Home Cooking-Steak and Kidney Pudding

Steak and Kidney Pudding
Serves 4-6

Although steak and kidney pudding could have provenance anywhere in the country, London is probably the place it fits into as a clubby and old fashioned restaurant kind of dish. In the old days when oysters were cheap, they would be added to supplement the meat, but a nice thing to do would be to cook an oyster or two per person in a little of the gravy and serve it on top of the pudding just before the pudding is ready,  as an hour and a half cooking time would cremate the oyster.

Ingredients-
700g braising beef, preferably flank, skirt or shin, cut into rough 3cm cubes
150ml of good red wine
300g ox kidney, cleaned and cut into rough 3cm chunks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2tbls chopped thyme
4 bay leaves
Vegetable oil for frying
2 Tbsp plain flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g butter
1 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 Tbsp tomato purée
150ml Brown Chicken Stock or Beef Stock
15ml Worcestershire sauce

For the suet pastry-
250g self-raising flour
125g shredded beef suet
150ml milk

Method
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan, season and lightly flour the meat with ½  tablespoon of the flour, and fry the meat in 2 or 3 batches over a high heat until nicely browned. Do the same with the kidneys and keep separately.
Heat the butter in a large heavy-based saucepan and gently fry the onion for a few minutes until soft. Add the remaining flour and tomato purée, and stir over a low heat for a minute. Slowly add the wine, stirring constantly to avoid lumps forming. Bring to the boil and simmer until it has reduced by half.

Add the stock and the pieces of beef, bring back to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. It's difficult to put an exact time on braising or stewing meats, sometimes an extra half an hour may be needed depending on the cut. The best way to check is by tasting the meat. When the meat is cooked, the sauce should have thickened to a gravy-like consistency. If not, mix a little cornflour to a paste with some water, stir into the sauce and simmer for a few minutes. Add the kidneys and let the mixture cool down.

Meanwhile make the pastry: Mix the flour and suet together in a bowl, then gradually mix in the milk to form a dough. The dough should be soft but firm enough to roll out into a circle large enough to line a 1.5 liter pudding basin, or individual ones. Cut a quarter out of the circle for the lid.

Butter the pudding basin well, drop the pastry into it and join up the edges where the quarter was removed. Remould the pastry for the top and roll it out to the correct size. Spoon the filling into the pudding molds and lay the pastry on top and press the edges together so that the filling is sealed in. Cut a piece of foil big enough to fit over the top of the basin and come halfway down the sides, making a pleat down the middle to allow for expansion. Tie it in place with some string, making a string handle so it can be lifted when topping up with water.

Bring a pan half-filled with water to the boil, or use a pressure cooker and lower the pudding into it. The water must be boiling and come about halfway up the side of the basin. Cover and leave simmering for 2 hours. If the water level gets low, lift the basin and top up with more boiling water.