for a cheese board to put the perfect finish to the meal?

Ruby

Looks delish Rubes.......Im sure Strawbs had one last year?.....can you microwave it?.....

Hi THD

I am not sure if it can be microwaved, it recommends being steamed for 3 hours and as everyone is raving about it, I dont want to risk ruining it by plonking it in the microwave.

Apparently, the candied orange infuses and seeps into the other fruits during the steaming process. yum yum

I will post my review on it on here after Christmas Day.

Rubes

I have an aunt who totally pickles the Xmas pud.....with a stash of alcohol .....two bites and you're free-fall flying without a parachute. That cake gets made in October and every week there is a ritual loading of sherry and brandy that gets poured like Niagara over the cake. I am sure my two old aunts are imbibing heavily on the side and taking occasional little bites of the pud.... they then go off and accost the local vicar (who enjoys any show of affection) ......

Nicks

That pud sounds delishous Rubes yummy yummy

Yours Hyatum sounds like my kind of pud!hehe

Pol

ruby wrote:

Has anyone managed to get hold of one of these must have Christmas puds this year?

It is described as a succulent moist Christmas Pudding made with English Cider and Spanish Sherry, containing a whole candied orange hidden in the centre infusing the entire pudding with strong citrus notes. It has to be steamed for 3 hours in order for the orange to seep into the delicious fruity pudding.

I was lucky enough to get one of these much sort after Christmas musts. In fact the pedestrians on the footpath were even luckier I didnt run them over when I discovered that my local Waitrose had just received their last delivery of these puds, in my eagerness to park, I drove halfway on the footpath near to the store, well it was dark and not very well lit The audacity of people walking on the footpath getting in my way and delaying me from diverting my car then running into Waitrose to grab the pud.

I had a much more relaxed drive home and reflected on the film Jingle all the Way starring Arnie Schwarzenegger when he was trying to obtain that years top toy for his son.

I just cannot wait for Christmas Day to arrive so I can tuck into this luxurious aromatic pudding with lashings of extra thick Cointreau cream. Strawbs, any suggestions for a cheese board to put the perfect finish to the meal?

Ruby

Yes I do have some suggestions!

I'll be back in a little while.......

Strawbs

hyatum wrote:I have an aunt who totally pickles the Xmas pud.....with a stash of alcohol .....two bites and you're free-fall flying without a parachute. That cake gets made in October and every week there is a ritual loading of sherry and brandy that gets poured like Niagara over the cake. I am sure my two old aunts are imbibing heavily on the side and taking occasional little bites of the pud.... they then go off and accost the local vicar (who enjoys any show of affection) ......

Nicks

Hi Nicks,

Your aunt's Christmas Pudding recipe reminds me of when I decided to make our Christmas Cake one year. It was an impulse thing (I'm very impulsive!) and I was out shopping in the supermarket around September time, when I saw a carton of eggs with a Christmas Cake recipe on it. So I became all enthused and bought all the ingredients, then the next day started soaking all the sultanas and raisins etc as the recipe instructed.

I can't remember exactly how long you were supposed to soak them for (this was about 20 years ago) but I think it was a few days, maybe a week? So after about 6 weeks of occasionally topping up the fruit with more Brandy and Sherry (the enthusiasm to actually make the cake had waned, you see...V.Lazy ) I decided I really had to make that cake! So I made all the mixture up and baked it, then stored it to mature. The recipe said you could inject it occasionally with alcohol if you wanted to - so every few days I'd inject it with Brandy and Sherry - thinking, the more the merrier!

Just before Christmas I decorated it with lemon icing, and my daughter added all the little decorations on top - baby Christmas trees, silver baubles, Santa, robins - so it looked very Christmassy!

Anyway, when the first group of guests came round over the Christmas I gave a slice of this cake to one guest(he was quite old, slightly deaf, and slightly merry) and he sat in a chair eating it with a look of pure ecstacy on his face, he even made some swooning sounds. Then after he'd finished eating it he looked at me; his eyes all twinkling and sozzled-looking, and said:

"Sweetheart, that was the BEST bread pudding I've ever had!"

And yes, I do think one forkful equalled one unit of alcohol! But he left there a very happy and sloshed bunny, and I never had the heart to tell him it was actually cake. Especially as he told everyone for years afterwards that I made the best bread pudding in the world!

Strawbs

LOL.....bread pud xmas cake!.....must of been really wet......

Well i detest christmas pudding,cake etc but i do love ice cream and had to try christmas pudding ice cream....yup it was disgusting so ill stick to the baileys one mmmmmm

Hi Hayley,

To be hnest I'm not a huge fan of Christmas Pudding, either. Nor Christmas cake. I only ever eat about two dessertspoons of pudding, and only have one or two small slices of cake over the whole Christmas period. I'm looking forward to Heston's, though! All his food is sensational. I bought some of his mince pies with pine-scented sugar that you sprinkle on top (I do like mince pies - especially the ones made with puff pastry) and they were nice, though I still prefer puff pastry ones.

Roll on Christmas!

Strawbs

Roll on Christmas and roll on the pounds!!!!!!!

Maria