Food

For the filling:

• 400g brisket / skirt / bavette / flange (i.e. cheap, cheerful, fatty and flavoursome), in 1 inch cubes
  
• 200g ox kidney (you could go for lamb, but you want beefiness if you ask me) - remove the sinewy white bits, but try not to squidge it too much. The size of the chunks is pretty much determined by the kidney already.
  
• Seasoned flour
  
• 1 onion, brunoised (finely chopped onions with help thickening, as will the flour)
  
• 125ml of a big red wine
  
• 1 tbspn tomato puree
  
• 1 bay leaves
  
• 2 sprigs thyme
  
• 250ml of a good beef stock (make your own, or get the Waitrose stuff - cubes are a bit shit)
  
  

For the pudding case:

• 200g self raising flour
  
• 1 tbsp white & 1tbsp pink pepper corns, ground
  
• 125g shredded beef suet
  
• water to bind (100ml - 200ml ish)
  
  

Make the filling first - 30 mins preparation, 2 - 3 hours cooking
(I fucked this up by making the case first).
1 - Dust the meat in the seasoned flour (don't be afraid of the salt)
2 - Heat deep pan with oil, and brown the meat in batches, adding more oil when needed - the aim is to brown the meat, not cook it, so keep it hot.
3 - Fry off the onions, the deglaze the pan with the red wine
4 - Add the stock, and bring to a simmer, adding the bay leaves and stripped thyme
5 - Take off the heat and add the meat
6 - Cover and put in the oven at 120ish degrees for a few hours

Make the case - 10 minutes preparation
1 - Grease a 1 litre pudding basin (any bowl with a lip will do)
2 - Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl
3 - Season with the white & pink pepper, mix in the suet
4 - Mix with some of the water, until you get a dry dough - Don't overwork it, or you'll make a touch pudding case
5 - Reserve a quarter of the dough, and roll the rest on a floured surface - roughly a 12" disc
6 - Line the pudding basin with the rolled dough, leaving the excess hanging over the edged
7 - Roll out a disc large enough to cover the bowl, using the remaining dough

Cook it - 10 minutes preparation, 2 - 3 hours cooking
1 - Spoon out some of the liquor from the stewed meat and reserve for gravy later
2 - Fill the pudding case with the stew
3 - Wet the edges of the case, and place the top on, folding the excess over and lightly pressing down
4 - Place a disc of greaseproof on top
5 - Cover the top with foil (place a pleat in the foil for expansion), and tie securely around the lip of the bowl - adding a string handle makes it easier to remove from the steamer later
6 - Place on an upturned saucer in a deep saucepan, and fill halfway with water from a kettle
7 - Cover, and steam over a low heat (enough to keep the water simmering) for 2 hours, adding more hot water when need

Serving
1 - remove from heat, remove covering, flip upside down, heat gravy, dish up, nomnomnom.