This week we talk about puddings. What are they? Why doesn’t William know what they are? Has Tony been living a pudding lie his entire life? Also, a lot about writing, a little about a movie, and… *sigh*…. beef. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
Dynamic duo, If two vegetarians have an argument, is it still called a “beef”? –Azuretalon
LINKS:
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Oh! I forgot about Craig!
Which is odd, since I was just making fun of the Scottish.
Craig! Explain puddings to us! Please! 🙂
I’m in England visiting the in-laws and decided to ask them. Initial response was the same as what Tony said: it’s a generic way to refer to dessert (alternative generic terms, “sweet” and “afters”). But we started to talk about the exceptions and that led to looking at the etymology. We think the first use of the word derived from a meaning “to stuff” and is the origin of the names for black and white pudding and why Haggis is officially a pudding — these are things stuffed into intestines and then steamed or boiled. (Probably where puddingstones get their name?) And then other things that were steamed or boiled in a bowl also became known as puddings – a lot of these are savoury but Christamas pudding or sticky toffee pudding are examples of sweet dishes. Maybe then it became associated with the bowl itself (which is called a pudding bowl), and that might explain some dishes made in a pudding bowl but not steamed?
Interesting!
So, the way it’s used on Bake Off would be if it’s served in a bowl? Or maybe if it’s something filled with something?
Ok, now I’m getting more confused…
So my understanding of it is broadly along the lines of what Jas said in that it originally referred to savoury dishes where the filling was stuffed into a case and then it was cooked by steaming or boiling. As a generic term it does mean dessert but I’d say the usage is declining and also fairly regional
For sweet dishes I believe that it was the cooking method that was the more important factor in the name being carried over. The dishes referred to specifically as puddings tend to be cooked by boiling or steaming. The pudding dish is the dish that it is cooked in as opposed to served in. Traditionally you’d put the wet mixture in the dish, surround that in water and then cook in the oven.
I would bet that all of the dishes being made on bake off were either made in this way or by wrapping the mixture in cloth and boiling it. I checked and Queen of Puddings refers to a specific dessert that is cooked by steaming in a bain marie.
As for Yorkshire pudding I have no idea why that is a pudding.
Maybe ’cause what puffs them up is the steam from the cold batter hitting the hot grease?
My hunch is that it’s mocking folks from Yorkshire, somehow. Maybe they’re so poor that that’s all they get for pudding? I believe the dish was supposedly invented to soak up meat juices, when there was little meat to go around.
Made me think of something I heard about the origin of things like black pudding. ‘Cause poor families would have likely only had a single cow that they used to produce milk and cheese (a lot of it not for their own consumption), they couldn’t afford to kill the cow for meat so they would bleed it and mix the blood with oats as a source of proteing.
So supposedly it got the name Yorkshire pudding because that was one of the early coal mining regions and the higher temperatures you get with a coal fire made it better. Prior to that it was called dripping pudding because you cooked it under the near to catch the fat drippings.
This is, retroactively, becoming one of our most informative episodes! 🙂
(catching up, I was trying to finish off Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep before it was due back!)
Well, it’s just as well I’m completely late here, because folks with more information that I have weighed in. I expect my dad could talk endlessly about this.
So, pudding, very much a regional thing. I definitely knew about being asked if I wanted pudding, but it wasn’t in use in every household and, honestly, I don’t think anyone of my generation used it. I would guess it was grandparents only, for us. I have no idea where yotkshire puds come from specifically (though now that it’s been mentioned, I’ve heard of dripping puddings) but you guys seem to eat them totally wrong here (on the few occasions I’ve had them). For me, growing up, it was always something that was part of a sunday roast dinner (which we always had, the big, formal meal of the week). Nowt special, just another thing, like roast potatoes ,carrots, whatever. In Iowa? Holy crap, I’ve been offered them just to eat. Like, wait, what? That’s like offering me boiled cabbage apropos of nothing. I still eat them, of course.
But back to puddings. Totally threw me when I got here. For years, in fact. “Kids are sick, run to walgreens and get them jello and puddings” – and yeah that’s my brain shutting down because I don’t understand the request. Like all the other differences, I just get it now and honestly can’t remember where British ends and American begins. It’s been 11 years, a quarter of my life, to be fair 🙂
Very specifically, were I back in Wales, if asked for pudding I’d expect sticky toffee (maybe with hot custard, not the bloody weird cold stuff from Culver’s), or Christmas pudding. That’s like a dense thing you’d maybe pour sherry over.
William summarised it well – I wouldn’t question anyone’s pudding, but I’d instinctively understand it to be a dessert, even if I hadn’t seen the specific one they were making before.
Reading that last comment form Craig again, I wonder how much cross pollination of traditions/habits in coal mining regions occurred. Not uncommon to work at several collieries.
Also, I realize I’m, again, feebly poor in my knowledge of something Tony has asked of British culture (outside of pop culture, which is understandable because I care not for it). It makes me wonder 1) how regional things really are, and 2) because you’re probably consuming culture generally outside of Wales (quiz shows, major and minor TV shows, etc.) that it’s just not intersecting with everything I experienced. Not to say I don’t understand it, while back home I never watched anything and thought “hang on, what the hell are they on about” but, perhaps because not commonly exposed to it, I can’t immediately summon good explanations.
Or I’m just delinquent / getting old / am actually from Connecticut.
If a British thing comes up again, I’ll pose the same question to my siblings, without cluing them in to what’s going on, and see what they independently say. At least then you’ll have better than N=1.
With apologies for my meandering, loquacious comments again.
*ahem*
Crap. Brit.