Suet ,never used it ,but need to get some.

yoshytoshy

Hi ,I've read a couple of older threads in the forum about suet ,but I'm not actually familiar with the stuff.
It's an ingredient in a good few dishes that I want to give a try ,but I'm not sure if I can actually use something else.

Any advice as to what it does and maybe how to use something else to get the same result.

Thanks.

Swampy

Used in steamed puddings and the like. You can buy it in the tesco baking section. That's about all I know about it.

yoshytoshy

Cheers swampy ,I read in other threads that the stuff in packs is not as good as the stuff from butchers.

I get the impression it acts as some sort of glue in pastry, doesn't sound too healthy:D

The Sweeper

Healthy, eh?

Suet is raw fat. Usually beef fat. It's hard, flaky, cakey fat that comes from the areas on the loins and around the kidneys. You can also get mutton suet, but I think you're more likely to find beef. It has a very low melting point and acts as a binding and flavouring agent.

The stuff sold in blocks in the supermarket has been processed and mixed with flour to form a solid, stable block that can be sold and transported easily - vital due to the low melting point of the pure stuff. At the butchers you should be able to get straight up suet. Older style recipes (which is, frankly, where you're likely to find suet as an ingredient these days) usually refer to the pure stuff, so if you're using some christmas pudding recipe your gran used to use 60 years ago, beware using the stabilised, packaged suet.

The pure stuff, you need to finely chop or grate before mixing it into your recipe. It's a good binding and flavouring agent for things like dumplings in a beef stew, but it's not what I'd call 'good for you'. However, a good suet crust pastry is the making of a steak and kidney pie.

Recipes with ingredients like suet hark back to a day when were a hard grafting people, with lots of physical labour to do.

Saying that, eating something like suet on a very occasional basis, in the full knowledge of what you're eating and as part of a lifestyle that compensates for occasional indulgences, is the most balanced approach to take to any such food.

yoshytoshy

Thanks very much ,the sweeper.

I got a book recently ,hairy bikers guide cookbook. They've a few recipes for beef pies ,steak and kidney pies and a few others that need suet as an ingredient.

Taking what you've said onboard ,maybe I should just decide on one recipe and use it occasionally. It doesn't sound like it's an ingredient that can be substituted.

Cheers.

The Sweeper

Oh of course, the substitute bit - I've tried substituting vegetable fat before - you know the stuff, comes in white blocks, can't remember the brand name - Cookeen, maybe? It's also called 'shortening' in the states. Doesn't work as well tbh, but if you Google you might be able to find some forum that discusses substituting shortening for suet and whether you need to use more or less or what. I've always done a gram for gram swap, but as I said, it doesn't work as well.

cruizer101

You can get vegetable suet also, it comes in blocks and should be in the baking section, I think Atora is the brand name if thats allowed. Is different to just a block of lard.

As for how good it is i'm not too sure, I'd imagine it it might be ok in baked goods but maybe not so much so in meat pies and that.

olaola

Gawd! Remember this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w9u21a3HG8

yoshytoshy

cruizer101 wrote: »

You can get vegetable suet also, it comes in blocks and should be in the baking section, I think Atora is the brand name if thats allowed. Is different to just a block of lard.

As for how good it is i'm not too sure, I'd imagine it it might be ok in baked goods but maybe not so much so in meat pies and that.

I might give the vegtable stuff a go ,maybe try something to add to it to get the flavour.

olaola wrote: »

Gawd! Remember this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w9u21a3HG8

Christ ,hardened arteries ,here we come:p

I think people use to eat fried bread ,fried with that stuff.
The innocence :P