Step 1 of 6
Spotted Dick
Tip the flour and salt into a large bowl, then rub in the suet with your fingertips. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs before anything else goes near it.
Step 2
Stir the currants, sugar and both zests through the dry mixture. Do it now while everything is dry — currants clump the moment liquid appears.
Step 3
Work in the milk until the dough holds together firmly but still feels moist. Add a splash more only if dry patches refuse to come in.
Step 4
Roll the dough into a fat cylinder about 20 cm long. Sit it on parchment paper, wrap it loosely so it has room to swell, and twist the ends shut like a cracker.
Step 5
Set a steamer over a pan of boiling water and steam the pudding for an hour and a half. Top the pan up with boiling water whenever it drops; it must never run dry.
Step 6
Lift it out and let it settle for a few minutes before unwrapping. Serve in thick slices with warm custard.
