An old family recipe that hasn’t been made for many years since grandma passed away. Aunty had the recipe but never made it herself. The only other information I was given is “she put the pudding in a cloth sugar bag, tied it and to cook it she put it in a pot of boiling water for about 3 hours”.
What’s a cloth sugar bag? Could I use cheesecloth instead?
Suet I’m assuming I can probably find from a butcher?
Just looking for any help or tips so I can hopefully make this a successful Christmas surprise for the family!
by Mandar10
6 Comments
I think if you look up clootie dumplings you can get a better grasp of how this was made.
Never made this but it sounds like an old English recipe. Suet in this case might be beef tallow like you used for lard. Not positive but I think it might be grounded up and used before it’s rendered, not after it’s cooked off into lard.
Here’s a British chef showing one kind of Christmas pudding with a link to suet on Amazon [https://youtu.be/MHkTK2XjDcc?si=wVGuYgojJ_GkALiQ](https://youtu.be/MHkTK2XjDcc?si=wVGuYgojJ_GkALiQ)
Most videos I saw were steaming the pudding. This plum pudding is boiled in a piece of cloth. [plum pudding](https://youtu.be/Q4o1wYwkv9g?si=mzNsNYCcz0RShD-W)
A covered pudding mold or Bundt pan works nicely too. You can also bake it if you want too.
I would find a British takeoff episode where they make boiled puddings like this. This will give an idea and be entertaining
Brit here.
You can boil it in a glass bowl covered with a layer of buttered paper (tie with string) then a layer of foil. Stand it on a trivet or cloth in a pan and fill the pan with boiling water to come 2/3 way up the bowl.
You can absolutely sub shortening for suet, and I would recommend doing so: https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-suet-and-alternatives-to-suet-in-british-food-435414
And remember currants are just another type of raisin – use sultanas or whatever you like if you can’t find them.
And remember your recipe makes **4 or 5** puddings. If you’re not sure what you’re doing or if people will like it, make a smaller batch first!
This is an excellent article comparing and contrasting various classic pudding recipes and methods, culminating in one that combines the best of all of them: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/nov/17/how-to-cook-the-perfect-christmas-pudding
I found [this](https://paulcouchman.co.uk/how-to-make-a-traditional-christmas-pudding-in-a-pudding-cloth/) which talks about the process of boiling a pudding in a cloth. It’s not that common now to cook it that way, it’s more often steamed in a pudding bowl.
Yes muslin or cheesecloth is a good material for a pudding cloth. I guess a sugar bag may be an old way of packaging sugar but I’m not sure.
In the uk you can buy fresh suet from a butcher but we also have a shelf stable suet brand called atora, you can get beef suet or vegetable suet.