British Puddings

Despite British cooking having been much maligned in the past, great British puddings have always stood firm throughout the ages, as a bastion of all that’s homely and comforting, especially on wintry days when puddings such as spotted dick or baked crumbles served with lashings of creamy custard, evoke childhood memories of anticipation of what sweet delights lay in store, together with a simultaneous feeling of slightly wicked self indulgence. In today’s climate of healthy eating and counting calories, many people forgo the pleasures of eating home made puddings on a regular basis, in favour of low fat yoghurt and the like.

Steamed puddings have been part of the fabric of British life for centuries. The originals were made from suet boiled in a cloth, often in the same pot as the meat. More recently they were transferred into pudding basins and cooked over, rather than in, the water, which allowed more delicate creations to be made.
Steamed puddings fall broadly into two categories. Those made with butter, flour and eggs produce a sponge-like pudding topped with sauce that can be put into the base of the bowl and cooked with the pudding, or heated separately and poured over the top.
Opting for the former means the sauce melts with the sponge to produce a deliciously gunky top - the "fruit hat". But if it's a runny sauce you're after, you are better off going for the pour-over option. Or do both.
Then there are British puddings made with suet, which includes Christmas pudding and Sussex Pond. Suet, stirred in rather than creamed, takes the place of butter and egg and makes for a denser, more crumbly texture, a delicious crust and a subtly different flavour.
Ready-grated Atora suet is fine, or fresh beef suet can be bought cheaply from most butchers. Store it in the fridge and grate it into the flour. Wrap the top of the pudding to stop it getting soggy from the steam. The traditional way is with a cloth, ideally a generously sized old dinner napkin, whose tied-up corners make a sturdy handle to lift the hot bowl out of the pan.
In 1985 a club called “The Pudding Club” was formed to prevent the demise of the traditional great British Puddings. The Club and its members now proudly claim that because of their efforts the great Pudding has reclaimed an enthusiastic following throughout the country – and beyond.