College puddings? Yes, an odd name for these funny, fruity little fritters. I'm a member of a Facebook group called Lambs' Ears Cookbook Club; last month our book was Pride and Pudding by Regula Ysewijn. The book is a history of British Puddings, Savoury and Sweet - and there seems to be a lot of suet involved :-) Fortunately I have bags of suet mix in my freezer thanks to the botched dumplings I tried to make some months ago. Remember that saga? :-)
But here we have a recipe with suet that worked out just fine - delicious and moreish. They didn't last long at all. And I still have copious amounts of suet mix in the freezer, ready for another batch of these plumptious morsels. I think they're called College Puddings because they were served at an Oxford College for supper, the original recipe appearing in a book by Eliza Smith The Compleat Housewife, 1737. And still delicious!
cute, sweet morsels |
Makes 9-10:
ingredients:
100g./3.5 oz fresh breadcrumbs (bought or homemade)
50g./1.75 oz shredded suet - see Notes below
50g./1.75 oz raw (caster or white) sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
a pinch of sea salt
2 SMALL eggs or 1 large egg, lightly beaten - see Notes below
2 tsp Sherry (or Madeira or spiced Rum)
10g./⅜ oz/ or 1 very heaped tsp currants or sultanas, along with 1 tsp (candied) mixed peel or lemon peel; soaked in a big 20 mL/⅔ oz brandy or rum for 20 minutes, then drained off (drink the rum - tee hee)
28g./1 oz glacé ginger, chopped finely (optional)
28g./1 oz/4 Tbs almond meal (if needed)
butter and oil for frying
icing sugar for dusting
Method:
Grab a large mixing bowl, and tip in the breadcrumbs, suet, sugar, nutmeg and salt; give it a good stir to combine
Add the egg(s) and Sherry; if a thin mixture, just mix it all together well. Regula says this is a dry dough, but will come together with a bit of kneading (my 'dough' was a right old soupy mix)
Leave your dough/batter/porridge to rest for 15 minutes
Fold your currants/sultanas, peel and glacé ginger into the mix
Add the almond meal if needed
Then tease out golf ball-sized amounts, which you flatten slightly (or sling into the pan with a spoon depending on your dough's moisture content :-) )
Heat 20 grams butter and 1 tsp veg. oil in a large frying pan - or just use clarified butter alone if you have that (I didn't)
Fry your balls till golden-brown, and cooked through - see Notes
Serve as a side dish, or with a dusting of icing sugar (says Regula) - I am curious as to what you would serve this with as a side dish :-)
Notes:
It can be difficult to get actual suet (try your local butcher) but as I had mega amounts of suet mix in my freezer I used that instead - so instead of the 50g. of shredded suet, I used 30 grams of butter, and 30 grams of the suet and flour mixture I made up ages ago
As my mixture was so wet, I just used a tablespoon to dollop it into the frying pan, and cooked on each side for several minutes
Regula mentions a similar recipe by William Kitchiner from 1822; he says he prefers them baked in patty pans, so I tried that too. I put a few in the oven to bake at 185C/365F for about 12-15 minutes - both sorts equally delicious! But you can feel virtuous when eating the baked version, if that's your jam :-)
Regula actually joined our Cookbook Club, and told us that in her next book, she has/will give grammage for the eggs, as more than one person has mentioned that this was a very wet mixture rather than a dough :-)
first grab some bread |
and blitz till you have breadcrumbs :-) (Or buy some) |
gather your ingredients |
I used a pastry cutter to cut in the butter and suet mix |
stir in the fruit |
into the oven they go (there were 3) |
frying up in butter and oil |
or baked! I love the heart-shaped one at the bottom |
and we demolished the dusted fritters/puddings :=) |
Princess Pia wrapping up a couple to take home |
I've heard of these, but really had no idea what they were. Suet-based puddings really aren't that common in the US. Too bad, because they can be good. This one looks terrific! And because virtue isn't really my jam, I'll fry. :-)
ReplyDeletethey were really delicious which was a bit of a surprise! yep frying was good.
