Suet pudding

Suet pudding
Type Pudding
Place of origin United Kingdom
Main ingredients Suet
Variations Spotted dick, Christmas pudding, Treacle pudding, Clootie, Jam Roly-Poly, Paignton
Cookbook:Suet pudding  Suet pudding

A suet pudding is a boiled or steamed pudding made with suet (beef or mutton fat), flour, bread crumbs, raisins, and spices.[1]

Many variations are strongly associated with British cuisine. Recipes vary greatly and can be desserts or savoury courses. They are typically boiled or steamed, though some baked variations and recipes adapted for microwave ovens exist.

Examples include Spotted dick, Christmas pudding,[2] Treacle pudding, Clootie, Jam Roly-Poly and many other flavour variations. Savoury versions include rabbit, chicken, game and Steak and kidney pudding.

The Paignton pudding was also a variation of suet pudding.

History

See main article Christmas pudding.

The suet pudding is of great antiquity.[3] The origins of the Christmas pudding, for example, can be traced back to the 1420s, to two sources. It emerged not as dessert, but as a way of preserving meat at the end of the season. The ancestor of the suet pudding, however, was the pottage, a meat and vegetable concoction originating in Roman times. This was prepared in a large cauldron, the ingredients being slow cooked, with dried fruits, sugar and spices added. In the 15th century, Plum pottage was a sloppy mix of meat, vegetables and fruit served at the beginning of a meal.[4][5]

Cultural References

In George Orwell's 1947 essay "Such, Such Were the Joys," recounting the miseries of his preparatory school education, St. Cyprian's school saves money by serving distasteful unsweetened suet pudding as a first course to "break the boys' appetites."[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Suet pudding". Merriam-Webster. 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  2. ↑ Davis, Jean (December 1996). "Nuts, Puddings and Crackers: Coping with an English Christmas". The Contemporary Review (United Kingdom) 269 (1571): 319. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  3. ↑ Simpson, Rebecca (December 20, 19--?). "A Sticky Situation: The Christmas Pudding Palaver of 1952". blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved April 18, 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ↑ Matthew (January 7, 2011). "Christmas Pudding (Homemade)". The Great British Diet website. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ Mason, Laura (December 15, 2009). "The History of 'Plumb Porridge' at Christmas: The Ancient, and to the Modern palate bizarre recipe for a Traditional Christmas stew demonstrates how tastes have changed from the Middle Ages to the Modern Day". Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  6. ↑ Orwell, George (2008). Books v Cigarettes. London: Penguin Books. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-141-03661-8.