Sunday 22 March 2009

trail baking - spotted dick

In the whole food shop in Guildford on Friday and found some gluten free vegetable suet, so I grabbed a bag, along with some dates.

Ingredients

Three heaped spoons of Dove's Farm self raising gluten free flour
One and a half spoons of suet
One teaspoon of caster sugar
Six dates, chopped

spotted dick - trail sized

Method

Mix all the ingredients with cold water to form a batter, spoon into muffin cases and steam bake for fifteen minutes. Serve with Bird's instant custard. I used a green lexan GSI spoon for the above measurement, and the mix will make four mini suet puddings enough for two.

nicely turned out

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Baz, Like this material. I've seen some references to steam baking in US lit but I guess you must be one of very few playing with these ideas in the UK. One question, you're steaming for 15 mins, how do you keep on top of fuel consumption? Presumably you can't bring to teh boil and use a pot cosy to steam bake?

baz carter said...

Dave, TBH I've not looked at the fuel consumption issue despite me being a gram weeny :)

My try outs have been with a gas stove for convenience. Fuel consumption isnt much of a issue with a bush buddy which would be my stove of choice for some outings.

But to answer your question it's something I'll check on with my next round of recipe try outs (ones with a savoury slant).

What I can say is that you don't need alot of water in the pan, and the simmer needs to be kept real low so fuel useage is kept to a minimum.

A cosy wouldn't work unfortunately (we cant have everything!)

Unknown said...

Look forward to your findings. These little luxuries can realy lift the spirit so it's worth investing the time to get them right.

The bushbuddy is starting to catch my attention. At first I thought it was a bit naff but I see so much positive feedback. On canoeing trips the option of cooking over a fire makes things like Bannock and pancakes a real posibility. I miss that freedom when backpacking where every gram counts and fuel is rationed.

baz carter said...

I used the Bush Buddy exclusively for day trips over the winter and fuel is easy to come by (does depend on the area though). The freedom you gain from not having to carry fuel is a big one, especially when the view is 'when every gram counts'.