A clanger from Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds.
The recipe is from Mollie Harris’ Old School Cotswold Country Cookbook. Although it first appeared as recently as 1986, the recipes date to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Hill people have kept the flame of traditional English foodways for a long time. This simple steamed pudding burst with flavor and is worth a try even among those skeptical about the appeal a preparation so unfamiliar to Americans. For four.
For the pastry:
- ½ lb flour
- ¼ lb suet (see the Notes)
- a little salt
- generous teaspoon or more mixed fresh herbs
- water to mix
For its filling:
- about 6 oz bacon cut into ½ inch chunks (see the Notes)
- another generous teaspoon or more mixed fresh herbs
- a sliced big onion
- salt and pepper
- Mix together the elements of the pastry to form “a stiffish workable dough;” do not overwater it.
- Flour a cutting board and press the dough into it to form an oblong about ½ inch thick.
- Scatter the bacon over the dough followed by the herbs, onion, salt and pepper.
- Carefully roll the pudding into the shape of a roly poly.
- Flour a pudding cloth (a dish towel will do) and roll the pudding into the cloth.
- Secure the pudding with kitchen twine, nestle it in a pot of boiling water and simmer it for about 3 hours.
- “Serve with carrots and Brussels sprouts--there’s no need for potatoes with this nourishing bacon pudding.”
Notes:
-Peter Bartrip describes something similar in his Appreciation of Harris, which appears in this number of the critical.
-Atora shredded suet is ubiquitous in the United Kingdom and unknown, except for a serciveable but inferior vegetarian substitute in the United States. Supermarkets, however, carry suet. Its intended use is bird food but once the sinewy tissue is removed from the mass it is easy enough to shred.
-Irish bacon for boiling--actually a species of cured ham--is readily available in the United States online from Tommy Moloney and around St Patrick’s Day at Irish butchers. Rashers of Irish bacon can work too, and they are stocked by specialty butchers as well as bigger supermarkets in the United States as well as by Tommy Moloney itself. Canadian bacon will do in a pinch.
-Harris specifies only ½ teaspoon for each tranche of herb but that amount tends to lose its way in the cooking.
-The quotations are of course hers.