Christmas pudding day for chefs

The puddings will be eaten at Christmas parties and lunches

A team of chefs have started the festive season early by cooking 3,000 Christmas puddings in a single day.

Up to a dozen cooks at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport were involved in mixing together the 300kg (47st 3lb) of ingredients needed for the puds.

It includes 580 eggs, 94kg (14st 11lb) of mixed fruit, 66 pints of Guinness and 17 bottles of rum.

The ingredients of the hotel's own pudding recipe, were mixed using a 2ft high and wide bowl.

The ingredients also included 72kg (11st 4lb) of brown sugar, 30kg (4st 10lb) of flour, 18kg (2st 11lb) of treacle, 17.5kg (2st 10lb) of syrup and 12kg (2st 2lb) of ground almonds.

Once ready, the puddings will be served at Christmas parties at the venue over the festive period as well as at lunches for more than 1,000 people on Christmas Day.

Executive pastry chef Amit Kumar said: "The Celtic Manor Resort is one of only a few large hotels which still prepares its own Christmas puddings on this scale.

"It's hard work to prepare all 3,000 in one day but it is also a lot of fun cooking in such numbers with so many ingredients and such large utensils.

"It's a real team event with all the pastry chefs taking part and some even coming in on their day off to help get the job done.

"We have done some of the puddings from start to finish but, because of the huge numbers, most of the puddings will be steamed over the coming days."