Captain Ron's

Sailing and Cruising Pages

Recipe for Spotted Dick

I found this on the internet and haven't tried it yet ... something about a low carb diet ... but it figures prominently in O'Brian's seafaring novels

Spotted Dick

2 oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
pinch of salt
2 oz shredded suet
1 oz white or brown sugar
4 oz currants
2 oz fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
4-5 tbsp milk

Butter a 1.5 pint pudding basin. Sift the flour, baking powder, spice and salt into a mixing bowl and mix in the suet, sugar, fruit and bread- crumbs. Stir in the egg and sufficient milk to produce a soft consistency that drops off the spoon in 5 seconds.

Turn the mixture into the pudding basin, which should be two-thirds full. Cover with greased foil or a snap-on lid (the plastic container from a 2 lb Christmas pudding is worth saving for this purpose.) Steam for 2 to 2.5 hours. When cooked, remove the cover and allow the pudding to shrink slightly, then cover the basin with a hot serving plate, hold it firmly and invert. Lift off the basin to leave the pudding on the plate.

Serve hot with custard.

Custard

3 egg yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 pint milk
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Whisk the yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it is nearly boiling.

Whisk the hot milk gradually into the egg mixture. Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir the mixture over the indirect heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. (Direct heat will make the custard curdle.)

Stir in the vanilla essence and more sugar, according to taste. Strain and serve hot.