The Worcestershire Warmer

This wonderful looking dish is The Worcestershire Warmer - created by Jill Jessop of Worcester and personally approved by both the Mayor of Worcester and the Chairman of Worcestershire County Council thus making it then new ‘Official Dish of Worcestershire.’

Not since the Manchester Pudding in 1856 has there been a new British regional dish created.[1] Well today, 152 years on, the nation’s favourite, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, has made culinary history by crowning the Worcestershire Warmer the Official Dish of Worcestershire’.

The Worcestershire Warmer, which has a spicy filling combining organic locally-reared lamb, hard-eating pears and a melange of cinnamon, ginger and cumin, naturally with a splash of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce was created by Jill Jessop, 61, from Worcester. Jill beat off fierce competition in a live cook off with eight other finalists and the Worcestershire Warmer will now join the raft of UK renowned regional specialities including the Cornish pasty, Yorkshire Pudding, Lancashire Hotpot and Cumberland sausage.

The dish has been approved by two of the region’s most prominent figures, The Mayor of Worcester, Lucy Hodgson and the Worcestershire County Council Chairman, Alwyn Davies both of whom were on the judging panel which chose the winning dish.

The creator of the Worcestershire Warmer Jill Jessop said, “I’m absolutely delighted to have won this competition. I have lived in Worcestershire for 30 years and am immensely proud of the regions heritage. My mum was the inspiration for my dish; she was a great cook and used to make lots of suet puddings. While it’s old-fashioned, like most regional dishes, I knew I could give it a modern twist by adding spices. I’ve always loved cooking and I really hope the region and the whole of the UK embrace my dish and have a go at cooking it for themselves.”

Lynsey Hurst from Lea & Perrins says: Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is the best known food product to come out of Worcestershire and we wanted to celebrate that by making Worcestershire’s regional culinary delights famous.  We were delighted by the number of entries and diversity of the different dishes and hope that the Worcestershire Warmer is a household dish for years to come”

The Worcestershire Warmer Recipe:

For four people
you will need 4 x4oz. Pudding basins
Ingredients:

Suet crust
6oz. prepared suet
12oz. .Self raising flour
half a [tea sp.] salt
1 [teasp] baking powder

Spicy Lamb Filling.
1 lb organic lamb reared locally chopped into approx. 1 in. pieces.
2 hard eating pears- preferably Worcester Black Pear. However this is not always available -Conference Pears are a good substitute.
Half a pint locally produced Perry.
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large onion diced.
2 cloves garlic crushed.
2 [tbsps] Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.
1 heaped teasp each of powdered cinnamon-cumin-ginger and salt.
2 [tbsps.] Virgin olive oil
approx. half a pint of water.
1 [tbsp.] pl. flour
pepper to taste.

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 200ºc.
Prepare spicy lamb dish first.
Toss lamb in cinnamon-ginger -cumin and salt
peel pears and chop into half inch pieces
heat oil in cooking pan-add tossed lamb and sauté till lightly browned.
Reduce heat and add onions and garlic. Cook gently for 1 min.
gradually add tomatoes- Perry, Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce and pears.
add enough water in order to obtain a –coating type consistency–
cover with casserole lid and transfer to heated oven.
Cook for 15 mins at 200ºc then reduce heat to 150ºc and cook for a further 1 hr to 1 hr 30 mins until lamb is tender but still maintains its shape.

Prepare Suet Crust
grease pudding basins well with butter. Place to one side.
Take a large bowl-add in suet together with sieved flour-baking powder and salt.
Gradually add sufficient water to bind pastry together.
Place pastry on floured board and kneed into a ball.
Divide pastry into 4 pieces. Cut off a quarter from each piece for the pudding.
Roll pastry forwards not sideways.
Each piece of pastry must be large enough to cover the inside of the basin.
Proceed to line all the basins the same way.
Roll out 4 pudding tops. Place to one side.

When lamb is cooked season to taste and allow to cool before filling the suet crusts. Meanwhile place steamer on hob to boil.
When filling has cooled using a perforated ladle remove the meat and pears etc. from sauce and place in the suet crusts.  Save the sauce for later.
Place the suet lids on top carefully pinching the pastry to ensure there are no gaps.
Cover each suet crust with a double layer of foil. Secure the foil with string round the top of each basin and make a handle with another length of string in order to lift out the pudding from the steamer.
Steam for 1hr. and 30 mins.

Prepare Sauce
Ingredients.
Remaining sauce from pan
4 fl.oz Perry
1 teasp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 handful chopped coriander.

Method:
Place remaining sauce in pan.
Add Perry, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and coriander.
Taste and add seasoning as necessary.

To serve pudding
carefully invert the pudding –turn upside down.
Pour over the sauce.
Serve with a mixture of baby new potatoes-French beans-baby carrots and sweet corn.

Enjoy!!

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