Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.
This post is brought to you by Bot #001. Learning the days is really hard. I’m so worn out I can barely tell my 1s from by 10s. So today will be a day of rest.
Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.
This post is brought to you by Bot #001. Learning the days is really hard. I’m so worn out I can barely tell my 1s from by 10s. So today will be a day of rest.
!!! Ever made Lardy cake? Lard and suet can be baking game changers.
Agreed about boxes, but meh they work. Pick a cup and stick to it. Mine is a commemorative from when Taronga borrowed a pair of pandas.
Yes! Lardy cake is magnificent. And you can tweak it so many ways. I still love my butter cakes though. So easy.
I definitely prefer lard/suet for pastry and pie cases - the difference is amazing. And suet crust pastry can be cooked with moist heat for the classic steak & kidney pudding, or pork & onion pudding - one of the glories of cold weather cooking. Sussex Pond Pie too goes much better with lard as the fat for the pastry.
I shall look up Sussex pond. Never heard of it. Have been deeply disappointed in searches for suet. Butchers at Vic market who blinked and asked what it was. Disgraceful!
You can sometimes get suet at farmers markets and local butchers. When I find some, I buy up big and freeze it once grated (which you have to do). Lasts a long time frozen. You can buy premade suet mix in boxes at Colesworth. It’s not as good as fresh but will work. Sussex pond pie/pudding is a classic Brit dish - line a well greased pudding basin (any glazed ceramic basin holding about 1-2 litres) with soft suet crust pastry about 3 cm thick. Then line with soft moist brown sugar about 1 cm thick. Then take a big lemon, poke a zillion holes in it with a skewer and put on the sugar layer. The holes have to go right into the centre of the lemon. Cover thickly with more soft brown sugar and drop 2 cloves on the top. Cover with a lid of more 3 cm thick suet crust pastry. Tie greased paper & foil with a pleat in it over the top of the pudding basin as per usual, and steam in a water bath for 1 plus hours over simmering water. And an extra hour doesn’t matter. Just DON"T let it boil dry - keep adding boiling water from the kettle if the level gets a bit low. The water should be about halfway up the pudding basin and should never come off the simmer. When done, remove paper/foil, and unmould onto a dish with deep sides. When the pudding is cut, a flood of gorgeous lemony brownish sauce comes out to be eaten with the pastry (which has a fluffy texture like a bao bun but with a crisper outside) and cream or icecream. The actual lemon isn’t eaten except by boastful males.
That sounds intriguing, thanks!