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Lemon Dumplings
Mix six ounces of finely-shredded beef suet with half a pound of grated bread-crumbs; or, if preferred, in equal quantities. Add four table-spoonfuls of moist sugar, the chopped rind and strained juice of a large lemon, a beaten egg, and half a pint of new milk. When thoroughly mixed, divide the paste into half a dozen parts. Put each part into a small buttered cup, tie it in a cloth, and boil quickly until it is done enough. Serve the dumplings hot, with a little sauce made of three ounces of sugar boiled with the rind of a lemon, and the strained juice, and half a pint of water, until the sugar is dissolved. A glass of sherry and two or three drops of cochineal may be added. Time to boil, one hour. Probable cost, 9d. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A Victorian steamed suet pudding in miniature, boiled in teacups rather than one large basin. Nothing here is difficult, but the vessels and one or two ingredient names need translating.
- The hinge: keep the water boiling"Boil quickly" is deliberate. A suet mixture set in a cup needs steady, vigorous heat from the start so the suet melts and the crumbs swell before the batter has time to slump. Keep a kettle on and top the pan up with boiling water so it never goes off the boil, and keep the water level at about two-thirds up the cups.
- Cups and clothsSmall buttered cups tied in pudding cloths were one common household method. Buttered dariole moulds or 150 ml ramekins, each covered with a pleated round of baking parchment and foil tied or crimped on, do the same job. A covered steamer basket over simmering water is a workable substitute for immersion and is less awkward.
- Moist sugarMoist sugar is unrefined or partly refined soft sugar, closest to today's light brown sugar. Four tablespoons is roughly 50-60 g. The recipe does not specify which sugar to use in the sauce.
- New milkNew milk means fresh whole milk, as distinct from skimmed or the previous day's. Half a pint in an English kitchen of this period is 10 fl oz, about 285 ml, not the American 8 fl oz.
- SuetSix ounces of shredded beef suet is about 170 g. Packet shredded suet works well; vegetarian suet is a common substitute, though it melts differently. If you are using suet from a butcher, chill it hard and grate it, discarding membrane. The "equal quantities" variant simply means matching weights of suet and crumbs, which gives a richer, heavier dumpling.
- BreadcrumbsHalf a pound is 225 g of crumbs grated from slightly stale bread, not dried golden crumbs from a tub. Dry commercial crumbs absorb far more liquid and will give you a dense plug.
- The lemon rind"Chopped rind" means the yellow zest only, pared and then chopped fine, or simply grated. Any white pith carried over turns the pudding bitter.
- CochinealTwo or three drops of cochineal tinted the sauce pink. It is carmine, made from scale insects, still sold as a food colour and still not vegetarian. It is entirely optional and adds no flavour.
- The sauceThree ounces of sugar (85 g) with lemon rind, the juice and half a pint of water makes a thin lemon syrup rather than a thickened sauce. Simmer it a few minutes past the point where the sugar dissolves to concentrate it slightly, then strain out the rind before adding the sherry.
- YieldSix cups, stated as enough for four or five, so either the portions are generous or some diners take two. Serve turned out of the mould, with the hot sauce poured over.
Suet puddings boiled in cloths were a mainstay of English domestic cookery for a long period, and by the time Cassell's assembled its dictionary in the later nineteenth century the form appears in many small variations: roly-poly, spotted dog, and individual dumplings like these, boiled in small cups so that each diner got their own. Lemon was one common way to lift a suet-and-crumb base, and the accompanying syrup, sharpened with juice and fortified with a glass of sherry, belongs to the older tradition of sweet wine sauces served with boiled puddings. The costing of ninepence is characteristic of the book, which gives a probable cost for each dish for households keeping careful accounts; cochineal was a widely used red colouring in kitchens of the period, alongside the newer synthetic dyes that later drew the attention of food analysts.