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Damson Pudding
Shred up very finely four ounces of good beef suet, and rub it well into half a pound of flour. Use as much water as will make a smooth firm paste, then line a well-buttered basin, and cut a cover for the top. Fill with the damsons, and sweeten to taste. Tie a floured cloth firmly over the top, and boil steadily for two and a half to three hours. Apples and damsons do very well together. Probable cost, 8d. Sufficient for six or seven persons.
A plain suet-crust boiled pudding, and the details that matter are all in the crust and the water bath.
- SuetFour ounces of shredded beef suet to half a pound (about 1 3/4 cups) of flour is the standard 1:2 ratio for a boiled crust. Packaged shredded suet works directly; a block of raw suet should be grated on the coarse side while very cold. Vegetable suet gives a slightly softer crust but behaves the same.
- FlourPlain flour is meant. If you want a lighter crust, some later versions add a teaspoon of baking powder per half pound.
- Water"As much water as will make a smooth firm paste" is somewhere around 6 to 10 tablespoons of cold water, depending on the flour. Stop as soon as it holds together; a wet crust will slump and a much-kneaded one turns tough.
- The basinA 2-pint (about 1.2 litre) pudding basin suits these quantities, given that the recipe is said to serve six or seven. Roll about two-thirds of the paste for the lining and reserve a third for the lid, then seal the edges with a wet finger, or the juice escapes and the pudding collapses when turned out.
- SugarDamsons are sharp. Four to six ounces (1/2 to 3/4 cup) of sugar for a pudding this size is realistic, layered with the fruit rather than dumped on top.
- StonesThe recipe says nothing about stoning, and damsons were often cooked whole, stones and all, for diners to deal with at the table. Halving and stoning the fruit first costs nothing in flavour and spares your guests.
- Covering and boilingA floured cloth alone may let steam in over three hours. Cover with buttered baking parchment, then foil, pleated to allow rise, and tie the cloth over that. Stand the basin on a trivet or folded cloth in a pan of boiling water reaching two-thirds up the sides, keep it at a steady simmer, and top up with boiling water so it never drops below halfway.
- Time and turning outThe recipe gives two and a half to three hours; the longer end suits a fuller basin. Let it stand five minutes before inverting onto a warm dish. The original says it is sufficient for six or seven persons; it says nothing of custard or cream.
The damson is a small, astringent plum long grown in English hedgerows and orchards, and its name is generally traced to damascenum, the plum of Damascus, by way of Middle English damascene. Suet-crust puddings boiled in a basin are often said to have gradually displaced the older tradition of pudding boiled loose in a cloth; the ceramic basin with a cloth tied over it made a cheap, self-contained dish. The aside that "apples and damsons do very well together" may reflect the practice of stretching a sharp, briefly available fruit with a cheap and abundant one.