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Beef-Steak Pudding
780. Prepare some fine steaks as for beef-steak pie; roll them with fat between, and if shred onion is approved add a very little; lay a paste of suet, flour, and milk in a basin (see par. 738), and put in the rolls of steaks; cover the basin with a paste, and pinch the edges to keep the gravy in; cover with a cloth tied close, and let the pudding boil slowly, but for a length of time-say for four hours. BAKED BEEF-STEAK PUDDING (Toad-in-a-hole). 781. Make a batter of milk, two eggs, and flour; lay a little of it at the bottom of the dish; then put in the steaks prepared as above, and very well seasoned; pour the remainder of the batter over them, and bake it.
Two versions of the same filling: a suet-crust pudding boiled in a basin, and a batter-baked dish the book calls toad-in-a-hole. Both depend on well-seasoned steak, since neither is browned first.
- The paste at par. 738The book's own proportions are given at that paragraph, not here; a suet crust of this kind is conventionally about two parts flour to one of shredded suet, with salt and enough milk to bring it to a firm, rollable dough. Line the basin with about two-thirds of it and keep the rest for the lid.
- Steak to use"Fine steaks as for beef-steak pie" means chuck, skirt or thin flank cut into strips, not a modern grilling steak. Four hours of steam will reduce sirloin to string, while chuck turns tender and produces the gravy the recipe wants sealed in.
- Rolling with fat betweenThe strips are layered with a little of their own fat or a thin slice of beef suet, then rolled up like a pinwheel. This is what keeps the interior moist through a long boil; do not omit the fat and expect the same result.
- Sealing the basinPinch the crust edges firmly, then cover with pleated greaseproof paper and foil, or with a cloth tied close as the recipe directs. The pleat matters: the crust rises, and a tight covering with no slack will split it.
- Boiling methodStand the basin on a trivet or folded cloth in a deep pan, water reaching halfway up, lid on, at a bare simmer. Four hours is not an exaggeration for a large basin, but top up with boiling water so it never runs dry.
- SeasoningNeither version is browned, so all the savour comes from salt, pepper and the optional onion. Season the meat generously before it goes in; you cannot correct it later.
- Baking the batter versionThe book gives neither quantities nor an oven heat. A batter of about 4 oz flour, 2 eggs and roughly 1/2 pint milk is a workable modern reading; batter puddings of this type are generally baked in a hot rather than a moderate oven, in a well-greased dish, until set and browned.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantities. A pudding made in a 2-pint basin with about 1 1/2 lb steak would serve roughly four. Turn it out onto a warm dish and cut at the table so the gravy stays in the crust.
The boiled beef-steak pudding belongs to the English suet-crust tradition that ran through the nineteenth century, when a basin lidded with paste and set over water was a practical way to cook a long, slow dish on a single fire. That the book files the batter version under "baked beef-steak pudding" and glosses it as toad-in-a-hole is a useful reminder that the name was once attached to beef and other meats as readily as to sausages; sausage became the usual filling later. Both dishes trade on the same principle as Yorkshire pudding and the batter dishes around it: flour, egg and milk stretched around a modest quantity of meat, seasoned hard to compensate for the absence of browning.