Tuesday 30 January 2018

Sussex pond pudding

Last weekend I made a Sussex pond pudding and, as I occasionally do, I posted a picture of it on Facebook. The ensuing discussion included both a request for my recipe and a link to a recent Guardian article "the perfect... Sussex pond pudding".

Here's my recipe, fleshed out with a few pictures. I've taken it from a slim booklet of traditional Sussex recipes I bought a few years ago in a branch of "Sussex Stationers", a now defunct budget bookshop chain.

1/ Make suet pastry from 8 oz self raising flour, 4 oz suet, 2 oz breadcrumbs, pinch of salt, and enough water to make a soft dough. I use a food processor as I don't have the knack of making pastry by hand. The Guardian's recipe omits breadcrumbs, so won't have the brown flecks (from the crust) you can see in my picture.

Sussex pond pudding

2/ Roll out the pastry and line a buttered 2 pint pudding bowl. To make a better fit to the steep sided bowl I cut out three triangles so the remainder is like a radiation warning symbol shape. I then join these cut edges (after dampening with water) inside the bowl. Trim around the top edge then combine all the pastry offcuts and roll out to make a circular lid.

Sussex pond pudding

3/ Wash an unwaxed lemon and cut up 4 oz of butter and allow to soften. Stab the lemon many times with a skewer, then wrap in the butter, then roll in 4 oz of dark brown sugar. Place in the lined bowl with any left over sugar. The Guardian's version slashes the lemon with a knife and simply surrounds it with cubed butter and sugar which looks a lot easier.

Sussex pond pudding Sussex pond pudding

4/ Attach the lid and trim the edges, then cover with a circle of parchment and an aluminium foil lid with room for expansion. It domes right up as it cooks.

Sussex pond pudding Sussex pond pudding

5/ Steam for 3 to 4 hours (or a bit more), turn out on to a plate and eat.

Sussex pond pudding