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Boiled Beefsteak Pudding

A boiled pudding made with beef steak, kidneys, suet, flour, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Boiled Beefsteak Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix 1½ teaspoons salt and pepper on a plate, reserving a little salt for the crust.

  2. Cut the steak and kidneys into 1‑inch square pieces and roll them in the seasoning.

Make the crust

  1. Chop the suet finely and combine it with flour, baking powder, and remaining salt on a mixing board.

  2. Knead into a light dough with the cold water.

  3. Reserve one‑third of the dough for the crust and roll the rest to ¼‑inch thick.

Fill and seal

  1. Grease a quart bowl and line it with the dough.

  2. Loosely fill the bowl with the seasoned meat, then pour over the catsup and Worcestershire sauce.

  3. Fill the bowl within an inch of the top with cold water.

  4. Roll out the reserved dough to cover the bowl and pinch it firmly to seal the edges.

  5. Dip a towel in hot water, flour it slightly, and tie it tightly over the bowl.

Boil and serve

  1. Place the bowl in a large saucepan of boiling water and boil for 2½ hours.

  2. If serving in the bowl, wrap a napkin around it and carry it to the table on a plate.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + mushroomtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Round steak
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and savoury during the long steaming.
Sheep's kidneys
Adds a rich, deep meaty flavour to the filling.
Flour
Forms the structure of the dough that encloses the filling.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the crust tender and moist.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking to lighten the crust.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds tangy, savoury depth that seasons the meat through the filling.

The step that matters

Sealing the crust and covering the bowl. Pinching the lid firmly and tying the floured towel tightly keeps boiling water out of the filling and holds steam in. A loose seal lets water soak the crust and dilutes the meat's flavour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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