Full question
My local butcher processes suet into tallow. Would this still work in the Ultimate Christmas Pudding recipe and, if so, would I just rub it through the flour to create the small pieces?
Our answer
Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is a traditional steamed Christmas pudding. The fat used in the pudding is suet, which is the fat from around the kidneys of an animal. In the US this is usually beef and suet can be bought already shredded in shelf-stable form.
Tallow is rendered fat, where the fat is melted and refined, and is usually beef fat in the US. However, it is worth double checking with your butcher to make sure that it is beef fat and not lamb fat. Beef tallow should be fine for the Ultimate Christmas Pudding. If it comes in a block then we would suggest freezing the block of fat and then coarsely grating the fat before using it in the recipe. You can also use vegetable shortening as an alternative and freeze and grate it in the same way. If grating is too difficult then it is possible to melt the fat and stir it into the other ingredients, though do make sure that the fat is thoroughly mixed in.
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