[Magdalen] Cooking advice - steamed pudding

[Molly Wolf]

Suet for pudding isn’t rendered; it’s finely shredded or grated.  I used to prep 20-odd pounds of beef kidney fat (it comes as a capsule around the kidneys) for the ACW plum pudding fundraiser.  The stuff is utterly revolting until chilled solid.  Then you tease the fat out of its membranes, free it from tiny blood vessels, and break it up into crumbs.  Rather peaceful work, if greasy.

Molly

The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. -- Mark Twain

> On Jan 26, 2018, at 5:20 AM, Simon Kershaw <simon at kershaw.org.uk> wrote:
> 
> I would say that suet is essential.
> 
> Althpugh my grandmother would have bought suet from the butcher as a big
> lump of fat, these days it is more accessible in ready-grated form. The
> standard brand is Atora -- and I see this is available at amazon.com for
> just a few dollars. So you should be able to get it. Unless you have
> vegetarians coming I would use the proper beef version.
> 
> Granulated sugar will probably be okay, but you might be able to test some
> of the grains in the pudding. Caster sugar is a little finar. You can put
> granulated sugar in a food processor or blender for a few seconds to make
> it more like caster -- but not too long or you'll get icing sugar
> (powder).
> 
> The choice of material for the pudding basin shouldn't matter too much,
> even plastic. A lid is quite useful, and probably usable with a suet
> pudding. (I wouldn't use a lid when cooking a steamed sponge pudding
> because the pudding will rise or expand, but a suet pudding should be
> okay.)
> 
> You do want to steam it, either in a proper steamer or suspended over
> boiling water in some other way. If making do (as I do) with an ad-hoc
> arrangement in a saucepan, do think about how you are going to get the
> basin out of the pan when it's cooked. I rig up a string cradle -- two
> pieces of string placed as a cross and tie a knot at the cross-point, then
> place this under the pudding basin and bring the four ends up and over the
> basin and tie loosely at the top to form a handle that you can use to
> lower and raise the basin out of pan of boiling water.
> 
> simon
> 
> Rick Mashburn wrote:
>> ObAng content -- Spotted Dick!
>> 
>> Now that I have your attention, Alex and I are in a gourmet group. Our
>> next
>> dinner is coming up soon and we're in charge of dessert this time around.
>> Because this is a group of gay men, I just can't resist cooking Spotted
>> Dick with Cream Anglaise.
>> 
>> I've found several recipes online that call for English products such as
>> suet and caster sugar. So far as I can tell, those aren't available in
>> Texas. Martha Stewart has a good looking recipe that uses butter and
>> regular sugar instead.
>> 
>> My questions:
>> 
>> - Will butter and sugar be acceptable substitutes? Or, are suet and caster
>> sugar actually available here?
>> - We will have to buy a pudding basin as we don't have anything that will
>> substitute. There are ceramic and metal (plain and non-stick) versions --
>> some with lids. Will the choice of vessel impact the final product?
>> - Any other advice with making steamed puddings? We are practicing our
>> recipe this weekend.
>> 
>> Thanks in advance!
>> 
>> Peace, Rick
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Simon Kershaw
> simon at kershaw.org.uk
> Saint Ives, Cambridgeshire
>