Norfolk plough pudding
Prep time: 1 hrTotal time: 
Norfolk plough pudding
Plough Monday was traditionally the first Monday after Twelfth Night, marking the end of the holidays for farm workers and the start of the English agricultural year. The idea behind this steamed suet pudding filled with sausagemeat and bacon was to fill the farmers’ bellies on their return from the fields. For a deeper, golden colour on your cooked pud, brush with melted butter and give it a blast in a hot oven
Prep time: 1 hrTotal time: 
Nadine Brown
Nadine Brown
Ingredients
- 10g butter, plus extra to grease
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 225g self-raising flour, sifted plus extra to dust
- 85g suet
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 6 Taste the Difference British Pork Sausages
- 4 rashers streaky bacon, finely chopped
- 6 sage leaves, finely chopped
- ½ tbsp light brown soft sugar
- mash, steamed greens and gravy, to serve (optional)
Step by step
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Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion. Sauté for 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Set aside to cool.
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Generously grease the inside of a 1L pudding basin. Combine the flour and suet with the salt. Drizzle in 100ml cold water, stirring to make a soft dough. It shouldn’t be sticky. Tip onto a lightly floured surface, kneading briefly. Cut a third of the dough and set aside, loosely covering. Roll out the remaining dough to a thickness of 0.5cm and use to line the basin.
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Squeeze the sausagemeat from the skins (discarding the skins) into a large bowl. Add the cooked onion, the bacon, sage and sugar with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Using your hands, mix well to combine. Pack into the lined pudding basin and drizzle over 1-2 tablespoons of water to just cover the meat.
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Roll out the reserved pastry and cut to a circle the same size as the top of the pudding basin, then place it over the filling, pressing to seal with the edges of the dough inside the basin. Cut a large square of baking paper and butter one side. Cut an equal-sized piece of foil and place the baking paper on top, buttered-side up. Fold a pleat in the middle, securing the two pieces together, then place over the pudding basin, with the buttered side of the baking paper facing down. Secure in place, just under the rim, with a double length of kitchen string. Use another piece of string to make a handle.
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Place an inverted saucer in the base of a deep saucepan and place the pudding on top. Pour in enough boiling water to come two-thirds of the way up the sides of the pudding basin. Cover and steam for 3 hours, topping up the water regularly. Lift the pudding from the saucepan and cool for 20 minutes, before removing the string, foil and baking paper.
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Place a serving plate over the basin then carefully flip, turning the pudding out onto the plate. Cut into wedges and serve with your choice of sides.
