Jam Roly-Poly

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large lidded saucepan or deep roasting tin for steaming
• •Wire rack or trivet
• •Rolling pin
• •Baking parchment
• •Aluminium foil
• •Kitchen string (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Set up the steam

   Get the steaming sorted before you start on the pastry. The easiest way is a deep roasting tin in the oven: set the oven to 180C/160C fan, put a rack in the middle, and slide a roasting tin of just-boiled water onto the shelf below. If you'd rather steam on the hob, use your largest lidded pan with a trivet or upturned saucer at the bottom and pour in boiling water to come about a third of the way up.

   Whichever method you choose, the water needs to be properly hot before the pudding goes in. Cold water climbing slowly to a simmer gives you a heavy roly-poly.
2. 2

   Mix the pastry

   In a bowl, stir the flour, suet, sugar, and salt together with your fingers until the suet is evenly distributed through the flour. Add the cold water a little at a time, mixing with a knife, until the dough pulls together. You want it soft but not sticky, something like a slightly heavier scone dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few seconds, just enough to bring it into a smooth ball.

3. 3

   Roll it out

   Roll the dough into a rectangle roughly 30cm by 20cm, about half a centimetre thick. Don't agonize over the measurements. A rough rectangle with the long side facing you is all you're after. The edges will be a bit ragged and that is absolutely fine.

4. 4

   Spread the jam

   If the jam is stiff from the fridge, stir a spoonful of just-boiled water into it to loosen it. You want something that will melt into the pastry as it cooks, not a solid line refusing to cooperate. Spread the jam generously across the pastry, leaving a 2cm border all the way round. The border is what stops the jam bursting out when you roll, so don't be tempted to cover every inch.

   Use the best raspberry jam you've got. This is the moment to open the jar you made last summer and thought you were saving for something. This is the something.
5. 5

   Roll and seal

   Brush the border lightly with milk. Starting from one of the short sides, roll the pastry up into a firm log, not crushing it, just keeping it snug. Pinch the long seam and the two ends together to seal in the jam. It won't be neat. It isn't meant to be. Brush the whole thing lightly with milk to help the colour.

6. 6

   Wrap for steaming

   Lay a big sheet of baking parchment on the counter with a sheet of foil on top. Place the roly-poly in the middle, seam down. Wrap it up loosely, giving the pudding a good third more room to expand as it steams. Twist the ends like a cracker and, if you've got string, tie them off. This is the step that matters most: a pudding wrapped too tightly splits at the seams; one wrapped too loosely goes soggy.

   Pleat the parchment and foil along the top before wrapping. That pleat gives it somewhere to swell into.
7. 7

   Steam until swollen

   Lower the wrapped pudding onto the rack above the water tray, or into the pan of simmering water. Cover tightly and leave it alone for an hour and a half. Check the water level halfway through and top up with boiling water from the kettle if it's getting low. When it's ready, the pudding will feel firm and springy through the foil, and the kitchen will smell of warm jam and buttery pastry. That smell is how you know.

8. 8

   Unwrap and serve

   Lift the pudding out carefully. It will be hot and heavier than you expect. Let it rest on a board for a few minutes, then unwrap it gently. The surface should be pale gold and slightly tacky, with streaks of deep ruby where the jam has bled through. Dust generously with caster sugar and cut into thick slices with a sharp knife. Serve at once, with more custard than seems sensible.

Chef Tips

• •Suet is the whole business. Proper beef suet gives the lightest, most traditional texture, but vegetable suet works perfectly well and nobody will tell the difference once the custard is on. Don't be tempted to swap it for butter. That's a different pudding entirely, and not as good.
• •Leave the pudding room to grow. The single most common mistake is wrapping the parcel too tightly. Pleat the foil and parchment along the top, tie the ends loose, and trust the suet to do its thing. It will swell by a third, maybe more.
• •Make the custard from scratch if you can: egg yolks, sugar, cream, vanilla, stirred slowly over a low heat until it coats the back of a spoon. If you can't, the good carton kind is perfectly honest. This isn't the evening for apologies. Just make sure there's plenty of it.

Advance Preparation

• •The pudding can be assembled a few hours ahead and kept cold on a tray, wrapped in its parchment and foil, ready to go into the steam when you want it. Roly-poly is always best the moment it comes out of the wrap.
• •Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for a day. Reheat in a low oven, loosely wrapped in foil, until warmed through. It's never quite as good the second time, but still a better afternoon than most.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 120g)