Justin Woods, head chef at The Castle Green Hotel, Kendal, and Greenhouse restaurant.

Question...

As a youngster steak pudding was a favourite of mine but I wouldn't know how to make one?

Terry Glover, Carnforth

 

Justin says...

Steamed steak pudding evokes many childhood memories – mum always made hers in the pressure cooking, steam hissing everywhere while she tried to find the find the valve to sit on top of the lid! Heat a large pan and cook two large peeled and diced onion with 100g of smoked bacon lardons for about eight-10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Generously flour 500g of lean, diced stewing steak and fry in hot oil until brown all over. Add three peeled and diced carrots, 250ml brown ale, 300g beef stock, two tbsp redcurrant jelly and a good sprinkle of fresh thyme. Bring to the boil, add the onion and bacon mix. Cover, then simmer for about two hours until tender. Generously butter a 1.5 ltr pudding basin. For the suet pastry mix together 300g of self raising flour with two tsp English mustard powder, 140g shredded suet and half a tsp table salt. Add approx 150ml of cold water to form a soft dough. Divide off a quarter of the dough and set aside. Roll out the remaining dough on a heavily floured surface. Carefully lay the pastry into the basin, leaving a one cm overhang. Roll out the remaining quarter into a circle big enough to cover the top. Drain off the cooking liquor from the beef and set aside. Place the beef into the pudding basin, add 100ml of the cooking liquor. Cover with the remaining pastry, brushing with water and pressing firmly to seal. Butter a sheet of parchment paper and lay butter side down on top of pudding, cover with a layer of foil and tie with string, creating a loop for the handle so that you can easily lift the pudding. Sit a trivet or metal ring in the bottom of a deep saucepan, half fill with water and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer for about three hours. Top up the water in the pan when necessary. Carefully lift out the pudding, turn out and serve with some extra gravy and buttered greens.