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Simple Suet Pudding
One cup of chopped raisins, one cup of molasses, one cup of chopped suet, one cup of milk, three cups of flour, two teaspoons of baking powder. Steam in a double kettle (one with a hole in the center is best) three and a half hours.
— Mrs. Frank Richardson
A plain steamed pudding of the type nearly every 19th-century village cookbook carried, and one that survives modernisation with almost no change. The main thing to get right is the steaming vessel and a steady, unbroken supply of water beneath it.
- The "double kettle"Most likely a steaming arrangement rather than a double boiler in the custard sense: a covered pot with a rack or insert that holds the pudding above simmering water. The one "with a hole in the center" is probably a tube mould, which lets steam reach the middle so the pudding cooks through evenly. A greased 6- to 8-cup tube pan or pudding basin set on a rack in a large stockpot does the same work.
- Cover the mouldFill the mould no more than two-thirds and tie or crimp foil or greased parchment over the top. Uncovered, condensation drips in and the batter turns to paste on the surface. Keep the water at a bare simmer and top it up with boiling water so the pot never runs dry over three and a half hours.
- SuetBeef suet, the hard fat from around the kidneys, is what is meant. Butchers will still supply it on request, and shredded packaged suet is sold for baking. Chop or grate it cold and toss it with a spoonful of the flour so the pieces stay separate; they melt during steaming and leave the crumb light.
- MolassesUse unsulphured baking molasses rather than blackstrap, which is markedly more bitter. The molasses is the only sweetener here, so the pudding is dark and moderately sweet rather than sugary.
- Baking powderTwo teaspoons in three cups of flour is on the light side by modern standards; a steamed pudding relies partly on steam for lift. Modern double-acting powder behaves differently from the single-acting powders of the period, so there is no need to increase it.
- Raisins"Chopped" matters. Whole raisins sink; chopped and floured, they stay suspended. Dark raisins are closest to the original, though currants or a mix works.
- Timing and donenessThree and a half hours is accurate for a full mould and not padding. The pudding is done when a skewer in the center comes out clean and the top springs back. Let it stand ten minutes before unmoulding.
- Yield and servingAbout eight to ten servings. The recipe gives no serving suggestion; a sauce is conventional with puddings of this kind: hard sauce, a thin lemon sauce, or warm cream. Leftovers reheat well by re-steaming for twenty minutes or so.
Steamed suet puddings were a mainstay of American and British kitchens well into the 20th century, for a practical reason: they needed no oven. A pudding could steam on the back of the range for an afternoon while the fire did other work, and the ingredients — flour, suet, molasses, dried fruit, a little milk — were pantry staples that kept without refrigeration. Molasses gives this pudding a dark, faintly bitter depth quite unlike the sugar, brandy and spice of an English plum pudding. Moulds with a central tube were made for steamed puddings. Recipes credited to a named contributor are characteristic of subscription and community collections, where the attribution served as both a courtesy and a recommendation.