I’ve been reading Lobscouse and Spotted Dog, which collects lots of recipes from the Aubrey/Maturin books. I really want to try to make a nice Spotted Dog or Boiled Baby, but I can’t find suet around here. Few supermarkets near me even stock lard, and when I ask about suet, I get blank stares.
I know I can buy it online, but every site I find sells it for feeding birds - would this be suitable for human consumption? Otherwise, anyone have any ideas where to get it? I live in the Boston area.
I think that in these modern times, suet refers almost exclusively to the kind used as bird food. This is not for human consumption and not really what you’re looking for. What you’d need seems to be more along the lines of lard – suet is a specific kind of hard fat, and lard should work just as well.
Try calling around to a few butcher stores. That’s the suggestion I keep seeing after googling a bit.
This month’s Martha Stewart Living magazine has a recipe for Spotted Dick that uses all butter. There are also recipes for several other puddings that look very yummy.
Maple Leaf Foods in Canada puts out suet every year around Christmas for puddings, mincemeat tarts and such - I buy some each December, but don’t usually see it at other times of the year. Maybe try a road trip to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia next December?
I wouldn’t use the bird-feeder suet - I doubt it would be fit for human consumption.
Unfortunately, this is not true. The difference between “normal” lard and suet is the melting point. Suet melts at a higher temperature, and thus much later in the cooking process. Butter or lard give a dish a completely different texture (which may be better or worse, but is definitely not the same).
Make a hard search for a real butcher. Not a supermarket. Not to many in the US anymore. But they’re there. Try bigger cities. Or fly to europe! Good excuse and you get a vacation and better weather.
lard and flour make pastry don’t they? It takes suet to get dumplings? The common brand in the UK is Atora, which is for sale in every supermarket i’ve ever been in. We must enjoy our raw fat more in GB.
All my local supermarkets sell suet…yup, must be a Brit thing.
Atora , with an eye to the health conscious , now also market a light version of their suet. You can also by something called “vegetarian suet”
About 15 years ago, I bought fresh suet from a butcher. It was thirty cents a pound. I ground it and rendered it down for feeding it t birds and squirrels. It was the best lasting suet I have ever used. I don’t know if the stuff that they use for feeding birds is usually inferior or not as fresh, but mine was fresh far longer.
When I call butchers around here, so far they have not admitted to even knowing what suet is. Looks like time for another round of calls.
If you would like to use lard as a substitute, try looking in Mexican grocery stores. The only lard I have found around here (Maryland) was in Spanish-only packaging and in the refrigerated section.
Suet is not simply lard, it is “is raw beef or mutton fat, especially the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys.” A few years ago I heard an All Things Considered interview with a woman who was preparing a new edition of The Joy of Cooking – she remarked how the original 1936 version was full of things like, “For this recipe you will need two tablespoons of the fat that surrounds beef kidneys.” Which, as a modern health-conscious person, made her shudder.
It seems to be a distinctly British thing. From George Orwell’s 1945 essay, “In Defence of English Cooking:”
Thanks for the suggestions - I’ll call around to butcher shops.
I really want to try to keep this authentic and close to the book recipes as possible - I’m on an Aubrey/Maturin kick at the moment. Making a “modern” Spotted Dog with butter or lard would be cheating.
Hell, I’m even going to make some ship’s biscuit to keep in the basement and make a nice plum duff next year.
Thanks for providing the Atora brand name. Googling for that with suet located several sites willing to ship Atora anywhere in the world. Shipping’s pretty expensive ($20 for UK-US), but it’ll still be a good backup if I can’t find a butcher who can provide it.
The shipping cost looks way too high. A packet of Atora weighs 250 grams. An airmail packet for that weight costs £3.05, which is less than $6.
Update - suet found!
I went back to my local supermarket yesterday, and asked the butcher, and it turns out they sell suet in the “novelty meats” case. My previous mistake was assuming that since they sold pre-packaged lard in the dairy section, that’s where they would have suet as well.
The suet they have is big 1-2 lb chunks straight from the carcass. At 99 cents/lb, I can’t go wrong. Spotted dog for everyone!
I think you mean Spotted Dick, unless you’re that woman from 101 Dalmatians. 
Is boiled baby the same thing as a babby’s head - aka suet pudding from a chippy?
If Spotted Dog is good enough for Patrick O’Brian, it’s good enough for me!