Suet pudding

“ Suet puddings and dumplins are not unwholesome, neither are mutton drippings with potatoes or other vegetables. In short, fat is eaten daily by all ranks of people, in some way or other, in much larger quantities than is prescribed for soup. A labouring man would find no difficulty in eating as much suet at one meal, in a flour pudding, or as much drippings as is necessary for a gallon of soup, in a mass of potatoes or cabbages ”

“ PUDDING, a term, now of rather wide application, for a dish consisting of boiled flour enclosing or containing meat, vegetables or fruit, or of batter, rice, sago or other farinaceous foods boiled or baked with milk and eggs. Properly a pudding should be one boiled in a cloth or bag. There are countless varieties, of which the most familiar are the Christmas plum-pudding, the Yorkshire pudding and the suet pudding. ”

“ Wheaten bread, which is by no means so palatable, and certainly not half so nutritive, now costs something more than three pence the pound: and to this may be added, that dry bread can hardly be eaten alone; but of suet pudding a very comfortable meal may be made without any thing else.
A pudding in great repute in all parts of North America, is what is called an apple pudding. This is an Indian pudding, sometimes with, and sometimes without suet, with dried cuttings of sweet apples mixed with it; and when eaten with butter, it is most delicious Food. ”

“ A custard pudding will be honeycombed (i.e. full of holes) , if the water is allowed to boil; the heat of boiling will curdle the eggs.
Most baked puddings require a moderate oven, particularly such as rice, tapioca, &c.
In preparing suet for puddings, remove the skin, slice the suet, and then chop it finely, using a little flour to 152prevent it sticking to the knife. Currants must be well washed and dried. Sultanas should be rubbed in flour, and the stalks picked off.
Beef-steak Pudding. Ingredients—1 lb. of flour. 3⁄4 or 1⁄2 lb. of suet. 11⁄2 lb. of beef or rump steak. ”

“ Stir in the water until it is a firm consistency, but do not use too much water, or the paste will be tough. Suet crust should be kept as dry as possible. Turn it on to a floured board and knead for a few minutes. It is then ready for use; this crust is suitable for all kinds of boiled puddings, such as meat, apple, jam, & c. These puddings require to be boiled for a very long time. They must always be plunged into boiling water, and kept boiling and covered with water all the time they are cooking.
SUET PUDDING 1 lb. Flour—2d. ”

“ I wish, Elizabeth, you would tell me some new puddings. Archie says ours are so dull."
Elizabeth immediately threw herself into the subject of puddings.
"I know one new pudding, but it takes two days to make and it's very expensive. We only have it for special people. You know 'Aunt Mag,' of course? and 'Uncle Tom'? That's only 'Aunt Mag' with treacle. Semolina, sago, big rice—we call those milk things, we don't dignify them by the name of pudding. What else is there? Tarts, oh! and bread puddings, and there's that greasy kind you eat with syrup, suet dumplings. ”

“ They should also be cleared from the specks with scrupulous attention, either with the point of a small three-pronged fork while they are in the cup, or by straining the whole through a fine hair-sieve after they are beaten. The perfect sweetness of suet and milk should be especially attended to before they are mixed into a pudding, as nothing can be more offensive than the first when it is over-kept, nor worse in its effect than the curdling of the milk, which is the certain result of its being ever so slightly soured. ”

“ When the pudding has boiled a long enough time, dip the bag quickly in cold water, and the pudding will turn out easily. Allow five large eggs to 1 quart of milk usually to make custard solid enough to keep its shape when turned from the mold. One teaspoonful of extract will flavor one quart. Always stand individual cups in a pan partly filled with hot water. Place pan containing custard cups in a moderate oven and bake slowly forty minutes. Always sift flour over beef suet when chopping it to be used in puddings. ”

“ Two of these dishes, always served up one after the other, made the usual Dinner of a Substantial Gentleman or wealthy Citizen." But the French traveller becomes enthusiastic over the English pudding. "The pudding is a dish very difficult to be described. Flour, milk, eggs, butter, sugar, suet, marrow, raisins, &c., are the most common ingredients of a pudding. They bake them in an oven, they boil them with meat, they make them fifty different ways. Blessed be he that invented Pudding. Ah, what an excellent thing is an English Pudding!" ”

