Well, the suet used in such as a clootie dumpling is solid and is chopped very fine to 'aerate' the other ingredients such as the flour. To my knowledge it was never rendered but was used in solid form, and again chopped very fine. I know, that was my job sometimes. "Suet is raw beef or mutton fat, especially the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys" It was never rendered, in other words, unless for a fry up, but even at that it wasn't considered as palatable as bacon fat in which bread would be fried, as well as black pudding and eggs for a hearty Sunday breakfast. Again, this is a little insight into how even the ordinary person could live as well as a king! Maisie -----Original Message----- From: Dora Smith Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2015 2:33 PM To: Maisie Egger ; lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Lanark] Clootie dumpling Scottish tradition For whatever it's worth, you can make suet yourself. Suet is rendered fat. In our dreams selling beef with too much fat is illegal in this country! What - no more hamburger that is 20% fat? I don't think so! Get about five pounds of the stuff and you should end up with around a pound of fat. Well, by some definititions it's RAW fat, but you can't mix it in baking recipes in that form! Just get some fatty beef and boil out the fat! Put the cooled water and grease mixture in the refrigerator, and the fat will congeal on top. You can strain it first if you want to to remove solid pieces. Or you could cook the beef and drain the fat, but it's bound to taste roasted. Dora -----Original Message----- From: Maisie Egger via Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2015 1:29 PM To: LANARK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Lanark] Clootie dumpling Scottish tradition Culture and tradition: Clootie dumpling. When I was growing up in Glasgow, no child of my acquaintance ever had a birthday cake. The pièce de résistance at small birthday parties, Christmas or New Year was the ubiquitous clootie dumpling. (An English friend had never heard of such until recently.) http://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/food/a-history-of-the-clootie-dumpling-including-a-recipe-for-making-your-own/ My niece (Lenzie, Lanarkshire) made a ‘smashing’ clootie dumpling for my brother’s birthday last year using my mother’s recipe which I had passed on to her. Encouraged by her success, I attempted to make the same recipe last Christmas. What a disaster! It looked as if someone had taken a hammer to it! First, I had to use packaged Atora brand beef suet from the U.K. as regulations in this country preclude buying ‘suet on the hoof.’ Next, my mother used to maintain that any baking she did with flour milled in this country (USA) did not turn out right. I don’t know the reason, but my clootie dumpling was a sorry mess, though I watched it ‘bilin’ its heid aff” for over three hours, not to mention ruining a sterilised pillowcase. What an utter waste of ingredients, effort and time! Now ex-pats assure me that a microwave version turns out very well, but photos of such do not show the ‘skin’ which would give the clootie dumpling ‘ballast,’ so to speak. It certainly would cut down on the three to four hours to boil the concoction in a deep pot, ever alert that the water did not boil in. Time and change, and how! My daughter’s children and theirs are very involved in 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America), so even working with and showing their animals, not one of them had heard of suet. I was going to very proudly show them how suet added to the taste and texture of a clootie dumpling last Christmas, but alas! There is no way that I can back this up, but I am sure that there was hardly a person growing up in Scotland who never tasted clootie dumpling...built into their Scottish DNA. Of course not. I am just trying to make the point that this wonderful concoction was very much a part of the culture. I hope it hasn’t gone by the wayside now that so many “mammies’ are out to work and may not have time to watch the clootie dumpling ‘bilin’ its heid aff’ for three hours to make sure the water doesn’t boil in. Maisie

Hi Maisie Eat your heart out! Here in Australia suet is available in many supermarkets. I use Tandaco Prepared Suet Mix 250gms. In addition it makes the lightest fluffiest savoury dumplings for stew type dishes. Not the weight watcher's friend but comfort food at its best. I think that dumpling is one of those things that some people can make and others can't. Recently my brother and I made a dumpling just like our mother used to with no real or accurate recipe I think the secret was that we tasted it "raw" or uncooked as we did as weans in Glasgow and made adjustments to taste. My Scottish sister in law, who admittedly can't make dumplings, was fed up with our fussiness. She says it's in our genes. We boiled it for 4 hours, then stuck it in the oven to get the skin as we didn't have the open fire like we used to. Pure dead magic! I sent you the recipe and a photo of my microwave dumpling. The recipe is a bit weird and nothing like a real dumpling but I give it 90%. People who aren't dumpling connoisseurs or have a great memory say it's just like the real deal. http://www.food.com/recipe/microwave-clootie-dumpling A couple of years ago we had a family reunion at a cabin resort on the beach in northern New South Wales. Not the place for 4hour boiling of a real dumpling. I made the microwave one and it was a big success. Possibly it was helped by a few drams that were sampled beforehand. Oh for a slice of fried dumpling and black pudding etc etc. Cheers Ella Ross Sydney > > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message