DeleteThat's a bit of interesting history. British puddings are a bit of a novelty in the US. I just read an article on sticky toffee pudding, which is evidently a 20th century invention from the rebirth of old style puddings. I'm not sure suet is available from mainstream sources here -- it would have to be at a very special shop. Example: not available from Whole Foods which is an all purpose very high-end grocery.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
actual suet is a wee bit difficult to get but suet mix is found in our normal grocery stores.
DeleteI've never had colleg puddings before. They look & sound very tasty.
ReplyDeletethanks Pam.
DeleteFrying in butter sounds fantastic to me. I really love that you cook and bake with suet and butter. They are the real deal and so much better than the over processed vegetable oil.
ReplyDeleteyep i agree angie. butter is best! Yes i do not like veg. oil except EVOO. I think they do horrible heat things to regular veg. oil!
DeleteThese look interesting. Eggs are graded differently around the world so grammage would be a better measure.
ReplyDeletefrom Tandy I Lavender and Lime https://tandysinclair.com
yes the size of your egg can make a huge difference! :)
DeleteOh I had heard of college puddings before. But I had no idea what they were. Now I do. These look delicious Sherry!
ReplyDeletethey are, thanks Neil.
DeleteHi Sherri, what fun it must be to belong to a cookbook club. Thanks for this interesting recipe. Bernadette at New Classic Recipe.com
ReplyDeletehi bernadette. yes it's fun being in the club - so to speak :)
DeleteIt's Judee from Gluten Free A-Z blog- . I've never heard of college pudding before and not sure that many people use suet here in the US. I found your post very interesting.Thanks.
ReplyDeletehey judee. yes suet is pretty much a thing of the past tho people do still use it now and then. It gives food such a lovely moist character!
DeleteWhat a fun recipe! College puddings are a new concept to me, but they look and sound tasty. Now I need to find me some suet... :-)
ReplyDeletesuet is such an old-fashioned item. all that lovely pig fat! or is it cows?:)
DeleteThese look pretty delish! I see a lot of suet puddings in my future. I have actually never cooked with it but I expect when I'm in the UK all that will change :)
ReplyDeleteyep pretty darn delish. we ate 'em all!
DeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeletethank you!
DeleteThese look delicious Sherry, I've never had them before, but suet used to be used in plum puddings too, didn't it? I've never really used it, but I remember it at home when growing up. I'll have to suss it out. Looks like you had fun with these which is great. Great story, and I love the idea of a book club about cooking books. Thanks for sharing this one.
ReplyDeleteyes i think suet was a fave in all sorts of recipes - sweet and savoury. Mum used to make dumplings for stew with it. These were delish!
DeleteYou know, I love Christmas puddings and such, but I have never made one - meaning, I have never worked with suet. I need to "man up" and give this a try. (aaaannnnddd... it looks as though, if I use my computer, I will be able to leave comments for you and Pauline. Just not on my iPad!)
ReplyDeleteSuet is a breeze david. and it gives a lovely moistness (is that a word?) to foods. I know what you mean about commenting. I can only leave them on my laptop; no go with phone or ipad. Grrrr!
DeleteThese look really tasty! I remember having this big hunk of suet in my freezer for ages. I think I had to throw it out in the end because I never used it.
ReplyDeleteMy freezer has bagfuls of the mix!
DeleteI love these little traditional treats, loaded with dried fruits and alcohol :)
ReplyDeletethank you FT!
DeleteI had thought college puddings were sponge pudding with jam on top - which we used to call steamed puddings. Look very tasty - do you eat with custard? (or did they at oxford?) I guess they are a cut above the custard and prunes that Virginia Woolf memorably writes about in A Room of One's Own
ReplyDeletei think they just ate them as is, as did we :) Custard and prunes? Oh my word! Eek!
Delete