Suet Pudding
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Suet Pudding
For some people, searching for the perfect pudding is an unobtainable but enjoyable lifelong quest. Mead may be the nectar of the Gods and Manna the food but Suet is the common people's padding and in puddings it's true versatility as a food is being re-kindled.
Suet is the particular fat which surrounds the kidneys 1 and loins of sheep and cattle. It is white and fibrous but when chopped or grated and mixed with flour it can be used to help make stuffings, mincemeats, suet crust pastry or steamed suet puddings such as 'Spotted Dick', steamed suet with raisins or sultanas mixed in!
For the true suet aficionado there is only one way to cook suet and that is as laid down in the annals of the 'The Suet Pudding Club UK', which meets at least once in the Northern Hemisphere of this planet between the yearly winter and spring solstitial points 2.
'Death by Suet' is the final course 3 of this suet filled menu 4 and consists of suet wrapped in a cloth and boiled for 2 to 3 hours. The pudding when turned onto a serving dish should sit heavily as a solid, amorphous, glistening lump with the folds of the containing cloth impressed into its sides. Each member of the club receives a 2 inch thick slice which is covered with a quarter pint of golden syrup and topped with a similar quantity of double cream and or custard5 garnished with an 'After 8' chocolate. Traditionally 'Death by Suet' is washed down with a bottle of Tizer or a pint of hot tea.
In the unusual event of there being left-overs, the remains are allowed to cool 6 until the following morning when 1 inch sections are carved and fried in butter then served as previously, with syrup and cream accompanied naturally, by a large glass of whisky and several large mugs of coffee.
The Recipe for this shiny, glutinous feast is as follows:
Death by Suet:
(For 4)- 4 oz. suet, chopped or shredded
- 6 oz. self-raising flour (plain will do with a spoonful of bi-carbonate of soda and a squeeze of lemon
- 2 oz. breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 oz. sugar
- Milk (or water) to mix, about a third of a pint
Method
Mix the suet, flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
Make a well in the centre and and gradually add the milk until there is a soft dropping consistency (not too sticky!).
Turn into the cloth 7 previously making sure that the glistening agent8 is sprinkled over the globular mass.
Tie the cloth both ends as in a sausage shape or gathered at the top and place into a large pan of boiling water. Simmer for two to three hours or longer, adding water as and when required to avoid boiling dry.
The Suet Pudding Club UK Annual Menu
Starter:
Fried whitebait suet rolls garnished with parsley. Complemented with a Gold Label Barley Wine
Main course:
Steak and kidney pie made with a suet crust pastry and served with traditional English chips and two rounds of white bread and butter, garnished with herb Rocket. Washed down with 1 pt of Bateman's XXX beer.
Pudding:
Death by suet as described above and garnished with 'After 8' chocolates, together with the optional Tizer or more traditional tea with milk and two sugars. The milk should always be added first, the sugar last.
Disclaimer
'The Suet Pudding Club UK' accept no liability for any untoward after-effects such as massive indigestion, coronaries, brain tumours, narrowing or hardening of the arteries or death!
Minus-One(Master and PR Officer of 'The Suet Pudding Club UK')
