Christmas pudding

Use big, juicy raisins. Chop some of them in half so that the juice runs into the pudding.

Take a very large bowl and put the dried fruit, nuts and dry ingredients into it, stirring well.

Add the marmalade, lemon rind and juice. Add 275 to 300 ml milk stout.

Lightly beat the eggs and add them to the mixture. Mix extremely well to ensure all the ingredients are well distributed.

Butter 2 pudding basins and line the base of each with a little piece of greaseproof or baking paper, and spoon the pudding mixture into the basins.

Cover with greaseproof paper and foil, using heavy-duty elastic bands to hold the paper and foil in place. Trim.

Take 2 long pieces of heavy-duty foil and fold over and over until about 6 cm in width. The pieces of foil will act as slings for the pudding basins.

Place each pudding basin in the middle of a piece of foil. The foil has to be long enough for the pudding basin to be suspended in a pan of boiling water, without touching the bottom of the pan, and with both ends firmly anchored over the lip of the pan. The pan lid acts as an anchor to stop the foil sling from slipping. This prevents the pudding from burning if the pan should boil dry.

Pour boiling water into the pans so that it comes three quarters of the way up the sides of the basins. Add more boiling water when necessary.

Steam for at least 11 to 12 hours for really dark puddings, or cook in a pressure cooker for 3 1/2 hours.

On Christmas day, resteam for 1 hour. Unmould and serve with champagne sauce.