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Traditional Christmas Pudding

I've made this pudding several times. It's wonderful. It's taken from _Delia Smith's Christmas_ (but also appears in her _Complete Illustrated Cookery Course_). Most of the words here are direct quotes from the book. The pudding should be made about 6 weeks in advance.

Serves 8 to 10.

This rescipe makes one large pudding in a 40 ounce basin. If you have any left over, it reheats in foil in the oven, or may be steamed. I tend to make 2 smaller puddings out of this recipe.

4 ounces shredded suet (I usually cannot get suet, so use butter)
2 ounces self rising flour
4 ounces breadcrumbs
1 leavel teaspoon ground mixed spice (see below for how to make this)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
a "good pinch" ground cinnamon
8 ounces soft dark brown sugar
4 ounces golden raisins
4 ounces raisins
4 ounces currants
1 ounce mixed candied peel, finely chopped (I leave the candied peel out, I may substitute glace cherries if I can stop myself eating them all! )

1 ounce almonds, skinned and chopped
1 small cooking apple (I use Granny Smith) peeled, cored, and choppped
grated zest of 1/2 large orange
grated zest of 1/2 large lemon
2 large eggs
2.5 ounces barley wine
2.5 ounces stout
(if you cannot get barley wine, use 5 ounces stout instead. That's
what I do. Since you shouldn't let the remainder go to waste, get a
BIG bottle so you can drink the rest of it :-) )
2 tablespoons rum

Begin the day before you want to steam the pudding. Take a large,
roomy mixing bowl and start by putting the suet, sifted flour,
breadcrumbs, spices, and sugar in it. Mix these ingredients very
thoroughly together, then gradually mix in all the dried fruit, mixed
peel, and nuts followed by the apple and grated orange and lemon
zests. Don't forget anything - tick it off on the recipe. Now, in a
smaller basin measure out the rum, barley wine, and stout, then add
the eggs and beat these thoroughly together. Next pour this over all
the other ingredients and begin to mix very thoroughly. It's
traditional to gather all the family round, especially the children,
and invite everyone to have a really good stir and to make a
wish! The mixture should have a fairly sloppy consistency - that is,
it should fall instantly from the spoon when this is tapped on the
side of the bowl. If you think it needs more liquid, add a spot more
stout. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.

Next day pack the mixture into the lightly greased basin, cover it
with a double sheet of greaseproof (wax) paper and a sheet of foil,
and tie it securely with string. It's also a good idea to tie a piece
of string over the top to make a handle. Place the pudding in a
steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water and steam the pudding
for 8 hours (yes, that's EIGHT hours). Do make sure you keep a
regular eye on the water underneath and top it up with boiling water
from the kettle from time to time. When the pudding is steamed, let
it get quite cold, then remove the steam papers and foil and replace
with fresh ones, again making a string handle for easier monoeuvering.

Store in a cool place away from the light

On Christmas day, steam the pudding again for about 2 hours. Then,
take it out of the steamer, remove the wrappers. Slide a knife all
around the pudding, then turn it out onto a warmed plate. Place a
suitably sized sprig of holly on top. Now take a ladleful of warm
brandy (I use apple brandy) and heat it over direct head and when it's
hot, ask someone to light it. Place the ladle, now gently flaming, on
top of the pudding, but don't pour it over until you reach the table.
When you do, turn the lights down and pour it slowly over the pudding,
sides and all. It flames beautifully.

You can serve it with rum butter, custard sauce, etc.

Some notes on mixed spice:

This is a spice mixture used in the UK for adding to cakes, pies, etc.
I guess that the closest equivalent we've got in the USA is apple pie
spice. I have found a formula for making mixed spice (from Elizabeth
David's_English Bread and Yeast Cookery_) which is as follows:

2 parts nutmeg
2 parts pepper OR allspice (I'd use allspice myself)
1 part cinnamon
1 part cloves
1 part dried ginger

The stuff I used, which came back with me from a trip to Britain that
I took, has the following ingredients:

Cinnamon
Coriander
Caraway
Nutmeg
Ginger
Cloves

No idea about exact proportions. I haven't found this mixture in
America at all. So, experiment!

Mixed spice is a mix of ground spices,
typically 60% coriander, 30% cinnamon, 5% nutmeg, with small traces of
ginger and clove. Sometimes it has 10-15% caraway or 10% cassia
(Saigon cinnamon) mixed in. Since almost all "cinnamon" sold in North
America is really cassia, and cassia has a stronger flavor than true
cinnamon, a North American formula for mixed spice would be 70%
coriander, 15% cinnamon, 5% nutmeg, and 10% caraway.

Hazel