Pwdin Eryri (Snowdon Pudding)

This recipe for Pwdin Eryri, or Snowdon Pudding, comes from Alice Corbett in 1887. It is traditionally served with a sweet red wine syrup, Saws Gwin (see below). Pwdin Eryri, (which is similar to many steamed suet puddings developed in Britain during this period) was famously served in the late eighteenth-century at the hotel at the foot of Mount Snowdon, Wales’ highest mountain.

It was a welcome dessert and reward for many walkers and climbers returning to the hotel after the exertions of going up the mountain, (before the introduction of Britain’s first and only mountain steam train in 1896 which made it easy to get to the top). The word Eryri means high place, and not eagle’s place as some claim, and while Snowdonia has been called Eryri by the Welsh since the Middle Ages, Snowdon itself is called Yr Wyddfa, Snowy Hill.

Pwdin Eryri Recipe

From Alice Corbett 1877 – weights and measures faithfully translated for the modern kitchen.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 120g shredded suet
• 120g breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 large lemon, grated lemon zest and juice
• 3 tbsp orange marmalade
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 eggs (beaten)
• 3 heaped tbsp raisins
• 2 tbsp soft butter (for greasing)

Recipe Method:

Take a large pudding basin about 15cm high and generously grease it well with the butter. Press and stick the raisins to the sides of the bowl, to be held by the butter. In a mixing bowl mix together the shredded suet, breadcrumbs, cornflour, sugar and salt, (any left over raisins) then add the zest of the lemon, lemon juice, and marmalade.

Beat the eggs well in a seperate bowl and mix them into the the suet and breadcrumb mixture. Once fully mixed spoon the mixture into the pudding basin, carefully so as not to disturb the raisins held by the butter. Once full you can pack the mixture down a little tighter. Cover the pudding basin over with a sheet of baking paper and a sheet of foil (make a small pleat in the middle of this cover by folding over 3 or 4 cm for expansion) – tie this cover down with some butcher’s string, and make a string handle over the top to make it easy to lift the pudding basin in and out of the saucepan.

Either steam the pudding in a steamer or simmer it in a saucepan with boiling water to half-way up the basin for an hour. Make sure the saucepan or steamer is topped up with water when needed. Turn out onto a warm plate and serve with the Saws Gwin, Wine Sauce.

Saws Gwin Recipe

Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 lemon rind
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp butter
• 200ml sweet red wine

Recipe Method:

Boil the sugar, lemon rind (left whole and peeled from the lemon) and water for 15 minutes to become a syrup, then take out the lemon rind. Mix the cornflour into the butter thoroughly before stirring it into the sugar syrup. Then add the wine and let the saucepan simmer gently until the wine and syrup have combined and thickened slightly, this will take about ten minutes. Cut slices of the pudding and serve in a bowl and pour over a little of this Saws Gwin.