Food science question: steaming vs baking a steamed pudding.

[shaun-in-to]

In my books I can find lots of explanations comparing steaming and baking, but nothing tells me why I can't bake something like a plum pudding.

In steaming, the steam doesn't make contact with the pudding; it just circulates around the pudding basin, providing heat.

So if it's just a question of temperature, rather than wet vs dry heat, why couldn't you bake a plum pudding, well covered so it doesn't dry out, at a very low heat?

 

[angak]

and wouldn't setting a small pan of water on the rack below the pudding add the moisture to surround

the pudding? I think it would work.

 

[mistral]

Also, steaming is at boiling temperature, which allows. . .

spices, fats and such to cook longer, stay more moist and the flavors mingle and bloom.

Try baking your pudding with its mold set into another pan of water?

 

[shaun-in-to]

You'd think so, wouldn't you. But hardly any recipes say so. Must be more than tradition at work.