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French Pudding
904. Take half a pound of flour, half a pound of suet chopped fine, half a pound of currants, a quarter of a pound of treacle, and half a pint of milk; mix well, and boil in a basin three or four hours.
A plain boiled suet pudding of the sort that fed English households for two centuries: four dry ingredients, milk to bind, and a long spell in the water. The whole thing hinges on keeping the basin sealed and the water at a steady simmer.
- Half a pintThis is an imperial half-pint, 10 fl oz, so about 1¼ US cups. The batter should be a thick, dropping consistency; hold back a little milk and add it only if the mixture is too stiff to fold.
- TreacleBritish treacle here means dark or black treacle, closest to a robust unsulphured molasses; American blackstrap is darker and more bitter than British black treacle and will overpower the pudding. Golden syrup is much milder and will give a paler, sweeter pudding. A quarter pound is roughly 5 to 6 tablespoons, and it is the only sweetening in the recipe.
- SuetBeef suet, the hard fat from around the kidneys, grated or chopped very fine so it melts and leaves the crumb open. Packaged shredded suet works directly; frozen butter grated on the coarse side of a box grater is a common substitute, though it gives a denser result.
- CurrantsDried currants, not fresh redcurrants and not raisins — small, dark and tart. Toss them in a spoonful of the flour so they stay suspended rather than sinking to the bottom of the basin.
- "Boil in a basin"Butter a pudding basin large enough to take the mixture with room to spare (these quantities make close to two pints) and fill it no more than two-thirds, and cover with pleated parchment and foil or a floured cloth tied under the rim. Stand it on a trivet or folded cloth in a pan of simmering water reaching halfway up, lid on, and top up with boiling water as it drops. If water gets under the cover the pudding is ruined.
- TimingThe recipe's three to four hours is for a full basin at a steady simmer. It is cooked when a skewer comes out clean and the top springs back.
- No raising agentThere is no egg, no baking powder and no breadcrumb here, so expect a close, moist, dark crumb rather than a light sponge. Sifting the flour and folding rather than beating keeps it from going heavy.
- Yield and servingServes six to eight. Turn out hot and serve with custard, pouring cream or a thin sweet white sauce; leftovers reheat well steamed for 20 minutes or fried in butter in slices.
Boiled suet puddings in a basin or cloth were the backbone of English domestic sweets from the eighteenth century onward: cheap flour, cheap fat, dried fruit, and a pot that was already on the fire. Treacle gave colour and sweetness at a fraction of the price of refined sugar, which is why it turns up so often in nineteenth-century puddings aimed at ordinary households. The name is the puzzle, since there is nothing French about the method or the ingredients — Victorian cookery books attached "French" to all manner of dishes as a mark of fashion, and the label was often little more than a flourish on the page.