Boiled Or Steamed Pudding - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 cups mixed dried fruit
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
2 None eggs, beaten lightly
2 cups lightly packed stale breadcrumbs
3/4 cup flour

Preparation

Place fruit mixture in large bowl. Stir in butter, eggs, breadcrumbs and sifted flour.
BOILED PUDDING: Fill a stockpot three-quarters full with hot water; cover. Bring to the boil. Have ready 8 feet of kitchen string and an additional 3/4 cup flour. Wearing rubber gloves, dip prepared pudding cloth into boiling water; boil for 1 min. Remove cloth from water, squeeze excess water from cloth.
Working quickly, spread hot cloth on work surface. Rub 3/4 cup flour into center of cloth to cover an area of about 16 inches in diameter, leave flour a little thicker in center of cloth where \"skin\" on pudding will need to be thickest.
Place pudding mixture in center of cloth. Gather cloth evenly around pudding, avoiding any deep pleats, pat into a round shape. Tie cloth tightly with string as close to mixture as possible. Knot corners of cloth together to make pudding easier to remove from stockpot. Gently lower pudding into boiling water. You may wish to tie free ends of string to handles of stockpot to suspend pudding. Cover stockpot with a tight-fitting lid, boil rapidly for 5 hours. Replenish boiling water as needed to maintain boil and water level. There must be enough boiling water for the pudding to be immersed at all times.
Untie pudding from handles. Place handle of wooden spoon through knotted cloth loops to lift pudding from water. Do not put pudding on work surface. Suspend from spoon on rungs of an upturned stool. Pudding must be suspended freely. If pudding has been cooked correctly, cloth will start to dry in patches within a few minutes. Hang pudding for 10 mins. Place pudding on work surface. Cut string, gently peel away cloth to uncover about half the pudding. Scrape skin back onto the pudding with a palette knife if necessary. Invert pudding onto a plate and continue to peel back cloth completely. Let stand at least 20 mins or until skin darkens and pudding becomes firm before cutting to serve.
STEAMED PUDDING: Grease 2-quart pudding steamer. Line bottom with parchment paper. Spoon pudding mixture into steamer. Place a 12 x 16-inch sheet of foil on work surface; grease foil. Top with a sheet of parchment paper. Fold a 2-inch pleat crosswise through center of both sheets. Place sheets, parchment-paper-side-down over steamer; secure firmly with kitchen string or steamer lid. Crush foil and parchment paper firmly around rim to help form a good seal. Place pudding in stockpot with enough boiling water to come halfway up side of steamer. Cover stockpot with tight-fitting lid. Steam 5 hours. Replenish with boiling water as necessary to maintain boil and water level during cooking. Let pudding stand for 15 mins before turning onto plate.
TO REHEAT BOILED PUDDING: Tie a clean, dry unfloured cloth around pudding. Boil for 2 hours following cooking instructions.
TO REHEAT STEAMED PUDDING: Return pudding to steamer. Steam for 2 hours following the cooking instructions.
TO MICROWAVE: To reheat the whole pudding, cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap. Microwave on MEDIUM (50%) for about 15 mins. To reheat four single servings at once, place on a microwave-safe plate, cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH (100%) for about 3 mins.