Damson Pudding
INGREDIENTS for pudding for 6 persons.-1½ pint of damsons, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar, 3/4 lb. of suet or butter crust. AVERAGE COST, 10d.
Make a suet crust with 3/4 lb. of flour by recipe; line a buttered pudding-basin with a portion of it; fill the basin with the damsons, sweeten them, and put on the lid, pinch the edges of the crust together, that the juice does not escape; tie over a floured cloth, put the pudding into boiling water, and boil from 2 to 3 hours.
TIME.-2 to 3 hours.
SEASONABLE in September and October.
A boiled suet pudding of the plainest Victorian sort: raw fruit sealed in pastry and simmered for hours until the crust is set and the damsons collapse into syrup. Two things decide whether it works — a properly sealed lid and water that never stops boiling.
- Seal the lid or lose the juiceDamsons throw a great deal of thin, dark liquid. Brush the rim of the lining crust with water, press the lid on firmly and crimp it, then cover the whole basin so no water gets in and no syrup gets out. A leaking pudding boils out into the pan and the crust goes grey and sodden.
- A pint of damsonsFruit measured by volume: roughly 12 oz to 1 lb (340 to 450 g) of whole damsons with stones in, depending how closely they pack. That will fill a basin of about 1.5 pints (900 ml) once lined with crust.
- Moist sugarVictorian moist sugar was unrefined and slightly damp — light brown soft sugar is the closest match. Damsons are markedly sharp, so 4 oz (115 g) is the minimum; taste-adjust upward if your fruit is underripe.
- The stones stay inBeeton does not stone the fruit, and damsons are near impossible to stone raw in any case. Tell whoever is eating it. If you would rather not serve stones, halve and stone the fruit after a brief blanch, but expect a wetter filling.
- Suet crust proportionsThe recipe only says to make a suet crust with 3/4 lb of flour. A workable suet crust runs at roughly 4 to 5 oz (115 to 140 g) shredded suet to that much flour, with a pinch of salt and enough cold water to bring it to a soft dough. Roll it thicker than shortcrust; it needs body to hold the fruit. Butter crust is the same idea with chilled grated butter in place of the suet.
- Floured cloth, or its modern replacementThe floured cloth was there to keep water out. A pleated round of baking parchment topped with foil, tied under the rim with string and given a fold across the middle for expansion, does the same job with less fuss.
- Boil or steamStand the basin on a trivet or folded cloth in a deep pan and keep the water at a steady boil with the lid on, topping up from a kettle as it drops; if the pan runs dry the basin can crack and the crust scorch. Steaming in a covered pan also works, though it may need longer.
- Time and donenessTwo hours is enough for a 1.5-pint basin; three suits a larger one. There is no visual test, so err long — an overcooked suet crust is merely soft, an undercooked one is raw and pasty. Rest 5 minutes before turning out, and serve with cream or custard to cut the sharpness.
- SeasonSeptember and October still holds. Damsons have a short window and do not travel well; frozen damsons work here and can go into the crust straight from the freezer, with a little extra boiling time.
The damson takes its name from Damascus — damascene plum in older English — and the fruit, a small tart form of Prunus domestica, is generally traced through the Mediterranean into Britain in antiquity, where it naturalised in hedgerows and orchard corners across the Midlands and the North. Too sour to eat out of hand, it was a preserving and pudding fruit: damson cheese, damson gin, and puddings like this one. The dish belongs to the great family of English boiled suet puddings, which existed because a pudding basin in a pot of water needed no oven at all — a real consideration in a house cooking on an open range or a single hob. Beeton's costing of tenpence and her note on September and October are the marks of a book written for households buying to a weekly budget from what the season actually offered, rather than choosing a dish and then hunting the fruit.