Jam Roly Poly

An older, wiser friend, a man of the world, once took me to one side and told me that there were two of life's pleasures which one would never get at home. The first of these was lobster Thermidor. I forget what he told me to be the second, but I've worked it out to be Jam Roly Poly. At school, yes, along with polio vaccine on a sugar cube, and Chinese burns, but never ever in any home I have lived in.

During my last year at school, when they had built a new kitchen and dining hall, the food was actually pretty decent: in the previous six years, when it was not, this dish stood out for all the best reasons. Since my memory is going back over 50 years, it seemed to make sense to return to a venerable source. First published in 1910, The Glasgow Cookery Book (TGCB) was the bible of the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science, fondly known as the Dough School. I have the 1975 edition, published to mark the centenary of the college. A radical publication, since for the first time it featured ingredients in metric.

Let's start with the suet pastry. Suet is the fat from around the kidneys or loins of cattle and sheep. It's hard and crumbly and needs to be used quite quickly. You can also get blocks of prepared suet, such as Atora. That's apparently suet shredded and mixed with a little flour.

Say what you like about the ladies of TGCB, they didn't waste words. I quote the recipe verbatim, my comments in italics, They forgot to tell you to grate the suet, and the 33% tolerance in quantity frightens me a little. Hey ho. And when it comes to the pud itself? 100g pastry to serve 4? Better not be any teenagers round the table.

Suet Pastry

Ingredients

200g self raising flour; 75 - 100g suet; 1tsp salt; 125ml water approx.

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Mix the dry ingredients; add cold water to make an elastic consistency. Use as required; may be boiled, steamed or baked.

Moving swiftly on.

Roly-Poly Pudding

Ingredients (serves 3 - 4)

100g suet pastry (see above); 4 tbsp jam.

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Roll the pastry into an oblong (rectangle) 15 x 30cm approx. Spread with jam almost to the edge. Wet edge (I think the definite article has been omitted) roll up and place in a greased straight-sided jam jar. (Most modern recipes suggest double wrapping in greaseproof paper then foil and cooking in the oven on a rack over a baking tin half filled with boiling water.) Cover with greased paper and steam 1½ - 2 hours (they're not keen on prepositions either). Turn out and serve with a custard or jam sauce.