Jam Roly Poly in honour of St. George's Day April 23rd

Here is my Jam Roly Poly in all it's stodgy glory basking in a pool of duck egg custard (eggs courtesy of my friends Jay and Gail...thank you!), 'stodgy' being the British word for stick-to-your-ribs, heavy, filling comfort food that is usually very high in the carb department...this one fits the bill big time!! St. George would be very proud!!
St. George is the Patron Saint of England, April 23rd is his feast day and is also the day Shakespeare's birthday is officially celebrated too...pretty heady stuff if you ask me!!

And now for the Roly Poly...nursery food of the highest order and one of those war time type puddings where the merry wives of England attempted to make something delicious out of almost nothing!!
THE RECIPE:
4 oz unbleached white flour
2oz shredded suet (hard to find sometimes I found mine at Farmers Fare you could try substituting butter but it will be different...how I couldn't tell...a bit more greasy I think)
2 tablespoons sugar
Good pinch of salt
4-6 tablespoons cold water
3 big tablespoons of warmed JAM.....preferably strawberry or raspberry to be traditional but I used blueberry because I live in Maine
A little milk for brushing
One lonely little egg whisked also for brushing
METHOD:
1. Rub the shredded suet into the flour along with the sugar and salt.
2. Add water spoon by spoon until the dough sticks together but is not sticky.
3. Turn dough onto a floured board and roll out to about 4" by 8" rectangle.
4. Spread chosen jam over dough but keep 3/4" clear of all the edges.
5. Fold over long edges and press lightly down...the object is to prevent the jam escaping when you roll the roly poly up...see pic below...

6. Brush milk on to turned over edges and start to gingerly roll up the poly as below being careful to seal the edges as you go but not squeeze the jam out either.7. Here's how your poly should look...like a great big sausage roll...no jam escaping here!!...seal well you don't want get that roll soggy!! Sprinkle with sugar and wrap up in a layer of parchment and then a layer of aluminium foil

8. Now put the wrapped sausagey thing into the top of a steamer and steam the living daylights out of it for about 1 1/2 hours...thus..

9. This is unusual but I took the roly poly out of it's wrapping, sprinkled it with more sugar and then baked it in a 400F oven for about 15 minutes to dry and crisp the exterior...as below. And there you have your Jam Roly Poly...not the most exciting of desserts, sorry puddings, not the most elegant...a humble little pud that is oh so very traditional...I had it for pudding at school!!

CUSTARD SAUCE, ANLANN CUSTAIRD
from "Irish Traditional Food" by Theodora FitzGibbon, a goodly trusty cookbook
1 heaped tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 duck egg and 1 duck egg yolk whisked together, large regular eggs work just as well
10 fl oz/ 1 1/4 cups whole milk

1. Beat together the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and sugar in a bowl.
2. Have another double boiler on the go.
3. Heat the milk to almost boiling in the top part of the double boiler but on the stove top to make it go faster.
4. Stir a little of the hot milk into the egg mix and then a bit more to temper the temperature.
5. Then put the top part of the double boiler back over the bottom and the boiling water and whisk the egg and milk mix into the rest of the milk
6. Do not leave the custard alone now until it is finished or it will curdle whilst you are not looking and you will have to start again. SO stir and stir and stir with a wooden spoon until it starts to thicken and coats the back of the spoon as in the picture below...you take the spoon out of the custard, turn the spoon over, run your finger through the custard and if the line doesn't fill back in it is ready, don't let it cook too long or get too hot as the eggs will start to turn into scrambled eggs and the sauce will be grainy.....take off the heat immediately and continue to stir.

THE TRUE DRAGON

St George was out walking
He met a dragon on a hill,
It was wise and wonderful
Too glorious to kill

It slept amongst the wild thyme
Where the oxlips and violets grow
Its skin was a luminous fire
That made the English landscape glow

Its tears were England’s crystal rivers
Its breath the mist on England’s moors
Its larder was England’s orchards,
Its house was without doors

St George was in awe of it
It was a thing apart
He hid the sleeping dragon
Inside every English heart

So on this day let’s celebrate
England’s valleys full of light,
The green fire of the landscape
Lakes shivering with delight

Let’s celebrate St George’s Day,
The dragon in repose;
The brilliant lark ascending,
The yew, the oak, the rose

© Brian Patten 2008
Brian Patten, a poet from Liverpool, was commissioned by English Heritage to write this poem to revive the waning interest in celebrating St. George's Day...thanks Brian!
On St. George's Day you are supposed to wear a red rose in your lapel in remembrance.
Happy St. George's Day everyone!!

Sussex Pond Pudding revealed!!

