Great British Menu 2015 contestant, Matt Worswick, executive chef at the Thornton Hall Hotel, has created a Christmas pudding worth £10,000 to celebrate this Friday’s national lottery draw.
The ingredients for the ‘Ultimate Millionaire Christmas pudding’ include Remy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl 140th Anniversary brandy worth almost £15,000, 23 karat gold leaf and silver spray paint worth a collective £1,200.
Matt said: “There’s a mega prize draw on Friday, and as we work closely with Camelot (the UK National Lottery operator) and the Lottery, I was approached by them, wondering if I could make something extravagant.
To make the Millionaires Christmas Pudding - You will need
• 400ml of XO brandy
• 450g beef suet
• 335g breadcrumbs
• 335g dark brown sugar
• 450g currants
• 450g golden sultanas
• 450g raisins
• 225g chopped almonds
• 8 prunes
• 100g dates
• 1 carrot grated
• 1 large bramley apple grated
• Pinch of table salt
• 1 tsp mixed spiced
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 lemon zest and juice
• 1 orange zest and juice
• 8 kumquats
• 2 ltr water
• 2 kg Demerara sugar
• 3 cloves
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tin silver spray
• 1 packet real gold leaf
“So I said ‘why don’t we make a Christmas pudding with a ridiculously expensive brandy and then cover it in gold!’ It was really, really expensive brandy… we had a bottle at work for ages, so I asked the manager there if we could use it to come up with this extravagant Christmas pudding and he said yes!”
The pricey pud was also available in single servings for £2,500 each, yesterday at a one-off ‘Millionaires Lunch’. Matt explained: “Other people have done it in the past, they use different beers and things like that, but it wasn’t as hard-core as what we wanted to do, so we just went all out and just threw everything at it.”
The Lottery Euromillions guarantee to make five UK millionaires in this Friday’s draw. Matt, who won the North West regional heat during this year’s Great British Menu, is keen to represent his area, and wouldn’t pass up another opportunity to do something extravagant again.
He said: “Great British Menu was great for the exposure, it put me on the radar a bit which is great for what we are doing here, it’s a good cause to be a part of and it’s good to fly the flag for the North West.”
Method
1. Blanch the kumquats in water for three minutes then refresh in cold water.
2. Repeat this process five times until the kumquats are soft.
3. Mix the water, Demerara sugar and spices and boil in a pot.
4. Add the refreshed kumquats and simmer until for approx 25 minutes.
5. Remove the kumquats and let them air dry overnight on a resting rack.
6. Butter four small ramekin moulds.
7. Mix the ingredients well and fill the moulds half way up with pudding mix.
8. Add one kumquat per mould, then cover and bury the kumquat with the rest of the pudding mix. The moulds should be 3/4 full.
9. Cover the tops with baking paper, cover the mould again with tin foil and wrap with string.
10. Place the bowl in simmering water just enough to reach 3/4 up the side of the mould. Simmer for 8 hours.
11. Once cooked and ready to serve, spray your Christmas pudding silver and add the gold leaf.
