SUET AS A SAFEGUARD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 101, 30 May 1941, Page 45

SUET AS A SAFEGUARD

F late years it has become rather the fashion to deprecate the use of suet in cook-ing-except in steak. and kidney pudding, which has always maintained its popularity as a winter dish. Of course if the suet is not very finely grated or chopped, and the pudding properly mixed and cooked, it certainly can be most un-appetising. But nowadays you can buy packaged suet already shredded very finely indeed, so that it is quite easily mixed with flour and absorbed thoroughly by it in the cooking, making a light and very palatable pudding. Another great advantage of this shredded suet is that having been. lightly sprayed with rice flour during the shredding process, it does not get cloggy and sticky; and being hygienically packed, it keeps indefinitely. We know, too, that beef suet is recognised by food specialists as one of the most valuable of fats. Indeed, one specialist says that plenty of suet in the diet is the best safeguard against tuberculosis! An old fashioned remedy for a bad cough or a sore throat is a glass of hot milk with a teaspoon of very finely-chopped suet stirred in; our grandmothers used to sip this slowly at bed-time-and always slept well afterwards. Anyhow, try some of these recipes for suet puddings, both baked and boiled. Baked Rhubarb Pudding Rhubarb is not nearly as popular as it deserves to be, for it is really very good for us. Perhaps the family will like it better this way. In a deep pudding basin mix together.2 or 3 tablespoons each of brown sugar and butter, -and smear it thickly all over the inside of the basin; make a stiff dough of 2 cups of flour; 34 cup shredded suet; 2 teaspoons baking powder, a little salt, and cold water to mix. Cut one third off the dough, and put it aside. Roll the rest out and line the basin, already spread with the butter and sugar. Cut up the rhubarb, and half fill the basin. Add enough sugar to sweeten and enough water to make plenty of juice. Then add the rest of the rhubarb. Roll out the other piece of dough, make a lid, and bake in a hot oven for an hour. Turn out the pudding on a hot dish, and serve with cream or custard. Apples may also be used-flavoured with cloves; or any other fruit you fancy. A little quince in with the apple makes a change. Rabbit Roly Poly Place a nice young rabbit in salted water for 2 hours, then wipe dry, rub |

all over with the juice of a lemon, and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Make a stuffing by mincing %4lb. liver; 2 bacon rashers; 2 scalded onions; 12 cup dried bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons shredded suet, salt and pepper to taste and a little finely chopped parsley. Fill the rabbit and sew it up. Make a soft suet crust, and wrap up the rabbit in it. Tie in a well floured cloth, drop in boiling water, and boil for three hours. Serye with parsley sauce. This makes a reafly tasty, tender and substantial meal." Honey Roly Poly For the filling, heat 4% Ib. honey in a saucepan, add 2 oz. of breadcrumbs, mix well, and allow to cool before spreading on the dough. To make the dough sift 2 cups of flour and 114 teaspoons baking powder into a basin, add 1 cup finely shredded suet, and mix well. Stir in sufficient water to make a soft pliable dough. Turn on to floured board, and roll out into an oblong shape. Spread with prepared filling, leaving a good margin all round the edge. Damp the edge and roll up like a Swiss Roll. Press the edges securely together at either end. Wrap in a floured pudding cloth, and tie tightly at both ends, place in a pan of boiling water, and boil about 14% hours. Cook in a long boiler if possible, to retain the shape. Serve with extra honey heated in a separate dish. This may also be baked, without the pudding-cloth of course.

De Luxe Meat Pudding Make a crust with 1 Ib. wholemeal; 6 oz. shredded suet, 1 teaspoon of baking powder; a pinch of salt; and water to mix. Have ready a pound of lean steak, minced; 1% Ib. of bacon rasher; 1 lb. tomatoes and 2 onions lightly fried in slices; a little gravy or stock or even hot water. "Line a basin with the crust in the usual way, and put a thick layer of minced meat at the bottom. Lay two rashers of bacon on this, and then put a layer of thick slices of tomato; then a layer of friend onion, and a little gravy. Season to taste, put on a thin layer of crust, and then repeat the whole process until the basin is full. Cover with a pastry lid, put greased paper on top, and steam for about 314 hours. This is’ an excellent dish for children as well as grown ups, full of nourishment and vitamins. Butter Suet Pudding This is really a traditional recipe, known as Kentish Well Pudding. One pound of flour; 4 oz. suet; 42 to % Ib. currants; 6 oz. butter; 3 oz. sugar and a little salt. Make flour, suet, currants and salt into a smooth paste with a little water. Take one third of it and roll it out. Make a ball of the butter and sugar, and wrap pastry round it to make a dumpling, pinching well to keep the butter in. Roll out the rest of the pastry, and with it cover the dumpling again. Boil in a cloth for 24% hours; or it may be put into a buttered basin and stearned. When served, it will have a (Continued on next page) :

_ (Continued froth previous page) well or pond of butter in the middle. To serve cut a piece out of the top and cut round, not down. Mixed Fruit Pudding Without Eggs This was sent in from Pukekohe. Three ounces of breadcrumbs, 3 oz. flour; 114 oz. brown sugar; 2 oz. suet; 1 oz. seeded raisins; 4% oz. peel; 1 oz. sultanas; %2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda; % teaspoon mixed spice; 1 teaspoon grated orange rind; a small grated carrot, and milk to mix. Mix the flour and the breadcrumbs. Add all the dry ingredients. Clean the fruit and chop the peel finely, and add. Add sufficient milk to make a dough of soft consistency. Add the grated carrot and orange rind with the fruit." Turn into the greased basin and cover with greased paper. Steatn about three hours, Serve with this orange sauce-put a teaspoon of arrowroot in pan, mix to smooth paste with 4% pint water. Add to this the grated rind and juice of 1 orange, and 2oz. sugar. Still till boiling, and cook gently for five minutes. Cornflour could be used in place of atrowroot.