Beef-steak Pudding (also known as John Bull's Pudding) is a traditional British recipe, based on Eliza Acton's recipe of 1845, for her classic boiled pudding of beef steak, oysters and water cooked in a suet crust that is the fore-runner of the modern steak and kidney pudding. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Beef-steak Pudding.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Eliza Acton's 1845 volume Modern Cookery, the first classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
BEEF-STEAK, OR JOHN BULL'S PUDDING.
All meat puddings are more conveniently made in deep pans, moulds, or basins having a thick rim, below which the cloths can be tied without the hazard of their slipping off; and as the puddings should by no means be turned out before they are sent to table, one to match the dinner-service, at least in colour, is desirable. Roll out a suet crust to an inch in thickness, line evenly with it a quart, or any other sized basin that may be preferred, and raise the crust from an inch and a half to two inches above the edge. Fill it with layers of well-kept rump-steak, neatly trimmed, and seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne; pour in some cold water to make the gravy; roll out the cover, moisten the edge, as well as that of the pudding; draw and press them together carefully, fold them over, shake out a cloth which has been dipped into hot water, wrung out, and well floured; tie it over the pudding, gather the corners together, tie them over the top of the pudding, put it into plenty of fast boiling water, and let it remain in from three to five hours, according to size. The instant it is lifted out, stick a fork quite through the middle of the paste to prevent its bursting; remove the cloth quickly, and cut a small round or square in the top to allow the steam to escape, and serve the pudding immediately. Though not considered very admissible to an elegantly served table, this is a favourite dish with may persons, and is often in great esteem with sportsmen, for whom it is provided in preference to fare which requires greater exactness in the time of cooking; as an additional hour's boiling, or even more, will have little effect on a large pudding of this kind, beyond reducing the quantity of gravy, and rendering it very thick.
Some cooks flour the meat slightly before it is laid into the crust, bout we do not think it an improvement: where fat is liked, a portion may be added with the lean, all skin and sinew should be carefully rejected. Beat the steak with a paste roller, or cutlet-bat, should it not appear to be perfectly tender, and divide it into portions about the width of two fingers. Two or three dozens of oysters, bearded and washed free from grit in their own liquor (which should afterwards be strained and poured into the pudding), may be intermingled with the meat.
A true epicurean receipt for this dish directs the paste to be made with veal-kidney suet, an filled with alternate layers of the inside of the sirloin, sliced and seasoned, and of fine plump native oysters, intermixed with an occasional small slice of the veal fat.
Modern Redaction
This is the fore-runner of the modern Steak and Kidney pudding though here only beef and oysters are used. However, later in the same chapter Eliza Action has a recipe for a mutton pudding that includes mutton and mutton kidneys. So the components were there in 1845, they just had not quite been put together yet.
Ingredients:
500g plain flour
175g shredded beef suet
1/2 tsp salt
250ml cold water
600g tender beef steak, cubed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
6 oysters, shucked and halved
liquor from the oysters, strained
100ml water
Method:
Stir together the flour, suet and salt in a bowl. Add enough of the water to bring these ingredients together as a dough. Turn about 2/3 of the dough onto a floured work surface and roll out until about 15mm thick. Use this to line the base and sides of 1l pudding basin.
Season the beef pieces with salt and black pepper then mix with the oysters place in the pudding bowl and pour over the oyster liquor and water. Roll the remaining dough until large enough to cover the top of the pudding. Crimp the two pieces of dough together then cover the top of pudding with a piece of buttered paper in which a fold has been placed to allow for expansion. Tie this securely to the top of the bowl then cover everything with a double layer of kitchen foil.
Sit on a trivet or upturned plate in a large pan. Pour in boiling water until it comes half-way up the side of the pudding basin then place over the heat and continue boiling for 3 1/2 hours, until the pudding is cooked through. Check on the pudding every now and then and top-up the liquid with more boiling water as needed.
When cooked, remove the pudding from the pan and allow to cool a little. Uncover the bowl and remove the lid. Sit a serving plate on top and invert the pudding onto this. Serve hot, accompanied by boiled potatoes, green vegetables and gravy.
