Pam Corbin
MORE RECIPES
Spotted dick with apple-brandy raisins
SOURCING
graigfarm.co.uk and greenpasturefarms.co.uk (for fresh beef suet)
There are few ingredients that exemplify the post-war changes in our diet as much as suet – or the lack of it. Dumplings, spotted dick, jam roly-poly, steak and kidney pudding: such wonderful, energy-packed dishes for a time when we needed muscle power to toil the land. These no longer merit a place as daily fare, but we still need a bit of comfort once in a while.
Suet is a creamy-white fat from the kidney and loin region in cows and sheep. It is the hardest and most saturated of all animal fats and has a very high melting point: 45–50°C, in contrast to butter’s 32–35°C. This means that a dough can rise and ‘set’ before the suet in it melts, leaving a mass of tiny air holes. Hence suet makes astonishingly light pastry and the fluffiest of dumplings.
Most of the suet used these days is from cattle, often from Northern Ireland or Holland. It’s hard to know much about its provenance. The fat is dehydrated, pre-grated, stabilised with a little flour and stores well at ambient temperatures. Vegetarian ‘suet’ is made from palm and sunflower oils.
Fresh suet can be bought from a butcher (you may need to order it), or found online. It needs to be rendered down: cut it into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water until it has melted. Strain the fat into a clean basin, to remove any bits of tissue, cool it down then chill it well before grating coarsely. Store in the fridge.
CHICKEN AND CIDER STEW WITH ROSEMARY DUMPLINGS
The key to good dumplings is a light touch: don’t work the dough for any longer than it takes to just bring it together. This warming stew also works well with rabbit. Serves 6–8
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 medium-large chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme
500ml dry or medium cider
1–2 bay leaves
Leaves from a handful of marjoram, chopped (optional)
About 250g swede
About 250g turnips (2 medium)
About 250g carrots (3 large)
About 250g parsnips (2 large)
2 tbsp tomato purée
850ml chicken stock
Sea salt and black pepper
FOR THE DUMPLINGS
250g self-raising flour
125g suet
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
Leaves from a small bunch of parsley, chopped
Preheat the oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium-high heat. Season the chicken pieces and brown, in batches, in the pan, transferring them to a bowl as they are done.
Add the onions to the casserole and sauté over a medium heat until just turning golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme, cook for another minute, then turn up the heat and add the cider, bay leaves and marjoram, if using. Let the cider bubble until it is reduced by half.
Meanwhile, peel the swede and turnips and cut into 1.5cm cubes. Peel and halve the carrots and parsnips lengthways, then cut into 1cm half-moon slices.
Stir the tomato purée into the onion mix and return the chicken to the casserole, along with any resting juices. Add the prepared vegetables, pour over the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, then place in the oven for 1¼ hours.
When the chicken has been in the oven for an hour or so, make the dumplings. Mix the flour, suet and chopped herbs together with some salt and pepper, then stir in sufficient water to form a soft dough – about 175ml. Divide the mixture into 12 equal pieces and shape into dumplings.
Take the stew from the oven, drop the dumplings into it, cover the dish again and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until the dumplings are nicely puffed up. Remove the lid and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes until the dumplings are golden brown. Poke a cocktail stick into the centre of one, to check it’s cooked through.
Serve the stew and dumplings with a heap of winter greens.