3. Making a Roly-Poly Pudding

(1) Suet

As discussed in my previous blog post I planned to make my own roly-poly pudding. This is by using the similar ingredients as Mrs Beeton and Eliza Acton did in their Victorian cookbooks. This is mainly achieved by using suet the box that I used was the original atora.  

(2) Mixing ingredients

The recipe: 

softened butter, for greasing

200g self-raising flour and extra for dusting

100g of shredded suet

1tbsp of caster sugar 

pinch of salt 

150ml of milk or water (I used water)

6/7 tbsp of strawberry or raspberry jam (I used seedless raspberry)

This is a recipe from BBC good food's website. Which is a traditional jam roly-poly  http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/jam_roly_poly_36901

(3) Rolled pudding

I first started by preheating the oven to 200 C and greased a sheet of greaseproof paper with butter. Then I mixed the suet, flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and added the water which combined to form a soft dough. Then I rolled it out and spread raspberry jam on top. When I rolled it up it lost some of its spirals because it was a very soft dough. Once it was rolled I made a pleat in the greaseproof paper and put the pudding on top. This part is where the pudding drastically changes from the original recipes. Acton and Beeton both specify to use a cloth to wrap the pudding in, then tie up the ends and plunge the pudding into boiling water for 1/2 hours 

(5) Tin Foil

(4) Grease proof paper

The modern version of this recipe calls for greaseproof paper instead of cloth and then it is wrapped in tin/aluminium foil. When the pudding is wrapped in the paper it calls to be tied with string at the end. Then that package is wrapped in foil. After this is put on a roasting rack inside a roasting tin and boiling water is added to the bottom of the pan. It ended up going into the oven for 35 mins and after it was still a little soft. It was mainly because it was a soft wet dough. The jam ended up seeping out of the middle when it was removed from the paper and it split when trying to roll it over (the image is the underside of the pudding where it was rolled onto a plate). 

(6) The Pudding

Overall the taste is very good. I am surprised that the recipe hasn't changed much in so many years, we have modernised it to become a quicker pudding and also it is sweeter than what Acton or Beeton would have made. But when the taste test came it still had its rolls and what is a good jam roly-poly pudding without custard. 

(7) Jam Swirl

Eating such a simple pudding made me appreciate the Victorian way of making it, it was a sweet treat and was an easy pudding as long as they had the right ingredients. As Beeton said the pudding is fit for the nursery or the plain family pudding as it is a simple recipe.

Works and Images Cited:

Myers, David, and Simon King. "BBC Food - Recipes - Jam Roly-poly (The Hairy Bikers)."BBC Food. BBC, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/jam_roly_poly_36901>.

All Images within this post are my own.