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Lemon Dumplings (Take the juice and rind)
959. Take the juice and rind of a lemon, and from four to eight ounces of bread; grate both very fine, and add a quarter of a pound of suet chopped fine, a quarter of a pound of moist sugar, and two eggs; mix all well together, put it in teacups tied on with cloths, and boil or bake them three-quarters of an hour. of food
A small boiled or baked suet pudding, sweetened and scented with a whole lemon. The method is Victorian shorthand: teacups stand in for individual pudding basins.
- The bread"Four to eight ounces" is a wide latitude, and the original gives no reason for it; how dry the loaf is will affect how much you need. Use about 6 oz of dry white breadcrumbs; if the mixture will not hold its shape on the spoon, add more crumbs rather than flour.
- Moist sugarMoist sugar is unrefined or partly refined sugar with the molasses still in it. Light brown sugar, 4 oz, is the closest modern equivalent; caster sugar works but gives a paler, less caramelly pudding.
- SuetA quarter pound of beef suet, finely chopped or grated. Packaged shredded suet, beef or vegetarian, can be substituted measure for measure and needs no chopping. Suet must stay in visible flecks, so keep it cold and do not overwork the mixture.
- Rind and juiceGrate the zest before juicing, and take only the yellow layer. Grating the bread and zest together, as directed, distributes the oils through the crumb and is worth doing in that order.
- Teacups tied on with clothsButtered ramekins or dariole moulds, filled about three-quarters full, are the modern stand-in. Cover each with buttered parchment and foil or a square of cloth, tied under the rim, so condensation cannot soak the pudding.
- To boilStand the covered cups on a trivet or folded cloth in a pan, add boiling water to two-thirds up their sides, and keep it at a bare simmer for 45 minutes. Top up with boiling water as it evaporates; a hard boil will slop water under the covers.
- To bakeThe recipe says only "bake", with no oven description; around 350F for the same 45 minutes works, and a roasting tin with an inch of hot water round the cups helps. Baked, they take on a browned top and a firmer edge; boiled, they stay soft and pale throughout.
- Yield and servingRoughly four to six small puddings, depending on how much bread you use and the size of the cups. Turn them out hot and serve with a lemon sauce, a spoonful of cream, or plain custard; suet puddings stiffen quickly as they cool.