Before you begin making the pud get your big old steamer/double boiler out...I use a nice big double boiler that came with a spaghetti strainer, also find yourself a 3 cup (24 fl oz) basin or bowl that you can steam. The double boiler, or steamer, should take the depth of the bowl with a fitted lid not touching the top of the bowl!! Put the empty bowl into the top of the boiler and fill with cold water until it comes to about 3/4 way up the side of the bowl, take the empty bowl back out, put the lid on and start the heat 'til the water is doing a nice rolling boil. Then butter well the inside of your cute little bowl. Set aside. Then cut out a round of parchment big enough to fit the top of the bowl and down the sides about 3/4", butter this parchment...then also cut out a round of aluminium foil the same size....now you're ready....off we go!!

This dessert is not vegetarian!...but it can be if you use butter instead of suet in the dough.

For the dough:
1 ½ cups of white flour, about 7 ozs
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 oz shredded suet, just less than 1 cup (you can use butter here if you like but it doesn't work as well as the suet...the butter can make the dough greasier and heavier so try to get suet if you can)
3/8 cup/about 3 fl ozs iced water
2 tablespoons sugar

For the filling:
2 lemons, organic is preferable as you will be using the entire lemon
½ cup/4 oz light brown sugar
6 tablespoons/3 oz butter cut into small pieces

To make the dough: 1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a bowl.

2. Rub the suet in by hand or pulse in a processor until the mix resembles coarse meal.

3. Add the water bit by bit and blend until you have a soft dough.

4. Refrigerate for at least ½ hour preferably one hour.

5.Now, take the well rested dough out of the figerdator and roll out two circles, one large enough to line your bowl and one large enough to cover the top of the bowl. Again I am using my trusty 3 cup bowl which I have buttered well prior to lining with my dough.

6. I tried this pudding twice, the first time I did it the traditional way which is to just put the lemons whole into the dough case, I added a few small calamondin oranges which I had growing on a small tree in my living room...you pop the lemons in and add the butter and sugar....this is for radical lemon lovers...the lemons were hard for even me to eat and I like very bright tart flavours, so the second time I sliced the lemons...I didn’t have any oranges left, and layered them with the butter and sugar. I much preferred the sliced lemons but also think the oranges added a bit of mellowness to the flavour so it’s up to you if you’d like to add some orange slices to the mix.

7. Now pop your little round dough top on the pud, wet the inside dough all around the edge then fold the inside dough over the top dough and squeeze together to form a seal over the top, you don’t want your pond leaking out do you.

8. Tie up your little pudding thus...... cover with the round of parchment, then with foil and then put a couple of elastic bands around the top edge of the bowl to make the parchment and foil somewhat airtight, THEN use string to tie like a package, this really helps you retrieve the bowl from the pot without burning the crap out of your fingers!!! Pop into your delightful, delovely steam bath....

...and boil for three hours non-stop, make sure to keep checking the water level so it doesn't dry out......take the pud out of the water bath, do not worry if your pud looks as unappetizing as the picture below...like a sticky, dense stodgy mess...that is normal as it is almost impossible to stop the top of the pud from getting somewhat soggy in the steaming process..... allow to cool for about 10 minutes then invert it onto a plate with a deep centre, don’t use a flat or shallow plate or you’ll have a nice sticky mess on your hands....

.....cut into the pud et voila out pours your pond!! I am thinking there may be another reason it is called a Sussex Pond Pudding and that’s because after you have done the water bath for three hours the contents of the pan look somewhat akin to a pond in high summer....inevitably some of the ingredients have leaked out into the water and end up as a bubbling mess....but we don’t really need to discuss this any further do we.

This is a fun pudding for a dinner party presentation where your guests don’t know what’s in the pud...it’s quite the treat seeing the juices flow but beware you better love bright lemony flavors!! The dough was intriguing albeit a little spongy and soggy in parts but nevertheless quite nice and unusual, certainly NOT a light pudding by any stretch of the imagination, but when your bones are chilled after a day out in the snow and wind it’ll certainly satisfy any craving you have for a stick-to-your-ribs dish!!

I am starting a previous recipes page - please take a look below the masthead above for other curious and wonderful British Puddings - thanks!!

Please consider joining me on my Facebook page for more British puddings - both intriguing and not, my artwork updates and pictures of beautiful Maine - thanks and happy steaming!

Patricia Shea Designs Facebook page 

Here comes the Spotted Dog, although there is another name..