“ So bring in the pudding, if Susan's got one, Which will for a while one's appetite stay.
Mrs. Merdle Discourseth of Pudding. A pudding! why yes, as I live, too, it's plum; So plain, Susan makes them on purpose for me I never refuse, when the plum puddings come, To finish my dinner, if finished 't can be On things unsubstantial, like puddings and pies, So made up of suet, and currants, and flour, Like this one before us, to get up the size, And stirred up and beaten with eggs by the hour, With bread crumbs, and citron, and small piece of mace ”

“ Mode.—Chop the suet finely; mix it with the flour, currants, stoned raisins, and candied peel; moisten with the well-beaten eggs, and add sufficient milk to make the pudding of the consistency of very thick batter. Put it into a buttered dish, and bake in a good oven from 21⁄4 to 21⁄2 hours; turn it out, strew sifted sugar over, and serve. For a very plain pudding, use only half the quantity of fruit, omit the eggs, and substitute milk or water for them. The above ingredients make a large family pudding; for a small one, half the quantity will be found ample ”

“ When sirloins of beef, loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify; dripping will baste every thing as well as butter, fowls and game excepted; and for kitchen pies, nothing else should be used.
The fat off a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than suet.
Meat and vegetables that the frost has touched should be soaked in cold water two or three hours before they are used, or more if much iced. When put into hot water or to the fire until thawed, no heat will dress them properly. ”

“ Take three cups breadcrumbs, one cup flour, one cup chopped suet or dripping, one teaspoonful baking powder; rub these well together, and a cup of sugar. A cupful of currants washed and picked, the same of raisins, sultanas or pudding raisins, stoned and chopped, candied peel—if you like it—and, if you have them to spare, mix with a couple or three eggs, if not, use plain milk, or even water. Tie in a cloth and boil two hours. Never put the pudding into the water until it boils. It is a mistake that dripping cannot be used in a boiled pudding. ”

“ When done put the fish on a dish, squeeze the other half lemon into the baking tin, pour it over the fish, and serve.
Bread and Jam Pudding.—Take a small pudding basin or mould, grease it well with butter; then shake brown sugar all over the butter. Take four ounces bread-crumbs, three ounces finely chopped suet, and three ounces of any preserve. Put these ingredients in the basin in layers, beginning with the bread-crumbs. Just before putting the pudding in the oven, mix an egg with rather less than half a pint of milk, and add it to it. ”

“ Turn it from the dish before it is served, and strew sifted sugar over it or not, at pleasure: two ounces more of suet can be added when a larger proportion is liked. The pudding is very good without the currants.
Bread-crumbs, 8 oz.; beef-suet, 6 oz.; pounded sugar, 3-1/2 oz.; lemon, 1 large; currants, 6 oz.; eggs, 4 large, or 5 small: 1 hour, brisk oven. ”

“ Boil any fruit, such as currants, blackberries, etc., and while hot pour over the bread till the basin is quite full. Place a saucer or small plate on the top, stand a heavy weight on it, and leave till the following day. To be turned out and eaten cold.
Half-pay Pudding.—1⁄4 lb. suet, 1⁄4 lb. currants, 1⁄4 lb. raisins, 1⁄4 lb. flour, 1⁄4 lb. breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoonfuls dark treacle, 1⁄2 pint milk. Boil for three or four hours. The longer this pudding boils the better it is. Apple charlotte, rhubarb charlotte, and Manchester pudding also used up our stale bread. ”

“ Amherst Pudding. 11⁄2 cups of sour milk, 1 cup of dark molasses, 1 cup of suet, chopped fine, 1 cup of seeded raisins, 1⁄2 cup of citron, 1 teaspoonful of soda, 1 teaspoonful of salt, stir all together, steam 3 hours.
SAUCE OF PUDDING—Into a pint of boiling water stir to a paste a tablespoonful of corn starch or flour, rubbed smooth in a little cold water; add a cup full of sugar, a tablespoonful of vinegar, cook well for 3 minutes, add a piece of butter the size of a small egg, flavor with a tablespoonful of vanilla. ”

