Last Supper Nomination

At some point in the not too distant future we will reach Peak Meat.

No, it is not a trek to an obscure mountain top as part of a challenge but it is a term to describe that point in time when it will no longer be sustainable to produce animal products for human consumption.

It may not actually be too far away given the numbers of current carnivorous individuals making the voluntary decision to reduce their meat eating.

This can be based on ethical, health, animal welfare,environmental and cost of living grounds. That list is not exhaustive and I stress, not in any order of priority or preference.

With this in mind I have been contemplating a recipe for a meat dish that I would choose to be my last.

This particular delicacy was mentioned in passing by our Tesco home shopping delivery driver. I cannot recall how we got on the subject but he was doing the job to supplement his student grant before returning to his home area of Oldham, Lancashire in the North West of England.

I had never heard of Rag Pudding but then again there are so many regional specialities that even after browsing multiple volumes of cook books many will remain tightly bound to their towns, villages or even streets of origin.

Rag Pudding is a local variant in Oldham and Manchester consisting of a steak and kidney pudding but the Rag derivation refers to the cooking method of steaming the ingredients in a cloth.

This in itself may have been a spin-off from the days of Textile Mills in the North West with offcuts of cotton and other materials being readily available to the hungry workforce.

Do not be fooled by the word Pudding. This recipe is for strong willed meat eaters only and the pudding refers only to the outer casing for the filling in a suet based pastry.

You are at a distinct advantage if you are on good terms with your local butcher as this will help to secure the required amount of quality stewing beef and the offal requirement of lamb or ox kidney, good beef stock, beef dripping, lard and oil.

There is some greenery in there being bay leaves, thyme and sage.

With the ingredients to hand the actual making of the puddings is quite straight forward.

After trimming and dicing the beef it is then seasoned in flour and seared in pan of scalding dripping to seal in the goodness. Then place the browned beef with stock in a large pan and skim off any residue as it simmers. Meanwhile saute some onions and then add to the meat.

It would be best here to go off and do something interesting or essential as the mixture takes about three and a half hours to become tender.

On returning to the kitchen the kidneys have to be chopped and the chewy core removed before browning in fat and adding to the big pot. The contents will need a bit of thickening after adding in the herbs and this is best achieved with a basic flour and water mix.

Now that everything is nicely cooked the mixture can be left to cool.

The fun part is the messy assembly of the suet pastry. Anything to do with dough gives an opportunity to release aggression and stress not to mention that the process gets rid of all of the dirt and grime under your finger nails in a very magical way.

A rolling pin is used to create pastry squares about 15cm each side. Into the centre place a dollop of the filling before wetting the edges and folding them over and lightly pressing to seal in place.

Those bits of cloth, cut offs, torn up sheets or muslin material come into play to encase the puds so that they can be steamed for a further hour. The dish does not appear to require anything and like a Cornish Pasty is definitely a self contained meal on its own. Nevertheless, some seasonal veg and a dash of gravy would go down well.

It is quite a laborious task given that some 5 hours will have elapsed from start to tasty finish but that gives plenty of time to think about a world without meat.

Yes, a fitting request for a last meat meal.