Of all the dishes that epitomise British comfort food, and that’s the sort of nourishment my family is craving on these dark autumn nights, it has to be steak and kidney pudding. I’ve got a couple of them steaming away right now in my kitchen. The aroma is almost palpable, truly rich and intense as the suet pastry swells and burnishes against the pudding bowl as it soaks up the thick, meaty juices from slowly cooked steak and kidney.

When I mentioned to friends, particularly male ones, that I planned to make steak and kidney pudding, everyone went into rhapsodies. If my straw poll is anything to go by, the king of steamed puddings is without doubt one of our culinary national treasures.

For my mother, and her mother before her, making suet pudding was possible only if the butcher had kidney fat to spare. This would be grated or finely chopped and used instead of lard to make the pastry. These days most people, including me, rely on Atora. The contents of the packet look like little white worms and it takes a bit of kneading to work it into what becomes an incredibly soft and malleable pastry that will swell like bread dough if left for too long. When cooked it has a soft, slightly spongy texture that is all at once creamy and cakey, but undeniably pastry-like.

As an experiment, I made one of my puddings with marginally less calorific vegetarian “light suet”. It looks, responds and tastes pretty much like the real McCoy, which is surprising because it’s made from palm oil and rice flour. The other surprise is that steak and kidney pudding is incredibly simple to make and economical too, requiring an inexpensive cut of stewing beef such as chuck or skirt, or a mixture of the two. Traditionally all the ingredients go into the pastry-lined pudding bowl raw, although the cooking time can be halved — from four to two hours — if it is cooked first. I prefer the taste and texture of the former method and like to savour the build-up of appetising smells that go with it, although the steam fug created isn’t so great.

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Mashed potato or mash with celeriac is what you want with steak and kidney pudding. I ran out of milk when I made mine and substituted mascarpone, for a superior mash. Leftovers were whizzed with chicken stock and a little milk into a sublime cream of potato and celeriac soup, garnished with chives and freshly grated nutmeg. Carrots and the first sprouts of the season completed this truly comforting meal, with caramelised baked apples to follow.

I used two medium-sized traditional pudding basins. They each hold just over a litre of liquid (two pints) and are officially known as No 30, made by Mason Cash. You could use smaller or larger basins, or make one pudding instead of two; just adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Steak and kidney pudding

Serves 8

Prep: 35 min

Cook: 4 hours

Ingredients

500g self-raising flour, plus a little extra

250g Atora shredded suet, or vegetarian “light” alternative

Salt

Approx 8 tbsp cold water

For the filling:

1 large onion

1½ tbsp vegetable oil

3 large flat mushrooms, approx 250g

1 kg chuck steak

250g lambs’ kidneys

Approx 2 tbsp flour

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, optional

Approx 25g butter

750ml beef stock (cubes are fine)

English mustard and redcurrant jelly to serve

For extra gravy:

1 tbsp soft butter

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp redcurrant jelly

You will need 2 x No 30 Mason Cash traditional pudding basins or similar, tinfoil, kitchen string

Method

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the suet and a good pinch of salt. Mix, then add the water, a little at a time, to bind into a light, spongy pastry. Rest for 20 minutes while you prepare everything else.

Halve, peel and finely chop the onion. Soften in the oil in a frying pan. Tip on to a plate to cool. Wipe the mushrooms and cut into chunky pieces.

Trim away fat and sinew from the steak and cut into kebab-size chunks or 1 x1 x 3cm strips. Cut the kidney into slightly smaller pieces, discarding the white core. Mix the meat and kidney and dust lavishly with flour. Mix with the mushroom and onion. Season with salt and pepper, adding chopped thyme if liked.

Halve the pastry and flour a work surface. Lavishly butter the pudding basins. Working on one pudding at a time, set aside just over a quarter of the pastry for a lid. Roll the pastry into a circle to fit the basin with a 2cm overhang. Repeat with the second pudding.

Add the filling and sufficient stock to moisten but not drench or cover the filling. Roll the lid to fit. Moisten the overhang, fit the lid and pinch and roll the two together to seal securely.

Pleat a large piece of tinfoil and place loosely over the top. Tie it securely, going round twice, with string under the rim of the basin, then loop a handle across the top of the pudding, allowing plenty of room for the pudding to expand — which it will.

Roll the excess foil up and over the string and lift the pudding into a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add sufficient boiling water to come two thirds of the way up the basin, fit the lid and boil for 4 hours. Check every hour or so and top up with more boiling water.

To serve, lift the pudding out of the bowl on to a plate. Remove the foil. Wrap a napkin around the basin with the top crust showing and serve from the basin with extra gravy, vegetables, English mustard and redcurrant jelly.

To make the gravy, mash the butter and flour together. Bring the leftover beef stock to the boil. Add the redcurrant jelly and scraps of butter and flour, whisking to incorporate. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour into a jug to serve.

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