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US baker here. I have acquired frozen, unrefined suet from a local butcher for use in the Christmas pudding recipe. Do I need to render, strain, and refreeze it before use, or can I simply grate it as is?
Our answer
Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding from (NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) follows the traditional route of using suet as the fat, though you could also use coarsely grated vegetable shortening or butter as alternatives.
In the UK, suet comes in a shelf-stable form, already shredded and also dehydrated, and it is easy to stir it into the pudding mixture. This type of suet is refined before it is dehydrated. Suet is the fat from around the kidneys of cows and sheep, though most commonly it is beef suet. Raw suet is usually unprocessed and may contain traces of connective tissue and other matter, which can affect how long it will keep for if it is chilled and not frozen. This can also cause it to have a slightly stronger flavour than refined suet. We suspect this will not matter too much if you want to use raw suet, but if you have the time then refining the fat by rendering and straining it though a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth would be preferable. You may need to repeat the process again to make sure that you are left with pure fat. Once you have refined the fat then you are left with beef tallow, which can be used for the Christmas pudding and for other dishes.
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