Delia’s steak and kidney pudding
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Medium
- January 2020

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Serves 6
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Hands on time 40 min, plus steaming
Queen of cookery Delia’s steak and kidney pudding is made with flaky suet crust pastry and filled with a deep gravy-like filling.
She says: ”It might be imagined that it’s difficult to make. Not so. I would say it takes about 40 minutes to prepare and assemble, then it steams away for five hours needing little more than a top up of boiling water. Some people (my husband) like extra gravy, which can be made with the meat trimmings.”
Ingredients
For the suet crust pastry
- 350g self-raising flour
- 175g shredded beef suet
- Salt and freshly milled black pepper
- Cold water to mix
For the filling
- 560g chuck steak
- 225g ox kidney after trimming, so buy 275g
- 2 level tbsp well-seasoned flour
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- Cold water*
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and freshly milled black pepper
- Equipment
You will also need…
- A well-buttered 1.5-litre capacity pudding basin and a steamer
Method
- To make the pastry, first sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add some freshly milled black pepper, then add the suet and mix it into the flour using the blade of a knife. When it’s evenly blended, add a few drops of cold water and start to mix with the knife, using curving movements and turning the mixture around. The aim is to bring it together as a dough, so keep adding drops of water until it begins to get really claggy and sticky.
- Now abandon the knife, go in with your hands and bring it all together until you have a nice smooth elastic dough which leaves the bowl clean. It’s worth noting that suet pastry always needs more water than other types, so if it’s still a bit dry go on adding a few drops at a time.
- After that, take a quarter of the dough for the lid, then roll the rest out fairly thickly. What you need is a round approximately 32.5cm in diameter. Now line the bowl with the pastry, pressing it well all around.
- Next chop the steak and kidney into fairly small cubes, toss them in seasoned flour, then add them to the pastry-lined basin with the slices of onion. Add enough cold water* to reach almost the top of the meat and sprinkle in a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and another seasoning of salt and pepper.
- Roll out the pastry lid, dampen its edges and put it in position on the pudding. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil, pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking.
- Now secure it with string, making a little handle so that you can lift it out of the hot steamer. Then place it in a steamer over boiling water. Steam for 5 hours, topping up the boiling water halfway through. You can either serve the pudding by spooning portions straight out of the bowl, or slide a palette knife round the edge and turn the whole thing out onto a serving plate (which is more fun!)
Recipe © Delia Smith 2008, Delia’s Frugal Food, published by Hodder and Stoughton. Click here for more Delia recipes, cookery school videos, information on bakeware and ingredients.
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