The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.
And thus the very first thing I did was to check in the nearest supermarket whether they had any suet. You see, suet is widely used in the south-east spanish's kitchens, but here, in the north, we rarely used it. But I was lucky, as they had 2 sticks of it, 300g each.
Next I had to decide if I was going to make a savory or a sweet pudding. Well, my father can't eat too much sweets and my mother prefers savory dishes, so it was an easy choice. Therefore, I decided on the savory pudding, filled with carrots, potatoes and beef. To make it nicer I added some onion and white wine sauce to the filling.
Then I went to search for an alternative to the steamer (I don't own one and I don't intend to), which was resolved quickly by using the pressure cooker with a steamer stand. And I made 2 handles for the pudding bowl with some string.
When the day I had set to make the pudding came, my main worry was to undercook the pudding, so I decided to leave it for 2 and half hours steaming (I made enough for 2 medium-sized puddings), as the host had said that is very difficult to overcook it. Also, at the last moment I decided to add a dash of pimentón (I think that in the english-speaking countries it's called spanish paprika, but I'm not sure) to the crust instead of pepper, that's why the uncooked crust has a yellowish color.
The recipe:
Ingredients for the crust:
250g self-raising flour (I combined all-purpose flour with baking powder)
175g shredded suet
A pinch of salt
2 dashes of pimentón
Water (I don't know the exact amount that I used)
Ingredients for the filling:
2 small carrots
1 large potato
200g beef, chopped
I'm sorry but I can't post the ingredients nor the method for making the sauce because I don't use fixed amounts, it a family recipe so we simply add the ingredients and cook it as we please, so it changes from one time to another.
Method:
The pudding was exactly what you could expect from the British kitchen; it's trully one of the best exponents of the English food. The results that you get with such a simple but savory ingredients are really incredible. And I must say that I believe that the steaming process plays an important part in obtaining it's final cualities.
And thus the very first thing I did was to check in the nearest supermarket whether they had any suet. You see, suet is widely used in the south-east spanish's kitchens, but here, in the north, we rarely used it. But I was lucky, as they had 2 sticks of it, 300g each.
Next I had to decide if I was going to make a savory or a sweet pudding. Well, my father can't eat too much sweets and my mother prefers savory dishes, so it was an easy choice. Therefore, I decided on the savory pudding, filled with carrots, potatoes and beef. To make it nicer I added some onion and white wine sauce to the filling.
Then I went to search for an alternative to the steamer (I don't own one and I don't intend to), which was resolved quickly by using the pressure cooker with a steamer stand. And I made 2 handles for the pudding bowl with some string.
When the day I had set to make the pudding came, my main worry was to undercook the pudding, so I decided to leave it for 2 and half hours steaming (I made enough for 2 medium-sized puddings), as the host had said that is very difficult to overcook it. Also, at the last moment I decided to add a dash of pimentón (I think that in the english-speaking countries it's called spanish paprika, but I'm not sure) to the crust instead of pepper, that's why the uncooked crust has a yellowish color.
The recipe:
Ingredients for the crust:
250g self-raising flour (I combined all-purpose flour with baking powder)
175g shredded suet
A pinch of salt
2 dashes of pimentón
Water (I don't know the exact amount that I used)
Ingredients for the filling:
2 small carrots
1 large potato
200g beef, chopped
I'm sorry but I can't post the ingredients nor the method for making the sauce because I don't use fixed amounts, it a family recipe so we simply add the ingredients and cook it as we please, so it changes from one time to another.
Method:
- Mix the flour and suet together.
- Season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pimentón.
- Add the water, a tablespoonful at a time, as you mix the ingredients together. Make up the pastry to firm an elastic dough that leaves the bowl clean. Don't over handle the pastry or it will be too hard.
- Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased bowl.
- Add the filling and roll the final piece of pastry out into a circle big enough to cover the top of the basin, dampen the edges and put in position on the pudding, pinching the edges together to seal.
- Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil (pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking). Secure with string, and place it in a steamer over boiling water.
- Steam for up to 5 hours (mine was steamed for 2 and half hours); you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. It's hard to over steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.
- Take the pudding out of the steamer and serve it while still warm.
The pudding was exactly what you could expect from the British kitchen; it's trully one of the best exponents of the English food. The results that you get with such a simple but savory ingredients are really incredible. And I must say that I believe that the steaming process plays an important part in obtaining it's final cualities.
