The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.
Unfortunately, I could not get a hold of suet, so I used lard instead. I found it rather unpleasant to work with, as the smell and texture were rather off-putting. I decided for a change to make a savoury dish, and chose the recipe for steak and kidney pudding provided with the challenge.
Because of the warmth in my kitchen, I found it difficult to pick up the rolled pastry, so I ended up half moulding it free-form into my pudding basin. I think this made the pastry a little thick to cook to perfection, as I ended up with a few under-cooked patches inside my pudding, despite steaming it for 3 hours.
When I turned out the pudding, it collapsed a little on one side, so it was not as aesthetically pleasing as it might have been.
For some reason, my meat turned out greyish, a little like a pork pie:
Despite the obvious defects, I found the steak and kidney pudding to be rather tasty. Unfortunately, perhaps because of its unloveable appearance, it was not popular at work, and I ended up turfing quite a bit of it.
I have successfully made a lovely steak and kidney pudding using a similar recipe once before. On that occasion, I use tallow (Supafry) in the pastry, and I wonder whether that fact, and that I steamed it for 5 hours instead of 3, the main differences this time. However, as I am unlikely to be making suet puddings on a regular basis, it won't be an issue that I will be investigating.
Thanks to Esther for being our host this month. To see what the other Daring Bakers made with their suet pastry, check out the Daring Kitchen blogroll.
17 comments:
Well, you were brave. I didn't wish to try the suet. I just couldn't imagine eating such obvious fat. I know, I'm very slack! It's great you gave it a go even if you never do it again. That why we are daring bakers!!
Thanks for visiting my blog. I think lard and suet are much better suited in savoury puddings. Glad yours tasted good , and the crust looks pretty tasty too. And those biscuits above look sensational!!
If she had insisit on making with suet i would have bowed out,
I think my hubby will like this one.
I used butter..but Its great that you were able to stick to the actual requirement.
Is steak and kidney pudding different than steak and kidney pie? I remember that I loved this when I was in London.
Great you did the challenge and that you liked the results somewhat. Yes I steamed mine for 5 hrs and that seemed to make the crust brown flaky and so delicious and the meat was perfect. Good work on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Challenge completed, right, and that's all that matters is that you gave it a go. I stayed away from the kidney but did make a steak and mushroom pudding. The flavor was great but the looks were a little offputting at first as well.
If it tastes good, it's loveable! You are indeed a daring DB! I wasn't as daring, and skipped the suet.
Well done to you for trying...I hope you had fun. It's a pity you couldn't get vegetarian suet (which is a mix of palm and sunflower oils).
If you decide to try again rest the pastry in the fridge overnight, that helps with the rolling!
Great job! Even though it didn't turn out as planned, at least it tasted good!
Well done on the challenge. Feel like I've missed out as I was unable to participate this month for other reasons. Glad you found it tasty.
Good on you for giving it a go!
Hi Ivy, yes, very similar to steak and kidney pie - just a different crust.
Looks yummy and i am feeling hungry.
It sounds like my savoury puing--tasty inside, but the crust got thrown out! Good job managing your time to get this and the TWD made! Your cookies look good:)
Next time, I will try steak and kidney for my savory pudding. I used butter in mine and steamed it for 3 hours too, maybe yours just needed a bit more time.
Actually, it looks rather tasty! I've always envisioned steak and kidney pudding to be a bit of a rustic treat anyway.
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