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Sheep's Head, Tongue, and Trotters, Puddings Of
The remains of sheep's head, tongue, and trotters may be made into a pudding with suet crust, and boiled in the usual way. Two or three sliced walnuts may be put in with the meat.
A leftovers note rather than a full recipe: the meat is already cooked, so the pudding is really an exercise in getting a suet crust right and reheating the filling through. The quantities are left entirely to the cook, which was normal in a book that assumed you had a boiled sheep's head on the sideboard.
- The walnuts are pickledThe walnuts are probably pickled -- "sliced walnuts" in a Victorian meat pudding most likely means pickled walnuts from the jar rather than fresh nuts. They supply a sharp, dark, vinegary note that cuts the fat of head meat and trotters. Two or three, sliced thin, suits a basin of about a pint and a half.
- Suet crust proportionsA workable modern version is 8 oz self-raising flour (or plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder) to 4 oz shredded suet, a good pinch of salt, and roughly 5-6 fl oz cold water to a soft dough. Line a greased 1.5-pint basin with two-thirds of it, reserving the rest for the lid.
- "Boiled in the usual way"In period this meant a floured pudding cloth; the modern equivalent is to cover the basin with pleated greaseproof and foil, tie it down, and stand it in a pan of simmering water reaching two-thirds up the sides. Because the filling is already cooked, 1.5 to 2 hours is enough to set and lighten the crust; top up with boiling water so it never goes off the simmer.
- Moisten the fillingCold head, tongue and trotter meat is dry and sets solid with its own gelatine. Add 4-5 tablespoons of stock or leftover gravy to the chopped meat before filling the basin, or the pudding will be dense and the crust will draw moisture out of the meat rather than the other way round.
- Sourcing the meat todayWhole sheep's heads and trotters are sold mainly through halal butchers and specialist suppliers, and split heads usually need ordering. Lamb's tongue is more widely available, tinned or fresh. Any braised, gelatinous cut of lamb or mutton stands in for the same effect.
- Handling reheated leftoversThe original assumes meat cooked that day or the day before. Keep the cooked meat refrigerated, use it within two days, and make sure the centre of the pudding is piping hot when it comes out of the basin, not merely warm.
- YieldA 1.5-pint basin made as above serves four, with a sharp sauce or plain boiled potatoes and greens.
Sheep's head was one of the cheapest sources of meat in nineteenth-century Britain, boiled whole for broth in Scotland as powsowdie and sold by the head in city markets to households that could not afford a joint. Leftovers are the real subject here: a boiled head, tongue and set of trotters produced far more gelatinous meat than one meal required, and a suet pudding was one of the usual ways of turning cold scraps into a hot second dinner. Pickled walnuts, a common English store-cupboard item then and a much rarer one now, did the work that mustard or a vinegar sauce does elsewhere, sharpening meat that is rich and faintly gluey by nature. The absence of quantities is characteristic of the period's leftovers cookery, where the cook was expected to know the crust by heart and adjust the basin to whatever was left in the larder.