The maid on the Country Estate

During an Aquasize class where the tongues get a better workout than the body, I was talking to an elegant astute, Englishwoman who had been "in service" in England in the 1950's. I had no idea servants were still "in service" , thinking all that had come to an end at the turn of the century. This lady had been a young girl in the 1950's and had the position of housemaid, to a Lord and Lady on a country Estate. The maid lived in as her home was a distance away, and had rostered visits home to see family. We talked as we walked around the pool this way then backwards, about having to retrieve the newspaper after it had been read by one member of the family,and whisked away to have the pages IRONED before the next set of eyes were upon the pages. As we moved in a crab walk around the swirling water of the pool,we talked about how it was her job to iron the bedsheets each day so the beds were fresh to get into at night. Imagine doing that today, I ask you!!!.The beds were changed weekly. There was a dance in the town on Saturday nights at the local hall, and this lady had a scare one night, with dogs barking and chasing her home. The Lord heard about this and from that time on he sent her in the car with the driver and she was picked up after. There was no opportunity for romance while this was happening, but what wonderful, caring people and employers they were. She told me that a pudding on the menu was SPOTTED DICK so here it is ,
SPOTTED DICK
butter for greasing the bowl.
300g / 10oz plain flour 15ml / 1tbsp baking powder
150g/ 5oz shredded suet 75g / 3oz caster sugar
100g / 4oz currants
finely grated zest of 2 lemons 200ml/ 7fl oz milk
Grease a pudding basin. Prepare a steamer or half fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
Mix the dry ingredients with the currants and lemon zest. Add most of the milk,
until the mixture is of a soft, dropping consistency.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared basin, cover with greased paper and foil and secure with string.
Put the pudding into the steamer or saucepan on an upturned saucer, in the boiling water. The water should come halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover the pan and steam the pudding for 1 hour.
Serve the pudding with lashings of custard and cream. Yum yum.