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Duff, or suet pudding, in its simplest form consists of a mixture of flour and suet (the hard fat about the kidneys and loins in beef and mutton that yields tallow) and eaten with meat. By adding various things and treating it in a slightly different way, it can be transformed into a jam roly-poly, spotted dog, plum duff or sea pie.

Best results come from the simple ‘half fat to flour’ proportion, but making this by volume rather tan weight. Use self-rising flour and prepared suet, which comes in little pieces, like grains of rice. To make a duff for four people:

2 cups of self-raising flour

1 cup suet

Pinch salt

Enough water to make a soft dough

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the salt and suet and mix together with a fork. Add the water, a little at a time, mixing with a fork until it comes together in a sticky dough. Flour your hands, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it very gently, sprinkling on a little more flour if necessary, until it can be formed into a ball or sausage shape. Pop this into a pudding cloth, tie the bag and boil the duff for about an hour. You can also pinch off little pieces of dough, form them into balls, and let them boil for fifteen minutes in with the beef.

To make a Plum Duff, add half a pound (200gm) of raisins/currants to the mixture and proceed as above.

To make Spotted Dog, add half a pound (200gms) of raisins and 2oz (50gm) of sugar to the mixture.

To make a Jam Roly-Poly, instead of forming the pudding into a ball or sausage, roll out to a rectangle, spread it thickly with jam and roll it up into a sausage before proceeding as above. Beware when eating! The Jam will be very hot!!

To make a Savoury Roly-Poly, substitute a mixture of chopped bacon, fried onions and mushrooms or onions and mussels, for the jam and proceed as above.