One of my Dad’s favourite recipes. I think his mum used to make it but I have also seen Keith Floyd cooking it under the soubriquet ‘Norfolk dumpling’. Good old-fashioned stodge, just the thing on a cold day.
Suet pastry
- 225g self raising flour
- 150ml cold water, to mix
- 110g shredded beef suet
- ½ tsp salt
Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add suet and mix lightly. Mix with sufficient water to make a soft but firm dough. Turn out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth.
Place a pudding basin, upside-down, on the pastry and trim round it. Set the pastry disc aside, knead the remaining dough, roll and line the basin with it.
Bacon and onion filling
- 750g bacon offcuts, chopped. Smoked or unsmoked, it doesn’t matter.
- 3 large onions, chopped into large pieces
Fry the bacon in a little oil until cooked. If the bacon’s quite fatty, don’t use the oil. Fry the onion in the remaining fat.
Turn the bacon and onions into the lined pudding basin. Cram in as much as you can, and keep going until it reaches the top. Wet the rim of the basin with a little water, re-roll the suet disc – it will have shrunk slightly – and lay it over the top of the basin, pressing gently on the rim to seal the pudding.
Now cover the pudding in a clean white teacloth, and tie with a tight knot using some strong string around the lip of the basin to seal.
Make a bain-marie by boiling a pan with a few inches of water – not quite enough to cover the top of the pudding – and stand the pudding in it. Place a lid on the saucepan and simmer for two hours, adding more water to the bain-marie as needed but never letting the water reach the top.
Turn out, while piping hot, onto a plate and serve with boiled potatoes, peas and English mustard to taste.
Serving suggestion: You can use a mixture of steak, kidney and oysters – yes, oysters – instead of the bacon if you like!