Oxtail suet pudding
Serves 4
 4 tbsp vegetable oil
 100g (4oz) plain flour
 2kg (41⁄2lb) sawed oxtail
 2 cloves garlic
 2 carrots
 2 sticks celery
 1 onion
 1 tbsp tomato purée
 200g (8oz) piece of smoked bacon
 1 litre (13⁄4 pint) beef stock
 1⁄2 bottle claret
 1⁄2 tsp English mustard
 Salt to taste
 1⁄2 tsp black pepper

For the Suet pastry
n 200g (8oz) self-raising flour
n 1⁄2 tsp salt
n 100g (4oz) suet
n 150ml (1⁄4 pint) cold water
n Butter for greasing

Start by making the pastry. Mix the flour with the salt and suet, then add water a little at a time until it is incorporated. Now wrap in cling film and set aside in the fridge.
Heat up a big casserole dish and add the oil. Flour the oxtail, then brown it really well. Remove the meat from the dish and put it aside. Then put the chopped garlic, chopped vegetables and purée in and cook for five minutes. Add the diced bacon and cook for another five minutes.
Put the oxtail back in the dish, pour in the stock and claret to cover, then stir in the made mustard, salt and pepper. Put the lid on and cook gently for two to three hours until the oxtail can just be pulled from the bone. Remove the oxtail. Reduce the liquor by three quarters by boiling. Let it cool.
Roll out three quarters of the suet in a disc 5mm (1⁄5in) thick, then do the same with the smaller piece. Line a
1.1 litre (2 pint) pudding basin with butter, then pastry. Pull the meat off the bone and mix with a couple of ladles of sauce. Pile into the dish until it’s four fifths full. Pop the lid on and seal it by crimping with some water. Wrap in greaseproof paper and steam for two and a half hours.
Turn the pudding out on to a big, flowery plate (you know the sort of thing), then pour some more of the strained liquor over it. Serve with cauliflower cheese and a fine burgundy.