Three Chimneys Famous Hot Orange Marmalade Pudding

Charming By Day

One of our best food experiences EVER was going to The Three Chimneys restaurant on the majestic Isle of Skye in Scotland in September of 2003, fifteen years ago.

Even though it was in a remote location in a 100-year-old  stone crofter's cottage, it was listed in the Top 50 restaurants in the World in 2002 and 2003.  Shirley Spear and her husband Eddie opened it in 1984 with no restaurant experience and created a world class destination. 

Even more charming by night

From their website today, it looks like the Spears have done very well, adding hotel rooms. (We had to stay 21 miles away in Portree,  We drove to and from on narrow, sheep-in-charge roads, in pouring rain, but that made the experience all the more memorable.) 

The whole place including the kitchen was refurbished in 2014 and looks beautiful.  Now Chef Scott Davies is taking them to even higher levels, after Shirley's retirement from the kitchen, winning high praise and many new awards.  The seasonal menus are mouth watering:  The Three Chimneys

The food was literally pulled out of the nearby sea or made from incredibly fresh ingredients.  My notes from the trip say I had a pigeon starter, oysters on the half shell, filet of beef and a chocolate tart with pistachios.  Tom had scallops, lobster bisque, venison and marmalade pudding, which he adored.  

I bought her cookbook as my souvenir

For our Christmas day as a special treat for Tom, I will make their signature Hot Marmalade Pudding with Drambuie Custard which has been on their menu since day one, and has been described as "the best pudding I have ever tasted" by food critic Oliver Peyton, and it was chosen for BBC's Great British Menu.   

They make their own orange marmalade for the recipe but look for a  coarse-cut Seville orange marmalade like Dundee's.  Drambuie, a sweet liqueur made from Scottish whiskey, spikes the sauce. 

You will need a 3 pint (7 cups) pudding tin with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe. I purchased mine from Williams-Sonoma a long time ago, but a suitable one by Mrs. Anderson's Baking is available on Amazon.

---Barbara

A steamed pudding but very light due to so little flour

Three Chimneys Famous Hot Orange Marmalade Pudding

Ingredients for the Pudding:
150 g/5.3 ounces fine brown breadcrumbs (hard to find, so make them)
120 g/4.2 ounce soft brown sugar
25 g/.09 ounces self-raising white flour (brown if you can find it)
120 g (8.46 T.)  fresh butter, plus extra for greasing the bowl (room temperature)
8 Tablespoons well-flavored, coarse-cut Seville orange marmalade  (Dundee's)
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1 rounded teaspoon baking soda plus 1 Tablespoon water to mix

Butter the pudding tin, covering all of the crevices and the center tube well.
(Measure out the dry ingredients by weight on a scale.)
Place the breadcrumbs flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Melt the butter together with the marmalade in a saucepan over gentle heat.

Pour the melted ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix together thoroughly.

Whisk the eggs until frothy and beat gently into the mixture until blended together well.

Last of all, dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of cold water.

Stir this into the pudding mixture, which will increase in volume as it absorbs the baking soda.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin.
Cover it with a close-fitting lid.

Place the pudding tin in a large pot in boiling water which comes halfway up the side of tin.
Cover the pot with a close fitting lid and simmer the pudding for 2 hours, topping off the water throughout the cooking period.
Turn out onto a serving dish, slice and serve hot, with whipped cream, fresh cream, ice cream or as they do at The Three Chimneys, with Drambuie Custard sauce (see below).

Drambuie Custard Sauce

Ingredients for the Sauce:

275 ml (1.16 cups) fresh milk

275 ml (1.16 cups) fresh double cream (use heavy or whipping cream if you can't find it)

6 egg yolks  (at room temperature)

100 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar (or superfine)

2 Tablespoons Drambuie liqueur

Whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar until pale, slightly thick and creamy.

Gently warm the milk and cream until it is just beginning to bubble.  Pour the milk and cream on to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk together.  (I temper mine first by adding a little at a time to avoid curdling the eggs.)  Return the mixture to the saucepan.  

Bring to the boil very slowly, stirring all the time.  As soon as it begins to thicken, or coats the back of the wooden spoon, remove from the heat and pour into a jug (sauceboat) for serving.  Stir in the Drambuie.

Serve immediately.  Alternatively, cool the custard quickly in a bowl sitting on ice and refrigerate when cold, until required.