STEAK & KIDNEY PUDDING

Method

Steak and Kidney Pudding is one of those nice warming winter dishes. This is an easy thing to make but time-consuming to cook.

A lot of people say they don’t like kidney. However, beef, OX kidney is surprisingly mild compared to lamb or pig kidney and is needed to enhance the flavour. If Kidney really is not for you then this dish isn’t for you, but you can replace this with button mushrooms, but the final dish really isn’t the same.

Don’t be tempted to replace beef kidney with another kidney. Go to your butcher who will be able to provide what you need.

Suet pastry is one of the easiest pastries to make by far.

Serve the steak and kidney pudding with buttery mash potato / baked potato, peas and carrots. It doesn’t need anything else.

 

Suet Crust Pastry

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the suet, dried thyme, salt, pepper and water and mix together with a wooden spoon until the ingredients start to bind together. Now use your hand to form the ingredients into a firm dough ball. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 20 min before rolling out using.

Three-quarters of this pastry will line the pudding basin. The remaining quarter is used to create the lid. If making two 1 ¼ (750ml) puddings then of course half this size pastry before dividing up further

Make two balls of suet pastry dough and roll the larger ball out into a circle big enough to line the pudding basin and the smaller ball into another circle big enough to cover the top of the pudding basin.

Well, butter the pudding basin. And chilli it before adding the pastry.
Now line the bowl with the pastry, pressing it well all around.

Prepare the filling.

Cut the steak into 1” (2cm) cubes and the kidney into approximately ½” (1cm) cubes then toss them in the seasoned flour, then add them to the pastry-lined basin with the slices of onion.

Add enough beef stock sauce to just cover the meat and onions.

Add the pastry lid by dampening its edges and put it in position on the pudding.

Seal well and cover first with a disc or parchment paper and then with a double sheet of foil, pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking.

Secure the foil with string, making a little handle so that you can lift it out of the hot steamer. Then place it in a steamer over boiling water.

Steam for 5 hours, topping up the boiling water halfway through.

If you are using two 1 ¼ (750ml) pudding basins then half this cooking time.

Once cooked slide a palette knife around the edge and turn the whole thing out on to a serving plate and divide and serve.

Make extra gravy using the trimmings before serving with mash potato / baked potato, peas and carrots.