Christmas and not Christmas pudding

Hi every one!

This forum is great!!! I will at last have the answers to my 'long time asking" questions ( feel free to correct my English)

Could somebody tell me about the Christmas pudding? Is it a main curse? Is it a dessert?

I bought one once  ( Chrismas one) when  we  had Mak and Spencer in France, but did not know what to do with it, since it seems to contain meat...perhaps I had been too lazzy to read the advice on the tin...Plus, I have heard that it has to be prepare in advance ( about three weeks before christmas ...) so please  tell me all the mysteries about the Pudding...

Marie France

It's certainly a main curse in my house, as I usually gain about 10 lbs after smothering it with a wonderfully thick sweet sauce. 

But no, all humor (at your expense) aside, it is not a main course, but a dessert.

I make my Christmas puds from scratch, takes about two months, as I sit it for  two months in the closet after putting it together and steaming it for a few hours. Then I steam it for another three on Christmas day before serving it with said sweet sauce (brandy sauce if you're so inclined).

I don't put meat in my Christmas pudding, but some people will use mince meat.  

I've never heard of meat in a Christmas Pudding - (it's a pudding, lol!).

The bought puddings are usually completely cooked up until the final steaming.  Then all you do is steam it for whatever time the packing tells you and as Sue says you pour a sauce or custard or brandy over the pudding. 

The brandy is fun because you set it alight and have a flaming pudding, lol.  Then you can still pour your sauce/custard over it as well. 

The puddings is usually eaten hot on Christmas Day and any left overs can be eaten cold with custard or ice cream. 

Most recipes ask for beef suet, but I've used vegetable suet for years and it works perfectly. 

By whom?

Not me, that's for sure   .