Recipes: Embrace winter with a hearty savoury pudding

Published on Sunday 6 December 2009 11:11

Nothing is more comforting than a savoury pudding, whether it is one made from steak and kidney or black or white pudding. Game pudding is economical too and seasonal now. Making a suet pudding is so easy. A boilable plastic pudding bowl with a snap-on lid is a great help as it negates the need for a cloth top tied on with string. And suet need not be filled with harmful cholesterol as most suppose it is, if you use vegetarian suet or suet from a good butcher – the fat from cattle fed a high gr

These old fashioned dishes taste wonderful and are just the thing for winter evenings, containing inexpensive cuts of meat, and giving starch and protein in one meal.

Steak and kidney pudding

Serves 6

For the suet pastry:

12oz/340g self raising flour

6oz/170g shredded suet

1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

a little cold water

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the suet, salt and pepper, and mix in just enough cold water to make a very stiff dough. Knead this briefly in the bowl, then tip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out, dusting your rolling pin with flour from time to time. Cut off a quarter of the pastry and roll it out into a disc the same size as the plastic bowl lid. Roll the rest of the pastry thinly, and line the pudding bowl with this. The pastry won't quite fill a 3 pint/1.7 litre pudding bowl.

For the filling:

1lb/450g stewing beef – shin or skirt, trimmed of any gristle and cut into even sized bits about 1in/2.5cm in size

12oz/340g ox kidney, trimmed from the central core and cut into small chunks

1 fairly level tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

1 small onion, skinned and finely diced

1pint/570ml stock – I use Marigold stock powder made up with boiling water

Put the prepared pieces of beef and ox kidney into a bowl and mix with the tablespoon of flour, salt and pepper, coating each bit of meat. Pack the floured meat and kidney into the pastry-lined pudding bowl. Pour in the stock to come about 1in/2.5cm below the surface. Cover the top with the pastry disc and pinch it together with the pastry around the inside of the pudding bowl. Cover the top of the pastry with a baking parchment disc, snap the lid on the bowl and put it into a large saucepan. Pour boiling water into the pan, to come halfway up the sides of the pudding bowl. Cover the pan with its lid and, keep the water at a gentle simmer, cook for five hours, checking the level of the water in the pan from time to time – beware letting it boil dry. If you want to make the pudding in advance, cook it for three hours, then for a further two hours before serving. And have a jug of hot stock to hand as you cut into the pudding, to top up the liquid within. Serve with green vegetables – buttery spring greens, or Brussels sprouts, for example.

Game pudding with lemon and thyme suet pastry

Serves 6

For the suet pastry:

12oz/340g self raising flour

6oz/170g shredded suet

1 teaspoon salt, 20 grinds of black pepper

finely grated rind of 1 lemon

a sprig of thyme about 2in/5cm, tiny leaves stripped from the stalks

a little cold water

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the suet. Add the salt, pepper, lemon rind and thyme leaves, and mix to a dry dough with just enough cold water – beware adding too much and making the dough too wet, which results in a soggy, leaden, pastry.

Cut about a quarter of the pastry and roll it to a disc the same in size as the plastic snap-on lid of the pudding bowl. On a lightly floured surface roll out the rest of the suet pastry as thinly as possible, and line the pudding bowl with this.

For the game filling:

11/2lb/675g cut up assorted game, all sinews, bones and skin removed (any or all of hare, rabbit, pigeon, partridge, grouse, pheasant and venison) and cut into even sized bits

1 rounded tablespoon flour mixed with

1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

1 onion, skinned and diced finely

1 pint stock and red wine – I leave the ratio up to you, but I use about three quarters stock to a quarter red wine

2 teaspoons redcurrant jelly stirred into the hot stock, to dissolve the jelly – you can use rowan jelly instead, if you prefer

2 teaspoons Worcester sauce

Mix the seasoned flour thoroughly through the cut up pieces of game, making sure that each bit is lightly coated with flour. Mix in the diced onion at the same time. Pack this into the pastry-lined pudding bowl, and carefully pour in the liquid, easing it amongst the pieces of game. Cover with the pastry disc and seal together the edges of the pastry top and bottom all around. Put a disc of baking parchment over the pastry and snap on the plastic lid. Place in large saucepan and cook, as for the previous recipe. Have a jug of hot stock ready to top up the liquid within the game pudding as you serve it.

Black pudding and apple clafoutis

This is quite rich but very good, and extremely simple.

Serves 6

6 slices of black pudding about 1/2 in/1cm thick, peel off the plastic encasing each slice (I use that made by Charlie Macleod, www.charlesmacleod.co.uk, in Stornoway)

4 good eating apples, each peeled, then cored, then sliced into rings about 1/4 in/1/2 cm thick

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk

3/4 pint/430ml milk

teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper, a grating of nutmeg

Dice the black pudding into bits about 1/2in/1cm in size. Strew these over the base of an ovenproof dish. Cover with the rings of apple.

Mix the eggs and yolk together, beating in the milk, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour this over the apples and black pudding, and bake in a low moderate temperature, 150C/300F/Gas Mark 3, for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is set and no longer wobbles. This is good with baked jacket potatoes and a green vegetable.

TOP TIP:

Top up the pan with boiling water when steaming the pudding

&#149 This article was first published in The Scotsman on December 5, 2009