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New College Puddings
Shred a quarter of a pound of beef-suet very finely, mix with it four ounces of finely-grated bread-crumbs, or, if preferred, powdered sweet biscuit, add a quarter of a pound of currants, a pinch of salt, two table-spoonfuls of sugar, half a nutmeg, grated, and an ounce of finely-shredded candied peel. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly, moisten them with three well-beaten eggs, add as much milk as will make them of the proper consistency, and fry the mixture in spoonfuls, in a little hot butter, till they are brightly browned on both sides. Shake the pan frequently to prevent them burning, and turn them over when one side is sufficiently cooked. Arrange them neatly on a hot dish, and strew sifted sugar thickly over them before serving. Time, six or eight minutes to fry. Probable cost, 10d. Sufficient for six persons.
A fried suet dumpling rather than a baked or boiled pudding, and the consistency of the batter is what decides whether it works. Aim for a mixture that just holds its shape on the spoon — stiff enough not to spread in the pan, loose enough that the crumbs are fully moistened.
- WeightsA quarter pound is 4 oz / 115 g, so suet and currants are 115 g each, with 115 g of crumbs. Three eggs plus a splash of milk is a generous binder for that quantity; add the milk a spoonful at a time and stop early.
- Beef suetShredded packet suet (beef or vegetable) works directly. If starting from a lump of raw kidney suet, chill it hard and grate it, discarding the membrane. Butter is not a substitute here — suet's high melting point is what keeps the interior light rather than greasy.
- CurrantsDried Zante currants, not fresh redcurrants or blackcurrants. Plump them briefly in hot water and pat dry if they are stiff, or they will scorch on the outside of the fritters.
- Half a nutmegThat is roughly 1 to 1½ teaspoons of freshly grated nutmeg, which will taste assertive by modern standards. Half a teaspoon is a safer starting point if you are unsure.
- Powdered sweet biscuitThe alternative to breadcrumbs is crushed plain sweet biscuits — digestives, Rich Tea or similar. They bring their own sugar and fat, so reduce the two spoonfuls of sugar slightly if using them.
- FryingShallow-fry over medium heat in a heavy pan, not high heat: six to eight minutes total means about three minutes a side, long enough to cook the egg and melt the suet through the centre. Too hot and you get a dark crust over a raw middle.
- Sifted sugarIcing (confectioners') sugar or caster sugar shaken through a sieve. Do it at the table — it dissolves into the hot surface within a minute or two.
- YieldSix servings as written, which works out to roughly a dozen fritters the size of a large spoonful. They do not keep or reheat well; serve straight from the pan.
New College puddings are traditionally said to take their name from New College, Oxford, and belong to a small family of English puddings named for colleges and inns — Cambridge pudding, College pudding — several of them variations on the same sweetened suet-and-currant mixture. Recipes under the name are securely attested in eighteenth-century English cookery books, well before Cassell's. What distinguishes this version is that it is fried rather than boiled in a cloth or baked in cups, which makes it fast enough for a supper dish. The "probable cost, 10d" is characteristic of Cassell's, which priced nearly every recipe for the benefit of households working to a fixed weekly budget — tenpence to feed six people was frugal even in the 1870s.