Boiled Currant Pudding

Ingredients

• 5 cup sifted flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 cup chopped suet
• 0.5 lb currants
• milk
• 1 pinch salt

Method

Pick through the currants under running water to remove grit and any remaining stalk, then spread on clean cloth to dry completely. The moisture will otherwise dilute the batter and lengthen the cooking time unpredictably. Chop the suet finely — you want fragments small enough to distribute evenly through the flour rather than render into discrete pockets of fat.

Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. The sifting incorporates air and prevents lumps that will survive the boiling process intact. Add the dried currants and suet to the flour, then toss to coat the fruit and fat in the dry mixture. This prevents the currants clumping together and the suet from binding into dense clots during mixing. Pour in milk gradually, stirring until you reach a stiff batter — one that holds its shape but isn't so dry it tears when you fold it into cloth. The consistency matters: too loose and it spreads into mush; too tight and steam cannot penetrate evenly.

Flour a cotton cloth or clean kitchen towel generously, then turn the batter into the centre. Gather the corners and tie with string, leaving enough room for the mixture to expand by roughly a third as the pudding steams. The cloth acts as a vessel that prevents water ingress whilst allowing steam to cook the interior. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil — you need sustained heat throughout the three-and-a-half-hour cook — then submerge the pudding completely. It should remain covered by at least 5cm of water; top up with boiling water from a kettle every 40 minutes or so to compensate for evaporation.

The long, moist heat transforms the suet into a rich emulsion that binds the flour and keeps the crumb tender. The baking powder provides some lift, but the dairy-free structure depends entirely on the suet's fat content and the steam environment. After three-and-a-half hours, the pudding will feel firm to the touch and a skewer inserted through the cloth should meet no resistance at the centre.

Remove carefully, then untie and turn out onto a warm plate. Serve with sharp jelly sauce — the acidity cuts the suet's richness and prevents the pudding reading as cloying.