What, Why, How?
Suet is a traditional British ingredient and was popular until the mid-1900s. Renowned for adding lightness to both traditional and contemporary dishes, it is still commonly used in premade pastries and puddings, among other baked items. Enhancing flavour without interfering with the taste of the dish itself, it is also a great addition to home baking of all levels.
The reason suet makes such brilliantly light dumplings is that it traps air in the dough as it melts. For this reason, suet should not be fully mixed into the dough, but rather leave a speckled effect in the mixture. Overworking suet dough makes the final product more dense than the fluffy dumplings we all love. Adding suet last to your dough mixture is a good way of ensuring this does not happen.
Suet replaces alternative fats, such as butter, when cooking. Its higher melting point allows for the fluffiest of batters, meaning you can substitute it into almost any recipe which uses butter just replace the butter with the same quantity of suet. As suet is bought grated and coated in flour, it is less messy to use and blends more easily, too!
Some people choose to use beef suet in all recipes however, the vegetable alternative makes a great replacement in both sweet and savoury dishes and offers a more subtle flavour.
Always remember that suet goes a long way, you may not need as much as you think, so always follow the recipe to ensure the best results.
