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Carrot Pudding
1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup chopped suet 1 cup seedless raisins 1 oz. citron peel, shaved thin 1 cup grated raw carrot 1 cup grated raw potato 1/2 cup milk Mix dry ingredients, then add in order given and steam 2 1/2 hours in a greased mold. Serves 8.
A steamed suet pudding of the Christmas-pudding family, using grated raw carrot and potato in place of much of the flour. The method is simple; the two things that matter are keeping the water at a steady simmer and not filling the mold too full.
- Mold and headspaceThe batter comes to roughly 6 cups, so use a mold or heatproof bowl of at least 2 1/2 to 3 quarts and fill it no more than two-thirds. Grease it well and cover tightly with a lid, or with pleated foil tied down, so condensation cannot drip in.
- How to steamSet the mold on a rack in a deep pot, add boiling water to come halfway up the sides, cover, and keep it at a bare simmer for the full 2 1/2 hours. Check the water level every 45 minutes and top up with boiling water; a pot that boils dry will scorch the pudding.
- SuetThis means beef suet, usually kidney suet, chopped or grated fine, not rendered tallow. Butchers will often supply it on request; packaged shredded suet sold for baking works too, though it is generally dusted with flour. Frozen butter grated on the coarse side of a box grater is a common substitute, though the crumb comes out softer.
- Citron peelCandied citron is still sold at holiday baking counters but has become scarce. An ounce is about 2 tablespoons once shaved; mixed candied peel or candied orange peel stands in without complaint.
- Grating the vegetablesBoth carrot and potato go in raw and finely grated. Grate the potato last and add it straight to the bowl, since it darkens quickly on standing, and do not squeeze out its moisture, which the recipe counts on.
- LeaveningHalf a teaspoon of baking powder in 1 1/2 cups of flour is slight. Steamed puddings of this type are dense by design, so there is little to gain from increasing it.
- ConsistencyWith only 1/2 cup milk the mixture is a stiff batter rather than a pourable one. Pack it into the mold and smooth the top rather than trying to pour.
- ServingUnmold while still hot, after resting five minutes. It wants a sauce: hard sauce, a thin brown-sugar sauce, or lemon sauce were all standard. Leftovers reheat well by steaming 20 to 30 minutes, and the pudding keeps several days wrapped and refrigerated.