Ooooohhhhh...when the weather outside is frightful and the wood stove is so delightful, consider making yourself a "Spotted Dog" or as some say "Spotted Dick"...dick being an old fashioned English word for pudding!!...as you can see from the title of this post I prefer dog...perhaps because I indeed do have a spotted dog!!
SPOTTED DOG RECIPE
Ingredients:
6oz/1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of one lemon (preferably organic)
juice of 1/2 lemon
6oz/ 3/4 cup sugar
6oz/ 3/4 cup plump raisins
2oz/ 3/4 cup shredded suet (yes I know in the mincemeat recipe I mentioned how grim it was to shred suet BUT I have to admit I thought it was grim but hadn't actually done it..I bought some nice suet from Farmers Fare from local cows at Aldermere Farm and tried my hand and found it was somewhat akin to shredding soft candlewax...not gruesome at all really plus I tried one recipe with butter and suet and it came out a lot stodgier...ie dense and a bit too carby and sticky)
2 large eggs whisked together
3 fl oz/1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract/essence and 1 of cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

Before you get going on the recipe you will need to find yourself a 3 cup (24 fl oz) basin or bowl that you can steam. Then find a double boiler, or steamer, that takes the depth of bowl with a fitted lid not touching the top of the bowl!! Put the empty bowl into the top of the boiler and fill with water until it comes to about 3/4 way up the side of the bowl, take the empty bowl back out, put the lid on and start the heat 'til the water is doing a nice rolling boil. Then butter well the inside of your cute little bowl. Set aside. Then cut out a round of parchment big enough to fit the top of the bowl and down the sides about 3/4", butter this parchment...then also cut out a round of aluminium foil the same size....now you're ready....off we go!!
In the meantime make your 'pud'
1. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, cardamom, nutmeg and baking powder.
2. Rub the shredded suet into the flour mix until it resembles even sand, you ca also do this by whisking a couple of separate times in a food processor.
3. Stir in the zest, raisins and sugar.
4. Stir in the lemon juice, then the eggs, then the vanilla and then the milk.
5. Bob's your Uncle...you have the thing you see below...a nice thick batter!!

Now put all your delicious batter into your buttered bowl, cover with the round of parchment, then with foil and then put a couple of elastic bands around the top edge of the bowl to make the parchment and foil somewhat airtight, THEN use string to tie like a package, this really helps you retrieve the bowl from the pot without burning the crap out of your fingers!!!

THUS...your pud should look like this ready to bobbed into it's steam bath...below...

...and here we go, put the lid on and boil that little 'puppy'(ha ha) for about 2 hours!! Check on the water occasionally and make sure it doesn't get low...refill with boiling water to keep the boil going. About 20 minutes before your 2 hours is up start to make the custard as below...the dog and the custard should both be almost hot when served.

TA DAH!!!! Here's the pud after it has sat for about 10 minutes to settle, untie the string, uncover the pud and invert onto a plate...please be aware that when you first uncover the pud it may well look somewhat uncooked, like a dumpling, but this is because this part, the flat bottom, of the pud can get a bit damp during the long steaming...just wait until you un-bowl it though...looks lovely doesn't it, I think it looks like a mold for a hat!!??

THIN CUSTARD, CREME ANGLAISE, POURING CUSTARD, CUSTARD SAUCE, ANLANN CUSTAIRD
from "Irish Traditional Food" by Theodora FitzGibbon, a goodly trusty cookbook
1 heaped tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg and 1 egg yolk whisked together
10 fl oz/ 1 1/4 cups whole milk

1. Beat together the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and sugar in a bowl.
2. Have another double boiler on the go.
3. Heat the milk to almost boiling in the top part of the double boiler but on the stove top to make it go faster.
4. Stir a little of the hot milk into the egg mix and then a bit more to temper the temperature.
5. Then put the top part of the double boiler back over the bottom and the boiling water and whisk the egg and milk mix into the rest of the milk
6. Do not leave the custard alone now until it is finished or it will curdle whilst you are not looking and you will have to start again. SO stir and stir and stir with a wooden spoon until it starts to thicken and coats the back of the spoon as in the picture below...you take the spoon out of the custard, turn the spoon over, run your finger through the custard and if the line doesn't fill back in it is ready, don't let it cook too long or get too hot as the eggs will start to turn into scrambled eggs and the sauce will be grainy.....take off the heat immediately and continue to stir.

Pour custard into a heat proof vessel as below...

Spoon your pud out and cover with lashings of hot custard and consume!!! YUM, tastes a lot like a very lightly flavoured and weighted Christmas Pudding...it does stick to your ribs but not quite so tenatiously!! Happy steaming...we are lucky to have a good old wood burning stove as we can steam all day long on this little purring darling and not waste one extra calorie of energy!!

And here is my spotted dog, little Eleanor, not so spotty in this picture but how could I resist sharing with you Ellie resting with her oatmeal rabbit!!