“ As for cheese-cakes, custards, tansies, &c., they are manifest puddings, and all of Sir John's own contrivance; custard being as old, if not older, than Magna Charta. In short, pudding is of the greatest dignity and antiquity; bread itself, which is the very staff of life, being, properly speaking, a bak'd wheat pudding.
To the satchel, which is the pudding-bag of ingenuity, we are indebted for the greatest men in church and state. All arts and sciences owe their original to pudding or dumpling. What is a bagpipe, the mother of all music, but a pudding of harmony? ”

“ Garnish the pudding with sifted white sugar, and with candied or preserved orange or lemon peel.
In boiling a pudding, cold water should never be added. Keep a kettle of hot water to replenish the water in the pot as it boils away. As soon as the pudding is done, remove it from the boiling water. A decrease in heat whilst cooking, makes boiled pudding sodden, and makes baked pudding fall. The best sauce for a boiled pudding is cold sauce made of the frothed whites of eggs, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and a little French brandy, while for a baked pudding, a rich, boiled wine sauce is best. ”

“ A buttered paper should always be put over the basin before the cloth is tied on, for all custard puddings.
COMMON CUSTARD PUDDING. Whisk three eggs well, put them into a pint basin, and add to them sufficient milk to fill it: then strain, flavour, and sweeten it with fine sugar; boil the pudding very softly for an exact half hour, let it stand a few minutes, dish, and serve it with sugar sifted over, and sweet sauce in a tureen, or send stewed gooseberries, currants, or cherries to table with it. ”

“ Short mutton cutlets, cut without showing the bones, with slices of raw potatoes between, also make very excellent puddings, as also do cutlets of lamb, but in either case requiring an hour less time to cook. I have also frequently made very good puddings from veal, rabbits, poultry, and game, all of which are very acceptable for a change. Venison pudding is also very beautiful. I consider it a pity so few people make any experiments in cookery, which, like other arts, is almost inexhaustible. ”

“ The sauces served with puddings deserve just as much attention as to selection and preparation as the puddings themselves. For instance, a sour sauce that is not rich, such as lemon sauce, should be served with a rich, sweet pudding, while a rich, hard sauce or perhaps a chocolate sauce is the proper kind to serve with a bland, flavorless pudding. ”

“ Observe, that by shaking the pudding gently, previous to turning it out upon your dish, you will mix the gravy with the flour upon the meat, thus forming, when the pudding is cut, a thinnish sauce, without having a greasy appearance.
This very long and minute receipt will probably surprise many, but by thus entering into it, I have given at least ten receipts in one, as I make all other savoury puddings precisely the same; the following sorts most frequently. I sometimes introduce one or two mutton kidneys in a steak pudding, which, although a very old custom, is nevertheless a very good one. ”

“ Boil a pint and a half of milk with two ounces of lump sugar, or rather more if a sweet pudding is liked, and pour it boiling hot on three eggs lightly beaten—that is, just sufficiently so to mix whites and yolks. Flavour the custard with nutmeg, grated lemon-peel, or anything which may be preferred and pour it into a tart-dish. Place this dish in another three-parts full of boiling water, and bake slowly for forty minutes, or until the custard is firm. There is no need to butter the dish if the pudding is baked as directed. ”

“ Sultana raisins are well adapted to these puddings, as they contain no pips, and from their delicate size sooner become tender in the baking than the larger kinds.
THE POOR AUTHOR’S PUDDING. Flavour a quart of new milk by boiling in it for a few minutes half a stick of well-bruised cinnamon, or the thin rind of a small lemon; add a few grains of salt, and three ounces of sugar, and turn the whole into a deep basin: when it is quite cold, stir to it three well-beaten eggs, and strain the mixture into a pie-dish. ”

“ A bag made of two thicknesses of cheese-cloth, stitched together, will do. Always leave room in mold or bag for pudding to rise, using a smaller or larger mold according to quantity of pudding. If not boiled steadily, and emptied as soon as done, puddings will fall and stick.
ALMOND PUDDING Beat the yolks of four eggs very light with one-half cup of sugar; then add one-half cup of grated walnuts or almonds, one-half cup of grated white bread crumbs, then the stiffly-beaten whites of four eggs. Put in pudding form and steam from one and one-half to two hours. Serve with wine or fruit sauce. ”