Chef Juliette
Various Almond Preparations
Five almond preparations, one discipline: remove the skins cleanly, dry every kernel through, then cut, toast, or cloak it in pale caramel without letting its fragrant oils escape.
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Dumpling and Pudding Pastes
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2361, Dumpling and Pudding Pastes, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Dry beef suet chopped to pinpoints, drawn gradually into flour, then massed without kneading: this simple pâte is the tender foundation for the canon’s dumplings and basin puddings.
Desserts
French
Make Ahead
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
0 min cook•55 min total
YieldAbout 1 lb 1 oz (490 g) paste, enough for 4 servings
Pâtes à dumplings et à puddings (dumpling and pudding pastes) teach one discipline: mass the paste, never knead it. Fine pieces of dry beef suet must stay distinct in the flour so they melt during later cooking and leave tenderness behind. Work the flour into elasticity and the dumplings or pudding turn heavy. The word carries the technique, and here the technique is restraint.
The original assumed a broad mixing-board, a naturally cool pastry room, and more than two pounds of paste ready for service. This version halves every amount to make about 490 grams, enough for four at home, while a wide bowl replaces the board and the refrigerator supplies the cool corner. What changed is the scale and the vessel, both brigade scaffolding. The proportions, sequence, fine chopping, and refusal to knead remain because they are the dish.
The finished pâte should look pale and matte, with tiny white flecks of suet held throughout rather than smeared into the flour. If warmth softens the fat, stop and chill everything; ça se rattrape. The final gathering decides the preparation: press only until the paste holds together, then take your hands away.
Pâtes à dumplings et à puddings belong first to the British table, particularly the boiled dumplings and basin-cooked suet puddings of England, which the French classical repertoire adopted under their English names. Grand kitchens codified the household method into a measured foundation for sweet puddings and savory dumplings, using dry beef suet because its firm particles melt during cooking and leave a tender structure. It is often mistaken for ordinary pastry dough, but kneading is precisely what the formula forbids.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
very dry beef suet
Quantity
1¼ cups loosely packed (295 ml / 142 g)
thoroughly chilled; skin and connective tissue removed, then chopped as finely as possible
plain flour
Quantity
1⅞ cups (445 ml / 227 g)
sifted
fine salt
Quantity
1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g)
granulated sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons (25 ml / 21 g)
cool water
Quantity
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (95 ml / 95 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very dry beef suetthoroughly chilled; skin and connective tissue removed, then chopped as finely as possible | 1¼ cups loosely packed (295 ml / 142 g) |
| plain floursifted | 1⅞ cups (445 ml / 227 g) |
| fine salt | 1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g) |
| granulated sugar | 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons (25 ml / 21 g) |
| cool water | 6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (95 ml / 95 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Digital scale accurate to 1 g
- •Sturdy cutting board and 8-inch chef’s knife
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Wide 4-quart mixing bowl
- •Bench scraper
Instructions
- 1
Clean and chop suet
Break open the chilled suet and carefully pull away every strip of skin, membrane, and connective tissue. Weigh 142 grams of cleaned fat, slice it thinly, cut the slices into narrow strips, then chop repeatedly until the pieces are no larger than grains of rice and most are finer. Scrape the knife and turn the pile as you work. If the suet softens or begins to smear, spread it on a plate and chill it for ten minutes before continuing; cold fat chops cleanly.
Suet is the firm fat surrounding the beef kidneys. Rendered beef tallow cannot replace it here because it has already lost the solid structure the pâte requires. - 2
Build the flour well
Sift the flour into a wide mixing bowl and push it outward to form a deep hollow in the centre. Put the salt, sugar, cool water, and finely chopped suet into that hollow. A bowl is the honest home equivalent of the original mixing-board: it contains this smaller quantity without changing the order in which the ingredients meet.
- 3
Draw in flour
Stir the ingredients in the centre with two fingers or a sturdy fork, then draw flour from the inner wall of the hollow a little at a time. Turn the bowl as you work so the liquid takes up the flour gradually and the suet stays evenly distributed. Stop stirring when no free water remains and the mixture forms moist clumps with some loose flour around them. Do not beat or stretch it.
- 4
Mass without kneading
Use a bench scraper to bring the clumps and loose flour together. Press down once with the heel of your hand, fold the loose edges inward, then press again only as needed until the pâte holds as one rough mass. This is masser, gathering by pressure, not kneading. If dry flour refuses to join, cover the bowl for five minutes so the measured water can travel through the flour, then press once more. If the surface turns greasy, chill the mixture for fifteen minutes before gathering it. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Rest in the cold
Shape the pâte into a thick, flat rectangle without smoothing away its visible flecks of suet. Wrap it closely and chill for at least thirty minutes. The rest distributes the moisture and relaxes the little gluten you have formed, leaving a paste that bends without crumbling but never feels springy. Use it cold according to the finished dumpling or pudding preparation; this entry makes the foundation only, so shaping and cooking belong to the dish receiving it.
Chef Tips
- •Ask a butcher for clean beef kidney suet and weigh it after removing the membrane. Ordinary beef fat trimmings are softer, while rendered tallow has already lost the structure needed here.
- •Packaged shredded suet is sometimes coated heavily with flour. Use only pure suet for this formula, or the flour-to-fat ratio changes before you begin.
- •Keep the full measures of salt and sugar. The sugar does not make this a finished dessert, and the salt is deliberate; the source formula uses both whether the pâte is destined for dumplings or pudding.
- •A scale matters here. The recipe has been reduced to exactly half the original professional formula, and small errors become noticeable when only five ingredients carry the whole preparation.
- •The pâte is not ready to eat. Its flour remains raw, and its final cooking time depends on the dumpling or pudding in which it is used.
Advance Preparation
- •The suet can be cleaned and chopped up to 24 hours ahead. Keep it tightly covered in the cold so it stays firm and does not take on refrigerator aromas.
- •The completed pâte can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before shaping. Keep it closely wrapped so the surface does not dry.
- •For longer storage, wrap the pâte twice and freeze it flat for up to one month. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and use it while still cold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 123g)
Calories
525 calories
Total Fat
34 g
Saturated Fat
19 g
Trans Fat
2 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
25 mg
Sodium
700 mg
Total Carbohydrates
49 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
6 g
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