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Suet Pudding (III)
Mrs. W. Butterfield.
One cup of suet, one cup of molasses, one cup of milk, one cup of raisins, three and a half cups of flour, one egg, one tablespoon of cloves, one tablespoon of cinnamon, one nutmeg, a little salt, one teaspoon of soda, (dissolve in the milk); steam three hours.
A plain steamed pudding of the sort that once ended a winter dinner. The proportions work as written, but the spicing is heroic by modern standards and the steaming is the part that needs attention.
- Cut the spiceA full tablespoon each of cloves and cinnamon plus a whole grated nutmeg (about 2 teaspoons) is far more than most modern palates want; nineteenth-century ground spices, bought in bulk, were likely weaker than what we buy today. A teaspoon each of cloves and cinnamon and half a nutmeg gives a well-spiced pudding rather than a medicinal one.
- SuetBeef suet is the hard fat from around the kidneys, and it must be finely chopped or grated while cold so it melts through the batter during the long steam. Butchers will often supply it on request; packaged shredded suet is sold in some markets. One cup grated is about 4 oz.
- MolassesUse unsulphured dark molasses, not blackstrap, which is bitter and will fight the spices. The molasses is also the acid that activates the soda, which is why no baking powder appears.
- Soda in the milkDissolving the teaspoon of soda in the milk, as directed, is the hinge. Undissolved lumps leave bitter yellow-brown spots through the crumb, and the batter should go into the mould as soon as the milk and molasses meet.
- VesselA 2-quart pudding basin or covered mould, well greased, filled no more than two-thirds. Cover tightly with a lid or with buttered foil tied down, or the condensing steam will soak the top.
- SteamingSet the mould on a rack in a deep pot with boiling water reaching halfway up the sides, cover, and keep at a bare simmer. Check the water level hourly and top up with boiling water; a pot that boils dry at hour two will scorch the pudding and can crack the mould.
- Doneness and yieldThree hours is right for a 2-quart mould; a skewer to the centre should come out clean and the pudding will have pulled slightly from the sides. Serves eight to ten. Let it stand ten minutes before turning out.
- ServingThe recipe gives no sauce. Hard sauce (butter creamed with sugar and a little brandy or vanilla) or a warm lemon sauce was a usual accompaniment for puddings of this kind. Leftovers re-steam well, or slice and fry in butter.
Steamed suet puddings came to American kitchens straight from the British boiled-pudding tradition, and they survived here longest in exactly this form: suet, molasses, spice and dried fruit, steamed for hours on the back of a coal range while other work went on. Molasses did the sweetening because it was cheaper than refined sugar through most of the nineteenth century, and its acidity paired with saleratus or soda to raise a batter in the decades before chemical baking powders were universal. The Home Cook Book was compiled from recipes contributed by Chicago housewives and sold for charity, which is why the same dish turns up three and four times over under different women's names — each contributor gave the version she actually made, and the editors printed them all. Mrs. Butterfield's is the plainest kind: no brandy, no citron, nothing that had to be bought special.