Making Suet

Uggghhh...

So, I have had my Mother-in-law here from England for the past month and I thought during that time we would undertake some English dishes I wouldn't try on my own. Tonight, it's Steak and Kidney Pudding. I have made the pie version before. It was fairly simple, once I was able to obtain the kidney. However, this is not the case for the pudding.

The recipe for the pudding calls for self rising flour, suet, salt, and water. I had never seen suet before, but figured I could get it somewhere. My Mother-in-Law buys it prepackaged, in the oil aisle at her grocery store.

A few weeks ago, I go to my grocery store and look in the aisles...no suet. I ask the man at the butcher counter if they carry suet. He says, "Sure we do!". WOO HOO! He goes behind the counter and five minutes later appears with a plastic wrapped package of what looks like fat cut off the ends of steak. I bring the package home and my Mother-in-law says it's not exactly what hers looks like, but figures we just need to chop it up.

I leave in in the fridge for a week, and when I remember it, it's spoiled. Back to the grocery store I go. This time, there is a different gentleman behind the counter. I ask for some suet, and he says they don't sell that. I explain to him that I just got some there last week, and he tells me that the other butcher didn't give me suet...he gave me beef fat which is different than suet. Ok?!

So, I go to the Mexican Meat market around the corner. They don't speak any English, but I ask for some suet anyway. The man doesn't seem to understand what I am looking for, but says no.

I come back home and look up what suet is made from, to see if I could use vegetable shortening, lard, or bacon fat instead (I use bacon fat for my yorkshire pudding). It says that is is non-rendered beef fat mixed with a filler such as flour.

Back to the grocery store I go, where I ask the butcher for a package of beef fat. He tells me, "That I have", and promptly hands me a pounds worth of beef fat, free of charge.

I bring it home and try to grate it on the medium size side grate of my box grater. It takes forever and starts to get soft and won't grate. I am left with a small ball of what looks like lard. My Mother-in-law says that her suet looks like small grains of rice. Mine, definitely does not!

Remembering our old trick to grate mozzeralla, I decide to freeze the fat to see if that helps. It does, and I use the larger "shredding" side of the box grater.

So, that's where I am now...I have grated nearly the 8 ounces I need into a small amount of flour. I've quickly tossed it with the flour and placed it into the refrigerator. It is sooooo messy to do and had taken a good 30 min. Sheesh, we haven't even started making the pudding...which calls for mixing the ingredients for the pudding, lining a basin type bowl with it, filling with the steak and kidney mixture, covering with parchment and cheesecloth, then steaming the pudding in a big pot of water for 5 hrs! I can't imagine it will be worth it, but we will see. If it comes out horrible, we are having leftover Chinese Food...LOL!!

Anyway, if anyone in the US has seen suet, or knows of a suitable substitute, please share it with me!

Maria, Hi.....

Certainly sounds as if you have had and continue to have a mini-adventure with this recipe.

Godspeed
Rogov

Maria,
It appears that you've been (slightly) misinformed. Suet is unrendered beef or mutton fat. It is sold like fresh meat and should be used within a few days of purchase. The stuff sold in supermarkets is usually dehydrated suet, which is indeed mixed with flour to prolong shelf life. Most older recipes assume that you're using fresh suet, though. The best suet, like leaf lard, is the hard stuff that comes from around the kidneys. Because there are blood vessels and other non-fat tissue in the suet, you have to remove the other stuff and grate it before use.

Good luck!
Mark Lipton

I bought suet just once years ago, when I made Christmas puddings (Plum puddings). I got the suet at a high-end butcher shop where they knew exactly what it was, the fat from around the beef kidneys. It was pure white and they had cleaned all the blood vessels, etc. from it. It wasn't cheap either. I got it to the right rice size pieces by chilling it very thoroughly and putting it through a meat grinder (I have an old electric one).
The puddings were very good, but very heavy and filling. I decided that if I made those puddings again I would use vegetable shortening.

Maria, here is my $0.02 worth. About a year ago I did a class on custards and puddings. For the curve ball I threw in a recipe for Spotted Dick. I got some suet from the meat market in the store and prepared it. More on that in just a bit. (At my store we tend to order suet around the holidays.)

Years ago I had the same experience you describe. After much hunting and frustration I did some more research and found that suet is not just ordinary beef fat. It is, specifically, the fat that surrounds the kidneys. For years I had not been able to find any. Once I found it and got to hold it in my hands I thought, "Now I get it." It is nothing like the fat trimmings from other parts of the animal.

Fast forward to my pudding class. To prepare the suet you take the fat and trim away any meat pieces that may be hanging around. Chop the suet into small pieces and put them in a sauce pan. Turn the heat source on low - medium low and allow the suet to render. It will melt but take your time so that it doesn't really "fry". It will smell slightly meaty but not too much so. When the suet has rendered you should have a nice pot full of golden, melted fat. There may be some bits of suet or tissue still in the pan. Simply strain the suet into a bowl, allow it to cool, and then put it into the container of your choice. It is now ready for use and can be refrigerated approximately forever. Under refrigeration it will become solid, like shortening or duck fat. Just hack off what you need for a recipe and cut it into the flour as you would butter or shortening. Once rendered the suet loses much of it's meaty smell and taste. The end result for my Spotted Dick (no pun intended) was a very rich and wonderful pudding.

I think that if you use just fat trimmings from the steak cuts, etc. you will not get the clean taste that you would get from suet.

Good luck,
rwj

Maria, I admire your "stick-to-it" attitude. Your MIL sounds like a very nice lady and she must be very proud of you.

We're fortunate in that the market we use most knows what "real" suet is and happy to give it away. My sole use of it is in the chili I make, IMO necessary for the best end product.

Thanks Everyone!

We are only about 2 hrs away for trying our puddings. I actually made 2 smaller ones...one being done the traditional way, on the stovetop in a saucepan of water. That one, we have to keep watch and fill with boiling water every so often. That other one I am trying in my slow cooker...no maintenance.

Robert - I did see that the suet is made from the fat around the kidneys, but no one has that. The grocery store is where I was able to get the kidney, but they informed me they are totally cleaned before they get them. My butchers and Mexican meat market do not have kidney at all! Apparently, there is just not the demand for innards and other parts. It seems butchers around us do very little butchering these days. I am hoping that the grated suet I made will be comparable. We shall see.

As far as the filler, my Mother-in-law only uses the shelf stable kind. She makes this recipe (and dumplings) using the suet with filler. So, I am hoping the bit of flour I added to the fat won't make much of a difference. The dough was great to work with, but again, the proof is in the pudding (no pun intended...LOL!).

Ok...so the end results were not as successful as I had hoped. The pudding cooked on the stove was completely raw on top. I think the saucepan it was in probably should have been covered.

The one done in the slow cooker was cooked well...however the pastry was very flakey, more like a pie crust and not like a pudding. It tasted good, but not what we were looking for. My husband and Mother-in-law said it tasted like a suet pudding, but had the wrong texture. I can only think that maybe I didn't add enough liquid inside, maybe cooked it too long on a higher temp? Any ideas?

Yes Maria, you should have covered the boiled/steamed pudding. That's what I did when I made Spotted Dick. The pudding basin has to be covered and then the pan has to be covered.

You should be able to find some mail order sources for real suet. If I come across anything I'll let you know. If we have any at the store I may be able to send you some.

rwj