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.

Life is funny. Sometimes it takes places you don't want to go or forces you to do things you had no intention doing. This pudding was one of those things. I wasn't going to do this challenge due to not having the necessary equipment, being too busy, and having too many other commitments. One thing occurred after the other and it all peaked upon finding a vintage pudding basin in a garage sale near Wagga Wagga (Wagga for the locals, a town half way between Sydney and Melbourne) during Easter. The basin was staring at me. I couldn't help myself. Had to give it a home and now had no excuse to not make the pudding.

I am glad I got to make this pudding because, as it turned out, it's one of the best tasting "pies" I have made lately. The crust was savoury and full of flavor, crumbly but flexible and held the filling really well. Instead of a traditional British meat pudding I thought that a stout-braised short rib filling for this pudding could be different, but yet, be quite complimentary, and I wasn't wrong. Thanks to the various, well chosen spices, this braise has a strong but very balanced flavour and pairs with the suet crust seamlessly. The pudding was brilliant served with a homemade ketchup. Overall, this was quite an easy dish to make as long as you divide the tasks over a couple of days, at least. Hope you try this, it will be well worth the effort.

Thank you, Esther for this great suggestion. Can't wait to see what the other Daring Bakers have done!


Stout-Braised short ribs, adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients

  • Dark brown sugar: 1/4 cup, packed
  • Sweet or mild paprika: 1 tablespoon
  • Curry powder: 1 tablespoon 
  • Ground cumin: 2 teaspoons
  • Black pepper: 2 teaspoons
  • Salt: 2 teaspoons
  • Dry mustard: 1 teaspoon
  • Beef short ribs cut into 5 cm pieces: 2 kilos
  • Leeks: 4 medium, white and pale green parts only, washed and chopped to 3 cm pieces
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 3 tablespoons
  • Medium carrots: 4, chopped into 1 inch chunks
  • Celery ribs: 3, chopped finely
  • Bay leaves: 2
  • Fresh garlic: 6 large cloves, chopped finely
  • Beef broth: 1 3/4 cups 
  • Stout beer: 2 x 350 ml bottles
  • Tomato passata: 800 ml
  • Tomato paste: 2 tablespoons
  • Red pepper (capsicum) paste: 4 tablespoons (available from Middle Eastern grocers)


Stir together brown sugar, paprika, curry powder, cumin, pepper, salt, and mustard in a small bowl until combined. Pat ribs dry and arrange in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan or a shallow dish, then generously coat all sides of ribs with spice mixture. Marinate, uncovered and chilled, 1 hour.

Heat oil in pot over high heat until hot but not smoking and quickly brown ribs on all 3 meaty sides (but not bone side) without crowding, in batches if necessary, about 1 minute per side. Transfer meat to a large plate, then add leeks, carrots, celery, and bay leaves to pot and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add broth, beer, and tomato passata, tomato paste and red pepper paste, then add ribs with any juices and remaining spices accumulated on plate and bring liquid to a boil, uncovered. Cover pot and simmer for 3 hours or until meat falls easily from the bones. If necessary, uncover pot and reduce broth until it is no longer runny.

Let it cool enough to be able to skim off excess fat from surface of sauce. Discard bay leaves and bones. Flavour will continue developing into the next day. This recipe will yield a large pudding which will feed about 6 relatively hungry Australians.


Pastry for pudding

Ingredients

  • Self-raising flour: 500 grams, if you cannot find self-raising flour use a combination of all-purpose flour and baking powder
  • Shredded suet: 350 grams
  • Salt and pepper: 1 teaspoon each
  • Water: 420 ml or a little less than a cup or you can use a milk or a water and milk mix for a richer pastry

Mix the flour and suet together then season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pepper.

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. The liquid amounts are only an estimate and most recipes just say water to mix. Don’t over handle the pastry or it will toughen.

Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased pudding bowl and fill with the stout braise.

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. My pudding basin came with a lid so I used that instead of a string.

Steam for up to 5 hours, you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. It's very difficult to over-steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.

Serve on its own or with kasoundi or a homemade, very good quality ketchup. This pudding is stellar with either.