A meat pudding is simply meat and gravy surrounded by a suet crust and boiled. Sometimes the meat pudding is boiled in a basin tied over with a cloth, and sometimes it is boiled in a cloth without a basin. In the latter case, the pudding crust will swell more, and, when cut, there will not appear to be quite enough meat for the crust. Still, for an " economical" childrens' dinner, a meat pudding boiled in a cloth without the basin is preferable to one boiled in the basin.

We will suppose the contents of the pudding to be two pounds of beef-steak. Cut up into pieces about two inches long, an inch wide, and an inch thick (N.B. - A quarter of a pound of this steak should be fat), a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful, or rather less, of black pepper, a teaspoonful of chopped onion and parsley - half of each - some stock No. 3 (see No. 10), or some water.

First, to boil in the basin: -

Make some suet paste for puddings of the richness required (see Paste, Suet, for Puddings); roll it out to about a quarter of an inch thick. Take a basin with a thick rim. Line this basin, after buttering it, with the rolled-out paste. Trim it round the edge with a floury knife, so that the edge of the paste rests on the edge of the basin fully, but without hanging over. Fill this well of paste in the basin with the meat, chopped onion and parsley, pepper and salt, and till up with the stock or water. Poll out a piece of paste big enough to cover over, wetting the edge of the paste on the rim of the basin first to make it stick. When the cover of paste has been put on, cut round the outside of the basin, and trim off the spare paste with a floury knife, and pinch the two pieces of paste together with the fingers. That is, pinch together the top and the edge of the paste first put into the basin, so as to make the two join. Next, flour a cloth, and cover over the top of the basin. This flour will prevent the cloth sticking to the paste. Tie the cloth tight with a string round the rim of the basin, twisting the string round and round two or three times. Then bring up the cloth again, and tie it together so that the basin hangs. Boil the pudding in the basin, in plenty of boiling water, for three hours. When done, take out the pudding, untie the cloth, and take it off, and turn out the pudding on to a dish. The pudding is none the worse for breaking a little. If possible, add a little more boiling stock to the pudding in the dish.

To boil in a cloth without the basin. Take a pudding-cloth, flour it, and place it in a basin. Poll out the paste, and place it in the cloth in the basin. Fill the paste in the cloth as before, then add the ingredients, and cover the pudding with a top, proceeding in every respect as if the cloth did not exist between the basin and the paste; then gather up the outside flaps of the cloth, flour them, bring them over the top, and tie them tight round with a string, still leaving room for the pudding to swell. Lift the pudding in the cloth lightly out of the basin, holding the cloth where it is tied together. Plunge it into a saucepan of boiling water, and let it boil for about three hours. When done, take it out, let it drain for a few minutes, then untie the cloth and turn out the pudding on to a dish, adding, if possible, a little more boiling stock No. 3. (N.B. - Put a saucer in the saucepan for the pudding to rest on; this will prevent its sticking and burning).