Steak and Kidney Pud with Cider
By: The Food LoverWandering around Morrisons, who sometimes have their meat counters better sorted out than the competitors, I came across a couple of nice packets of Ox Kidneys. What with the weather getting colder, it seemed about the right time for Steak and Kidney Pudding.
I have cooked my pud more or less the same way for years – I often use lamb kidneys because of the rich sauce they generate and I often only put the suet pastry on top as, in the words of my mother, we like a lot of gravy and the pudding casing would just burst.
Today, however, I thought I would wander new directions and try something different. In our fridge we have the remnants of a bottle of cider – well, why not? See what you think.
Ingredients
A little warning: these quantities are serious guessed! I don't know what size bowl you have. The basic rule is twice as much beef as kidney and twice as much self-raising flour to suet. Then as much stock as you need to make a good, thick gravy.
- 2x Braising Steak - apprx
- 1x Ox Kidneys - apprx
- 1 large onions
- 5 cloves garlic
- Splash of Olive Oil
- handful of Sage
- 1 tablespoon Thyme
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Some Beef Stock - apprx
- 2 tablespoons Flour, Plain
- 2x flour, self-raising - apprx
- 1x beef suet - apprx
- splash of Water
- Around a cub of dry cider
- splash of worcester sauce
And here we go
Make a pastry from self-raising flour and shredded suet with a little salt and bound together with a little water. I cant predict the size of your bowl, but you don’t need to be very accurate here. Mix it to a firm dough, then put it in a bag in the fridge.
Heat up the olive oil in a large frying pan
Chop your beef and kidneys into cubes and fry in batches till nicely browned. Set aside to cool.
slice up the onions and garlic thinly then fry till golden. Add a couple of tablespoons of plain flour – you may need a little more oil.
Fry gently, then add a little rich beef stock to de-glaze the pan and make a VERY thick gravy.
Add around a cup or so of cider and let the whole lot thicken up.
Add the chopped herbs and a tablespoon of Worcester sauce.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Reduce a little more till you have a thick gravy, and then add it to the beef and kidneys – you are looking to give the meat a thick coating, not drown it!
Set it aside to cool (or put it in the fridge for a bit.)
Take your dough from the fridge and roll it out to about 5 mil or so thickness – you don’t want this too thin or it will break, but you don’t want it too heavy either!
Butter a pudding bowl and line it with the dough, allowing lots to hang over the edge.
Fill the bowl with the steak and kidney, packing it down, till it is completely full.
Bring in the sides of the dough to create a lid and squeeze it tightly shut.
Cover with pleated greaseproof paper and foil and tie with string.
Steam in a large saucepan with the lid on for at least 4 hours – maybe 5. Make sure the water does not boil away!
Once cooked, remove from the pan and turn upside down on a plate – carefully! This is when you discover whether you have sealed it properly or made the gravy too thin.
And that is that!
Serve it with boiled new potatoes, roasted garlic and baby carrots or something.
Oh, and this goes really well with a nice, chilled white wine? What? With beef?
Yeah!! Try it.
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